Day 247: Thursday, May 9, 2013

Port to Port:  Prentice Creek to Solomons

Underway: 6:32 am      Motor Off: 4:30 pm      Miles Traveled: 52/47     Stayed At: Anchor

First Things First: First time getting us to roosters crowing.

Mile 142 to Mile 97: After the crowing roosters woke us a little before 6 am, we got everything ready and were away by 6:30 am. It looked a little sketchy at first – there was fog inland and low gray clouds overhead. Luckily, the clouds thinned quickly and we were soon enjoying sunshine and white fluffy clouds floating slowly overhead.

Day 2 of our weather window turned out perfect. We motorsailed on a gentle beam reach all day. It was a beautiful day on the Chesapeake.  Like yesterday, a steady stream of powerboats and sailboats quickly or slowly passed us by – mostly way out in the bay. We are staying a little closer to shore than most boats to shorten our route as much as possible.  We crossed over the Potomac River and passed into Maryland at 9:21 am. Another nice milestone.

We found out in an email that our friends on Slow Churn cranked out 100 miles (to our 50) yesterday – they traveled from 6 am to 6:30 pm and were anchored in the Solomons in time to watch “The Voice” on their satellite TV. We hope to get to the Solomons today.

The Chesapeake is big water and we are trying to get north as far as possible before the northerly windows kick back in this weekend. We stopped at a marina in the Solomons to get gas and ice and anchored just a few hundred feet from the dock. We had a favorable current most of the day and a boost from the wind allowing us to relax a little and make a good dinner. We had some buttermilk so pancakes sounded like a good idea. They were amazing (or we could have been really hungry).  We even had some frozen strawberries and Ready Whip. What a nice treat after a long day.

A couple more sailboats anchored nearby and the sunset was beautiful. We relaxed, planned tomorrows route and crashed early again. One more day to Annapolis, Maryland.