Jackson Creek, Piankatank River

Today is a hang-out day -- we spent the early morning working/puttering around the boat, then decided to take a dinghy ride into the northwestern branch of Jackson Creek -- it would be closer to the "center" of Deltaville -- we were going to out for lunch ;-)

Deltaville isn't much of a town -- it has no real "downtown" -- mostly it's a series of marine service stores, a very few "restaurants" and an occasional curio shoppe strung out along route 33, the main road in and out of the area. There is a large concentration of marinas in the area, by our count 17 -- it has become the "weekend home" for many "Richmond-ians" because of relatively easy access from that city.

The dinghy ride up the creek was pleasant enough,  like its Eastern counterpart, it is mostly lined with very nice homes on relatively large lots. We headed as far up the creek as practical (to get close to the highway) and lucked out: -- we found a small private marina (essentially a row of slips) and a nice couple who told us leaving our dinghy in the "empty" slip next to theirs for a few hours would be "no problem".

Dinghy-ride scene -- the Crepe Myrtle made this house gorgeous !

Arriving on the dock -- the dinghy is in an empty slip

On the way out of the marina, we met two other nice beings, one canine and one human. The canine, a large black Lab with a collar but no tags, greeted Sue as she came off the dock with great enthusiasm -- he seemed like he had been expecting her and was genuinely happy she had arrived! The human, a "Richmondian", was working on his outboard in a small shed that served as the Marina "office". He welcomed us as well, explaining that dog wasn't his and that, in fact, he had to stop his truck on the way down the road to the marina because it was "just standing there" -- apparently he had spent some time coaxing the dog out of the way; the dog then followed him into the marina!

Since he was a "local" (relative to ourselves), we asked him for recommendations as to where to get lunch. After hemming and hawing for a while, he finally admitted that he didn't think much of any of the local restaurants -- he did mention, however, that a new place had just opened up that he hadn't tried  (Southern Bliss Cafe) and "it might be your best bet" -- armed with this information, we set off to walk the 1.5 mile or so to find something to eat.

It was at this point that we realized our canine friend, let's call him "Midnight", had decided to escort Sue and I to the cafe. Really!! - Midnight stayed with us all the way, He would walk out in front of us, then circle around behind us, all the time sniffing out and marking territory. He had no compunctions about walking in the road, even on the busy Route 33 he was oblivious to the traffic, which invariably went out of its way to avoid him. There were a number of occasions where we even had to explain to drivers that it "wasn't our dog". Midnight also tried to enter a curio shoppe we stopped at along the way and the restaurant when we arrived -- he had clearly become "our" dog.

Jack & Midnight patiently waiting for Sue on the curio shoppe porch

The sun was out and it was hot; Midnight was clearly thirsty, his tongue hanging out to almost the ground. He even sampled some culvert water along the way, but rejected it (it looked pretty foul to me). When we got to the cafe (which turned out, by the way, to be very good) we asked for a paper bowl and put some out for him -- he lapped up three large glasses worth -- and genuinely seemed grateful. He hung around outside the restaurant while we ate and joined us when we were done, seemingly to return with us. Shortly after we started back, however, he disappeared -- we aren't sure where he went but certainly enjoyed meeting and "hanging" with our new canine friend.

When we got back to the marina, we ran into the Richmond gentleman driving out in his truck -- we waved him down to thank him for the recommendation -- when we told him about the decent food (and characteristically southern slow service), he thanked us -- he was on his way to get some lunch and was wondering whether we did OK. Oh, and during the ensuing chitchat, he dropped this "bombshell" on us -- he was leaving later in the day to go back to Richmond for a "birthday party for Bruce Springsteen's Band" -- he actually asked us not to tell anyone because it was a "surprise" -- don't know why he told us -- perhaps he saw the NJ sticker on our dinghy or perhaps he was pulling our leg -- we spent the next three days sampling Google to see if we could find an news about it, but never did.

After dinghy-ing back to our boat, we spent the rest of the afternoon by the Marina's pool (we paid to use the facilities), take a shower and hang out in the lounge (just an air-conditioned room -- sadly, no bar :-) Dinner was crab cakes and clams we had purchased on our "road trip with Midnight" -- yum.

Setting up to read at the pool

I liked the colors and the reflections

Oh, one post script-- in addition to the very friendly people and canine that I mentioned above and yesterday's helpful grocery store and marina owners, we were stopped literally 5 different times while we were walking by drivers leaning out their windows and offering us a ride -- Deltaville is demonstrably  the "friendliest" place i have ever been to.

Jackson Creek, Piankatank River

Today we are going to Deltaville, about 20 miles south of the Greater Wicomoco. The weather is sunny, mid 80's high with a very light northerly wind -- a wind we really can't sail.

The trip down to Deltaville was straightforward, albeit boring. The seas were calm, the current not against us and in general, there was little to do but baby-sit the autopilot as we worked our way down the bay.

Sue researching "what's hot" and "what's not" in Deltaville

You can get into Deltaville from a creek on the Rappahannock river (the Northern approach) or from a creek just off the bay itself (the Southern approach) -- we opted for the latter since it looked less crowded, prettier and would be shorter to "kick-off" from when we leave to head south on Monday.The channel in was well marked but very narrow in spots and barely 6 feet at its lowest point --  we dropped the hook in the Northeast branch of the creek, just north of the Deltaville Marina. This would be our home for the next few days -- apart from the Marina, the shore was lined with nice residential homes, our kind of place.

Well, almost -- unfortunately we also saw nettles (a.k.a. stinging jellyfish) in the water as we dropped the anchor. This was the first time we had seen them on our trip and a big disappointment -- we wouldn't be swimming off the boat in this anchorage. Indeed, there is a cottage industry in the Chesapeake area for "Nettle Pools" -- basically a swimming pool sized net that you can put in the water to keep them out -- unfortunately, we didn't have one :-(

A Chesapeake nettle

Not being able to swim, we decided that the next best thing would be to go ashore. So, we set up the dinghy and motored the short distance to shore, conveniently finding a dinghy dock at the Marina. Sue went off to talk to the Marina owners to see whether it'd be OK to leave our dinghy for a couple of hours -- my theory is that woman generally get a better response than men when asking to use a facility.

As it turns out, the Marina owner was there and was very nice to Sue and explained all our options (we could dump garbage and/or user the showers and/or take a slip, all for differing fees of course) -- he also told Sue that the local grocery, while a distance, generally was willing to drive cruisers back to their marina once they finished shopping. He even offered to drive us to the grocery. Wow, talk about service oriented businesses !

Naturally, we had our "ever present" grocery list with us (we had to get ready for the arrival of our guests on Saturday) and were interested in getting some exercise, so we opted to walk to the grocery -- perhaps a 3 mile jaunt. It was hot but there was a pleasant breeze in the air. On the way, we happened upon another cruising couple -- Brits and in a different marina, they were out for an afternoon walk. Linda was the more talkative of the pair (we never get her mate's name) -- among the things she shared in her clipped British accent was that they had gotten too close to a Naval Academy facility in Annapolis and had been "shoo-ed away". She also "just mentioned" that they had about 60K miles "under their keel" -- that's one heck of a lot of cruising !

The Deltaville Market was a delight -- the Customer Service desk assured us that they would be happy to drive us back and encouraged us to ask their staff for anything we couldn't find in the aisles (which we did and the uniform response was very polite and cheerful help). Once we checked out, the store's owner, a nice woman in her late 50's, drove us back to the marina in her personal car -- try that in NY/NJ!

She and her husband lived locally and have owned the grocery on and off for 30 years -- they actually had a 10 year "break" a while back when they sold the business, but a combination of the new owner deciding he wanted out and her not finding more satisfying work, had caused them to buy it back. She told us that in past years, sh would get about 10 transient cruisers like ourselves per month, but that this year it had been much fewer (perhaps 2/month). She was happy to hear the praise both Sue and I heaped on her staff -- in her words, "the training had worked". By the way, the car was a late model BMW SUV -- guess you can make a decent living owning a rural grocery in America :-)

Deltaville Harbor scene

Talk about being "protective" of your boat, on a lift and in a garage!

By the time we got everything back to the boat, we were both "good" tired -- the balance of the day was spent quietly reading and/or blogging on our hook.

Sandy Point, Greater Wicomoco River

Having no need to rush to Deltaville and being in a pretty spot, we spent the day in our Sandy Point home. The sun was out and there was a North wind at about 10 knots -- this kept everything and everyone "cool".

We considered taking a dinghy ride over to Reedville, the main town on the Wicomoco and home to the Omega Protein corporation, a large processor of fish into lipstick and food supplements. Reedville and Omega both live off of the menhaden -- a small, oily fish that thrives in vast numbers off the Atlantic Coast and that has been fished from pre-colonial times. Quite coincidentally, Jack recently had read a book, The Most Important Fish in the Sea", that lays out the case for the humble menhaden's role in food chains and the damage that Omega is potentially doing by its "over-fishing" -- a worthwhile read.

The Humble Menhaden, perhaps more important than its appearance would suggest

Did you know:

• The colonials learned from the Indians that burying a menhaden in with their seed would greatly improve the yield of their crops.

Well we decided to pass on the trip in -- it would be a long dinghy ride and Reedville is noted for the smell of its processing plant -- not exactly an enticement for us to visit. So we just hung out.

Around 4pm we went swimming off the back of the boat. The water was clean (we could see our knees, the deepest limb so far on the trip :-) and warm, a stark contrast to the cooler temperature of the air -- drying off would involve lots of goosebumps.

A short time after settling onto the deck for our evening libation, we watched Mike and Liz put up the sail on their dinghy -- taking a sail around the cove was apparently their afternoon activity. They sailed by our boat and we invited them to come and join us for a glass of wine; soon, they were on our deck and we were all chit-chatting.

Mike & Liz in the "mini-me" Hinckley

Mike is an Oral Surgeon and Liz is a Family Physician, they had 7 kids and lived and (still) worked in Buffalo -- wow, we couldn't have thought of a more unlikely combination for a cruising couple. Mike told us he had bought the Hinckley from an old gent who had ordered it (it was the gent's 3rd Sou'wester) but never got to sail it (it took 2 years to build and he was 86 and ailing by the time it was ready). Even Mike's dinghy was a Hinckley -- it had lovely lines and was varnished to the nines. They kept their boat "in charter" for many years in Maine, but recently decided to move it to "South of the Mason Dixon Line" so they they could be warm -- he was quite emphatic about never venturing above that line again :-) Cruisers are the most interesting people !

After a nice conversation where we all shared our stories and got to know each other a bit, they left to return to their boat. We wouldn't see them again this trip -- they had to fly home on the weekend and had changed their plan, rather than leaving their boat in Deltaville, they had decided to put it into a marina in Herrington Harbor, much closer to Annapolis (and Buffalo!). Perhaps our paths will cross again.

Sandy Point, Greater Wicomoco River

Today we are leaving Solomon's Island to head further south. Our goal for this week is to get to Deltaville where we expect to meet Rachel (Sue's daughter), her husband Jon and their daughter Scarlett next weekend.

We had a few days to get to Deltaville, so we decided to make our next stop an anchorage in the Greater Wicomoco river that was recommended by an "live aboard" we met at Zahniser's Marina. It was south of the Virgina border, a 25 mile or so run down the Western shore and would position us nicely to make the remaining 20 or so miles to Deltaville later in the week.

We were up and off the hook early because we were expecting a long day. The sky was sunny, the wind out of the West and variable over a 10 to 20+ knot range; the current was with us and apart from some lumpiness in the seas, the conditions were perfect for our sail south. Indeed, with the boat on a beam reach and "in the groove" and Sue smiling at the helm (there was a reef in the main), we had a rollicking good sail down the bay averaging well over 6 knots all the way -- indeed, the stronger gusts accelerated the boat well into the 7's and occasionally, over 8.  It was exciting and exhilarating, the best sail of the trip thus far.

We arrived at the entrance to the Greater Wicomoco, doused the sails and motored our way in -- the entrance was easily navigated and we soon were rounding Sandy point, which formed one side of our cove for our evening -- it was large, lined with homes on large lots and just lovely -- it would be a serene place to spend the evening.

The view across the cove

The cove was mostly deep (16') but did have a small 9' deep "island" available -- liking as much scope as possible, we motored over to this patch, dropped anchor, and ran into our first snag of the day -- perhaps I should call it an "unsnag" since the problem was that the anchor wouldn't hold. It kept dragging over what was almost certainly rock at the bottom of the harbor -- we could hear it clunking along.

We tried a couple of tricks to try and get the anchor to set, but were unsuccessful. Just as we decided to move and try another spot, another boat showed up in the cove. Lo and behold, it was Mike and Liz on their Hinckley -- as we later found out, they had talked to the same "live-aboard" in Solomon's and also decided to try his recommendation.

As we were motoring off the shallow spot, we passed their boat and I called over that I couldn't get my anchor to hold. They either didn't hear me or decided to try their own luck, because they basically motored over to the same spot and dropped the hook.

I watched Mike's boat drag backwards along the same line mine had -- eventually, his hook grabbed something and he stayed put -- grrr!!!!! Meanwhile, Sue and I tried our luck in the deeper water, further away from shore. Unlike Mike, our luck was poor, the anchor dragged here as well -- we were getting frustrated.

The Hinckley, peacefully at anchor

We abandoned the deeper water attempt and moved to yet a third spot, still relatively deep but closer to shore -- my "theory" being that things might be "muddier" there.  This is a case where the "third" was a charm, the anchor held and we were finally settled into our home for the evening.

The trip down had been exhilaration, getting the anchor down had been maddening -- a "typical" boat day :-) We were both burned out to do much else so we just hung out and enjoyed the scenery, including a starry night with a prominent milky way, multiple shooting stars and a satellite arcing brightly over our head. Life is good.

Back Creek, Solomon's Island

The morning brought more clouds and rain -- we weren't going anywhere today. Kerry and Jen had both planned to leave early, needing to be home to attend to chores and the like. Of course, Sue insisted on sending them off with their belly's full -- so breakfast was what is becoming our "guest" standard: a large batch of bacon and eggs !

After breakfast and some final chit-chat, I dinghy-ed the girls in to get to their cars. Just as we arrived at the dock, another cruising couple were getting into their dinghy -- I saw that he had an "electric" outboard and I asked him about his experience with it as I had considered (and ultimately rejected) buying one.

Breakfast conversation

One thing led to another in  the conversation and I soon discovered that like me, he was from NYC (the Bronx in his case) and our respective high schools had been rivals in football, track and basketball. They (Mike and Elizabeth) had a 45 foot Hinckley (perhaps the "Bentley" of American boats, hand made with loving care) sitting on a mooring close to ours. They had brought the boat down from Maine and were planning to explore the Chesapeake on it for the next few years. Like us, Deltaville was their final major stop -- they planned to leve the boat there when they returned home.

A much as I was enjoying the conversation, I needed to get back to helping the girls off, so I  excused myself with a "see you in Deltaville".

Once the girls were gone, I picked Sue up from the boat so we could get some exercise and do some laundry (we have carpets/throw mats all over the boat and they needed some "freshening" after a few weeks at sea).

We opted for exercise first -- on the way to the grocery store, we passed the Calvert Museum and noticed that they were preparing for a concert -- they had 4 "headliners" coming: Smash Mouth, Sugar Ray and two other groups whose names I rapidly forgot. The concert would be loud, outdoors and, in fact, in our boat's backyard as the crow flies -- we unwittingly had a "front row" seat to the concert and given the acts and our musical tastes, we weren't sure we were gong to enjoy the show.

Once we returned to the Marina, we did our laundry and some "electronic" chores. and retreated to the boat for a quiet afternoon. Naturally, the quiet didn't last -- the first set started at 5:30 or so and we were continuously "regaled" by the rotation through the 4 headliner groups. Some of the music was actually familiar, even enjoyable, but we were definitely relieved when they ended around 9:30, well past the normal "cruiser's midnight".

Back Creek, Solomon's Island

We awoke to a partly cloudy day -- there was a 50% chance of rain, but we had Kerry & Jennifer arriving and just as long as it wasn't down pouring, we were going to try and sail.

Jack dinghy-ed in to pick up the girls who had arrived separately but on time. After packing the two of them and all there stuff into the dingy, Jack wondered where he was going to sit -- seriously, they had brought a lot of stuff :-)

Once they were aboard and had the mandatory "head" lesson from Sue, dropped off the mooring to go and sail. The wind was out of the SW and variable, averaging about 8 -10 knots. The sailing was good -- we started by taking back and forth across the bay in front of Solomon's but quickly got bored with that and decided to go up the Patuxent.

The Patuxent river is wide (perhaps a mile in the lower reaches) and deep (saw over 90 feet in spots) and is navigable perhaps 30 miles up into the Maryland heartland. Its shores are mostly either residential dwellings (not too many) or natural areas. We got perhaps 5 miles up, mostly by tacking back and forth after sailing under the highway bridge for route 4 (clearance of 150 feet -- high enough for big ships).

The skies were constantly threatening until early afternoon; our persistence paid off however, save for a few minute cloudburst that drove the ladies off the deck and and reduced visibility to perhaps 50 yards, we weren't rained on. The sailing and the conversation were very pleasant -- it was great fun for all of us to catch up on what has been going on in our respective lives, re-live fun family moments and solve the problems of the world :-)

Kerry "chilllin" on deck

Jen and Sue chatting it up

Somewhere in about mid-afternoon, the sun came out and it warmed enough that we all thought a swim was in order. We happened to be close to Leonard creek, a substantial side channel of the Patuxent. We sailed over and found a lovely cove just inside the entrance to drop the hook. Apart from a big house on the point (there always seems to be one on the point) we were surrounded by pristine woodland, a perfect spot to jump in and take a swim.

The house had dogs, one of which was very curious about us -- Jennifer, our resident dog expert, explained to us that his lack of barking, wagging tail and hanging tongue all meant he wanted to come an play with us in the water. The house was set on a bluff that was steep and heavily overgrown -- we all found watching our canine friend probing the shrubbery for a way down to the water's edge very entertaining -- sadly, he never made it so we never got to meet him up close and personal.

The afternoon remained sunny and we really were enjoying the swimming but eventually it became time for us to move on. We "weighed" the anchor, motored our way back to our mooring in Solomon's and dinghy-ed in the Marina for dinner.

C'mon Jen, you have to get in !

Mugging for the camera

Dinner was at the "Dry Dock", which has become our favorite spot in Solomon's -- it has a deck that overlooks the marina, providing a nice nautical (and cool) environment for a dinner of what is generally excellent food. Sue and I had been here a few times, including once on a previous sailing trip with some good friends -- all in all, we highly recommend the place (it's a bit pricey but worth it).

An after dinner photo-op !

By the time we got back to the boat after dinner, we were all pretty bushed from the day's activities -- so it was off to bed. Kerry and Jennifer both opted to sleep on deck; about 2am a squall came through and drove them below where they spent the rest of what turned out to be a restful night.

Back Creek, Solomon's Island

Today is another down day for us -- we are expecting Kerry and Jen tomorrow morning and so, we are staying put; well, almost -- we actually started the day by moving the boat from Mill creek to Back creek so we could take a mooring a Zahniser's Marina -- that would simplify the logistics of picking up the girls and would also enable us to take advantage of the pool and laundry the Marina offers.

Once we arrived at our mooring, we packed up our laundry and dinghy-ed in to check out the facilities. Zahniser's is a large marina with numerous slips, a great restaurant (the Dry Dock, but it's not "dry" :-), a pool, wi-fi --basically everything a cruiser needs. We spent the rest of the morning doing laundry/chores, had lunch at the Pool (great hummus and Turkey with eggplant sandwich).

Now that we are done, let's go have some fun

After lunch we decided to go and visit the local "Calvert Museum" -- this turned out to be a fascinating place; you could pet sting rays and/or skates, watch (large) river otters play in their habitat; explore the kinds of fossils found along the Chesapeake; visit an extensive wooden boat collection and visit the Drum Point lighthouse, which was relocated to the museum when it was decommissioned in the 70's to preserve it.

Sue and some Crepe Myrtle on the way to the museum -- the both look "Grand" :-)

This guy was faster than I was -- river otters are very cute when they play

The Drum Point Lighthouse

Did you know that:

• Rays have stingers and skates don't; rays tend to live on the surface, skates tend to be bottom dwellers.
• The Chesapeake was formed when the oceans rose 20K years ago and "overran" the Susquehanna river channel to the sea.
• The Calvert Cliffs, that 30 mile or so stretch of the Western Shore of the Bay that I mentioned earlier which has no "sailboat friendly" harbors, is a very active fossil collection area. Besides innumerable seashell fossils, many ancient whale, crocodillain and megladon (super sized shark) fossils are found there.
• A megladon could grow to be the size of a "tractor trailer" -- next time you are next to a tractor trailer think about that; if man had lived in the same era, he (or she) would have barely been a "canape" for this giant.

The Megladon's Jaws; some of those teeth are 7" long

• The Chesapeake is the only place in the world where "multi-tree" dugout canoes were built -- called "bugeyes", these boats were built for commerce. Like dugouts, the trees were "hollowed out" by burning, shaped with metal tools, they were then "pinned together" to form the bottom of the hull. Then sides (risers) were added. -- the museum had some 3 and 4 tree bugeyes on in their collectio and 9 tree bugeyes are known to have been built.  See the pictures for more.

Your "standard dugout canoe is on the left (behind the sign); local Indians made them by burning out  a tree trunk and then carving out the shape with sea shells.

This is the inside of a 4 tree bugeye; you can see the trees form the floor of the boat and how the risers were attached with "frames".

The 4 tree bugeye from the outside

OK, OK -- enough of this "educational" stuff -- back to the narrative.

After our tour of the museum, we returned to the Marina, showered, (Jack shaved for the first time in 8 days) and stopped for an appetizer and entree at the Dry Dock restaurant -- all in all, a fun and easy day.

Mill Creek, Solomon's Island

The plan for today is basically to hang out, take a walk, get haircuts, do a little shopping and otherwise sit out an expected rainy day.

It rained, sometimes heavily, on and off all morning but by lunch the rain had stopped although the skies were still quite overcast. After a quick lunch on board, we dropped the dinghy and motored to the dinghy dock the town provides for transients like ourselves.

Sitting under the dodger, wishing the rain would go away

Raining on the creek, this was the view across from our comfy little point

The town of Solomon's Island is at the end of a peninsula that once was an island but today is connected by a "street level" bridge to the mainland. The town itself is small and predominantly restaurants, tourist shops and marinas, none of which was of interest to us. Our objective was exercise, a barber shop/salon and a grocery store, all of which could be obtained by walking about 1.5 miles up and along Route 4, the main divided highway through the Solomon's island area.

The walk to the grocery store (with a successful stop for a trim for both of us along the way) was hot and sweaty -- the A/C in the grocery store was on "high" and felt wonderful. After "loitering" around the store to pick up the few items we needed (and take advantage of the A/C), we headed back, stopping for a lemon ice (Jack)/vanilla custard(Sue) at a "Rita's" along the way. It started raining again just as we finished our treats, so the walk and dinghy ride back to the boat were wet (but not too uncomfortable).

Back at the boat, Jack was feeling creative so he breaded and fried some "chicken bites" with a yogurt and egg binder and wokked-up some veggies to go with it -- deee-lish and enough left over for another day!

The day ended with the rain stopping, a spectacular rainbow, the skies clearing, a soft pastel colored sunset and a dazzlingly clear, star studded night sky to sooth our wet souls.

The rainbow went from horizon to horizon -- I couldn't quite get it all in my camera -- Truly Awesome !!

The lighting was ethereal and I love the reflection in the water

This was the view towards the sun as it set; unretouched, you just can't improve nature's palette

Likewise, this was the view away from the sun as it set; simply breathtaking

Mill Creek Solomon's Island

We got up early (6:30am) to make the 40 mile/8 hour or so run to Solomon's Island -- the conditions were not ideal -- there is a building 10-15 knot SW breeze (basically on our nose, no surprise there) and 1-2' chop and the day is young -- one can only wonder what things will be like later in the day. But the forecast still says there will be a cold front coming through tonight that will cause Thunderstorms and rain tomorrow, so today still sounds like the better day to travel -- so we decide to stick with our plan and go for it.

By the time we had breakfast and raised the anchor, it's 7:30 or so. The good news is that we had the current with us, at least for the morning -- this meant we could motor pretty consistently in the 5.5-6.5 range, a real benefit. Of course, it also means that eventually would turn on us and be a deficit. Given our departure time and the turn of the tide, we'd get the benefit for the first 5 hours or so and "pay the piper" the last 3 hours or so.

Sure enough, that's pretty much what happened -- the trip took about 8 hours, the tide turned about midday and the last few hours were a very frustrating slog through much higher seas (3-4 feet I'd day) and winds (frequent gusts in the low 20's) at much lower speeds (I saw high 2's occasionally, but mostly in the high 3's and low 4's). Decent planning gave us a good idea of what to expect but it doesn't really help much to know you are going to be slogging when you actually end up slogging :-)

One notable incident on the trip was this freighter that passed us -- it was moving fast and, as it turns out, we had chosen a "tween the markers" course that pretty much put us in its way (it was using the same deep water markers as we were). Sue was at the helm when it loomed over the horizon and we she quickly changed course to move us out of its way. Sue also thought she saw a large Sting Ray on the surface -- it was here and gone in a flash, so no pictures were possible.

The freighter as it approaches us -- note the bow wave, it isclose and moving fast !!!

A closer look at the bow wave -- it was spraying up in quite a torrent.

The entrance to Solomon's Island harbor is wide and easy to navigate ; inside is a small harbor and two substantial creeks; "Back" creek is mostly commercial and is closer to the main shopping highway; Mill creek is largely residential and a further from the shopping. We planned do some walking/shopping tomorrow, so our initial thought was to anchor out in back creek -- once we saw how commercial it was, we decided to opt for the serenity but longer dinghy ride that Mill Creek offered.

We dropped the hook in a small cove off a pretty point with a house that also had an Osprey nest on a stake a short distance offshore. A refreshing swim, some "sundowners", a light dinner and some quiet time to "shake off" the trip rounded out the day -- well, almost.

Mr. & Mrs. osprey & thier offspring; the house on the point (with a workman) in the background

As I mentioned earlier, a cold front was due to come through that evening -- sometimes a cold front can cause very gusty winds and severe thunderstorms -- gusts greater than about 30 knots and/or severe thunderstorms have the potential to break the anchor's grip on the bottom, so it pays to be vigilant when they arrive.

Sue was tired and went to bed at about 8:30, about the same time I could see the front approaching in the distant evening sky -- there was quite a "light show" of cloud to cloud lightening, some of it quite spectacular, but no bolts that hit ground; what thunder occurred was very muted and distant. The light show went on for the next couple of hours; eventually, the wind shifted west and the air cooled slightly, the front had passed us by with little to no drama, a good thing.

Rhodes River

We were awakened at 6am, rudely one might say, by the incessant chanting of the Naval Academy drill sergeant as he ran the plebes through their early morning PT exercises -- a combination of cadenced chanting, loud dance music and morale-building call-response is just plain hard to sleep through.

Our goal for this week is to get to Solomon's Island, Md -- perhaps 60 miles due south of Annapolis. There we planned to pick up Kerry (my daughter) and Jennifer (my niece) for a day sail on Saturday.  The journey to Solomon's would be complicated by two factors -- a cold front bringing rainy weather makes Thursday a preferable "down day" and a 30 mile stretch of the Annapolis side of the Chesapeake with no friendly anchorages for sailboats.

After reluctantly extracting ourselves from bed and having some breakfast, we debated our options for the day -- we could either take a long run over to the Choptank River on the Eastern Shore or we could take a short run down the Annapolis side of the Bay to the West river. The Choptank route would offer more scenery and quiet anchorages, but would require two long day trips to get to Solomon's; the West River route had just one long day to get to Solomon's, a distinct advantage given the predictions for crappy weather later in the week -- it won the debate.

Having settled on a plan, we called for the pump-out boat to clean out our holding tank and then pulled up the anchor and motored to the gas dock to fill our diesel and water tanks --  from initial call to leaving the gas dock, it was probably 1.5 hours before we were finally heading to the West River, a couple of hours south.

It was a sunny and coolish morning, with the wind out of the SE at about 10 knots -- this made the trip very pleasant, almost effortless. As we approached the entrance to the West River, it dawned on us that we would be better positioned to head South the next morning by anchoring in a bight just inside the entrance of the closer Rhodes River. So, we changed course and after carefully weaving our way through a mine field of crab pots that were "in our way", we dropped anchor in the bight at around 1:30pm.

The bight itself was very secluded and roomy -- you could have easily fit 10-15 boats in it, but it was just us and one other boat. We were surrounded by pristine wooded shores within the bight -- across the channel were a few stately homes. Very nice place for the evening.

Our only neighbor in the bight, framed by its undeveloped woodlands

A couple of "cottages" across the channel from our bight

Since it was still early in the day, I took the opportunity to look at our shower sump pump -- it had stopped working in Baltimore. Interestingly enough, the pump that was clearly marked "sump" was actually our bilge pump, a fact I discovered only after I disassembled and re-assembled it in an attempt to diagnose our sump problem. Oh well :-( Not to defeated by a little misdirection, I then disassembled the "real" sump pump, only to discover that 3 of 4 of the pump's diaphragms were clearly bad -- well, at least I found the "real" problem. Not having a rebuild kit on board, completing the repair was deferred until we could get one.

It was still sunny and nice out, so we decided to take a pre-dinner swim in the bight -- the water was the clearest we had seen on thus far, and the swim was so delightful that Susie forsook her usual "life jacket" float and did a swimming circuit around the boat. All in all, a refreshing and relaxing bit of exercise, something really appreciated when you spend a lot of time in the limited space of a boat.

Dinner, reading and blogging rounded out the day -- oh, and I spent some time on deck about 10pm -- for the first time since we left NJ, the sky was clear and the stars very visible -- fantastic -- I even saw a shooting star; afterwards while listening to the water quietly lapping on My Weigh's hull and gazing at the stars above, I marveled at our insignificance in the grand scheme of things.

Naval Academy Wall, Annapolis

Sue and I took a day off today -- we did some work/chores in the morning, had lunch and then took the water taxi into Annapolis to stretch our legs, take a walk, get haircuts (we both needed one) and do some grocery shopping.

The day was sunny and sweaty hot -- we were unable to find a barber shop or salon that was open (it was Monday), so the haircuts were deferred to another port. We did walk for a few miles (great exercise), accomplishing all our shopping tasks; we also treated ourselves to ice cream and brought back "Thai take-out" for dinner on the boat. Reading/blogging rounded out the day.

Sue in her "book nook" on My Weigh

Naval Academy Wall, Annapolis

Today it all about getting our visitors back to Annapolis.

We all slept in (8am is definitely "sleeping in" on a boat); once everyone was up, Sue was off and running cooking a big Bacon, Bagel and Egg breakfast.  We ate on deck; the food was plentiful and "delish" -- one highlight was Danny's observation that "Bacon should be its own food group" :-) Once all were sated (most of 2lbs of bacon vanished), the dishes cleaned, the mainsail and anchor pulled up, we were on our way.


The weather was overcast and there was a 5-8 knot or so breeze on our nose -- so, the first leg of our trip, up the Miles River, was motor sailing. Once we rounded the corner on Eastern Bay, we got the jib out and were able to sail for a while although, because we couldn't quite point down the bay, we eventually gave up and motored around Bloody Reef (at the bay's entrance). We tacked up the main bay for a while, but decided to turn on the motor so we could stop and swim at a quiet place on the way back.

We dropped the hook just west of the entrance channel to Lake Ogelton on the Severn River and everyone took a swim -- it was mid-afternoon, the sun was out, the air warm and the swim fabulously refreshing -- indeed, so much so, that we had to coax Liz out of the water -- it seems that swimming is her favorite "pregnant" thing to do -- the water takes the weight of the baby off her back, a welcome relief :-)

Liz & Adam & Baby Wyrick escaping the heat

Once everyone was back on board, we motored into Annapolis and dropped anchor in front of the Naval Academy wall. We then bade all the nieces & nephews farewell as they boarded the water taxi, tired but refreshed from a weekend on the water.

The weekend crew: Sue, Mike, Dan, Liz & Adam -- taken in St. Michael's

Sue and I had a light dinner and then read/blogged to complete the day.

St. Michael's Anchorage, Miles River

Today we are hosting Liz and Adam Wyrick (my niece and her husband) along with Michael and Dan Molda (my nephews). The plan is to sail to St. Michael's, stay overnight and sail back on Sunday.

The water taxi arrived with Liz and Adam about 9:15 am; Mike and Dan showed up at 9:45. We hadn't seen Liz since we heard she was pregnant -- she looked great, radiant I would say. Whatever apprehension Sue and I might have had about taking a pregnant woman on board vanished quickly as we heard that she was feeling great, had escaped most of the tribulations of pregnancy thus far and as she energetically expressed her enthusiasm for taking this weekend trip. Oh, and Adam, Mike and Dan all looked great and were ready to rock and roll (no pun intended), so after a brief lesson in using the head for all the new crew, we picked up the anchor and took off.

St. Michael's is a quaint tourist town on Maryland's Eastern Shore, mostly know for its restaurants and Bed & Breakfasts. It has a long history -- it got its name from an Episcopal Parish founded in the area in late 1600's and has been a center for shipbuilding, oystering and crabbing over the years -- it was even the scene of a battle in the War of 1812. From Annapolis, St. Michael's is reached by sailing south down the main Chesapeake Bay, turning NE up Eastern Bay to the Miles River and then heading south again for a few miles to reach the town -- all-in-all perhaps a 20 mile trip.

The skies were mostly overcast and winds light, out of the Northeast at perhaps 5-8 knots -- these were reasonable, not great, conditions for sailing down the main Bay but motoring would be required for the rest of the trip.

Since the crew was more or less completely new to sailing, all were given opportunities to experience many aspects of running the boat; for example: raising and lowering anchors, raising and lowering sails, helming under sail and power, reading charts, navigating and taking power naps -- the latter was a skill that all of these young and hard working people were particularly interested in mastering -- they all practised vigorously whenever the mood  struck them -- the captain and his first mate were delighted to offer them these opportunities to recharge themselves from their busy work lives.

Liz having fun at the helm

"Thank God don't have to scrape popcorn off the Princeton ceilings this weekend!"

Adam & Mike wrestle with the sail cover

"Hmmm, I wonder if I could talk uncle Jack into lending me the boat for a weekend?"

We arrived at St. Michael's at about 4pm, took a quick tour round the tiny harbor and rapidly concluded that the only reasonable thing to do was to drop anchor outside the harbor and start  happy hour which, like the trip down, was filled with much chatter and laughter and story telling about family, friends and travels.

Happy Hour on Deck

The evening was capped off with a water taxi ride into St. Michael's, a brief walk through the town and dinner at the Crab and Steak house. Liz, Jack and Adam shared a dozen Maryland steamed crabs -- visible proof that Liz is taking her pregnancy in stride.

At Dinner's End

Naval Academy Wall, Annapolis

The plan for today is to simply get the boat to Annapolis so we can pick up my niece, her husband and two of my nephews on Saturday morning for a weekend boat outing.

Since the distance to Annapolis was relatively small (perhaps 15 miles), we decided to spend the morning in the creek; Sue took the time to work (she has been helping her daughter Becky with her psychological assessment business) while Jack took the opportunity to complete some work for his client and do some boat chores.

We pulled up the anchor around noon -- it was a sunny, hot day and the winds were light and out of the NE -- since we were heading SW, the sailing conditions were poor (light winds on downhill run generally means lots of flopping around), so we motor sailed.

We arrived in Annapolis around three, and took a tour of the harbor to see whether we would be able to do a "touch and go" on the city dock to pick up our passengers the next day -- after seeing the position of and traffic at the city dock, we decided it would be easier for us to anchor and have our guests come out to the boat by water taxi.

We dropped our anchor off of the wall of the Naval Academy just outside the main harbor, providing ourselves with an "environmental" alarm clock, namely the drill sergeant chanting the cadence of the plebe's physical training at 6:30 am :-)

Some quiet time on deck followed by a grilled salmon dinner onboard completed the day.

Annapolis Harbor from our anchorage; the Naval SAcadey Wall is on the right

The wall just behind My Weight -- Calisthetics at 6:00am in the footbal field!

Bodkin Creek, Patapsco River

Graham is leaving us this morning, having treated himself to a ticket on the 11am Accela Express to return to NJ.

Sue started the day by preparing a big (for us) bacon and egg breakfast as a thank you gift to Graham for helping us get this far. By the time, we cooked and ate breakfast and completed some boat chores (re-arranging the refrigerator, filling water tanks, starting some laundry in the Marina, ...) it was time for Graham to leave -- we bid him farewell at the Hilton adjacent to the Marina where he caught a cab to the train.

Sue starting the "thank you" breakfast

Sue spent the rest of the morning finishing the laundry and doing some boat housekeeping while Jack took the opportunity to catch up on some work that his client had requested.

With chores and work behind us, we took a 1.5 hour walk along the Baltimore waterfront and up and down the streets of Fell's Point, relishing the sunny skies, moderate temperatures and hustle and bustle of the city's occupants on a work day when all we "had to do" was take a walk -- there's a lot to be said for being "retired" :-)

By the time we finished our walk, it was almost 2pm -- we decided to skip taking a shower at the Marina but rather move the boat down the Patapsco to Bodkin Creek, at the river's mouth. From the description in the cruising guide, we figured we would have a good chance of taking a swim in a pretty and quiet creek, something we were both wanting to do very badly.

So after replenishing our ice supply and with some help from the very careful Marina Staff, we edged My Weigh out of its slip and headed down the Patapsco. The wind was on our stern (NW) and pretty light (3-5 knots) so we made no attempt to sail, happy to simply motor our way down the river. The trip was uneventful save for passing close to a very large car carrier on its way into Baltimore (makes you feel very small).

We had to "video game" our way through some shallows and bob and weave our way through a mine-field of crab pots to get to the creek entrance, but the narrow well marked channel was straightforward to navigate and depths were never less than 8' or so. Inside, the creek divided into to branches; we took the port branch and anchored in about 10' of water in a medium sized cove not far from the entrance.

Surrounded by woods, stately homes and osprey's (there must have been a couple of nests nearby), we donned our suits, dropped the swim platform and took our first swim of the season. The water was warm (high 70's) albeit a bit murky -- we didn't care, it was heaven to be sitting in a quiet cove and swimming, one of our favorite things to do when cruising.

Cocktails on the "veranda", a light dinner, a beautiful sunset and some time to read and blog completed our first "easy" cruising day since we left N.J.

The skipper relaxing at dusk

A beautiful lady in a beautiful sunset