Florida is long behind us. We made the passage from West Palm Beach in southern Florida to the Chesapeake in 4 days and 3 nights. At more than 750 miles, this was our longest passage to date. Although long, it was extremely uneventful until just after we dropped the anchor in the Great Wicomico River off the Chesapeake. But I'm getting ahead of myself. We had nothing but calm seas and light winds during this trip. Even the seas off Cape Hatteras, known for treacherous conditions that have bested and sunk many a ship, were benign--less than two feet with virtually no wind. When making a passage we have to "stand watch" every 4 hours. It took us at least 24 hours to settle into our watch routine of 4 hours on, 4 hours off. But we did. One finds a groove and time passes easily. Although, I have to admit this passage got boring. Not much to see or do for 4 days on a very calm sea. We did pass Navy war ships practicing. Got a call from the aircraft carrier to pass them 2 miles off their stern. We complied. Got me to thinking about what it could be like to cross an ocean. Tedious? Scary? A little of each?

The waters of the Chesapeake were calm when we arrived in the morning. We had a day of sailing ahead of us. Looked like we could make it to the anchorage behind Sandy Point on the Great Wicomico by early evening. As the day progressed the Coast Guard weather reports on the VHF radio began to warn of serious thunder storms coming our way. In the afternoon, the reports became gale warnings and small craft advisories instructing boaters to seek shelter. Although we heard the reports, we didn't see any menacing weather and continued enroute to Sandy Point. The sky was clouding up a bit, but didn't look threatening as we entered the river. We rounded the point, dropped our anchor and were settling in for a nice non-sailing night when all of a sudden the wind began to blow, the sky turned dark, the water started to rage and lightning began to flash. The storms that had been racing across Pennsylvania at 40 miles an hour and had been the source of ongoing Coast Guard gale warnings were upon us like that! The rain came down in buckets! Bolts of lightning filled the sky, thunder boomed all around us, the boat rocked and rolled with the waves. Think Dorothy and the storm in the Wizard of Oz. That's what it looked and felt like. I was so glad to be at anchor and not on the Chesapeake during this storm. It was a doozy. But our anchor always holds us, so we made dinner and enjoyed not being on passage. We'd been in thunderstorms before. In a few hours the storm had passed and we went to bed. The next morning we were up early and on our way to Solomons Island for a get together with several other Hylas owners.

A three-day get together was planned for the first Annual Hylas Owners Get Together. Nine Hylas boats along with their owners made it to the get together. Although we'd met folks in the islands, we really hadn't socialized since we'd been back in the states. It was wonderful to visit with other Hylas owners. We had met Bob and Sharon on Shazaa in the Bahamas our first season out and had bumped into them again this past Spring on St John in the USVI. Great to see them once more. Everyone else was new to us. Although we've communicated with many of these folks on the Hylas owners e-mail forum, it was fun to meet them in person. Several couples opened their boats for the group to view. I was impressed with how others outfit and decorate their sailboats. Amazing! There were two other couples who cruise and live on their boats full-time like us. Those who don't live aboard, can keep their boats so tidy! I reminded myself that all they own in the world is not aboard with them! Most of the boats were 46 to 54 feet in length, but we did have one couple join us who own a 70 foot Hylas. Seventy feet is a lot of boat! They brought their captain and crew with them to the gathering or should I say their captain and crew brought them?!

After three days of socializing and exploring Solomons Island we headed north to Annapolis. Historic Annapolis, home to the Naval Academy, is a lovely town. Very walkable and oozing charm. We stopped here on our way south two years ago, and so know the harbor. Nice to be familiar with a place. Well that was a month ago, and we're still here! Been a busy month for us.

It was time to haul out Aurora for the once-a-year bottom painting that is essential to keep marine life from growing on the boat. Annapolis, "America's Sailing Capital," is well equipped with several boat yards and resources to get the work done. So we made arrangements to have Aurora hauled and painted. As our boat was going be on-the-hard for several days, I took advantage of it and visited Morgan and Julia in Ithaca, NY. Train travel is easy on the east coast, so I traveled on Amtrak from Baltimore to Syracuse. Caught the bus in Annapolis to the train station and Julia picked me up in NY. Piece of cake. And the trains are full! All seats sold out.

Julia and Morgan were great hosts. They live on the second floor of a two story house located right on the southern tip of Lake Cayuga. Really. Across the yard, over the train tracks and one is at the lake. What a view! Their porch and living room overlook the lake. Must be something in the fall with all those trees turning color. Julia and I spent time walking around town including Cornell's impressive campus, playing scrabble and just catching up. With Morgan we toured the labs where he's doing research on triblock polymers. (Right Morgan?). All very impressive. Amazing setup of tools and equipment. Julia and Morgan took me to Buttermilk Falls Park for a lovely hike. So lush. Everything is green this time of year. Not at all like the brown hills of California or the low, sandy geography of Florida. Oh, not to be forgotten, we stopped by a berry farm and picked fresh strawberries from which we made the most delicious strawberry shortcake. Yum!

And I met Clover, Julia and Morgan's Boxer. A well behaved dog, with the exception of her licking habit. Although she does stop when told. We spent Sunday morning at the local dog park. Ken would have enjoyed the dogs. All in all, a wonderful visit with my daughter and her husband. Hard to believe they'll be celebrating their first anniversary in two weeks! Time flies.

The train got me back to Baltimore no problem where Ken met me with a rental car. He'd gone to see the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center near Dulles Airport. He took some great shots. His photos are in the latest album on our site.

Back at the boat yard, Aurora's bottom was getting painted. We splashed end of day on Thursday, July 3rd, just in time for the 4th of July weekend. We were excited about heading to Baltimore and enjoying the celebration in the Inner Harbor. I had secured reservations at a marina just to make sure we had a place to land for the busy holiday weekend. But, the best laid plans....... Once we were back in the water, we discovered that our rudder needed repair. It wouldn't be wise to head to Baltimore. So we enjoyed a fine 4th in Annapolis and on Monday had Aurora hauled out again. Cha Ching, Cha Ching. $$$!! Interested parties can read all of the technical details in Ken's journal entries of July 8th, Least-Coast Summer and July 9th, Rudders, on our web site.

So we lived "on-the-hard" for the past week. A boater we met likened it to living in a tree house. That about sums it up. Climb up a ladder to get onto the boat which has no running water, limited electricity (one extension cord) and is torn apart due to repair work. Fortunately the boat yard had a very nice bath house and laundry. There were convenient eateries in the neighborhood and we rented a car for the weekend to visit Washington DC. Still, nice to be in the water again!

It has been 30 years since I toured Washington, DC. Where did the time go? Anyway, the heat and humidity were the same. Ken and I walked the Mall and took in the sights. First visit to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial for me. The wall of names evoked emotions in a way the other memorials didn't. Possibly because I lived during the war, but more I think because of the nature of the work itself. One experiences rather than views the memorial. My favorite was the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. Interesting to see the paintings, the different styles, the abilities of the artists and the likenesses of historical figures. There was a painting of John Greenleaf Whittier in the gallery. I was born and grew up in a town named after him. Odd to see his portrait, to look upon the same canvas he did, to react to a likeness of him that he must have also reacted to. I'm always struck by the how objects enable us to span the space-time continuum and bring a shared experience to people who in no other way can have a tactile connection. It is not like music or text, which make a connection, but rarely through the original manuscript or score. Our one day in Washington was not enough, but it was time to head back to Aurora.

As we were in a boat yard, I took advantage and worked on some of the varnishing. I'm redoing the slats from the stern deck seats. It is a long, tedious process as old varnish must be removed, the piece sanded, then sealed and finally several (up to 10) coats of varnish applied. Between each coat the varnish must dry and be sanded. I didn't finish my project, but did complete 4 coats of varnish. I'll see how it goes finishing the work on the boat.

And I decided to get my hair done. Remember we're back in the states and salon prices are more than when I left. So given the money flying out of our pockets, I decided I'd just go to an inexpensive chain at the local mall. I've had my hair cut under the trees in the Dominican Republic, at the boaters swap meet in St Maarten and at a neighborhood salon in Puerto Rico. What could happen at a mall salon in Annapolis? Well, the good news first. The cut was okay. But I decided to have my color touched up too. They couldn't use my dye, so I had to go with the salon's product. The bad news is I look like a goth! Well, it's not black, but close to it with no highlights. A uniform almost black color throughout. Looks like I did it myself in the garage without my mom's permission! Oh well, it will fade and grow out! On the up side, I feel 14 again! =^) Maybe I should just go gray???

After two years we are finding boat life not what we envisioned. Time to weigh the pros and cons and decide what to do. It is exciting, challenging and I love sailing to new places. The vagabond life appeals to me. We're much better sailors than we were two years ago and I like being at sea, but not for extended periods of time. We know our boat now. On the other hand, maintaining the boat is expensive and things break constantly. It is, we found out, part of boat life. Unfortunately our sailing kitty is not going to last as long as we planned. And a boat needs constant care. One could work 24/7 and still not be caught up on boat chores. And neither Ken nor I like doing chores that much! At one point this past month we were ready to toss in the towel, call it quits and purchase an RV and cruise the land. But once we slept on it we weren't so sure. So we'll head up to Maine for August and then south again in the fall. We might just keep going south and visit the southern and western Caribbean: the ABC's (Aruba, Bonaire & Curacao), the San Blas Islands off Panama, Belize, and Cozumel. We'll see. At the moment we're headed to Maine which I'm very much looking forward to.

As for good reads, I'm almost done with My Life In France by Julia Child. It's slow to start but the second half picks up and is worth plugging through the first chapters to get to the later ones. An interesting woman who at 6'2" with a determined and spirited personality must have been a odd duck in her day (Born in 1912, Smith College in the 1930's, Paris in 1946). But she took on life and enjoyed herself and shared her enjoyment with all of us.

Erik, Ken's son, is going to visit us next month. Looking forward to seeing him. It will be his first Aurora visit and I believe his first visit to Maine.