CHAPTER THIRTY ONE: A DAY ON THE BAY

CHAPTER THIRTY ONE: A DAY ON THE BAY

Today we tried our luck with the weather and the winds. We untied Slow Motion at our dock at the Calvert Marina in Solomons and headed out the Back Creek and Patuxent River to the Chesapeake Bay. Some friends – Jake and Nancy – waved goodbye. Jake is a Cardinals fan, so I haven’t heard the last from her. Oh please, dear Giants, don’t lose the first two NLCS games to the Cards. But the news of the day is that we’re on the move again! We’re heading south. This morning we were behind a veritable flotilla of sailboats heading in the same direction. We took the “Slow” out of Slow Motion and got her up to 14 miles per hour, and we motored past all the sailboats on the horizon. As it turned out, that was a good move. We eased into the dock at Dozier’s in Deltaville, Virginia at 3:40 p.m. Thereafter, 3 or 4 sailboats and a 55 foot power boat arrived at the same marina looking for space on the face dock. We had the prime spot at the end of the dock, easy on, easy off. And we were already dining on a fresh pot of beef barley soup on our sundeck when the other boats staggered in. The Admiral helped with the lines for the latecomers. That’s what boaters do. And we always get help in return. It shows that we are all interdependent, to an extent, and no matter what your station in life or the size of your boat or the number of new radar gadgets you have – or even what your politics are – you get help from other boaters wherever you go. That’s one of the finest attributes of the boating community.

Dozier’s has one of the best bathrooms and showers on the Eastern seaboard, so yes, within 30 minutes of docking, you know where I was. Hot, hot water – aah! And clean hair. The temperature was in the 60’s, with little or NO humidity. My days of sticky hair appear to be over for the year. Of course, the day wasn’t perfect. We started out with our warmest hooded sweatshirts with jackets over them in 40 degree weather, with a fairly strong wind whipping across the bow – nearly lost my Boat US cap. But as the morning progressed, a remarkable thing happened. The wind died down, the sun warmed the flying bridge and the 2-3 foot waves in the Bay smoothed out to zero. That’s right, a smooth, glass-like surface in every direction on the Chesapeake Bay from about 11 a.m. until we docked. It was such a treat to be motoring along with no bumpiness, getting warmer and warmer, enjoying the occasional pelican, reading a great book that Mary Jane gave me for my birthday (The Impeachment of Lincoln), and trusting in the Admiral to get us to our destination.

We had a wonderful time in Solomons, Maryland from August 23 to October 13. You can read about it in the blogs just before this one. But what a feeling comes over me, when we’re cruising along in Slow Motion, a feeling of adventure, freedom, anticipation – it’s very different from air travel (pain in the ass plane connections) or car travel (dealing with not a few a-holes on the road) or even rail travel (although the CP railroad trip across Canada was cool). You have a set course, but no particular lanes or deadlines. The Admiral knows what he’s doing, so there is no worry on my part about going off course. Watching the boat cut through the waves and leaving a wake behind is one of my favorite pastimes. Looking for crab pot markers can be a bit tiresome, but hey, the life of the Chesapeake Bay waterman is still pretty exotic stuff to me. I know there are fewer crabs in the Bay and fewer fish too, because somebody at some point took too many of the various species. But the waterman is not going to jeopardize his/her livelihood, and the environmentalists are looking over his/her shoulder to make sure that there will be crabs and fish and oysters and shrimp for future generations. May I just say, the Chesapeake Bay is the most amazing body of water I have ever had the pleasure of cruising on. Now, if we leave Dozier’s and get hit with chest high waves and 20 knot winds tomorrow, I may find a new favorite body of water. But for now, Chesapeake Bay, you’re number one!

Go Giants!