Around Annapolis, MD

Annapolis, MD
38 58.21 N 76 29.83 W

Rehoboth Beach boardwalk
after Irene

We know we said we would update our blog in September and it’s already October but we live on “boat time”. Carina was splashed on Monday 8/29/11 after successfully making it through Hurricane Irene on the hard at Oxford Boatyard. We, Barnacle and Sinbad included, weathered Irene quite comfortably at the condo in Rehoboth Beach without even so much as a dimming of the lights.

Carina spent 5 weeks on the
hard at the Oxford Boat Yard. 

Mark occupied his time with sewing projects on the condo floor: replacing the Stratoglass windshield panels, making a new cover for the new dinghy and starting the main sail Stak-Pak. We made a dozen trips, (80 miles or 1-1/2 hrs each way) back & forth to Carina for waxing hulls, changing seals on both sail drives, bottom paint, etc. We had to strip all the cockpit canvas, kayaks and any other loose stuff off of Carina in preparation for Irene as well.

A traditional Chesapeake Bay
waterman's crabbing boat heads
up Town Creek in Oxford, MD

After almost 5 weeks off of Carina, we officially moved out of Jay and Veronica’s condo on Tuesday 8/30/11 and back onboard. With Carina back in the water we dropped the dock lines and anchored in Town Creek off Oxford, MD while waiting for Mark’s son Alex and his girlfriend Genesa to join us for a few days. 

Alex & Genesa enjoyed 4 days
of clouds & rain

 They arrived on Labor Day Monday and we enjoyed a nice, although cloudy and showery four days with them.

Carina anchored in Sawmill Cove
off LaTrappe Creek

On Saturday 9/10/11 we decided it was time to move on from the Oxford area and explore more of the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake. Our first stop was a short 8 miles up the Choptank River to La Trappe Creek.



Enjoying the scenery by kayak

 We found a pretty cove a few miles upstream just big enough for Carina surrounded by huge old Oak trees, stately homes and lots of wildlife. We spent a second night in a little cove behind the sand spit of Martin Point at the mouth of La Trappe Creek . We took advantage of sunny skies and warm temperatures to explore both areas by dinghy and kayak.

Stately homes along
LaTrappe Creek



Anchored in behind Martin Pt.



 

The anchorage basin in
Cambridge,  MD

 The need to top off our water tanks on Monday 9/12/11 prompted us to head over to Cambridge, MD for a night. It was a short trip up the Choptank River to Cambridge Creek were we anchored in the small basin in the center of town.


 

Chesapeake Blue Crabs at the
J.M. Clayton Seafood Co.

The waterfront is a mixture of new condos, restaurants and old marinas and a seafood processing plant, with waterman coming and going through the drawbridge which was upriver just beyond the anchorage.



Our harbor view in Cambridge

 



View of the Miles River from the
Chesapeake Maritime Museum

Our next stop was Santa Domingo Creek off Broad Creek. Santa Domingo is considered the “back door” entrance to St. Michael’s, MD and much less crowded than the “front door” off the Miles River. We tied the dinghy at the local waterman’s dock and walked into town which was very lovely with lots of historic homes, shops and restaurants.

St Micheal's harbor view
at happy hour

We spent the majority of an afternoon exploring the Chesapeake Maritime Museum which we both enjoyed and ended the day with Happy Hour at the Town Dock Restaurant over drinks and raw oysters. We left St. Michael's on Wednesday, 9/14/11 and explored a few more places on the Eastern Shore....Baby Owl Cove off Leadenham Creek and Dunn Cove on Tilghman Island.

On a cloudy Saturday, 9/17/11 we motored through Knapps Narrows, between Tilghman Island and the mainland neck of St. Michael's, and out across the Chesapeake Bay for Annapolis.

We navigated through the city mooring field off the US Naval Academy and caught the 11:30AM Spa Creek bascule bridge opening. We were heading for our friends and fellow Manta Cat owners Scot & Tina Ligon who had arranged for us to spend a few nights at their condo's guest dock. 

Our friends Mo and Polly were anchored nearby in the Creek on their “new to them” Defever 44+5 trawler, Motivator (having gone to the "Dark Side" when they sold their Nauticat sailboat upon their return from the Bahamas in May). We enjoyed cocktails aboard their beautiful boat that evening and sushi at Sakura Sushi in downtown Annapolis with them on Sunday before they departed for Baltimore on Monday.



Spa Creek as seen from the mast
top of Scot & Tina's Sangaris.

 We pulled off the guest dock on Monday and dropped anchor in the Creek for a couple more days before heading down the Bay about 11 miles to the Rhode River for the SSCA (Seven Seas Cruising Assoc.) Gam. A gam is basically a nautical term for a get together. Although the weather was cloudy and rainy most of the weekend we enjoyed the two days of seminars, food and mingling with other cruisers most of who are headed south soon like us. It was fun to see old friends and make new ones such as Bill and Mara who are cruising aboard their home built catamaran, Puddle Jumper.

After the gam and before the Annapolis Sailboat Show we decided we needed a break from the hustle and bustle and checked out the quiet West River just south of the Rhode River and the even quieter town of Galesville. Mark took advantage of the quiet anchorage to perform some routine servicing on the generator.



Aric standing in the gen.
locker with the old generator
head just removed.

 Unfortunately while doing that he discovered that a plastic fan housing that's supposed to keep the generator head cool was no longer attached to the gen shaft end. Although we were still able to run the generator, it was just a matter of time how long it would last before over-heating. The only fix is to replace the entire generator head. We were able to find a local Next-Gen authorized mechanic who came very highly recommended and just happened to be a good friend of Bill and Mara’s which is how we got moved to the top of his busy work schedule.

We returned back up Spa Creek to Annapolis again as we waited for the heavy part to be shipped up from FL. Once the replacement generator head finally arrived Aric and Mark made the swap in 4 hours while tied up at Scot's dock. We're now back in business!

M&K with Scott & Tina Ligon
at one of the boat show parties we were
invited to.

 The past two weeks have been a blur of activities. Scott & Tina have been extremely generous during our stay in Annapolis offering us the use of their car which we took full advantage of to take care of errands and of the never ending job of provisioning. They moved their boat Sangaris up the Creek to a friends boat lift (yes.. wide enough for a catamaran) to clean the bottom sides so we moved into their own dock slip. Days have been spent completing a multitude of projects on Carina. Evenings have been spent visiting and dining with old boat friends and new found boaters also in the anchorage for the boat show.


A small corner of the boat show

 Columbus Day Weekend is also the annual Annapolis Sailboat Show, when a large portion of the Annapolis harbour is converted into one of the largest in-water sailboat shows in the US. Cruisers flock into town by boat or car. Spa Creek became extremely crowded with other southbound boats also attending the show. 



The new sail cover

  Mark took advantage of the "dock time" to finish re-fashioning our mainsail cover into a "stak-pak" style cover which should make the job of accessing the sail much easier. Then there was engine servicing and a bunch of other small projects to complete our pre-departure check list. Mark reciprocated Scott's generosity by helping him out with a few projects on their Manta cat Sangaris.



Baby Quinten & Grandma

 Last Sunday Scot & Tina offered us their car once again and we traveled back across the Delmarva to visit Jason & Veronica and baby Quinten in Rehoboth Beach one last time.
 



The US Naval Academy



Today we dinghied down Spa Creek  with our friends Rich & Carol Wellman on the The Great Catsby to the US Naval Academy were we attended mass in the Chapel. Afterwards we went on a tour of the academy grounds & buildings including the Naval Museum. It's truly a beautiful and impressive place full of history that makes you proud to be an American. 



 Having spent a month in the Annapolis area and with the temperatures getting chilly we are ready to depart on our southward migration with favorable westerly winds forecasted for tomorrow.

The cats are fine and Barnacle is looking forward to once again roaming the decks freely, once we get off this dock and can swing on an anchor again.