St. Mary's & Solomons, MD

Since we had not heard from either marina in Washington, DC we decided we would go to St. Mary's just inside the mouth of the Potomac river from where we could go either direction in the next day or so. We left early and passed by a few of these "fish weirs" or traps. There is netting on the poles that are funneling fish into a large net where the fisherman is collecting them.

Well, the next day or so turned into four. I became very ill on Sunday night and am still not over whatever stomach virus or bug I have contracted. Additionally, we had a strong "nor'easter" blow in that held down everyone on the bay. It seems it was actually much worse south of us with very strong winds blowing continuously. I am glad we were out of Norfolk already as there were reportedly upwards of 10 ft waves in the mouth of the bay. We were in a great location at St. Mary's Maryland. The St. Mary's College of Maryland is there and we were able to tie to their dock. They have a fairly significant sailing program there and we were able to watch the students sail small Lazers and such. Some were quite good and a small regatta was held in the anchorage. Others not in the regatta were obviously not very proficient and we watched more than one turn over in the gusty winds. Although I didn't get a photo of it, one of the best parts was the name of the school's larger boat - Don't Panic - that was written upside down on the side of the hull.

I finally heard from one of the marinas in DC that they had room for us on Wednesday but by then we had already abandoned the idea of traveling to DC since we had been held up for a few days and because I would not really be able to enjoy it due to my overall weakened condition.

It seems that since we are primarily visiting historic sites, the churches are Episcopal. Stacy visited this church Sunday and then went back later for a concert by this very professional ensemble. She was very impressed with the acoustics. I, meanwhile, had already begun to suffer from my illness.

Although there should be an easier way to learn things, my illness may have been providential. Had I been feeling better, we would have left a day earlier than we did and would have been facing 4-5's all the way to Solomons. Some friends we met back in December headed to Solomons that day and said it was rough on them. We waited one more day and the evening before we left we had an absolute calm.

No, this is not Stacy taking up sculling as a new sport.

Stacy decided that it would be better to depart early in the morning to better take advantage of the conditions so we set our clock for 5:30 and woke to an enveloping fog. We listened to the weather radio and determined that the air was actually moving on the bay and that the fog should be lifting shortly. The fog did start lifting around 8:30 so we departed at 9:00. Stacy was to be at the helm the entire trip as I wasn't good for much of anything and she was saving my energy to deploy the anchor in Solomons. The weather radio was wrong...again...and there was no lifing of fog on the bay. We had about 1/4 mile visibility at best and was the first time that we actually "needed" to use our radar. She had asked me to get a picture of the fog but somehow that never happened. The one advantage as far as I was concerned (read: stomach) was that the bay was as calm as you could imagine. Right before we arrived in Solomons the fog actually lifted and it was an absolutely beautiful day. We stopped on our way in for fuel (200 gallons, $470) and then anchored in Back Creek. She has connected with our new friends, Bill & Gail Stuenkel, and they are touring the town while I rest and try to keep any food settled.

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