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