We were about 12 miles from our boat slip, so we headed that way at a nice cruising speed of about 18 mph. As we got closer to our inlet, it got darker and the clouds started moving in. I saw a couple of large lighting strikes close to the marina. I bumped the throttle to ALL AHEAD FULL (about 35 mph) and hoped for the best. We got to the slip just as it started raining...
I got a couple of lines tied and got the family off the boat. They all headed for cover at the bath house while I stayed and batoned down the hatches. I finished tying everything off and ran for the bath house. As I got to within about 30 feet of shelter, I was tired of running, so I decided to walk the rest of the way. About that time, lightning struck close enough to me that I heard the thunder about a second after the flash! That lit a fire under my butt and I hauled ass the rest of the way to the bath house.
We took showers and got the Potomac River film off of us and sat there in the bath house for about an hour. Eventually, the clouds lifted and the sun came back out. So we went back to the boat and headed up the river to get a good spot for the fireworks show. ...and what a great show it was! I had my family with me and it was one of the best fireworks shows I remember seeing.
We headed back to the slip after the fireworks were over...there's a story here too, but I'll leave this one for another day. We got home safely and that's all that really matters
