On Friday, May 24th, the Estrellita was finally whole again. Our mechanic, Bobby, worked 3 long and hard days this past week getting the 2 new fuel tanks back into their tight positions with fractions of an inch to spare. I had agreed to remove and reinstall the water heater and fresh water pump system, so I had some work yet to do, but it felt wonderful to actually see the end of the project in sight. We made plans to depart Atlantic Yacht Basin on Saturday morning after 3 ½ weeks of down time. I was a little nervous about receiving the final bill for all of the work that had been done, but I was pleasantly surprised that their invoice actually matched their original estimate. Wow, that’s a boating first for us! To any fellow cruisers, I can’t recommend a repair yard any more highly! All in all, we consider our time there to be one of God’s blessings as we learned more about patience, contentment and opportunities to invest ourselves in other people’s lives.

Stel used the last few days with the rental car to re-provision the boat and do some miscellaneous chores. The Memorial weekend weather forecast looked great, so our plan was to use the 3 days to quickly move up the Chesapeake Bay and catch up to some of our Looper friends before they make the offshore trek along the NJ coast and into New York Harbor. So far, so good! Our long days in the middle of the Chesapeake have been ideal, with clear blue skies and very calm seas. The many sailors in this area were not happy with the lack of wind, but it was perfect for us. We have cruised a total of 17 hours during the last two days and we are now anchored on a beautiful Mill Creek off of Solomons Island, Maryland. Our plan is to depart early Memorial Day morning, cross over to the east side of the bay to St. Michaels, and spend a day sightseeing.