September 13, 2009

Departed the marina at Baltimore at 0900 on our way further up Chesapeake Bay and then the Susquehanna River to Havre de Grace, Maryland. The forecast was for good weather for a three day period, so we were going to take advantage of it rather than sit around the marina since Judy didn’t have any work scheduled.

Departing Baltimore harbor, we again passed Fort McHenry; this was a beautiful day for a good photo of the historic fortification

and one of the many ships unloading at the port.

The trip north was delightful, and we arrived at Havre de Grace about 1530 that afternoon. We went into a marina, since the only anchorage is about a mile away and the current flowing down the Susquehanna River is fairly strong at times.

Havre de Grace is a nice little town for walking – mostly antique shops, and lot of vacant buildings, and some good restaurants. After an early dinner at an Italian restaurant (Judy had what she claims is the best Italian seafood pasta she’s had anywhere and I had some great pizza) we returned to the marina and walked along the extensive docks checking out the boats. In the process we discovered that the piers and slips were infested with spiders that liked to spin their webs between the pilings supporting the docks and the finger piers, and even the boats (those that were not used frequently) were covered with the little creatures and their webs! However, the bathrooms and showers were as clean as we’d seen anywhere.

Day: 45.0nm – 6H30M
Trip: 1237.2nm – 202H00M

September 14, 2009

We departed the marina at Havre de Grace about 0955 and cruised a few miles upriver on the Susquehanna under the Amtrak and highway #1 bridges – there are two more bridges (freight train and I-95) which we didn’t go under, but we could see the high dam that is the end of navigation on the Susquehanna. Interesting to think about how much of our country’s early history involved the Susquehanna as a means of transportation inland.

We turn turned back south through the sometimes narrow and winding channel down to the main ship channel in Chesapeake Bay, and after a couple of miles back on the Chesapeake turned east into the Sassafras River with Georgetown, Maryland, as our destination. The cruise up the Sassafras River was beautiful in full sun – wide, winding river, groups of modest and bigger homes, and – best of all – no crab traps after we left the mouth of the river.

Georgetown is not a town, it turns out, but just an area with 5-6 large marinas, associated restaurants and boating supply stores. Essentially it is a boating center; many boats both sail and power of all sizes. A small town is 2-3 miles away along the two-lane highway that cuts across the low bridge at the end of the main river. The marina where we stayed had moorings, so we took a mooring and dinghied ashore to do some walking before returning to Sanderling for a quiet meal aboard as the sun set and the air started cooling down to make a beautiful evening.

Day: 22.0nm – 3H30M
Trip: 1259.2nm – 205H30M

September 15, 2009

Day: 40.2 nm – 6H00M
Trip: 1299.5nm – 211H30M

September 20, 2009

Today is the perfect day for a cruise around Baltimore Harbor, and we took advantage of it. We invited friends and family aboard, and all enjoyed a six hour cruise into the Inner Harbor, then down the Patabsco River to Curtis Bay and into Curtis Creek where we anchored for an early afternoon lunch, then back to the marina. We enjoyed the time together catching up on recent events.

Day: 25.7nm – 5H45M