At last, on Monday October 19, we left Slip C30 at the BMC Lighthouse Point. It was a cool but sunny day, 43° F, with no winds. We motored all the way to our first destination, a comfortable and free slip (thanks to friends) on Lake Ogleton, just adjacent to Annapolis. Yep, an easy destination. Just leaving that slip was huge. We wouldn’t have cared if we had just anchored in a nearby cove—we had to leave, both physically and mentally. Day 1 was celebrated with a dinner at the Eastport Yacht Club!

Week 1 was filled with more familiar anchorages and stops. We spent two nights in Cambridge on Maryland’s Eastern Shore at the City Wall (free). Our time was jammed-packed catching up with several friends including Dudley’s former neighbors Al and Susan, and Cheryl’s new Hoopers neighbor, Eric. And Laura from Hoopers stopped over to say goodbye. Cheryl was treated to a road trip by friends Terry and Tom who drove in from Washington D.C. to chauffeur her to Hoopers Island to check on her house (yes, it’s on the market again), make a few repairs, and have dinner at Old Salty’s restaurant. Phew! We were off to a good start.

We continued our journey down the Chesapeake Bay (passing a northbound submarine escorted by the Coast Guard) with stops in Solomon’s Island and Deltaville before finally reaching Hampton Public Piers on Day 6.

And on the seventh day we rested.