s/v Trust Me entering Fairlee Creek

9 Sept - After seeing Christopher off to return to Iraq and with less than two months before our planned October departure for Florida, we took a “honeycation,” cruise around mid Chesapeake Bay. We enjoyed 9 days of near perfect sailing conditions and pleasantly cool weather, with not even a hint of rain or one of the bay’s notorious afternoon thunderstorms.

 

We sailed first to Annapolis where took a mooring out in the harbor for two days. We strolled the historic streets of this sailing town with a drinking problem, and then hit McGarvey’s Saloon and the Fleet Reserve Club. We then dined in the best restaurant in town, my Cousin Laurie’s! With an expectation that we might imbibe too much, we left our dinghy tied to Lastdance and took the water-taxi to Acton LandingPark on Spa Creek, then walked the short block to their home. Once there, Laurie and her husband Randy made us feel at home with ample drinks, Parma-crisp and olives stuff with gorgonzola cheese, and then an excellent meal of Rigatoni, sausage and meatballs with red wine, followed by a lot of sambuca. We caught the last water-taxi back to our moored boat, well satiated and with enough leftovers to feed us twice more, including a bag of excellent cannoli shells and a baker’s bag of filling.

 

The following day, we sailed out of Annapolis in a 15-knot northerly breeze. We were bound for the MagothyRiver which is due north so we then spent the next 7 hours tacking back and forth across the bay, struggling to make progress toward our destination. Teresa took turns on the helm and after dodging a huge ship in the channel east of the Magothy, she then took us through the narrow entrance under full sail. Full of confidence, she then took us into Broad Creek and brought us smartly alongside of Charlie and Val’s trawler, m/v Belle-Amie to join the anchored raft-up with John & Gail aboard s/v Tranquility. It was here we enjoyed the first of 2 “cannoli nights.” After much wine over dinner, we gathered aboard Tranquility and made our own cannoli. Fun, fun, fun…especially watching Gail devour wads of the delicious filling off her fingers.

 

The next day we all motored further up the river to Magothy River Marina. Once docked and secure, we took our dinghies over to Magothy Seafood & Tiki-Bar on Mill Creek for a few beers. Impressed with their menu, we returned for dinner later that evening and had their bountiful seafood special which consisted of a basket of hush puppies, a pound of shrimp, 2 corn-on-the-cob, 6 king crab legs, 6 steamed clams and 6 large blue claw crabs, all for $34.

 

Still eager to explore, we left the marina in the morning and meandered still further up the river, first into Cattail Creek, then Cockey Creek and finally, past Indian Village to an unnamed cove at the mouth of Old Man Creek. There we anchored next to a seemingly abandon old schooner tethered to a semi-submerged mooring buoy. Teresa and I borrowed John’s kayaks and we kayaked into small tributaries and then later we took our dinghies deeper into the countryside, exploring this sparsely populated part of Maryland.

 

In the morning we topped our water tanks and sailed in yet another brisk northerly to Tolchester on the eastern shore. I’ve always wondered about this marina with its totally exposed, narrow entrance right on the bay, so we cautiously moved from the safety of deep water toward the rapidly shoaling jetties. The current was ripping across the channel so I had to “crab” Lastdance so much, we were almost perpendicular to the entrance at half throttle before I could gun the engine and turn sharply between the jetties. The depth went from 14 feet to 6 ½ feet in seconds but then once within the jetties, it increased to 8 feet all the way to the dock.

 

After settling in, we strolled over to Charlie’s friend Stan’s boat, a 36’ Albin trawler. Stan and Jean served up pitchers of margaritas and we killed the afternoon sipping Stan’s superb concoctions on the rocks. Later, back on our own dock, we agreed that no one wanted to cook so we went to the Tolchester Beach Bar for “the best crab cakes on the bay.” NOT! I’ve had much worse but I’ve also had much much better. The view was spectacular though and they had a pretty good DJ so we ate and drank as the sun set on the western shore, then drank some more as we listened to island tunes. After 3 rounds of listening to a young woman doing some very good karaoke (pronounced kara-o-key), we left half-way through a “wanna-be-singer,” who really needs to keep her day job.

 

We departed early the next morning for the short 4 mile jaunt to Fairlee Creek, and then negotiated the VERY narrow entrance with Jelly-Fish Joel’s to port and a narrow spit of land to starboard. As anticipated, the anchorage was crowded with every description of watercraft, some in enormous 25 boat raft-ups, others alone, but all anchored every which way, many with bow, stern and side anchors!

 

I found a “hole” and dropped my anchor in 8-feet of water and after setting the anchor with 50-feet of chain; I let out additional 50-feet of chain and left my engine in reverse to bury it deeply. Belle Amie came alongside to port and then John brought Tranquility to port of him. Afterwards we transferred my anchor rode to the bow of Belle Amie to balance the raft and we then settled in to watch “the show.” The show being an increasing number of boats attempting to navigate the entrance into the harbor. We were not to be disappointed as the first of many large boats was driven aground by the fierce current.

 

For 3 days, we lounged around, swam, went ashore in our dinghies and shared many sundowners. We had pasta night aboard Lastdance, followed by the second “cannoli night,” at which we consumed the remaining shells and filling. Thank you cousin Laurie and Randy!

 

Belle Amie departed Sunday morning and later in the day, John, Gail, Teresa and me went ashore and settled in at Jelly Fish Joel’s Beach Bar. We ordered beers but we were also treated to several samples of exotic drinks by the friendly bartender. As always, the current was swift and the narrow channel was crowded with boats entering and leaving the harbor and as always, boats were regularly swept aground. When that happened, the crowd would let out an appreciative hoot but then men would wade into the water and push the boat off and send him on his way, a bit shaken but generally without damage to anything but their ego. Our friends Rich and Betty aboard their new boat, s/v Trust Me came in during the worst of the current but Rich expertly navigated the entrance, disappointing many on the shore who fully expected such a large sailboat to be swept aground.

 

Tranquility departed early the next morning and we followed several hours later when the tide was higher and the current slack. Still, I couldn’t help being apprehensive as I motored Lastdance out the narrow channel. Once in deeper water though, we hoisted sails and enjoyed a 22-mile broad reach down the bay, in a brisk 15-18 knot northeasterly breeze. We made it home to KentNarrows by 2 o’clock, having enjoyed 9 days of near perfect weather with not a drop of rain or a single thunderstorm to mar our cruise. Someone must have been looking out for us!

 

Our “new” plan is to shut down the apartment in Raleigh, move our things into storage and to sail south in early October to the Florida Keys for the winter. We’ll stop in Beaufort, NC for a couple of weeks to visit Michelle and the grandkids and see Ashley, then continue sailing at a leisurely pace, getting to Key West sometime in December. We’ll try to stay at the marina at Boca Chica Naval air Station, using it as a base to explore from. In the spring, we’ll sail back to Chesapeake Bay with a stopover in the Abacos in the Bahamas. Stay tuned.