Day 186, Year 8: Windbird’s Trek to Cape Cod, Day 9
Date: Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Weather: Mostly Sunny Day, Evening Rain, Winds NE 5-10, Temp Upper 60’s F
Latitude: 38 19.245 N
Longitude: 076 27.356 W
Location: Chesapeake Bay, Anchored Behind Solomon’s Island, Solomon’s, MD

Mark, Lee, and Lynda spent their day motoring up the Chesapeake Bay while Heather and I started planting the 2013 Goldstone garden with the help of Ollie, Jonah, and neighbor Molly (Jonah’s age). Our goal was to get a few things planted to take advantage of the predicted rain. It is very dry here and we had only a few sprinkles in the afternoon, so we ended up watering anyway. But then tonight, we did get some rain. So hopefully those seeds will sprout quickly. Heather went to dinner tonight with the scientists that will be presenting at a colloquium at Woods Hole Oceanographic tomorrow night. She is the moderator of tomorrow evening’s panel discussion examining the impact of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. So meeting the visiting scientists from Japan this evening was important. That left Oma here with the task of getting three little boys to bed. We all survived!

130508 Day 186 Cape Cod, USA–Planting the Garden

Mark’s thinks Windbird will arrive in Woods Hole next Tuesday. So far they have had less than perfect weather and tomorrow looks like another motoring day. But when I checked Weather Underground tonight, it looks like they could have a good sail on Saturday from Rock Hall, Maryland to Chesapeake City and then moderate W, NW, and SE winds for the off-shore passage from Cape May, New Jersey to Woods Hole. I’m hoping this forecast sticks.

And now for the Captain’s Log for Wednesday, May 8:
“Today we motored. Nothing else. A beautiful sunny day with no wind and calm seas. No mishaps, no adventures. You might call it boring but we enjoyed the tranquility. And I got a photo of my personal red and green markers on the front of the boat, aka Lee and Lynda. About the time we got to Solomon’s we got a few drizzles – of course, just as I had to go to the bow of the boat to drop the anchor. But not enough to really get wet.

Then the highlight of the day. I had called friends Suzie and Ron Williams earlier in the day and we agreed to get together for dinner. Well, when we arrived we no sooner had the anchor down than they pulled alongside in their “launch” that had a bimini to keep us out of the rain. They motored us over to a nearby dock and we all went to the Yacht Club for dinner. It was great catching up with them. And we made plans to meet next March or April in Culebra!

Tomorrow we will head straight for Rock Hall where we will tie up to the municipal free dock. Today I was able to contact the guy we bought new batteries from when we were at the Annapolis Boat show and he will deliver them whenever we want on Friday. And Lee and Lynda will get to spend some more time looking at the boat they are particularly interested in.”

130508 Day 186 Passage to Cape Cod–Day 9, Solomon's, MD