Solomons Island, MD

Today, June 9, was the first day of our 2021 cruising season! We spent three days getting Zendo ready and enjoying the remote Virginia Northern Neck (between the Potomac and Rappahonock Rivers) location  of our marina in tiny Kinsale, VA. This year we are accompanied by the newest member of our family, Archie, our 9 month old Poodle mix (Miniature Poodle, Cocker Spaniel and Cavalier King Charles). He loved being able to run freely through the marina’s extensive grounds and surrounding countryside.

Archie warmed up to boating with a test drive on our dinghy which he loved.

We also made a quick run on Zendo to a nearby boatyard for a haul-out to scrape the barnacles off of the bottom and the running gear in particular.  The running gear was so fouled with barnacles that the bow thruster wasn’t working at all and our cruising speed was greatly diminished. Fortunately, the clean up solved those two issues but we definitely need to have the bottom painted when we do our next haul-out in Delaware City.

Temperatures have been very hot and luckily for us our White Point Marina has a deliciously refreshing pool which we took full advantage of every afternoon.

Finally, we were ready to depart on Wednesday morning at 9 am. We headed out of the Yeocomico River which led to the wide Potomac River and onto the Chesapeake Bay. It was a clear and calm day and we easily made the trek to Solomon’s Island in a little over five hours.  Archie was a trooper settling into doing what  he does best, sleep!

We arrived at Calvert’s Marina by 2:20 and tied up at a t-dock. Upon arrival, Archie hopped onto the dock which we don’t want him to do (yet). We were located across from their pool which was very inviting.  . It has been beastly hot every day with temperatures in the nineties.

We planned to go for a pre-dinner dip in the pool but an impending thunderstorm caused them to close the pool early. So we cooled off by showering onboard and spending a relaxing evening planning the following day’s cruise.