The trip up Chesapeake Bay turned out to be a single shot; we started off motoring as there was very little wind but it gradually increased in the afternoon and was out of the south so we had a good sail for few hours. As often happens on the Chesapeake at this time of year, as dusk fell, we could see lightening, mostly off to the west and behind us so we were loath to seek shelter in one of the bays on the western shore. So, we kept on going and had a few hours of rain and thunderstorms which weren’t too severe and had dissipated before dawn. Our average speed was pretty poor due to us punching the tide for too many hours up the Bay (I guess the change of tide gets later as one progresses up the bay). We reached Worton Creek shortly before midday on June 26th and docked in our former space, just in front of Pepper’s house. The round trip to the BVI was complete – a total of 4,418 nautical miles, of which 2,024 were done on our return voyage.
So now we are setting about tackling the list of tasks we want to complete over the next 2-3 weeks to ready the boat for more adventures in the islands and beyond this winter. We picked up one of our cars from storage and managed to find various items (including the titles for the cars) in the unit without having to dig ALL the way through it (whew). One reason why this blog entry is so late is because most of our wi-fi time has been spent ordering parts ….. another might be because we have been enjoying the long 4th of July weekend with our friends. The camaraderie at the Swan Creek dock party / ice cream social on the 3rd was second to none; some really good friendships there.
Tomorrow the boat will be hauled and, apart from a day off (for a doctor’s appointment and to see Sonia) on Wednesday, we will have no excuse for not getting on with sanding down the toe rails, which are sadly in a sorry state compared with what they were when we left, polishing the hull, doing some repairs to the gel coat, etc., etc.
Worton Creek, Maryland
