Ahh – that old saying – “the definition of cruising is fixing your boat in exotic ports.”
We’ve come to believe that Solomons doesn’t really like us. Three of the four times we’ve been here, we’ve had to work on our boat here. This time it’s the voltage regulator. Talking with Balmar technical support makes it 50-50 as to whether we had a component failure or if we killed it. Either way, a new voltage regulator is scheduled to arrive tomorrow morning. If all goes well with installation and testing, we may try to sneak out of the harbor on Wed – probably before dawn so no one will notice and no more parts will die.
But the other old saying about the difference between ordeal and adventure tells us that it’s all up to us how we deal with the realities of cruising. While here in Solomons waiting for parts, some great friends drove through. We enjoyed a meal and conversation then found a coffee shop known for excellent key lime pie and some enjoyable live Sunday afternoon music. We sat on the patio, watching both people and boats go by. We were also able to catch back up with some friends from Galesville who moved their boats down here. Then we met some new friends working on their new-to-them boat and pondering a transition to full time cruising. More great conversation. Quite likely we’ll meet them again on the water. After all, the cruising community really is pretty small. Throw in a few nice walks, a couple of dinghy rides through the harbor and it’s been quite an enjoyable few days!
But if not…