Since last blog entry we've been exploring the upper Chesapeake, with stops in the middle of nowhere and in the middle of somewhere. Again, wind and waves have impacted our travels.
Last Wednesday we left Chesapeake City in the afternoon and turned west in the C & D Canal which soon widened into the upper Chesapeake Bay. A NW wind came up putting waves on our beam, so we 'tacked' a few times until we reached the mouth of the Sassafras River to port. We traveled 3 miles up the river until we turned into Turner Creek. The entrance there is tight, and keeping green markers to port seems like it'll put you in the woods, but it works. We anchored with about 2' of water below Spray's keel.
Turner Creek was beautiful, which is a good thing since windy conditions kept us there for 3 nights when we had planned on 2. A very short row away was Turner Creek County Park, with a grassy area for dog play. You can sort of see the park pavilion below.
On Thursday we hiked (and hiked!) through woods and between corn fields. We tried moving on Friday morning at first light since the NOAA marine forecast called for small craft advisory starting at 9 am so we hoped for a couple hours of relative calm to move 12 miles down the bay. Nope. We were barely into the Sassafras when we hit 3+ ft. waves and knew it would be worse out in the bay, so we executed what Jeff Siegel calls the most difficult maneuver in boating : the U-turn. Easy physically but not psychologically. Back into Turner Creek, dropped our anchor in the same hole it had left, and had pancakes cooking by 8:30. Spent the day in the park and loafing on the boat.
It was Saturday morning that we finally resumed travel down the Bay, but not very far. We were planning on making it to Baltimore but after a calm start the wind and waves began building so we bailed out into Fairlee Creek, which also has a challenging entrance. Fairlee is a long and wide 'creek' (what we call coves and harbors in Maine are usually called creeks here) and I foolishly dropped the anchor right in the middle of it so we were exposed to some chop. Not bad for Spray but it made for a bumpy dinghy ride to a protected beach. We walked the area for a few hours (soybeans here) and watched the scene at the local marina as people put their boats to bed for winter.
So it was Sunday (yesterday) that let us get out of Fairlee Creek, down the Bay some, then a right turn up the Patapsco River and cruise 10 miles up to Baltimore, aka 'Charm City'. We did a short tour up to the head of the harbor, then back down to the Canton neighborhood where we pulled into Anchorage Marina, which is large and well situated. Hot showers and shopping were quickly accomplished.
Today the 4 of us walked Baltimore's impressive shore path up to the inner harbor, had lunch here, then I minded the dogs while Sheila toured this. Quite a different environment from the rural creeks of recent days. The weather was the best we've seen in a few weeks and we all like Baltimore. Tonight we left the dogs guarding Spray (by sleeping apparently) and went restaurant/bar hopping in the neighborhood in an attempt to satisfy some of Sheila's cravings :
- for fried oysters and beer we went here
- for hand-cut French fries and beer we went here
- for apple pie and coffee we went here
Tomorrow we head back down the Patapsco, then only a few miles down the Bay to the boaters haven of Annapolis, which we're looking forward to.
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