Life on Lailia

Solomons Island, MD to Jackson Creek South anchorage Deltaville, VA

October 24, 2022 (published on 10/25 because we didn’t have internet in Deltaville)

This gray weather is pretty terrible – although the rain has stopped, the sun has not come out and it’s just monotone gray. Every now and then we can see a few trees with their autumn colors.

It’s just mostly flat and gray, although we occasionally get some waves. This makes it tough to read, which is one of the ways we pass the time.

There was a definite strange moment where there were a bunch of gulls floating; there was some sunlight breaking through for just a couple of minutes. Luckily they stayed on the water because we have a canvas top on Lailia and we definitely didn’t want a Birds moment.

This anchorage is very sheltered with no wind or waves. There’s several boats in here but there’s a lot of room (and with no wind or current, we won’t be moving too much).

It was comfortable enough for us to eat dinner in the cockpit and we are glad we did – we had about five minutes of gorgeous color in the sky before the sun was too low to make much color.

We’re hopeful that tomorrow will be brighter as we head north to Portsmouth.

Back Creek, Solomons Island, MD (anchored)

October 23, 2022

The forecast changed last night – we planned to head to Tangier Island but with winds gusting to 27 knots (31 mph), gray skies and rain, we decided to stay put in this anchorage. Tangier was a side trip as it’s not exactly on the route south, so skipping it won’t set us back on our timeline. In reality, we also wouldn’t have enjoyed exploring there in the yuck.

John took the dinghy to shore and found a place to watch the Phillies win but it’s a stay on the boat day for me. It’s been so gray all day (in between rain showers) which means it has been a really good day to just read.

Since we weren’t going to get heat from the engine or from the sun shining on Lailia, we lit the boat’s propane heater. The flames heat up the metal above it and it radiates throughout the cabin.

We haven’t had to use this heater much – we’ve been in warmer places most of this year. We have little ceramic heaters when we’re docked and a small portable propane heater to take the chill off when mornings are cold. This might be one of the first days that it’s been cold and gray for an entire day while we have been at anchor.

Tomorrow we plan to leave around 8:00 AM to go to Deltaville. I’m pretty sure that it’s going to look different from when we were there in July.

St. Michaels to Back Creek, Solomons Island, MD (anchored)

October 22, 2022

The nights are definitely getting a lot cooler. When we are at anchor, we’re not plugged into shore power so we don’t run a heater. This morning it was a 56 degrees in our cabin. Temps like this make getting out of bed just a little more of a challenge! (We use our propane heater to warm up once we are up and about.)

Solomons Island is a around 50 miles so we knew we had to get up and out early. We had some mud (and a HUGE oyster shell) on our anchor but our wash down hose wasn’t working, so I had to drop a bucket a few times to get bay water to clean off the anchor and bow pulpit.

The cooler air on the warm water makes really pretty advection fog. This makes everything look just a little more ethereal.

The water is still really smooth – there’s not enough wind to sail, but at least we’re not getting bounced around for hours.

On the way to Solomons Island we passed Calvert Cliffs State Park. The cliffs are pretty unique – they’re the only ones we pass on the Chesapeake. There’s not a good way for us to get there by boat, unfortunately. They’re supposed to be teeming with fossils.

Solomons Island is full of marinas and boats. They’re docked and anchored everywhere but we were able to find a good spot to drop our anchor.

We dinghied to a dock close to a lot of restaurants and had dinner and drinks at the Tiki Bar. Our timing was good since they will be closing for the season next week.

We’re planning to head to Tangier Island tomorrow. Tangier seems like it will be really interesting – the island is slowly losing ground and will probably be uninhabited within the next 30 years.

John also diagnosed and fixed the wash down hose issue so cleaning the anchor and chain should be much easier tomorrow morning.

Kent Island to St. Michaels, MD (anchored)

October 21, 2022

After almost 3 months in a marina in Kent Island, it’s time for us to start moving south – it’s starting to get cooler here and we don’t want to get COLD.

John and I had heard so many great things about St. Michaels, so this was our first stop. Today was a great autumn day which made this short hop feel like a good omen for a great trip south.

We departed from Piney Narrows so we could get to the Kent Narrows Bridge for its 10:30 opening.

Lailia has an enclosed cockpit, so even though it was in the low 50s, we were warm in the sunshine today. There was little or no wind so the water was really flat and we motored along at about 6 to 7 knots.

This good timing also extended to our arrival at St. Michaels where we found plenty of room to anchor in the basin. This meant a very short dinghy ride to the docks.

The waterfront has so much history including historic houses and replicas of the shallop that John Smith sailed during his exploration of the Chesapeake.

St. Michaels also has Freedom’s figurehead which was made just before World War II. There’s an amusing story about why she’s on loan to this museum.

John and I toured the replica lighthouse and the maritime museum.

Of course we stopped at Eastern Shore Brewery, which was a short walk in town. We also had some great brick oven pizza before we headed back to Lailia just before sunset.

We won’t always be this lucky with short trips, great weather and calm water and we won’t always anchor in places that embrace boaters the way that St. Michaels does, but this was such a perfect day and a perfect beginning to our southward journey.

We plan to head to Solomons Island tomorrow which will be a bit under 50 nautical miles. That will take most of the day (an hour by car is a day’s ride on Lailia).

Chris: Cincinnati, OH (hoteled)/John: Chester, MD (docked)

October 16-19, 2022

I’m not sure that I have ever visited a place like Cincinnati – everyone I met was really (rightfully) proud of their city – from the Uber driver to the gate agent in the airport, as well as the educators with whom I interacted and even the servers in restaurants. People genuinely seem to want to share the cool stuff with visitors.

I am lucky enough to be able to work as a consultant to schools who are beginning their journey to become Middle Years International Baccalaureate schools. I’ve been consulting with two schools who are partnering and who wanted to get some insight into their progress which meant that I was able to fly to Cincinnati for a few days.

It’s a short flight from BWI to Cincinnati, so I had time to check out the Cincinnati Zoo. It’s one of the best ones I have visited and the weather was perfect that day, too. (At least 6 people I met in the four days I was in the city made sure that I knew that Cincinnati had a great zoo.)

There’s also incredible murals everywhere. I especially enjoyed the one that represented Cincinnatus, the Roman leader for whom Cincinnati was named.

Even the airport was cool – although it’s actually in Kentucky…the signage is pretty clever.

Thursday will be a preparation day for us so we can begin traveling south on Friday. We’ll get one more grocery delivery here and also secure all of the “stuff” that we’ve been using since we arrived here at the beginning of August.

Piney Narrows Yacht Harbor, Chester, MD (docked)

October 10-15, 2022

Since it’s getting cooler here, I decided to make some chili and used our last can of beans from the Bahamas. If you’re not sure how we know we bought them there, check out the price written on the can: groceries are expensive in the islands.

Birds love to sit on top of Lailia’s spreader and lines, which wouldn’t be a problem except they also like to eat berries. Berry-poop stains the decks and it’s really difficult to remove. To try to keep them from landing, we have installed Circe-Bird B. Gone.

Circe-Bird was named for the main character of a book I just read – they’re kind of the same color although the novel’s protagonist really likes nature. This is the Circe who interacted with Odysseus, by the way.

Facebook memories reminded me that it has been five years since John and I relocated from Rock Hill to Charleston. That was the beginning of the adventure that we’re living every day.

We have had a few really nice autumn days so I’ve made it a point to get out on the Cross Island Trail. The leaves are changing and it’s really beautiful.

We are making plans to start moving south. I have to fly to Cincinnati at the beginning of the week so we’re planning to head out on the 21st. There are a few places we want to visit on the way – St. Michaels is close and sort of on the way, so it will be our first stop.

Piney Narrows Yacht Harbor, Chester, MD (docked)

October 1-7, 2022

The remnants of Hurricane Ian got stalled off the coast of Maryland for (too many) days which led to seemingly endless nasty weather for us. We have been wearing shorts and flipflops since February, so having to wear pants, shoes, and jackets feels like the start of something negative…We also both seem to be primarily solar-powered, so we lose a lot of energy when it’s rainy.

Our friends Casey and Andy took pity on us and picked us up on Saturday night so we could spend a night in their apartment where we didn’t have to listen to the wind howl continuously.

The wind just never let up – it was blowing steadily in the mid-20 mph range with gusts up to 40 mph. The marina is pretty protected from waves so we only rocked a little but the sound of the wind was just a terrible background howl. It’s always worse at night when I am trying to sleep.

Finally, the sun just started breaking through the yuck near sunset on the 5th, even though it was still windy.

By the evening of the 5th, we were back to pleasant weather (it still feels like it took FOREVER to get to sunshine).

Sunshine and warmth means that we can get some boat stuff done, so we put a foil (whale tail) on the dinghy outboard. This will help stablize the dinghy and get it on a plane faster (it reduces drag). To install it, John hoisted the motor to the stern transom to secure it. Then I climbed into the dinghy to hold the foil in place while John leaned over the stern rail to drill the holes.

Nicer weather also means that we can leave Lailia and get gas station tacos with our boat neighbors. We stopped along the trail to watch night fall and soak up some calm.

We’re taking Laila out for the weekend so we can join our friends Kim and Rick in Rock Hall. Between weather, work, and wellness, we haven’t been away from the dock much, so the adventure is calling.

St. Pete Beach, FL and Jacksonville, FL (Hoteled)

September 25-28, 2022

Something that I really miss is the independence of having a car so we don’t have to depend on someone to transport us. Kent Island does not have a lot (if any) Ubers on Sunday morning. We learned this the hard way when we tried to get to the airport. I thought I had a ride set up but apparently he overslept. I can’t even express how frustrated and dismayed I was: there were no Uber drivers available through the app. Luckily, we have an Uber driver in the marina and were able to get him to take us to the airport at the last minute.

This should have been a clue about the next few days, by the way…

The workshop provider let us know that the three-day workshop would be a two-day workshop due to the possibility of bad weather. I was able to change our flight home to Wednesday, early afternoon, rather than Wednesday night.

Sunday in St. Pete was pretty lovely, although there were some patchy clouds. We were able to have dinner in one of our favorite places and walk back to the hotel at sunset.

On Monday at our morning break, we learned that the workshop would be shortened even more – we would end at 2:00PM on Tuesday. I managed to change our flight home to Tuesday night so we could get out early.

By lunch on Monday, we learned that the governor was going to order an evacuation the next morning and that we would be shortening the workshop so that it ended that day. We would work with our participants to come up with some blended learning activities to meet their hours. There were no earlier flights available, but the weather didn’t look that bad.

By 5:00 PM on Monday afternoon, we learned the governor was going to declare evacuations at 6:00 PM. This is when the emergency alerts began on all of our phones. We knew that we would still have time to get home, since we had a flight at about 7:00PM on Tuesday.

Afternoon clouds rolled in as we walked to dinner – but this happens A LOT in Florida!

We had a short torrential downpour and then it cleared up.

As we were waiting for the rain to stop, I got a text from the airline letting me know that our flight on Tuesday evening had been cancelled. A second text alerted me that we were rescheduled for Thursday (another change!). We learned that the Tampa airport was closing at 6PM on Tuesday.

John is a true logistics guy – he realized our best bet to get home was to rent a car and drive to Jacksonville where we could grab a flight home. I made a car reservation for a rental place that’s really close to our hotel. The airline was great and changed our flights yet again – this time we would fly on Wednesday late afternoon from Jacksonville (right – another change!). My friend, Eve, was also able to arrange to fly home to Michigan from Jacksonville on Wednesday.

Something must have told John that we needed to check our car rental reservation so we headed out a few hours early on Tuesday. We learned that the rental location in St. Pete Beach had closed without letting any of its customers know. Back to that sense of frustration and dismay that started this trip.

Eve had the good idea to Uber to Tampa airport to get a rental car, especially after we learned that the only car rental place on St. Pete Beach had a pretty high upcharge for one-way rentals.

We were lucky that the St. Pete Beach Uber driver lived on the island since only residents were able to get on the island. We could see the clouds moving in, but there wasn’t much rain or even high winds. It’s odd to see how deserted the roads at the beach can get.

Although we hit some traffic pockets, our ride across central Florida was pretty uneventful. There are some rolling hills there with cows and horses. There are also multiple prisons, too.

On Wednesday, Jacksonville was starting to get some rain and wind. John heard a rumor at the hotel registration desk that the airport was going to close at noon but this was unfounded, thank goodness.

After returning the car, we spent a lot of time in the Jacksonville airport – long enough to do some sightseeing.

We had to travel through some pretty bumpy bands to get from Jacksonville to the Atlanta airport. Seeing the sun shining in Atlanta was such a relief!

We arrived back on Lailia around midnight on Wednesday. The ratio of travel to workshop was way off this time but we’ll try it again in November (out of the hurricane danger time). We’re hoping our Florida and South Carolina friends are able to get through Hurricane Ian with minimal damage. We do know a few folks who have boats and houses on the gulf side of Florida.

Piney Narrows Yacht Haven, MD

September 15-24, 2022

After John’s diagnosis of gout, he was on an anti-inflammation diet of with food like chicken and cherry juice while he was avoiding red meat and alcohol. He was on some pretty heavy-duty anti-inflammatories for his wrist. He also was having a lot of gut pain which, naturally, we attributed to the meds. The only problem: when he discontinued the prescription stuff, the pain didn’t go away – in fact, over time, it got worse.

By the night of Friday, September 16, John knew he had to get medical treatment for what he knew was diverticulitis. We took an Uber to a local urgent care who, after a few tests, referred John to the emergency room to get a CAT scan. DIverticulitis can cause absesses which can quickly become septic.

We caught a cab to the ER where after several hours we learned that John did have diverticulitis but it did not require admission to the hospital. He did require an intravenous dose of antibiotics as well as a ten-day regimen of oral antibiotics. And a bland, liquid diet.

It took a while for the antibiotics to kick in fully. John also had to suffer through eating jello and drinking protein water, soda, and broth. I tried to eat when he wasn’t around!

Slowly he has been able to add food back. We’ve learned a lesson, too, that as soon as he feels a bout of diverticulitis coming on, he should get medical attention.

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We’ve only been taking short walks because of John’s discomfort but we realize haven’t been this far north for a really long time. The signs of autumn as well are starting to creep in. I am not a fan.

We seem to have been caught in a really windy weather pattern that’s pulled in some cooler air. We’ve been wearing shorts since the middle of February; I’d like to stay in warmer temps (but it’s probably not going to happen).

There have been some pretty sunrises, though, and we’ve enjoyed sleeping with the portlights open.

We’ll be heading to St. Pete Beach soon so I can lead a workshop for a few days – it will be good to go to the warm weather and see some IB friends. John’s feeling much better and only has a few days left on his antibiotics. There’s the potential for a hurricane, but it’s far enough out that we should be fine.