June 2023 Vacation - Day 9 - Through Kent Narrows and Back to Rock Hall

 

The storm broke briefly on Thursday morning and we quickly packed up and shoved off the dock at the museum shortly after 9:00 AM.  The rest of the weekend is supposed to be relatively crappy... rain predicted through Sunday and after the Seattle/China/Wedding/Vacation marathon, we're ready to get back to something more normal (not to mention needing a bit of a rest from vacation before returning to work).

Temps were in the low 60s (I think wind chill was 60) and the day was gray and cold.  After a few moments of trying to tough it out, I relented and brought out my LLBean red parka/sweatshirt combo.  

Dolphins were spotted the other day in both the Eastern Bay and in the Chester River, but none were seen this morning.  We barely made the 11:00 AM opening of the Kent Narrows Bridge (see Vicky's cool video here) and then continued until we docked at Osprey Point Marina shortly after 12:30 PM.

The afternoon was spent napping and watching videos (and Vicky's stock trading).  We met up at Osprey Point Restaurant for a nice dinner at 5:00 PM and then did a small amount of cleaning to get Seas The Day ready for the next weekend and spent the rest of the evening watching movies.

Using twizzel sticks as chop sticks to retrieve the cherry.

Our goal for tomorrow is to wake up, load and go back to Newark, DE.

So here's the final map... 118 nm over 9 days.

June 2023 Vacation - Days 6, 7 & 8 - St. Michaels, MD

 

Monday

After waking up in the idyllic Dividing Creek, our goal for today was a short sail to Saint Michaels, one of our favorite Chesapeake destinations.  It was only going to take us an hour or so and I know that the museum we stay at only allows check-in at noon, so we had a leisurely morning on the creek.

Sunrise on Dividing Creek.

Vicky's special Chinese fishing rig.

I'll admit, the Chinese fishing rig looks impressive, but so do most American fishing lures.  Vicky fished for a while after our early breakfast. 

I focused on capturing the beauty of Dividing Creek.

One lone boat anchored at the top of Dividing Creek.

Our cove on Dividing Creek (where we stayed last night).

As we exited Dividing Creek, I could look across to Quarter Cove (and the final resting place of my drone... the body of water to the right of the house below).

Once we left the Wye River and entered the Eastern Bay, we only had a short hop to the Miles River.

When we called the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum (we are members there and can dock at reduced prices), they requested that we delay our arrival until 1:00 PM since they had to move some boats to accommodate us.

We decided to pass the time in two ways... Vicky wanted to try some slow speed manuvers so we found a "Crab Line" buoy and worked on backing up to that.  This worked for a few tries (there is a significant current on the Miles River) and then I asked her to back up to another white buoy nearby.  She asked if it was deep enough over there and I checked my app and said "Sure".  (You know where this is going)  She was backing it nicely and as we approached the other buoy, I had her start slowing down a boat length or two from the buoy when I felt Seas The Day suddenly slow down too much.  A quick glance at the chart plotter showed the depth of 4'... it didn't matter what the decimal point was... Seas The Day draws 4'11".  

I LUNGED towards the helm and switched to forward (pausing in neutral for a few secs... I just pointed that out to her) and then GUNNED it in forward out to deeper water.   I should have been monitoring the depth and I should have confirmed that the app was oriented the same way the boat was.

We passed the rest of the hour or so by taking a tour up the Miles River.  I knew The Patriot did cruises up the Miles and figured we could save $60 by taking our own tour.  Skipper Vicky was my tour guide.

We ended up passing The Patriot on our way back to St. Michaels.

When we finally docked at CBMM, we were pleasantly surprised to find WABC members Chris and Mark had docked briefly in Willow for a quick stop in town.

After we signed in, we went for a quick walk through town (despite the heat) since every visit to St. Michaels has to begin with a stop at Ava's for some meatballs.

I think this is City Park

I love how everyone decorates their homes in St. Michaels.
It makes it such a pleasant experience to walk there.

We walked back to the museum and slept for a while until the day cooled off a bit.  Later, it was a bit choppy for a while before it settled down to a beautiful evening.  We decided to finish our on-board ice cream (saving the trip to Justines - I give up on who is the best - until after tomorrow's dinner).

One side note... when Vicky turned on the gas stove to brew some tea, I thought I smelled gas briefly.  This prompted a quick leak test - two checks 15 minutes apart with all the stove controls OFF but the solenoid ON.  We passed.  No leaks are evident.

 

A beautiful Night

Tuesday

I woke up this morning and realized that the wind seemed much stronger than I expected.  After a few checks, I confirmed that conditions were changing and we are expecting increasing wind and swells over the next few days.  We checked with the museum and confirmed that if we wanted to, they could accommodate us staying an extra day, then we went for a walk through town to grab some groceries and lunch.

I don't have many photos, but it was basically a walk from end-to-end of the few block section of main street (actually South Talbot St.).  We picked up some light groceries at the market and then had lunch at the Carpenter Street Saloon with many stops for shopping in between.

Proof that I do go shopping sometimes.

After a movie (well, mostly naps) we went for an evening walk to our dinner reservation at Bistro St. Michaels.

Still my favorite book exchange box.

Can anyone identify this flowering tree? 
(We have this in our yard.)

Vicky had mussels and I had braised short ribs.

We were so full after dinner that we got ice cream to go from JoJo's

Conditions were already picking up.

I added another day (day 8) to this blog post because it's highly likely we will be staying in Saint Michaels another night.  Small Craft warnings were announced this afternoon that continue until Wednesday midnight and there is a gale watch for Wednesday as well.

Could Seas The Day handle this?  Perhaps... but why?  We are securely tied up on the side dock behind the small boat shed at the museum and it makes no sense to leave just to go to a different marina. 

We will hunker down tomorrow... it will be a rocky ride but we can always go into town tomorrow if we need a break.

Wednesday

We had a fairly rocky night with winds in the mid-20s and 2ft waves in St. Michael's harbor.  I actually wore sea sickness bands, though Vicky thinks something may have been off in the one dish we had.

I only left Seas The Day once today... to go to the office and extend our stay one more day.  It was rainy and waves in St. Michael's harbor were about 2 feet throughout the day.  We regularly heard waves smashing into the stern since the wind was coming from that direction.  

We stayed aboard and watched movies (Tender Bar, Becoming Michelle, & Fatherhood) and Vicky worked on her stocks.  I also read a few chapters of Harry Potter.

Lunch was just a PB sandwich and for dinner Vicky made her Tomato Egg Noodle dish.

Wind was coming right off the harbor into our stern.

You can see a brief video of the conditions here (though these never look like we feel them).

After I did the supper dishes, I realized we were almost out of water, so I got to fill up during this weather mess - quite a cold experience for early summer.

The rains will abate overnight while the winds will remain strong (gusts into the mid-40s are predicted).  Once it all settles down tomorrow morning, it is a straight shot (24 nm, 4 hours) north to Rock Hall.  

Hopefully we will see some dolphins!