Day One - Eventful, to say the least!

We set off Sunday am from Dundalk. We'd gone to Scott's friend, Dave's house to spend the night there, as he has deeper water at his pier. This allowed us to leave in the am, instead of waiting for high tide to get out of our Shallow Creek at 3pm.
The weather was great; beautiful, sunny day. The winds were better(calmer)than expected. Except for some a few sailboats, and some fishing areas, we had the water to ourselves. I took some pictures of the bay bridge, various lighthouses and other things along the way. Check this post later for photos. We did a 9 hour day, and came into Solomons Island after 6pm.
Scott prepared to anchor, and went outside, to go up front. He left the door cracked, and our cat, Zuzu, made a break for outside. She'd made several escapes the past few days that we've been on the boat. I think she senses that this isn't a typical weekend/week long trip. Well, this time when she bolted out of the door(I was yelling at her and running to get her, probably made her escape even more urgent), she jumped up onto the cockpit railing....into the air....and landed in the creek! Yes, our cat went overboard!!
Of course I went balistic, and screamed for Scott, who dropped what he was doing(setting the anchor)and came to help me. He grabbed our "cat net", which thank God we packed, and went to grab her. Luckily, she has white on her face, or he'd never have seen her. She was swimming in circles. When he called her name, she started swimming towards his voice. He couldn't wait for her to get to the side of the boat, as we were still moving a bit(not finished anchoring). He reached out with the net as far as he could, and grabbed her. She promptly started to climb out of the net, to escape this second terror. Scott had to dump her onto the cockpit floor, to avoid her getting out of the net, and back into the water. She scrambled to her feet and flew inside. I followed after, expected to find her broken in half.
She was on our bed, which was now drenched. I put her in a towel, on my lap. She shivered for a while, then started to dry herself. Scott and I both poked and prodded her, to see if anyting was broken, or hurt. She made no noise, and seemed to move normally as she cleaned and dried herself. She then ate some food, drank a lot of water and settled down for the night. I was much more traumatized that she was, and had a drink.
This am, she seems completely normal and unscarred by the whole event. We're hoping that once was enough for her to learn that lesson! Most boat people we've talked to, who travel with pets(cats)say that they'll go in once...and that's enough! Needless to say, she's getting extra attention today. She's currently in a cocoon underneath the blankets on our bed. Gracie, our other cat, is nearby, offering support. She's not usually welcome that close to Zuzu. Again, pictures to follow.
So, with the trauma behind us, we set off at 7am today, headed for anchor in Mill Creek, south of Reedville, Virginia, late this afternoon. It will be another 9 hour or so day. We're trying to make as much ground in the Chesapeake as we can, while we have good wind days(mostly calm). Once we're out of the bay, we'll be in more narrow water for a while, and the wind will be less of a factor. We'll then have to be concerned with water depth!
Scott's brother, Jim has offered to put a map up on the blog, so people can track our trip. Stay tuned for that. :)