Sept. 2021 Vacation - Days 4 to 6 - Kent Narrows & Saint Michaels

Tuesday

After our sunrise walk on Tuesday morning, we met Forrest.  He's the guy who has been taking care of Seas The Day at Gratitude Marina, and he was here to replace our chart plotter.  It took more than a year since we first identified problems with the card reader in our Raymarine Axiom 12 Pro Touch Multifunctional Display (MFD), but in the end, they stood behind their warranty.  So great Job to Winters Sailing, Catalina & Raymarine (and Forrest)!

Serial number (future ref.)

The back (future ref.)

Both cards are working (at bottom)

It took me about an hour after Forrest left to update the firmware, get the Navionics card in and recognized and that card updated as well.  It wasn't working perfectly (I think I didn't set up my subscription correctly), but it was good enough for us to proceed with our vacation.  

So as quick as we could, we disconnected the electric and headed out on vacation.  First stop is Saint Michaels.

The bay was a smooth as glass as we motored down from Swan Creek across the Chester River and towards Kent Narrows.  Last June, when I went to Saint Michaels, I went the long way around... going out into the Bay and under the Annapolis Bay Bridge.  This time, with some helpful coaching from Davis (one of Shardana's captains), I decided to try Kent Narrows which should save 2 hours from the trip.

Kent Narrows, however, is narrow.  It's also shallow and well, kind of short.  Allow me to explain.  Kent Narrows sits at the southern end of the final bend in the Chester River.  That means that all the sediment washing down the river piles up on the slow moving outer edge.  There is a dog-legged channel dredged, but that is kind of narrow and earlier this year the USCG announced there was some shoaling and new buoys placed among the daymarks.  There are two bridges - a large modern overpass that has a vertical clearance of 65 feet at "mean high tide".  It is followed by a narrow drawbridge just south of it.    This narrow bit of water connecting the Chester River with the Eastern Bay means that the area has high currents.  

I have only interacted with drawbridges before on the Delaware River during the first and second delivery trips (both with Captain Gary at my side), and when I go under the Bay Bridge, it has a clearance of 180+ feet (much taller than my mast) to handle the huge cargo and cruise ships.  The bridges over Kent Narrows were built with recreational sailboats in mind.  So while the modern overpass has a vertical clearance of 65 feet, Seas The Day's mast ends 63.5 feet above the waterline and it has a bunch of antennae and wind instruments on top of that.  This means the clearances are very close... and I wasn't sure I had everything accounted for.  The channel on the north was reported to be dredged at 7 feet but shoaling of 4 feet (much less than my 5 feet depth), was what the USCG reported earlier this year.

That was the coaching I received from Davis... that Shardana - the same boat we have - goes through Kent Narrows all the time (high tide, low tide, slack current or even with or against significant current) with no problem.  Once I decided to give it a try, the die was cast.  I would either run aground getting to the bridge, snag my rigging on the overpass or (more likely) on the opened drawbridge deck, or else the current would grab Seas The Day and push me into something or someone.

I decided I was going to do it.

Entering the channel 

Approaching the 90-degree turn

It didn't help that I was entering and traveling the channel at full throttle.  Half way across the Chester River, I realized I might not make the 1:00 Bridge opening, so I was gunning it (speed at 8.3 knots - an extra knot over cruising speed).

As I was rounding the final bend (at 12:57), I hailed the bridge tender on channel 13 and requested the opening .  The tender (the guy who operates the drawbridge), said that "I'm here if you're here by 1:00... it seemed almost a challenge.  So I was quite proud that I pulled up to the bridges at 12:59:45 and he indicated he was opening the bridge.

It was a bit of a risk.  If I had missed the 1:00 opening, I would end up doing donuts for the next half-hour in what is known as a troublesome current.

Even having made it, I was worried... you can see it on my face on the photos below.

You can see it also on this video that Vicky captured of the experience.

If you watch the video, you can hear me say "green going" as I exit under the bridge because up until you reach the bridge, you are entering the Chester River and "red right returning" is the rule (red buoys & marks on the right), but once you go under the bridges, you are going out of the Eastern Bay and "green going" rules (green buoys and marks on the right).  If you forget this, and put the green on the wrong side, you gonna run aground.  I was reminding myself so I wouldn't embarrass myself.

I only start to relax and smile again after I'm a bit away from Kent Narrows.

After the bridge, Vicky took the helm to give me a bit of a rest before she decided to busy herself with polishing the brightwork.

We approached Saint Michaels thus finishing our trip.  Once again, we were the mid-afternoon entertainment at the dockside restaurant as we backed in and tied up.  

After a quick nap we had an early dinner at Bistro St. Michaels in town.

Wednesday

I woke up and filled the water on Wednesday morning while Vicky had some business at home to attend.  Below are a couple of photos from the wee hours of the morning.

This shows you how close we are to the dockside bar.

Some stately houses just off my port bow

Filling water at sunrise

Sunrise over Saint Michael's Harbor

Once Vicky finished her business, we went into town for breakfast at The Galley.

Once finished with breakfast, we walked through the town to the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum.  This museum exists to preserve some of the maritime landmarks, buildings, boats and lifestyles from the rich heritage of the Chesapeake Bay.  The photos tell the story. 

Hooper Straight Lighthouse (c. 1879)
(The interior is made up as it was back then.)

View from the lighthouse

Medicine cabinet inside lighthouse

Fresnel lens

I found out you can become a "member" of the museum and then dock your boat on their site.

After the museum, we relaxed and watched Netflix for the rest of the afternoon.  For supper we went into town again and ate at Ava's (where Captain Gary once said I could get the world's best meatballs).

After a quick walk through town and some ice cream at JoJo's, we arrived back to Seas The Day to find things at full swing at Foxy's (right next to our boat) and given that a few female patrons were VERY ENTHUSIASTIC about the guitarist, we decided that we might as well listen and had our drinks in the cockpit.

Thursday

Thursday was a bit of a lazy day.  I wasn't feeling too well on Wednesday evening and Vicky needed to push back our days of anchoring so that she was only away from wifi, cell, etc during the weekend.  We decided to stay on at Saint Michaels, but treated it as just a lazy day, eating on the boat and watching Netflix.  We did finally find Vicky some crabs at the nearby Saint Michaels' Crab and Steak House.  

As we returned to Seas The Day, we found that they were having a concert in the nearby Muskrat Park.  The band's name was Rosewood and they were very good (and a bit more distant so we weren't being blasted by the sound level).  We spent a nice hour in the cockpit listening before turning in for the evening.

We expect an early departure in the morning with just a tank refill and pump out before we embark.

Cost Summary

Saint Michaels Marina - $306 + $153

Bistro Saint Michaels - $120

The Galley - $48

Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum - $32

Ava's - $81

JoJo's Cupcakes & Cream - $14 (I know)

St. Michaels Crab & Steak House - $115

Dockhand tips - $30

Pumpout @ St. Michaels Marina - $20 

Total Expenses - $919