Wed May 12: Smith Creek to Solomons anchorage

 In which its good to see familiar old friends ...

Oh. My. Gawd. What a terrible night we had.  Rick tried a bridle on the anchor-line, to see if it would stop the boat wildly swinging, as she likes to do.  So there were two lines running over the side of the boat forward to the anchor-line.  And, it turns out, if there is any kind of wind/waves/a butterfly halfway around the world/anything at all these lines rub on the rail and produce the most amazingly irritating intermittent sound.  Even with ear plugs in no one got any sleep.  So this morning started with a familiar conversation - should-we-sell-the-boat.... 

However that resolves, we still have to move forward so we (crabbily) got under way - our good moods further helped by the amount of mud on 70' of anchor chain we had let out.  Grump, grump, grump... 

Fortunately the Potomac wasn't too bumpy, and the 'dreaded maw' where it meets the Chesapeake Bay was not the washing machine the old salts like to talk about. It was, though, cloudy and cold and b o r i n g.  Grump, grump...

Our spirits began to lift as we came off the Bay and into Solomons, and threaded our way back among the back channels to Lusby Creek, which is one of our favorite anchorages.  It was calm and peaceful and, as the sun began to break through, it felt like an old friend.

There actually was an 'old friend' - no sooner had we put the anchor down then the harbor hosts, Doug and Susan, contacted us on Nebo.  We 'met' them last year as we passed through - but this year we were able to dingy over to the dock to actually chat, now that everyone is vaccinated.  They are outfitting their boat for a 2022 Loop trip.  I can tell that Susan would enjoy the boat as much/maybe more just tied up to the dock as an expensive floating back porch. Sometimes I feel just the same, sistah.  

My co-captain always cheers me up!

 

We were pretty tired (see the above for more details about getting a good night's sleep on Blue
Horizon) but Rick got us into town for a good walk.  We grabbed an unnecessarily large number of tapas (all involving the theme of 'crab') to go at the St Charles Brassiere and then ... lost our heads. We stopped drinking in January, but SOMEHOW the dingy ended up taking us to a liquor store.  There is just something about being on a boat that makes your brain say 'we're on VACATION - of COURSE there are cocktails'. And, just like that, no more grumpiness!!!

Even the evening light seemed mellowed out ....