Stats for May 31, 2019

Origin: Tangier Island

Destination: Solomons Island, VA

Distance: 46.1 miles

Speed: 8 mph

Time on the Move: 5 hours and 47 minutes

We left Tangier for Solomons Island which we were looking forward to since several friends recently stayed there and enjoyed it. Heading through the area, there were lots of marinas and restaurants right on the water, making us think of our home waters in Lake St Clair. It was beautiful.

However, when we got to the marina, we were slightly unimpressed with the quality and location. We were really excited about the pool, but it was a super long walk from our slip and closed early so we would have to wait for the next day, which was fine. Oh well. I guess it’s our fault for picking the low rent marina.

The next day Mike needed to do oil changes on our engines. He has already done 3 oil changes, as it is required every 150-250 hours. He is hoping this will be the last time for that chore on our trip. Oil changes for Mike require the rest of us to either hide away in the aft cabin or get off the boat. We chose to get off the boat and start laundry, receive our grocery delivery, and then head to the pool. The kids also spotted a water snake and some foxes playing by a tree, which was the highlight of our stop here.

After all the effort of trucking laundry to the laundry room, getting it started, meeting the grocery guy, hauling the groceries in our wagon to the boat, sneaking them through the boat to the kitchen past open hatches to the engine room, gathering quick lunch items and swim suits, we finally started our 10 minute walk to the pool. Whew!!

When we got to the pool, we were greeted by a pool attendant who told us we were not allowed to use the pool because we were not slip owners. I assured her we were welcome to use the pool because we were paying to stay at this crappy marina, and the pool is really the only good thing about this place. (I did not say those words, exactly). She admitted that she was new and wasn’t sure, but she still refused to let us use the pool.

So the kids and I left our stuff there and trucked 10 minutes back to the office where I explained the situation. The ladies working were very apologetic and called the pool attendant right away to explain that we could, in fact, use the pool. Since I was right there I switched the laundry to the dryer and started a new load before heading the 10 minutes back to the pool. When we got there we did not hear an apology or anything similar, but at least she let us use the pool (she almost didn’t let us in again because I didn’t know my slip number!). It wasn’t long before we got in trouble for eating our apples and bagels in the pool area and she made the kids stand outside fence to finish eating. I think there was something else we got in trouble for after that, and within another hour I was done with the excitement of the pool. Luckily, Mike was done with the oil changes and he was ready for pool duty. So I tagged him and headed back on laundry duty. Life on a boat is not easy, I tell you!!

We got cleaned up and took a very exciting bus ride to the busy part of town where we learned it was “concert weekend.” This is apparently a long awaited event for the townies as it was packed with people!! The wait for every restaurant was ridiculous and I ended up encouraging us to leave after waiting at a place for 20 minutes. I was pretty sure we would have cranky kids and pay too much anyway (obviously I was already feeling cranky), so to the playground and ice cream shop we went. It wasn’t the evening we were expecting, but then they very rarely are. We ordered an Uber ride back to the boat and listened to the concert from the sundeck of the boat while we had some quick dinner that we already had on the boat. The boys also went back fox hunting with Mike–success again!!

Our stay in Solomons was not quite what we’d hoped, but we don’t ever know exactly what to expect going to new places all the time, so we rolled with the punches the best way we know how and booked it out of there asap the next morning!!

Thanks for reading and following along!!