June 2022 Vacation - Day 7 - Kent Narrows, Dolphins & Rock Hall

Two dolphins play in the waters near Rock Hall.

Our goal for today is to simply return home to Osprey Point Marina in Rock Hall, MD.

I woke up with first light, and after making coffee, I did a quick walk around to capture a few sunrise scenes.

We had decided that because of our battery issues, we would not take part in the final anchorage in the Rhode River and instead head home to Rock Hall by going north through the Eastern Bay and through the Kent Narrows.  During the Directed Net radio communication, we thanked the ABCW group for a fabulous first cruise

After that ended, we went to breakfast with John & Colleen from Scrimshaw at the Carpenter Street Saloon.  You may remember from the first meeting at North Point, Colleen and I had discovered that we overlapped at LVC her senior year and my freshman year so we had lots to talk about between that and sailing.

Note to self... don't focus too much on the camera.

We departed after a quick pump out at the maritime museum and proceeded to motor north in the Miles River and Eastern Bay with Vicky at the helm.

After about 2 hours, we approached the Kent Narrows Bridge at the same time as Domino with Gail & Peter. I would normally be a bit concerned with this cluster of bridges.  The drawbridge is kind of narrow and the highway bridge behind it has a vertical clearance of 65 feed and Seas The Day has a mast height of 63.5 feet (before the radio antenna and wind instruments are accounted for).  

My friends on Shardana (a really nice 425 working the charter trade) had coached me last year that they go through the Kent Narrows many times at all tide conditions without any issue, so we got through in fine shape.

From Kent Narrows, we proceeded north out of the mouth of the Chester River and then continued north to Swan Creek.  The sea was flat and it was just a beautiful day out on the water - even if we couldn't go sailing.

After a check to ensure we were alone (Domino was a somewhat astern), I started fooling with the radar display... looking closely, it seemed that hit would suddenly blink on the screen but then disappear.  So my focus was on the screen - trying to adjust the sensitivity.  (I had read once that if radar is turned up too much it could start hitting on things like waves, etc.)

I suddenly glanced up and there were a couple of dolphins in the distance.  They would just surface for a second and then disappear beneath the water, but there were many of them (a couple just off the starboard beam, followed by a set of 3 or so at my 11:00 position and others seemingly in all directions).  

Vicky estimates there were more than 20... I'm thinking closer to a dozen

Two dolphins play in the waters near Rock Hall.

Still, it was incredibly exciting.  The last time we played with dolphins was during the original Seas The Day 315 delivery trip that went around NJ.  

Despite the number, they are hard to photograph.  These are my two best shots.

After stopping to watch them play for a few moments, we radioed Domino to they could catch them and also sent a message to friends farther south.

After the dolphin welcome, we tied up back at Osprey Point marina.  I headed over to Gratitude to discuss my options with the battery bank with their service manager, Wade.  He said he would check on Monday to find out which of two local places he purchased the batteries from.  His suggestion was that he could pick up the batteries and transport them to their site for better diagnostics and/or replacement as needed.  At the same time we made arrangements for them to do a "short haul".  (This involves pulling the boat from the water and washing all the growth off, replacing zincs, etc.)

We then rested until it was time for our dinner reservation.

We ordered our dessert "to go" and had it with some of the rum Vicky picked up at the distillery tour.

So we're home.  There's no plan for tomorrow... we might head back to the area south of Swan Creek and see if we can catch the dolphins again, or we might just hang out and do some boat work (cleaning, etc.).

Summary of Costs

Carpenter Street Saloon - $60

Osprey Point Inn - $128

Total for today - $188