August 16, 2009

We’ve been in Baltimore for a little over a month. Judy is now working in the ICU at Anne Arrundel Medical Center (near Annapolis), Jennifer and I have been getting small projects checked off on her house, and Judy and I have been working on Sanderling.

Since arriving on the 11th of July, we have taken two short cruises: one with Ed and Ro to Chestertown, Maryland, up the Chester River – a beautiful little town settled in the 1700s on the eastern shore; and just these past few days Judy and I cruised to St. Michaels, Maryland, also on the eastern shore but a little further south (down Chesapeake Bay) than Chestertown.

The trip to Chestertown involved anchoring for the night in a small stream off the Chester River (Langford Creek) and then proceeding to Chestertown the next day. On the way up and back we saw log canoes racing on the river; these boats, indigenous to the Chesapeake Bay, are made from hollowed-out logs fastened together, carrying a lot of sail, with the crews hiking out to windward on hiking boards. We spent the night in a small marina in Chestertown, and just as we were about to go topside and enjoy a beautiful sunset overlooking the river and the hills beyond, a 110 foot yacht tied up on the outside of the pier and totally obliterated our view of anything but the marina! Judy was fit to be tied. Had we known we were going to be dock-mates with a 110 foot gargantuan we would have anchored out ourselves and taken the dinghy ashore for a tour of the town and dinner! As it was, the “ship” blocked part of the fairway leading to the river and the crew had to stand by to make sure that we didn’t put a scratch in their yacht as we exited our slip and entered the river (we didn’t).

Day: 45nm – 6H45M
Trip: 1108.8nm – 181H55M

Our trip to St. Michaels was enjoyable, but getting there took about two hours longer than I had estimated (should have looked at the charts more closely). We anchored in a small creek opposite the town of St. Michaels and took the dinghy ashore on Friday to walk about the town, do some window shopping, and have lunch at the Crab Claw Restaurant.

Leeds Creek has some spectacular homes, and we anchored in an area where we had panoramic views of three of them. Each morning watermen came to the area, set a few crab traps, and ran their trot lines. We also took the dinghy up to the head of the river past more nicely modest homes, and saw a Chesapeake Bay Skipjack taking a few paying customers on a trip up the river past Sanderling. We returned to Baltimore via Kent Narrows, saving 10 nautical miles and over an hour underway, but the day was hot and humid, and we couldn’t wait to get to the dock and turn on the air conditioning!

Day: 36.9nm – 6H15M
Trip: 1192.2nm – 195H30M

Judy has her first day of non-orientation work at Anne Arrundel Medical Center today, so I’ve been working on a few projects on Sanderling – seems like every day brings more work, but this is a good place to get it done.