Back in cruising mode and on our way South!

It’s Monday morning and Pandora is making her way down the Chesapeake Bay on our way to Solomon’s Island, our probable stop for today.   Hampton is about 120 miles from Annapolis and we don’t have to be there till later this week so it’s not necessairy for us to cover a ton of ground each day.  Having said that, we may run into some headwinds later in the week so making time while the wind is favorable is a good idea.  As I write this we are under sail running wing and wing and making nearly 7kts through the water.  That’s good.

We returned to Annapolis and Pandora after spending the weekend with our son Rob and his girlfriend Kandice, at their home in Baltimore.  I was pretty glad to be off of Pandora for a few days given the fact that it had rained pretty much every day since my arrival the weekend before.  No, not exactly all of the time, but enough to make it feel like rain, rain and more rain.  Brenda joined me in Baltimore and we had a terrific time.  We had such a great time that we couldn’t even manage to leave with everything we arrived with.  How about leaving foul weather gear and a pair of Brenda’s sandals?   The gear will surely come in handy soon, if the last week’s weather is any indication?  And the sandals?  Well that’s a crisis as we are headed south and guess what the fashion of the day is there?  You guessed it.   What’s a girl to do?   Crisis averted, Rob is going to mail them to us in Hampton VA where we will be spending the coming weekend.

Prior to meeting Brenda at Rob and Kandice’s I had guests aboard from CT from Wednesday through Friday for the boat show.  It was fun having like minded folks on board to tour the show and they also kept me well fed and lubricated.  Actually, the lubrication was somewhat excessive but I have only myself to blame.  Having said that, I can’t say that they set a particularly good example.  It was fun, that’s for sure.

While Brenda hasn’t been in Annapolis since last Fall when we passed through here on our way to FL, we decided to head out today instead of touring the city to take advantage of favorable winds that are forecast for the next few days to make distance toward Hampton.

Last night was the first night that I really felt that we were back in “cruiser’s mode” as Brenda was aboard and we spent the evening with our good friends Bill and Maureen of Kalunamoo and their friends from NY.   We sailed with Kalunamoo off and on last fall and winter and really enjoyed their company.  Maureen, perhaps more than anyone, tries to keep me in line so I don’t push Brenda too much.  When I talked about taking Pandora to Turkey, her response was “down Bob, down Bob, one step at a time”.    OK, OK, point taken but I still want to go.

However, they are not without guilt as they did ask us if we’d like to do the Salty Dawg rally with them this fall.  In the interest of full disclosure, it was Maureen that first said, “we are going to the Caribbean, want to come too?” when they visited us in Essex a few months ago.  That run will take them from Hampton VA to Tortola in the BVI,  a trip that I’d love to take.   So there, it’s not just me Maureeen!!!

For now I am happy to have Brenda aboard, being underway and headed south.  Yahoo!!!

No post is complete without at least one photo and since there haven’t been any sunsets worth showing of late (recall day after day of rain?) I’ll put in a shot of the boat show as we passed out of the harbor. Oh yeah, and how about a shot of the Thomas Point light?  This is a “screw pile” lighthouse and certainly a form that speaks the loudest that you are indeed in the Chesapeake and headed south.  Indeed!!!

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