The last couple of days in Deltaville mostly were warm and clear. But windy. Wind makes waves like corn makes whiskey. So we sat. But Barry from Crossroads came by and drove us around—which was a pleasant surprise—and we got a sunset one evening. How about that artsy sunset photo, eh?
Today, however, is Dana’s birthday. Cool to cross our wake on her birthday, we figured. Most of our weather sources predicted south or southwest winds, a bit stiff but not too bad, and 2-footers or so on the Bay. If we time the mouth of the Potomac just right, it shouldn’t be too bad, although timing the mouth of the Potomac meant leaving at 6:30. Which sucks even if it isn’t your birthday.
Of course, when we got up it was windy and rainy. Because of course.
Oscar was too cold and wet to poop. What the hell? Don’t the Gods of Sea and Air know it’s Dana’s special day and we have a wake to cross? But now that we’re hardy mariners with a goal, a little wetness won’t stop us. Not today. So Brent and Dana braved the weather, slipped the lines, and we shoved off. For her first birthday treat, Dana got to stow fenders in the wind and rain.
Pretty quickly, the rain stopped. Hey now, things are looking up. Just as quickly, however, we realized that the waves were coming from the north. And were surf-able. And we were taking spray over the pilothouse. And Oscar was getting sick. And the Chesapeake Bay had turned to shit. Seven and 1/2 hours of this? On Dana’s birthday? No way.
Fortunately we had a bailout option. Forty-five compass degrees and nine miles later we docked at Jennings Boatyard in Reedville. This definitely will be our last stop in Virginia, because there ain’t no more stops in Virginia to be found even in bad weather. Nice folks helped us in. The sun peaked out. Looks like things might be okay after all. So let’s take Mini Pearl over to the nearby restaurant for lunch. It’s only a thousand yards away by boat but a mile and a half by shoe. About a hundred of those thousand yards later, however, the outboard died. Grrrr. But we had oars and we had Dana and Karen, so Brent and Doug enjoyed a nice ride.
During lunch, of course, the rain returned. Which exposed the foolishness of the conversation we’d had just as we all loaded in the dinghy: “Should someone go close all the windows before we leave?” “Nah, it doesn’t look like rain any more.”
Things brightened considerably after the rain and lunch. Brent cleaned the filter and Doug replaced the old dinghy gas with new and she fired right up. After naps and whatnot we headed into town. Meaning Reedville. Very cool place. We might move here. It’s a fishing village but locals apparently don’t mind the smell.
There’s a cute Victorian house for sale that would make a great bed & breakfast and has waterfront for a small marina. We’d be rich and famous in no time, except we lack the experience and skill to run a bed & breakfast and marina.
Dana enjoyed a birthday dinner at The Crazy Crab, but refused to allow the wait staff to sing even though they had a special song and the rest of us thought her rude. But she did enjoy the molten lava cake. Then we waddled back for the dinghy ride home.
So we survived the rough stuff and ended with a great meal and blue skies. All in all, it turned out pretty nice, even if we’re still flying the white burgee.
Tomorrow looks bad enough that we’re sleeping in. It’s only about five hours to Solomons but we made dinner reservations here and there’s a fishery museum. And we might need to make an offer on that Victorian.