Ahoy there!

We are writing this during a NOAA Severe Weather Warning. Not this time because of tropical storms or thunderstorms but we now have an Excessive Heat Warning.

Today (Tuesday 26 th July) and tomorrow are going to be the hottest days of the year. The temperature is mid to late 90's and combined with high humidity will give us the equivalent of 105-110 degrees. We are anchored near St. Michaels and in a position that if there is a breeze we will catch it but basically we're not sailing anywhere! We may go the Maritime Museum after lunch so at least we will be in air-conditioning.

After leaving Deltaville we stayed in some remote creeks, away from shops so we could have some zero dollar days and claw back the budget!  One anchorage was  St. Leonards Creek  on the Patuxent River . This is beautiful creek. Quite high sided and scented with pine trees, there   are some large houses and it was the site of a big naval battle & siege between the U.S & England in 1812(?), difficult to imagine this from where we were watching osprey & nightly displays of fireflies.

We decided that provisions were low so we had a short sail round the bottom of the Patuxent to Solomons Island & anchored in Town Creek. This town was a novelty as it was the first that we had visited where all the shops were in walking distance. We fairly quickly discovered Woodburns Supermarket which was the best we'd come across yet. Excellent bread and deli!

Next day we went to the Maritime Museum which had some really nice exhibitions including lots of display tanks of seahorses, rays and other local fish. Sharon fell in love with the otters which had a huge enclosure outside, with glass sides. The otters would play for hours, swimming up to see you and pushing off the glass. The museum also had a 19th century lighthouse where a keeper & his family would live - it looked quite a des.res . Although the fog bell next to the bedrooms might be a little intrusive. 

That evening a couple (Jackie & George) from one of the other anchored boats came across to have a chat. They have been coming to Solomons for seven years and told us all about the bus service to a small mall which included Wal-Mart & Lowes. So the following day we tackled the buses. There are no bus stops, you just loiter and the bus stops. You hand over your dollar and tell the driver where you want to go. If that bus doesn't go he takes you to a connection and wait for the bus! When you want to return you phone them up and they come to collect you! Sometimes the journey was a bit longer as they divert to pick people up but at least you see the countryside. We did a second trip later in the week.

The weather got very hot and we ended up staying in town a week. Everything was so convenient, we even had haircuts. Jackie & George taught us another handy trick. During the hottest part of the day we would wander to Rob Roys Chicken Shack & Ice Cream Parlour to sit in air conditioned comfort. It's amazing how long an ice cream can last when you're chatting & cool!

After a week we decided to move on, more $0 days were needed and the deli was having a bad effect on our waistlines.We crossed the bay to the east coast and the Little Choptank River to Hudson Creek. Although the creek was wide it was quite shallow and it was touch & go on a couple of occasions. We anchored near a huge Southfork style house, which seems to be popular in some areas of the bay.

The following day we went to Oxford where we spent Friday & Saturday. It's a small town but very pretty with brick pavements and lots of older clapboard houses. Oxfordians are also very proud of their crabcakes. The Morris Inn is ships them worldwide so we popped in and Andrew gave them a try. Andrew is getting very laid back and living 'Island Style', as we got all the way over in the dinghy and realised he hadn't put shoes on. Apparently it's called 'Cruiseheimers'! Sunday we sailed to St. Michaels. Andrew had done a bit of nifty navigation through the Knapp Narrows and we weren't sure if we would make it - but we did and saved a couple of hours. Arriving Sunday lunchtime was not good though. St. Michaels is small but very popular and the channel was packed with boats. We were advised that the holding was not good by the town so we anchored in a small bay on the opposite side of the river. There are two houses that we can partly see as they are screened by trees, but need investigation as small boats & tour boats keep coming in to stop and have a look at them. Very strange. We have only been to St. Michaels town once, going back later, but again it's another nice old town with shops in walking distance. And it's another one that the British attacked in 1812/13!

On a completely separate note we have some people ask us what our plans are for the next few months - hopefully because they want to come and visit. Although all things change this is what we are probably doing. We have to stay in the Chesapeake area until 30th November for insurance purposes. September & October will be fine, in fact we are looking forward to seeing the autumn colours but November will be cold and stormy. So in November we will go back to Deltaville and haul the boat out of the water so we can anti-foul and paint the deck plus other bits & pieces that need doing.

From beginning of December we will head south again, probably via the ICW as the outside route will be foul. We will be doing this as quick as we can  so don't recommend it for a holiday as we tend to put in long days on the water and there are few towns. We're hoping to then leave the U.S from around Fort Pierce , probably the end of December and do the jump to the Bahamas . The rest of the winter and spring will be in the Caribbean heading south so by the summer we are below the hurricane line.

Autumn/Winter/Spring 2006/7 will be in the Mexico/Venezuela/Trinidad & Tobago area. We will then be heading to the Mediterranean but have not yet done our research into the best time for sailing across the Atlantic .

Once in Europe we will probably need to look for casual work to top the budget up.

Anyone is welcome to join us wherever - don't wait to be asked! At the moment August is full, and we have part of March ear-marked.

Once again thanks for all the news you send us, it makes England not seem so far. 

Warm regards

Sharon & Andrew