Iced In In Maryland!



Much too slippery for safety!

The Frost is on the Pumpkin! Actually it is on the deck and dock and we are iced in the harbor. And it is only October 30th! Yesterday we had rain, sleet and snow. Thank goodness for our diesel heaters that have kept us warm in the cabin.

Our plan was to leave on the 7:01 AM high tide this morning just as the sun was coming up. The problem was that you could not stand up on the deck and there was no safe way to get onto the dock to release the lines. So at 5:30 AM the Captain made the call: go back to bed!

It is actually a beautiful sunny COLD day. At 9 AM the ice began to melt, but the tide was too low to get out of the harbor so we are here for another day. It would be a beautiful day to sail - if we could get out there!

Or rain? We had it all!



Want snow, sleet ...

Saturday was an MESS! When it wasn't pouring rain, it was spitting sleet and snow. As you have probably seen on the news, the East Coast took an early winter storm hit up and down the coast. I tried to capture the snow fall in a photo without great success. The snow was coming down so hard and fast that all you can see are the white diagonal lines as the flakes blew past my camera lens. It was like being in Michigan: the weather was changing by the hour.



Just how long does it take to eat a dozen?

Gwen and Perry arrived from Detroit, flying through the snow storm, to sail to Hampton, VA with us. As experienced sailors, they understand the weather delay.

Now that we feel like "part-time Marylanders" (or whatever they call themselves here), we took them to Skipper's for fresh crabs. You can make a whole evening out of pounding and picking crabs!



The rest of the day will be spent working on the boat so we can leave at high tide this evening. We will get out of the harbor on high tide (that's the down side of having a 7' draft) and anchor in Herring Bay. In the morning, we can leave as soon as you can safely walk on the deck. Our original plan was to go to Solomon's Island area for Sunday night, Fleet Bay for Monday night and into Hampton by mid-afternoon on Tuesday. Now we will see...