June 2022 Vacation - Days 0 & 1 - Rock Hall

Osprey Point's gazebo at twilight.
 

We are off!  A week of vacation awaits as we embark on our first "cruise" with the America's Boating Club of Wilmington (formerly known as the Power Squadron).  

The plan is that after spending Saturday getting ready and having a reception at nearby North Point Marina in Rock Hall, we depart tomorrow to go under the Bay Bridge and hang a right to anchor at Round Bay in the Severn River.  From there we head south staying on the west side of the bay to Herrington Harbor South marina resort.  Tuesday we will cross the bay and head up the Wye River to a nice anchorage at Quarter Cove.  Wednesday we have our shortest day... just dropping south to St. Michaels for a couple of days staying at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum while we explore this quaint town.  Finally on Friday we head back across the bay to the Rhodes River for a final night of anchorage before returning to Rock Hall on Saturday.  The total trip looks to be about 125 nautical miles.  

There is a detailed Cruise Guide (scans are on my SmugMug page), but I won't post it all here.

125 nautical miles over 7 days

Yes, we are hitting several places I visited in my June 202 single handing vacation and Vicky and I visited during our September 2021 vacation, but there are a few new anchorages in the mix.

The power squadron is a relatively elderly group and the cruise guide asked us to consider taking a covid test before departure.  We had one test at home and since I have been the most exposed though a lot of recent travel, I took it.  The results below are submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements, etc., etc.

Somehow we have managed to avoid catching this Covid thing so far... I have 4 shots in me and Vicky (by virtue of her Chinese vaccines) has 5 shots to date, so I think we are relatively protected.

Vicky gathered most of the stuff while I finished work on Friday, then after a quick packing the pile was ready to go.  We stuffed it all into the car and departed a little after 6:00 PM.

Somehow it all fit and we moved it down the dock and on board without any major heart attacks.

Unlike the June 2021 vacation which had a week of temps approaching 100 degrees F, this week the weather is supposed to be beautiful with temps in the mid-70s to mid-80s and mostly clear skies.  There's a small chance of Thunder storms on Thursday to keep things interesting.

I grabbed some photos around sunset as I was returning the dock carts.  Vicky had meanwhile stowed most of the pile and even surprised me with some new "fruit ice" that occupied a good portion of the freezer.

The Nintendo Switch now has a permanent home aboard Seas The Day.

We finally set up the "fruit hammock".

I captured the flag on the barn during my sunrise walk on Saturday then spent the rest of the morning organizing for the trip and preparing the SmugMug page (and writing this blog).  Vicky concentrated on cleaning her boat (it really is her hobby) determined to finally conquer the black stripe problem.

I started salivating as Noon approached because this was my first week to try out Osprey Point's Pool Bar for lunch.  I ordered the bacon cheeseburger and...

Oh My God...

Seriously, it remains the BEST BURGER IN ALL OF CHRISTENDOM!  

I'm not kidding... try it if you're lucky enough be here.  

Following that, I was kind of comatose for most of the afternoon and napped accordingly - it is vacation, after all.  Vicky wanted to make her Chinese shrimp for the appetizers we were to bring to the reception in the evening so she did a run to Chester River Seafood to get fresh ones.

The Comander's Kickoff Reception was held at nearby North Point Marina's pavilion and was a nice spread of appetizers.  The theme was Mardi Gras.  During the official part of the evening we received our ABC-Wilmington burgee and a "New Cruiser" banner to fly from the Starboard spreader.

Terry's photo

We had a chance to meet a lot of the members who we would spend the next week with.  With one couple we got to talking about college and the lady next to me mentioned that she went to LVC and was one of the RA's in Vickroy Hall (one of the girl's dorms I frequented) my freshman year.

We also learned more about an odd power squadron custom called Directed Net, a sort of combination wake up call/morning report (I couldn't stop thinking about Zazu and the Lion King) that included a roll call.  I was heavily coached that all I should say is "Seas The Day, no traffic" during the role call.  I'll try not to mess that up (it was said with the intensity of Judge Chamberlin Haller in My Cousin Vinny saying "the next words out of your mouth...").  Got it... no embellishment.

Finally on the way out, I got to finally meet Dom from Vagabond Epicurean!  He is our local YouTube star and his videos find their way onto my screen courtesy of the YouTube algorithm.  I have followed a number of his recommendations for various places to visit so it was nice to finally meet him in person.

Once back at Osprey Point, Vicky asked about the colored masks and beads so I explained a little bit about Mardi Gras.  She then asked "what is the purpose of the beads"??

....

So... swallowing hard, I explained the custom and offered to reenact (we were down below at the time), but instead of the hopeful response, I got one of THOSE looks.

So I went up and hoisted the burgees and we then had Sundowners (drinks at sunset) on Seas The Day. 

Tomorrow we head to Little Round Bay on the Severn River, a distance of 22 nm and should take about 4 hours.  (There won't be much wind in the middle of the day, so I doubt we will sail.)

 

 Summary of Costs

Provisions (estimated) - $150

Osprey Point Pool Bar - $31

Total for this post - $181