Solomon's Island

After 2 nights in Annapolis, we decided we should head out before we spent too much money. Both mom and dad and Sal and I got some much needed boat supplies and some time in civilization. Before we could head out though, we had to do something…replace the bolt on the rudder with a shorter one, because we were not able to tighten it enough so it was banging back and forth. Sal and I were not looking forward getting into the water AGAIN. It had to be done, so we donned our wet suits and water shoes, found a shallow beach to place the boat and we took the plunge (quite literally). It didn’t seem to be as cold, and we felt that we would be able to do it without too many problems as we had just messed around with it a few days ago. Because the water is so murky, we had to lift the rudder up and align it so that the bolt will go through the rudderpost and the rudder. What we predicted would take about 15 minutes, ended up taking close to an hour and a half. We were so thankful when we finally lined it up correctly. Freezing, we took the dinghy to shore and had a very hot shower. We left shortly after noon, to a quite anchorage a few miles away.

After another cold night, we moved southwards the next day and across the river to Oxford. We encountered strong winds and surprisingly high seas. We got tossed around a lot. A layover on Friday due to strong winds allowed us a chance to clean up the boat… which was much needed. Saturday we planned to get to the Solomon’s but what was supposed to be 5-10 knot winds and 1 foot seas actually was 15-20 knot winds and 3-5 foot seas (and coming from the direction we were heading). We turned into the next river and anchored up a quiet creek. After a rough day, it was even more depressing to find that we had gotten water all under our bunks… ie our food got wet, all of Sal’s clothing and the foam under our water tank was drenched. This happened because water comes up from the motor well into our cockpit, gets into the bilge and when we go on a lean it get splashed up into the boat as we climb and crash down the waves. I had tried to seal off under the bunks a while ago, but apparently not good enough. After some threats that we needed a bigger boat, and having the decks and cockpit strewn with food and clothes to dry, we headed over to the mother ship for a hot dinner.

(one of the many sunrises we have seen lately)

This morning, we were prepared for winds and waves. We put on our wet gear, had a reef already in the main, and pumped the bilge every ½ hour or so. We planned our route so that we would cross the bay and sail behind the protection of the land. It was still windy, but the waves were more tolerable, and we made it to the Solomon’s Island fairly dry. We plan to stay a couple days to do laundry, reprovision and wait out windy weather.

(Miniature sailboats racing in harbour at Solomon's Island)