Saturday, December 25, 1993

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
A few weeks ago, Roy and I agreed not to give each other Christmas presents, but he broke the agreement and got me a couple of presents, so then I got him a present. We gave each other our presents as we motored north on the Potomac this morning, with Maryland on our right and Virginia on our left. Roy gave me a clever coin bank. As soon as you put a coin into it, the coin disappears. (That's nothing new; I've been doing that with my bank account for years.) He also gave me a spray container of hot pepper for self-defense. I gave him a bag of cashews. Roy also gave the Jofian a new electric heater, one of the expensive ceramic kind.
The wind began picking up in the early afternoon, so we headed for a marina at Colonial Beach. Roy had to feel his way into it very slowly and carefully. We couldn't see the channel markers until we were almost up to them, and the narrow harbor entrance was even more difficult to see. The water was about eight feet deep most of the way. Eventually, we got inside and tied up next to the fuel dock. However, the marina office is closed for the holidays and won't open until January 3rd, so we weren't able to pay or get a gate key. This meant only one of us could go out at a time. I took the hand-held VHF radio with me and walked to the grocery store, about two or three miles away, but it was closed. When I got back, I called Roy on channel 78, and he came out and let me in.