Beneteau Swift Trawler

Each October, when the weather cools and leaves turn orange, green-eyed monster haunts my wardrobe. I cringe as I watch cruise through the filter of Annapolis couples on their way south. I'm jealous as I say goodbye to friends who will be wintering in the Bahamas, well bummed that I will not be joining the annual fall migration to the warm waters of quiet days snorkeling and napping Position steering. Yes, at the venerable age of 30 years, my greatest desire is to live the luxurious life of a boater at retirement.

This year I decided not to wallow in my misfortune to own private cruise. See Nice weather for the weekend ahead, I told my husband John, "Why not at least pretendwe're cruise? Let the first stage of an imaginary winter south - Come to Solomon. "No argument there. We packed that night and shoved out of nine on Saturday morning. The sky was clearing from the west, pushing the last remnants of the storm Friday night out of sight. The smell of diesel, combined with fresh air and fresh fall was happy. And although this time we had no family and friends on the dock to say farewell, it was like an adventure memorable nonetheless.

We had a glorious hours long and wide reach in the Bay of Annapolis, and we headed west into the Patuxent River, every fiber of my being was wrong to continue south to warmer waters . But even a cruise pretend we do not have to learned the next anchor at night, we continued upstream Two miles at Solomons Island. The breeze from the west which had carried us so quickly to the bottom of the bay was now on the nose, making a bumpy finish our journey of eight hours, but we enjoyed watching the houses not quite sumptuous lining the north bank of the river and dream of a quiet night on the hook for our last cruising season.

As we motor into town, passing through yellow and red autumn trees dot the shore, I could not help thinking about our first visit to Solomon, five years earlier - almost day to day, in fact. This time, we were really to the south to the Florida Keys for the winter, and Solomon was one of our first stops along the road. It was a cold day crossing the Bay Choptank river, with a wind chill of ice south of our faces and blowing huge waves of the Bay, inland of us the whole way. We spent the night wiping the condensation inside the cabin and huddle together trying to warm their hands smaller candles. Oh, yes, I'd be happy to do it again if it meant I could spend the rest of the winter warm and happy.

Coming Back Creek, the main artery of Solomon, "as she was, we saw immediately that our choice of anchor - a broadband Nice open water near the Calvert Marine Museum - was out of question . It is clear that we had not been alone in this place in mind, the anchor was packed. So we continued past the anchor and Calvert Marina (where a large number of trawlers still filled the docks, probably left over Trawler Fest a few weeks earlier). After a few more marinas harbor, we found a decent plan B just in front of Anchor Cove Hotel Holiday Inn. He has been busy too, but we were sure we could find a place. While we were trying to figure out where we could remove the hook, we were more excited toWindshear, a Wauquiez Centurion 40, which the captain assured him that we were welcome to squeeze between him and the boat next to him. There was not a ton of room, but he was happy to share space. How nice, I thought - a warm welcome in the neighborhood.

After our anchor has been firmly and we were sitting comfortably between the Beneteau and Wauquiez with seat hammock and a boxer antsy in the cockpit, we set the launch of the boat forward. We had splashed in no time and jumped to see the 'hood. . . or perhaps I should say, the neighborhood, sinc.