Deltaville to Solomons, MD

Martin deploying our day shape – to be displayed when at anchor

We had a late morning on Friday anchored on the Poquoson and practiced deploying the dinghy before we left. 

Dinghy Up!

Then we took off heading north.  The guys had changed the coolant in the 9K gen (per a tech’s suggestion) and we got a bit ahead of ourselves thinking we’d solved the problem - it ran like a dream all night. Then it totally died just before we took off in the morning. L  So we switched to the 20k but it wouldn’t start from the helm, only from the gen itself. So it looks like we have a few more gremlins to address.

We ended up anchoring just outside of Deltaville, VA. Soon after we anchored a heck of a storm blew past and we got a nice rinse. It was a quiet evening after that.  We headed out early in the morning on Saturday for Solomons Island, MD.  We had a bit of a rough docking but we made it in with no loss of limb or gel coat so all is well, we’re learning after all J 

View North

View South

We’re staying at Zahniser’s Yacht Center.  It’s a large, nice facility with a pool, restaurant and decent ship’s store. Most of the boats here are sailboats and it’s very picturesque. There’s a beautiful Nordhavn 76 across the water from us.  I really like it here and would love to come back and spend a few days checking out the area.

We’re at a fixed dock so we got to use our Marquipt stairs and step across. We spent some time working out how to use fenders to keep the step off the dock as the tide moves us up and down past the dock.  We inflated one of our huge fenders and it worked like a charm.

Step across and stairs

Fender fending off the step across

In the evening we headed into town and had a great dinner at the Lighthouse Restaurant. Then we walked up to the Tiki Bar to see what was happening on a Saturday night. It was a happening place and we were happy that went to check it out.  We got home just minutes before a huge thunderstorm blew through.

Today is a gorgeous day and the first that we haven’t need to run the air conditioning in months. It’s wonderful to have the doors open and listen to sound of sailboat rigging clanging (I love the sound!) rather than the drone of the AC.  Jim and Martin have a long to-do list which includes taking a look at the 9k gen, changing the oil on the main engine, a practice racor change on the transfer filter, trying to trace the leak on chiller #1 and fixing the leak in the guest room hatch that getting Jim’s feet damp whenever it rains.  I’m going to bike to the grocery store for a couple items (we really don’t need much so I’m hoping not to over load the bike this time!) and do laundry. Also on my list today is cleaning the stamoid cushion covers, and to post this to the blog!

The guys picked up their complementary marina bikes, Jim got the pink one

UPDATE: Well the guys figured out what was ailing the 9k gen! One of the lugs on a 15amp breaker sheared off, cutting power to the control panel.  One mystery solved.  They were able to get a temporary replacement from West Marine that will hold us over until we can get a proper part from Northern Lights in Annapolis.

Bad breaker

Interesting sign at the Food Lion parking lot.

The winds have picked up and are now coming from the north (responsible for the lovely cool day).  Tomorrow they'll be from the east, meaning the Chesapeake will be a bit bouncy. We've decided to stay here for another night and head up to Annapolis on Tuesday. That will give the guys a bit more time to work on the maintenance tasks on their list and I'll get to explore the town a bit. And yes, I'm aware that it's not quite a fair deal and that I have it a bit easy, I'll do some cleaning and make a curry so I feel less guilty :)