Solomon's Island and beyond

Thursday we moved from Solomon's Island to St. Leonard Creek, a distance of about 9 miles. We had heard about a marina up this creek that was opened by a Hollywood starlet and was a must see party place. Vera's Beach Bar sits on a high point of land overlooking the creek. The restaurant is festooned with different colored lights and has a colorful beach area with tables and chairs lapped by the water. There are actual palm trees (as well as fake ones) along the beach. We anchored across the creek from Vera's and took the dinghy over for a late lunch. The food was very good. Too bad Vera is no longer around. She must certainly have been an interesting character. Apparently, the weekends are when the place comes alive because things were fairly quiet on a Wednesday. Just as well for us since we had started the day with several mimosas, added a few beers as the day progressed, and then finished up with pina coladas and margaritas at Vera's. By evening we were ready for bed.

That was not to be however. We watched lightening and clouds move in for about an hour after dark as we sat out on the trampoline enjoying a light breeze. Around 11 PM the rain started and got heavier with lightening and thunder all around. Very little wind though so we sat snugly on the hook watching the light show and hoping the lightening would find some other target.

This morning we hauled up the anchor around 8 AM and headed out to the Bay. It was overcast and calm. The starboard engine would not start which Tom and Dave eventually decided was the fault of the starter motor. It had been difficult to start for several days but today it was a no go. Fortunately we had a replacement on board which was fairly painlessly installed and the engine cranked right up.

During the starter ordeal, the chartplotter screen went blank and the remote mouse we use at the helm stopped working. Back to doing things the old fashioned way for a brief period. A new battery in the mouse took care of that problem. The chartplotter came back up once they plugged the battery back into the starboard engine.

So crossing the Bay in light winds was just fine in light of all the activity we had to contend with. We headed to Tangier Island with both sails up and, I'm sorry to say, both engines assisting. Batteries needed charging and the wind was too light to get us there before dark.