Sailing to Saint Michaels, MD with Xiaomi and Her Family (with Neve's Review)

Gabe, Neve and Xiaomi

Before I begin my blog for this past weekend, I agreed to give Neve (in the yellow life jacket above), the top location in my blog post in exchange for a review.  Neve and her family have been coming sailing with us for years (here, here, here and here).  Her mother, Xiaomi, is a colleague of mine.  This time we went together on an overnight adventure to Saint Michaels, MD.

Neve submitted the following review.  You can read this and then decide if you want to scroll down for the rest of the blog.

Thank you, Neve, for a wonderful review.  

Reading this last page, please note that my breakfast was "fantastic" while Vicky's dumplings were merely "fabulous"... just sayin'.

Back to our blog....  

(Strap in folks and grab some coffee - or other beverage - there are lots of photos and much to tell.)

We went to Rock Hall on Friday evening stopping at Panera Bread in Middletown for a nice supper (I had not been to Panera since the pandemic began).  We then had our sundowners in the cockpit as the sun set and the full moon rose.

Saturday morning began with a sunrise walk as normal.  I noticed that an old car was parked by the bathhouse, which I assume had something to do with the Pirates and Wenches weekend at Rock Hall.  Too bad we would miss that for our excursion.

Not all sunrise photos have the sunrise in them.

While Xiaomi and her family were driving down to Rock Hall, Vicky passed the time by hanging out with her boyfriend, Maxon, from nearby s/v Yekaterina.

Xiaomi, Neve and Gabe arrived and we quickly departed for St. Michaels by way of Kent Narrows and the Eastern Bay.  I'll let the photos tell the main story with just additional points here and there.  

Gabe's photo

Gabe's photo

Neve and Gabe were quite hungry and quickly went to work on their first sandwich from Rock Hall Liquors as we were still motoring out of Swan Creek.

This photo op was offered to illustrate that they did their advance reading... all of Neve's shoes had black in the soles, so she was sporting a new pair of boat shoes!

We sailed out of Swan Creek and down into the mouth of the Chester River over to the Kent Narrows channel.  Proceeding into the channel I asked Neve if she would watch and call out the water depth.  (I was expecting it all to be OK as I have never had any problems there before, though shoaling is reported from time to time.)

But all was not OK.  A few hundred feet into the channel I heard her say "4 point" something... I stopped paying attention to the "something" because Seas The Day draws 5 feet, and sure enough a split second later, we felt the boat lurch to almost a standstill - I was at full throttle - and after a few seconds (madly swinging the helm to port), we again moved forward.  

We had run aground.

Fortunately, running aground in the Chesapeake frequently means plowing mud, we were able to get through this grounding AND THE THREE THAT FOLLOWED.  Something was clearly wrong... this must have showed in my voice or face because Neve bailed on calling out the depths and Gabe took her place.  Eventually we reached the basin just north of the bridges, called the Bridge Tender to request an opening and waited the final few minutes.

(Note that the fact that I ran aground bothered me the whole weekend... we decided to return via the main bay and avoid Kent Narrows on Sunday.  Only after everyone left on Sunday, did I talk with my friend Carl from B-Dock and found out that this was another weekend where the wind "blew all the water out of the bay" - yes, that can happen - and that explains the grounding.)

The bridge opened for us.  Here are a few photos from the Kent Narrows section.

Gabe's photo

Gabe's photo

Xiaomi's photo

Gabe's photo

Gabe's photo

Gabe's photo

Gabe's photo

We sailed south through the Eastern Bay (paying close attention to navigation and depths) and arrived at St. Michaels around 1:30 PM.  Unfortunately, our place at the dock was still taken until 3:00, so we had to head out into the Miles River and anchor for a bit.  I used the time to show Neve a hand bearing compass and how to take a bearing to ensure we weren't dragging anchor.

Gabe's photo

Gabe's photo

Xiaomi's photo

Gabe's photo

Xiaomi's photo

Gabe's photo

Xiaomi's photo

We docked a bit after 3:00 and then let our friends explore the museum grounds while I took a nap and Vicky set about scrubbing the anchor.

These are only a few of Gabe's photos from their museum tour.  The rest can be found on his photo page.

Gabe's photo

Gabe's photo

Gabe's photo

Gabe's photo

Gabe's photo

Gabe's photo

 

We met back at Seas The Day at 5:00 PM and walked into town to have dinner at Ava's Pizzeria and Wine Bar.

We came across this small community of resting ducklings during our walk to the restaurant.

Xiaomi's photo

Xiaomi's photo

At Ava's, we had to have their famous Meatballs, but also tasted a variety of appetizers, pizzas and even some Pasta Bolognese.

Gabe's photo

Gabe's photo

Gabe's photo

Gabe's photo

Gabe's photo

Following dinner at Ava's, we headed to Eastern Shore Brewing where the adults sampled the brews and Neve alternately played corn hole and demonstrated her boredom.

Gabe's photo

The real treat (dinner and beer was just a lead up) was ice cream at Justine's!  This drove away the boredom.

Gabe's photo

We then retired to the cockpit of Seas The Day for some sundowners and watched the view until the light grew too dim (and the mosquitos got too bad).

Now ALL OF THAT was merely a prelude (in the eyes of my reviewer) to the main event, which was playing cards down in the Salon of Seas The Day.  (Remember, "That was my my favorite part because we had a ton of fun!")

I, unfortunately, missed the ton of fun as I was exhausted and after the introductory round, I excused myself to head to bed and fell asleep to the wonderful sounds of excited play from the next room.

I woke up about 20 minutes before sunrise and spent that time stumbling around trying to avoid waking our guests as I was brewing my coffee.  It turns out they had set alarms, and they woke up just as sunrise was approaching and all the windows of the boat were glowing deep red.  I woke up Vicky and we had an impromptu photo shoot in the dawn's early light.

Notice how the colors rapidly cool as the sun rises.

Following the photo shoot, I went for a quick walk around town.

Following my walk, it was time for me to whip up a fantastic breakfast.  I served toast from my homemade oatmeal bread, Vicky's cherry jam, scrambled eggs and Spam along with some raspberries and yogurt.

Xiaomi's photo

Xiaomi's photo

Gabe's photo

Gabe's photo

After breakfast, we left our guests take a last tour of the museum grounds while we set about getting ready to depart.

Neve is 10 years old... the photos of her in the following sections capture this age well... part playful child, developing attitude, beginning to get annoyed at the adults around her (especially those with cameras), soon heading into sleepy teenager.

Gabe's photo

Xiaomi's photo

Gabe's photo

We departed and headed out into the bay to avoid Kent Narrows.  This meant a 6 hour excursion as we went around the western side of Kent Island.  The day was beautiful, if a bit warm... we were traveling with the wind so there was little breeze felt in the cockpit and Vicky mercifully set up a sun shade for the helmsman using some extra towels we had.

Neve pulled out her journal and this is where I offered her a spot at the top of my blog if she would write down her thoughts.   I imagine here she is contemplating the best word to describe my fantastic breakfast!

I can't resist photographing those who nod off to sleep during an excursion.

The abandoned Bloody Point Light

As we rounded Bloody Point at the southern tip of Kent Island, we went over the deepest point on the Chesapeake Bay (I measured 175 ft - the deepest water I've encountered on this boat).

It was shortly after this that Vicky went down below to make here merely "fabulous" pork-chive dumplings.

I can understand why Xiaomi decided to sleep through this.  (Vicky prepared more for her after the trip.)

Gabe's photo

Gabe's photo

Xiaomi's photo

Shortly after crossing under the Bay Bridge and passing a barge carrying stones (and seagulls), I turned the helm over to Vicky who insisted that people would be more comfortable if she hand-steered.  

I tried to sleep but couldn't.  Especially once I realized she was doing donuts in the water.  Once that happened, I was unable to sleep any more.

Gabe's photo

Though somehow time seemed to pass very quickly....

Xiaomi's photo

Xiaomi's photo

After we docked back at Osprey Point, we visited for a bit in the salon to enjoy the AC and allow Xiaomi to sample Vicky's dumplings.  I said goodbye and headed to a nap (I had to drive home).  For the rest of the day Vicky and I vegged and walked about like zombies... you know that state that you're in when totally exhausted because you had a full and fabulously fantastic weekend with a cool young lady and her parents.