One of the delights of this adventure is enjoying the change in backyards from our back porch. A bit of description is called for as our "back porch" is our cockpit where we, in reality, spend most of our time when on the boat. A comfortable back porch was high on our list when choosing a boat. We read, relax and eat most of our meals on the back porch, resorting to going below when it is too dark to do anything constructive. We have set the back porch up so we can install bug screens when it is buggy and plastic panels when it is windy, rainy or cold - the plastic is getting a good workout. From here, during breakfast or dinner, we can survey and enjoy our domain. During this past week, we have enjoyed a variety of views - from the hustle and bustle of the Annapolis Spa Creek Bridge to the quiet of tree-lined creeks to watching huge war ships being built and manouvered around us as they make their way to sea. We have also enjoyed some fantastic sunsets (Karen and I are not early risers so sunrises will be left to someone else to describe), watching huge sea nettles (jellyfish) swim by, and herons trying to support themselves.

This week we left the comfort of Annapolis and worked our way down the Chesapeake to Hampton Roads, then Norfolk. Norfolk, the site of what must be one of the largest naval bases in the world, is also at the ocean end of the Chesapeake, and is, most importantly for us, at mile zero of the ICW. Yes, we have been traveling for 3 months and have finally got to mile zero. Fortunately, as someone pointed out to us, we are exactly half way between New York and Florida, so we have made some progress.

On Monday, we caught the 8:30 bridge opening out of Spa Creek and motor sailed under sunny skies to the Solomons. We anchored up a small creek tucked away from any winds. From there, we dinghied to town and tied up at the Holiday Inn dinghy dock to wander the town. We stayed at the Solomons for a few days to explore and to wait out the next cold front. The front came through Tuesday (at 11:30pm of course). The rain sheeted down and the winds gusted to 30 knots. Our anchor held and later that night we were able to get some sleep. On the afternoon prior to the front, we were treated to an air show at our anchorage as we were in the flight path to the neighbouring air force base. They have bombing sites along the Chesapeake (restricted zones on the charts which you really should avoid) and different types of planes were taking off and landing all day. Our next hop was to Sandy Point on the Great Wicomico River, a fairly open anchorage but easy to get into and out of. The weather was supposed to be 10-15 knots from the southwest, the direction we wished to travel. Well, the southwest part was right, but it was 20-25 knots. This made for a lumpy, rail in the water beat into short choppy seas for about 8 hours. As I thought that it would be an easy day, I did not seal the anchor locker well and the water poured through the opening into the boat. Thus we took part of the Chesapeake with us in our bilge to Sandy Point. However, about half way through the day, we did see our first pelicans enjoying a leisurely fly by our boat. This was the highlight of the day.