This is a video of what it was like in our anchorage at Solomons today…

Update from Paula – We used this second day held up by weather for inside projects as it was too windy, wet and nasty to tempt us into town. Inside the relatively dry cockpit enclosure, we were able to see a few boats entering our harbor, but saw no one leaving once the poorest weather began at around 9 am. The seagulls continued wheeling about undisturbed by strong gusts, and we saw a bald eagle repeatedly harry an osprey throughout the morning for reasons unknown.

Tommy worked diligently, first on the computer and then on our aft Purasan, which he has gradually dissected in full over the past few months, seeking the source of an apparent air leak.Paula cleaned, read, gave a reference for a colleague by phone, worked on some of the interior brass, made lists, and prepared baked apples with crumb topping so we can have a sweet warm treat after dinner.

We tried to imagine what sailors did without internet and electricity while stymied by weather in days of old, and tried to fathom the ancient sea malady of “calenture”. Sailors stranded at sea became overcome by the feverish delusion that the surrounding  rolling seas were grassy meadows  and jumped overboard. Cheery, huh?

We checked periodically for water intrusion, and found a few spots, like the staysail boom boot, that need some work. No major wetness, and we remained pretty comfortable. The forecast continues grim for tomorrow with thunderstorms and wind.

A brief stint with the generator replenished our battery bank and we still have plenty of food, water, and clean dry clothes, so no worries.

(From Tom) Below is a screenshot of the weather radar this morning. At that moment, we were underneath the middle red blob over the Patuxent river. We have a long run planned for our next leg and need a full day of non-hazardous weather to get to the next anchorage. We are also hoping for a wind shift in the next few days so we can sail more. The wind has been out of the south the last couple days (the exact direction we’re heading) and is predicted to stay there until at least Friday. The good thing is that we have plenty of spare days available in our overall trip plan.