O God, thy Sea is so great and my boat so small

May 5, 2023, Rock Hall Landing, Rock Hall Maryland.

 We have had crazy weather really since we have been on Chesapeake Bay. We spent our first night at the Yacht Club in Solomons , but extreme weather was forecasted for the next few days, so we had to leave the Solomons Island Yacht Club and find a safer anchorage.  At SIYC we were very exposed and wanted to move up the river to Spring Cove Marina, which was a very wise decision. The forecast for the whole week was not looking good and so we were only able to move three times, first from Solomons to ST Michaels and the next two journeys were only 15 and 12 miles respectfully. I will outline our week below and I am happy to report today we actually have some sun as we sit in Rock Hall Maryland.  So here is our week in review:

 

 

 

 

April 29, 2023, Travel Day # 127: Spring Cove Marina Solomons MD To St Michaels Marina, St Michaels MD.

Total Distance 54 Miles, Total Time 6 Hours

 

 We had been at Solomons for three days and were excited to depart and go to St Michaels, which is a Looper favorite destination, so we were ready to go. I think I mentioned before we had run into old friends who we hadn’t seen since the rivers, and we had agreed to meet for Docktails Friday night. Russ and Janet are great folks, and the following day would be their last day on The Loop, they would be sleeping in their own beds the next night (that is on my Bucket List!). At any rate Russ knows the waters and convinced me it would be a good travel day. They were going 90-miles, 13 hours and we only had 50 miles maybe 6 hours, so I was comfortable. They left at 6 AM, we waited until almost 9 AM because when we awoke the visibility was less than one mile due to fog. I hate departing into fog but had text Russ and he said they had 1-to-1.5-mile visibility in The Bay. So off we went. About a half hour later when we were 2 miles from the dock and already ½ way out the river, Russ texted back and said the seas were not good. He suggested we hang out for another day; he said if this was a normal looper day for them, they would stay in port. Great and this is a fellow I really trust so I had a discussion with the admiral, and she said let’s go for it! (I’d expect nothing else from her). Two miles later when we turned north bound, with Southerly waves and wind at our back and it was a pleasant ride.  Visibility improved as we went along but we never saw the sun.  Once again we don’t have lots of pictures as we started to run into gill nets for the first time on The Bay. Up to now we have been focused on Crab Pots which has kept us very busy to date but now we have a new challenge …. gill nets. The water is fairly shallow so anytime you get into less than 20 feet of water the watermen place gill nets where the bay depth rises from say 40 feet to 10 feet which is a common fishing strategy, fish the contours. The gill nets are marked on either end of the net by a buoy and a flag which is stretched about 100 feet apart. So, when you see one buoy and a flag you quickly have to figure out where the other end is, what direction and make darn sure you don’t run between them or run the risk of getting then wrapped up in your prop. It happens a lot and when your surfing down the waves it’s very hard to pick them up. The admiral did an amazing job making sure to spot the nets and figure out safe passage.  It makes spotting crab pots easy all of a sudden. For three months I’ve been dreading crab pots and once we got into fish / gill nets, crab pots all of a sudden are child’s play! As you can see on the track most of the journey was in the middle of The Bay as we crossed from the western shore over to the eastern shore so a pretty exposed crossing. However overall, we were glad that we left, it was a good travel day and it was nice to move from Solomons. We arrive in St Michaels marina safely and I wanted to check out the slip assignment, so we went into the fuel dock and was greeted by the owner, which is always nice. I figured if we filled up with fuel I could scope it out and I’d be in his good graces. Weather was forecasted to be raining the next day and maybe 2 of the following 3 days so we knew we were going to be in St Michaels for a bit and I wanted to have a good location out of the wind and current. No avoiding the rain!. Mike totally hooked us up with a great slip and it was after 4 PM when we settled into our slip and low and behold what is located directly behind Her Idea…. A Tiki Bar!

Her Idea right in her slip for 4 days, J&M enjoying a glass of Vino  

 

It was a great location as we were tucked around the corner from the main channel, so we had no wakes and were well out of the current. Overall, it was well worth scoping out. We ended up in St Michaels for 4 days and that’s a long time in one place. The weather was terrible, I think New England had the same raining crummy weather cold in the 40’s at night and mid 50’s for a day time high. That’s cold on the boat I can assure you; I figured in May in Maryland it would be beautiful. That has not been the case, the whole month has been cold, rainy, and windy. No more pity party, we are moving on.

St Michaels was a wonderful place to get stuck in. Tons of pictures to share. The history is amazing, from Revolutionary War history, including many social events/ festivals to the very interesting Waterman history of waterfowling to crabbing to a huge oyster history. It now boost many shops, restaurants, bars and is  a very popular tourist destination. They also have an amazing Maritime Museum (and we have been in several) but this one is world class.  St Michaels did not disappoint.   

 

 

 

Gill Nets, Where is the other flag?

 Light House 

Still have Barges and Tugs  passing us by

 Nice Flat Seas to ST Michaels no sun but no fog either

 

Gill Nets ahead😆

 Off Shore Platform along the way

 

 

 

 

 

Porches are big Things in St Michaels

 

Downtown St Michaels 

 

 Martine Museum

 

Hooper Island Light relocated with the help of Cathy Sage's Family, very cool

Meredith flashback!

History of Outboard Motors

Dug Out Canoe the Real Deal

Now that's a gun

Dug out Canoe 

Meredith's Side Hussle

 

Jack's new boots

 

May 3, 2023, Travel Day # 128: St Michaels Marina, St Michaels MD. To Safe Harbor Narrows Marina, Kent Island Maryland

Total Distance 15 Miles, Total Time 2 Hours

After 4 days in St Michaels, we were ready to depart. Our original plan was cross The Bay again to travel 40 miles to Annapolis, but the weather window just wasn’t showing up to do a 6-hour crossing of the Chesapeake. The seas and winds were just not co-operating. We were on the eastern shore and Annapolis is on the western shore so we would have to run across again. Wednesday morning it was raining, and the forecast was to rain until noon. However, around 10 AM it stopped, and it seemed like the rain was over until later in the afternoon. The Admiral had a brilliant idea and that was to travel 15 miles north to Kent Island which you can see by the track was a pretty protected run. So, Annapolis got the boot (we have both been there many times, so we were Ok with alternate plans). We shoved off at 11 AM and headed north. Them winds were from the north 10-15 but it seemed a lot more comfortable going into the wind and waves, certainly better than the southerly surfing actions we had leaving Solomons. Not many pictures of this journey as we were paying attention to the Gill Nets and waves. At any rate we took our time and arrived around 1 PM and were happy to have a new town to explore. We had lunch cleaned the boat and went out exploring. Well, that didn’t take long, really there was nothing in this part of Kent Island. I’m sure it’s a great place in the summertime but not now. In the summer it must be hopping as within a mile of our location they had 10 bars and restaurants and 15 marinas but on a cold May day, not much going on. We went back to the boat and developed a plan for the next day to travel to Rock Hall only 12 miles north. The folks at the marina recommended a great Crab House close by so we checked that out for dinner, and it was excellent. It was definitely the place to have crabs they sold then in singles, pairs, dozen two dozen and the ultimate 2 hours all you can eat. Brown rolled paper for table cloths wooden mallets and rolls of paper towel; it was a great Crab Restaurant. Sure, reminded us of a good old Maine Lobster bake. Crab is a lot more work in my mind, but we had a great meal and experience just excellent. 

Track

Only Picture from Kent Narrows $54 all you can eat ( 2 hours)

 

May 4, 2023, Travel Day # 129: Safe Harbor Narrows Marina, Kent Island Maryland

To Rock Hall Landing, Rock Hall MD.

Total Distance 12 Miles, Total Time 2 Hours

 

Since Kent Narrows was not a wow and the weather was still very windy we had planned to move on Thursday and get up to Rock Hall that did have a lot more to offer. The wind was projected to drop after 10 AM, which it did not so we held off departing until 10:30 AM. Once again if you look at the track for this journey we were inside and did not have to stick the bow out into the main body of The Bay. It was only 12 miles, and we took our time and were at the marina before 1 PM, which was great. The ride was pretty smooth but very windy, once again it was on the bow / nose and thankfully we had very little wave activity. Overall, it was a good ride, and we were happy to not be in the middle of The Bay as we could see large whitecaps looking west once we got north of Kent Island. The marinas here are very empty, as most folks don’t have their boats in so there is plenty of space available. This marina is located a mile from town so after lunch we walked in and checked it out. They have a Walgreens, West Marina, two grocery stores, several restaurants, and bars. Our kind of town. We picked up some fresh fish and eat on the boat. We prefer to eat out in a town on the night before we depart, less work for the chef and dishwasher. So tonight, we are headed to a spot that several folks claim to be the “Best in Town”. We ran into a couple that summers here on their boat and winters in Rockland Maine. Seems backwards to me but who am I to judge. Really nice couple and they insisted we try this place out so we are excited. Today was project day, laundry, change the bed, power wash the hull and deck, Interior cleaning, check all the fluids (I can’t believe I now know where all that stuff is!) and of course write the blog!

 

Not many pictures this time but we do have some of the area. It’s a full moon week and we have had so many along the way, the stars and full moon on clear nights sure makes for spectacular night gazing. 

 

 

 Moon Rise in Rock Hall Thursday Night 

 Bay Bridge from Rock Hall Her Idea's Slip 

 Rock Hall Landing Great Marina

Last Nights Full Moon ( w/ landing ducks )

 

 Osprey Building a nest off our bow

 

April Track : Wilmington NC  to St Michaels MD

 

So, what’s next, we only have 7 travel days from crossing our wake at the Statue of Liberty, so very hard to believe. This will take us probable two weeks with weather delays and picking the right travel days. We have two major bodies of water to get through, Delaware Bay (1 day, 65 miles) and the New Jersey Coast 165 Miles (3 days maybe 2). Our next three days we plan to move everyday weather looks decent and that will put us in Delaware City which is located at the Eastern side of the C&D canal. WE will wait there for a good day to travel southbound to Cape May New Jersey.  We will then hang out in Cape May waiting for a good safe passage up the Jersey Shore. WE hope to spend a night in NYC and then 6 days back to Kennebunk. So right now, we could be home by the end of the month but are not going to push it. Even now I am getting a little (little) sad this is ending. Lots of good times are still ahead and we are going to enjoy every sip in this bottle over the next few weeks. 

 

 

Cheers