Itchy Feet

No, not that kind! I'm referring to the feeling that you get when you have been someplace for too long. 

When we arrived in the St. Mary's River, the white sand beaches followed by the tall pine trees made me fall in love with this river. The bottom offers great holding and the trees give wonderful protection from the wind.  

We spent our days rowing to shore and relaxing on the beach as we watched the world pass by. This was such a wonderful place to be and to relax.  

Then after a few weeks here, we both got a bit anxious to move on. We had been in these wonderful and protected waters to wait out a series of serious thunderstorms that were passing by. Now they have and we are itching to keep exploring! 

Deep in the river, there are no waves, as there is wonderful protection from all directions. Wisdom hasn't rocked or rolled in two weeks! The stillness has been working on our nerves and we soon found ourselves longing to leave in search of new waters. 

It is funny how the little things will egg you on to keep exploring. Something as insignificant as the rocking motion we usually experience can make us leave such protected waters in search of new places with new wave patterns. While we do love this river, and will look forward to sailing in her waters again when we return from our travels, at the moment, we just want to continue on! 

This is why cruisers are constantly on the move. They will discover a wonderful paradise, somewhere that they could happily live out the rest of their lives, and yet they will leave this paradise one day. Their feet get itchy and the only cure is to start traveling again in search of the next wonderful paradise. 

Finding the Time to do the Things You Love

Cruising might seem like an endless string of vacation. Each day as carefree as the last, which means that everyday allows for you to relax and enjoy what you love most.

The problem is that it is easy to get wrapped up into the same meaningless routine that you had on shore, just that you take this routine up in a new and exciting location.

While cruising, things will break, and tasks will present themselves. You can either engulf yourself in these tasks and spend your entire cruise working on them or you can take some time and stop all the madness to enjoy what you set off for.

I am a workaholic and will easily bury myself into all the projects I can invent for myself to carry out. Maddie is very good at enjoying the moment and is especially good at finding the perfect time to include me in the moment.

One day, I was busy toiling away at some meaningless job I had created for myself when Maddie called my name. I heard her voice but could not see her anywhere. It turns out she was sitting in the hammock watching the sunset.

She called for me as it was almost to the best part. The sky was still blue but it was about to turn a myriad of reds and oranges. She called me to join her in the hammock to enjoy the color changing sky, and that was the whole point of being there.

Looking back on that day, I honestly can't even remember what I was trying to accomplish, but I do remember the magnificent sunset! Be sure that wherever you end up, that you enjoy the reason you are there for! These will be the memories that you will retain for the rest of your life, not the work you had to do.

The Importance of Games

I'm sure you know that while cruising, the promise of internet is, well, nonexistent.  The electronic devices that once provided endless entertainment and stimulation suddenly don't exist.  Reading is a wonderful alternative, but it's quite a solitary activity.  Our brain needs probing on occasion.  It needs to be challenged and a rush of endorphins every now and then will keep it happy if you don't mind the pun.  This brings me to the importance of bringing multiple games on a cruising journey.  Games make us interact with each other, laugh, and problem solve.  It prevents us all from becoming sad marshmallows watching the waves roll by the boat or the words roll over a page.  Reading is most definitely a pass time that makes us think and brings joy, but it's a different type of thinking and a different type of joy.  I am of the firm belief that brains need exercise just as our muscles do.  We need to continue working things out and the competition of a game does wonders for our emotions.

Before we left on our trip, I went to one of my favorite childhood toy stores and joyfully found that they had expanded to include a section entirely dedicated to games, and not just for children!  I walked out with the five most compact, yet mentally stimulating games I could find that also looked like tons of fun.  The compact part is important because we live on a boat after all and there isn't much space for much of anything let alone board games with peaces that can roll around and get lost.  I think that I have compiled the perfect collection of games for a cruise and I'll leave a list below.  They are all fabulously fun and offer a wide range of difficulty depending on the moods of the players.  I highly recommend each and every one for anyone in a house or a boat in the middle of the ocean.  I have starred our current favorites.

Timeline (Events and Inventions) *

Set

Iota *

Fluxx

Cards Against Humanity (you also need some for cruiser party nights)

Snorta

Manchala

Joking Hazard *

Anaxi

Exploding Kittens

Tapple 10

Slamwich

Awkward Turtle

Suspend *

Memory

Quiddler

And of course, regular playing cards

The Water Problem

Water is an invaluable commodity when cruising, and though it is easy to come by in each port, you are never guaranteed drinkable water.  We anticipated this problem across the ocean and in the various small islands that we plan to visit, but the problem surfaced before we even left Maryland.

We had allowed ourselves to completely run out of water with the knowledge that we would be able to fill up in the marina where we were docked, but as luck would have it, the entire water system there had coughed out its last spurts that morning and the owner had no plans of fixing it as the price was far too high for him.  It was a minor inconvenience for us since luckily there was another marina within a short distance.  As we were filling up there, however, the owner came out and informed us that though we were welcome to fill up with this water, he did not deem it drinkable due to its high levels of Nitrates.  It did indeed taste rather terrible, but we didn't have much choice.  We needed water for much more than just drinking since we had dirty dishes piling in the sink and we ourselves weren't exactly specimens of cleanliness.

So, this isn't an unusual thing.  One can never depend upon clean drinking water where he is headed, so we prepare for these sorts of circumstances.  Rain water is a big way of dealing with the problem, but what if it doesn't rain when you need it to?  We needed a backup for our backup, so we went to Costco and bought 180 liters worth of bottled water.

You read that correctly.  It may have been slight overkill, but if we are forced to go for a few months without finding drinkable water, we will be glad that we added this ridiculous amount of ballast to the boat.  We were able to fit all of the bottles into compartments underneath each birth quite neatly.  They're stacked in such a way to minimize friction.  We didn't forget about the fact that too much friction could cause the bottles to release their contents and waist everything.  To be honest, it's worth it simply to know that if we did get stuck at sea due to weeks of doldrums, at least we wouldn't go thirsty. 

Solomon's Island

Solomon's Island is a famous cruiser destination of which I had never visited! Many friends and other cruisers all mentioned it, telling me that I had to stop there before we left the Chesapeake Bay.

The entrance to the river was very well marked, but also rather narrow. The sides of the river are completely built up with marinas creeping out into the water on both sides, making it a little nerve wracking to tack through, as one missed tack might mean a collision with a million dollar yacht!

To avoid any close calls, we motor sailed our way up the river, using the slight thrust from the electric motor to keep us moving forward as we slowly short tacked up the narrow creek.

We anchored just past a mooring field near a sandy beach that only exists there at low tide and enjoyed the scenery around us. Solomon's Island used to be littered with decaying fishing boats strewn along the shores and dilapidated piers. The area has since undergone a massive revitalization to transform it from a dumping ground to a ritzy spot to stop.

The problem with fancy places is they want you to pay for everything, and when you are cruising on a tight budget, this can be a challenge. Walking Morty, our corgi, also proved to be a challenge. There was only one area of undeveloped waterfront, and luckily we were anchored in front of it. At low tide, Morty could run on the exposed sandy beach, but at high tide, this entire area disappeared into the water.

Anchoring in Solomon's also proved to be a challenge. We are using a 65 pound Mantus anchor that is well oversized for our boat with an all chain rode, yet we still had trouble getting it to hold on the bottom. The anchor never dragged, instead it just migrated along the bottom. Every few days, we would drift back about 300 feet, causing us to need to reset the anchor in a new position as we would drift back on the marinas around us.

Solomon's Island did have a very cool museum though, where they cover the history of the neighboring cliffs which used to be underwater a few million years ago. They also had a great exhibit on the history of the light houses in the Chesapeake Bay.

I am glad that I visited this little gem, but I am also in no hurry to return to this anchorage. If you do decide to go to Solomon's Island, you might sleep more comfortably with your boat tied up in a marina instead of anchored out, but you must be prepared to pay $2.95 per foot per day!