September 10-23, 2020 Cruising south to River Dunes, Oriental, NC

 We said our good-byes to our dear friends, The Nelsons. We will definitely keep in touch and see them again this winter somewhere! When we left Deltaville, the Bay was a bit rough and our midship Lazerette bilge pump light came on-OH OH! When it's rough, Doug doesn't like going below so I went down to investigate.  It's not a simple task because our midship lazerette is also one of our storage spaces. I had to move stuff & bins to get into the bilge. Once I lifted the floor to see into the bilge I was a bit unnerved. There was water about a half inch deep around the pump. Doug told me to lift the pump float so the water would drain out. When I did this, it did drain out but when the pump stopped, it immediately filled with water again. I tried this several times and water refilled the small space every time but did not get deeper. Before reporting my findings to Doug, I experienced an alarming hit of reality: this is an example of how a boat could literally sink. At the moment, I could not stop the water from entering the interior of our boat, a bit scary. Luckily, My capable Captain, Doug knew just what was wrong and calmed my fears. The check valve had failed and the same water was being pumped out and flowing back in. As we continued our cruise south, the seas calmed and we were in more protected water so Doug was able to put a new check valve in and get the water out of the bilge. 

We made it through the 4:00 PM, Great Bridge Bridge & Lock opening and docked along the wall at AYB. It really is a dump! We walked to Vino's Italian Restaurant which is nearby and has an outdoor patio. We had the patio to ourselves & the food, especially the bread was delicious. 

The next morning, much to my delight, we couldn't leave till 8:00 AM, because the first bridge we needed to have opened didn't open until 8:30. We had to time a few bridges so it was slower than usual cruising. The winds had died down so much that the muffle bugs attacked us while underway. Our starboard side of the boat was plastered with them. We anchored for an uneventful night off of Durant Island. 

September 12th, Happy Birthday Doug! The wind has picked up again and we were worried that the Alligator Bridge wouldn't open due to the high winds. We called the Bridge Tender on the radio and he said he could open for us because the winds were only 30 mph and he was required to close when they ramped up to 35 mph. The wind was behind us so we made good time and arrived at 3:30 PM to anchor in Slade Creek for the night. This anchorage is great, no houses, just trees, grasses & playful Dolphins. 

We had made reservations to stay again at River Dunes for a few days. Scott, the Harbormaster is great and we love the facilities. He put us in the same spot we were in when we came through on our way north: the face dock in front of the pool. We borrowed the courtesy car to provision and check out the cute small town of Oriental. Not much has changed. The coffee shop is still open & I gave them some business. We shopped in the fun store called Provision. The store has a little of everything: we bought jigsaw puzzles, chocolate & a shirt for Doug. I couldn't pass by the Nautical Wheelers, Jacque & I had done some damage a few years back there. I found a few pieces of clothing, I just had to have and a fun mask with a pretty sunflower on it. Doug couldn't pass by the Hardware store. Piggly Wiggly is the new grocery store and we were pleasantly surprised of the good inventory & options there. 

We met a couple on "Flying Colors" who are friends of Bette & Al's. They had told us to watch for them. They invited us to their boat for after dinner cocktails. They only stayed one night. We ended up staying longer than planned due to storms left over from Hurricane Sally that hit Alabama, Mississippi and the Panhandle of Florida. We even had a tornado warning for a short time. We stayed a total of 9 days due to the weather but if we had to be weathered in somewhere, we are glad it was here.  It's well protected and a great place.

2 side notes: my dear colleague & friend, Judy Knox died from Pancreatic Cancer-she will be missed. My diamond in my engagement ring fell out unbeknownst to me but again Doug comes through-he found it on the salon carpet.

September 2-10, 2020 Deltaville, Doziers Marina

Our dear friends & cruising buddies: Garry & Jacque on Waterford have sold their boat, under contract but not yet closed on it. This will be our last chance to spend time with them while they are still living on Waterford. We cherish all the memories we have cruising the Great Lakes & Oceans with them. We have been enjoying cruising adventures with them since 2008! They are the best!

So we left the Solomons and headed north to Deltaville. It's Labor Day weekend so we were assigned a slip under the roof at Dozier's because all the transient slips were full. Actually, we had a great spot. The weather continues to be hot so we either enjoyed cocktails with G&J in the pool or under shade on the porch. 

The Four of us shared Happy Hours & dinners together for the week. Each night, we reviewed a different year of our cruising adventures with slideshows from all the pics we took. Jacque & I were able to grab some girl time at the local coffee shop and into the big city of Glouester where we treated ourselves to Starbucks and a bit of shopping. 

A bittersweet Good-bye at the end of the week.  We will surely continue our dear friendship just moving onto a different phase. Garry & Jacque will be moving back up north, to Michigan, to be near family. 

August 24-Sept 2, 2020 Oxford & Solomons, MD

 It was a short cruise from our anchorage to the Oxford Safe Harbor Brewer Marina. The Marina is currently building new docks so they put us on a fixed wooden T-head in the boatyard. In order to get to the Marina & pool, we had to walk through the yard, out onto the street and past an apartment building. It's still very hot so we did go to the pool. At the Marina, they have a really nice new bath house. 

After cocktails on board, we walked a mile to a restaurant that I found on Yelp: Popes Tavern, which was closed even though Yelp said it was opened. It was a easy walk past pretty homes with great front porches. We ended up eating at the restaurant right next to the Marina called Capsize which had a nice outdoor deck overlooking the water and the food was good. 

Doug walked to Cutts & Case Wooden Shipyard that is nearby. When we were here a few years ago, they gave us a tour but this time, probably due to the Pandemic, he couldn't see much. I have started online Yoga and love it so today Doug tried his first session. 

On August 26, after 2 nights in Oxford, we left and headed back to Spring Cove Marina in the Solomons. We liked it there and the T-head we were docked on before was available. It was too hot to anchor out. 

Side note: Hurricane Laura is going to hit Texas & Louisiana tonight as a Cat 4.

When we were at Spring Cove Marina earlier in the month, we swam a lot in their pool and they had music piped in under water. We would often keep our ears under the water to listen; well, Doug developed Swimmers Ear and our home remedies were not working. Luckily, there is an Urgent Care Center within a half mile from this Marina.  Doug made an appointment and he was diagnosed with Swimmers Ear and given ear drops that contained an antibiotic & steroid. No more head dunking for Douglas!

Our Krogen friends on Unforgettable were still docked here. We enjoyed spending time & getting to know Scott & Melissa. We took our dinghies to dinner across the bay one evening to the Charles Street Brassiere. They have docks in front of the restaurant. Doug dropped me off because he had to go back to the boat & get his shoes! We dined on their outdoor patio which was very nice but the Flies were not nice at all. 

We also had some Krogen friends docked nearby at Calvert's. Mark & Mary of Good Life came by dinghy for a cocktail party with Unforgettable & us on the nice lawn at Spring Cove Marina. When it was time for them to leave, their motor wouldn't start so we towed them back to Calvert's. It was a beautiful calm afternoon, so it was an easy tow. Another night, the four of us enjoyed cocktails on the lawn with Bob & Ria on Way To Go, who was still docked at Calverts. They drove over to see us. 

We walked the mile into town to see what was new, what was closed and to get some exercise. Kim's Key Lime Pie shop was still open so we stopped & shared a Mango smoothie-yum. We had thunderstorms go through which cleared the hot air for a day or two. Doug also visited the nearby Marine Museum. 

We enjoyed our 2 stays @ Spring Cove Marina. The grounds are lovely, the pool with pool bar is nice and the staff is very friendly & go out of their way to be helpful. The docks are not great and there are only a few docks that work for us. 

This boat which was in the boatyard @ Oxford
is like the Sea Bea, which was Doug's parents boat.