Point "No Point" Lighthouse
Fly over near Patuxent Naval Air Station
Coming in for a practice landing.
Since we (especially Pat) are early morning risers, we pulled away from the dock this morning at 6:20 a.m. for our 62 mile trip to Solomons Harbor Marina. The winds were supposed to be out of the southwest at 10 – 15 mph, but it was more westerly, which meant we again were taking the waves on our stern quarter to port beam, giving us a rocking motion. The conditions were very handleable, however, and after we passed the Potomac River, the waves lightened up, and we used our autopilot for almost the whole trip.
As we approached the Patuxent River and the Patuxent Naval Air Station, a large Navy transport jet was practicing a series of take-offs and landings right over our boat! On one of these maneuvers Pat almost jumped out of her skin as the plane came roaring in for a landing a couple hundred feet high over our fly-bridge as George kept shouting: “Get a picture! Get a picture!”
A little while later we listened to the Marine Weather on the radio for tonight and tomorrow’s forecast. Tomorrow’s weather especially sounds somewhat questionable with small craft warnings and winds out of the southwest with gusts up to 25 mph and strong thunderstorms predicted, so we will have to monitor this situation as to whether we should move on tomorrow, or stay put in Solomons for another day. We shall see!
When we got tied up at the marina, we found out that the dockmaster, Bill, had also been in Marathon, Florida for a number of months this past winter, just as we had. What a small world! Pat then headed to the hotel’s laundry (there is a Holiday Inn on site), and George headed to Washburn’s Gourmet Grocery Store to do some shopping. This store and the restaurant, “Captain’s Table”, are two of the main reasons for making Solomons one of our favorite stops on the Chesapeake. Since it took so long to complete our chores, we decided to stay on board tonight and made a pork chop dinner with ice cream for dessert.
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