Wicomico Creek to St. Michaels

June 20, 2011

Even though the marine forecast was calling for winds gusting to 25 knots there was hardly a breeze blowing on Wicomico Creek.  We checked the on-line NOAA Data Buoy Center and found that the buoy at Bishops Head Point was reporting gusts of 27 knots!  We had certainly made the right decision to stay put at WYY for one more day.  The steady rain cleared by early afternoon and Frank headed up to the yard to lend Stu a hand in his shop.

An early 7AM departure was planned for Tuesday.  We wound our way out of the creek and into the Wicomico River without incident.  Out on the northern end of Tangier Sound and through Hooper Strait we encountered a mine field of crab pots among the oyster sanctuaries and uncharted fish obstructions.  But the Bay was calm with a scattering of sailboats and hardworking crab men.  We set our sights for the Choptank River and an anchorage in La Trappe Creek.  After 66 slow miles we dropped anchor amid two dozen boats and enjoyed an earlier-than-usual happy hour.  The neighboring sail boaters were part of a sailing club rendezvous and all of them dinghied to a teeny, tiny spot of sand on Martin Point until high tide arrived, covering the beach and chasing them all back to their boats.

La Trappe Creek seemed like the perfect place to try out the kayak and we enjoyed an early morning paddle along one of its coves.  Then it was time to reload the 12-foot long, 58-pound kayak.  While she deploys quite easily, reloading is a different story. Frank had rigged a pulley system so that we could easily get her out of the water into a full upright position and then I could easily yank her up into her cradle high atop the dinghy davits while he stands precariously on the swim platform guiding her up.  We had accomplished this several times before leaving Portsmouth but for some reason it took us numerous tries before we were successful this time – I am sure it was an amusing sight for those sailboaters still at anchor.

An unexpected clogged fuel filter delayed pulling up anchor.  Once underway it was a less-than-ten-mile cruise along the Choptank River, under the Frederick Malkus Memorial Bridge (the second longest span bridge in Maryland) to the Hyatt Regency River Marsh Marina in Cambridge.

 

A view of the Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay Resort from the River Marsh Marina

Cambridge is the birthplace of abolitionist Harriet Tubman who used the surrounding marshes as part of the Underground Railroad.  The historic downtown area was just a bike ride away but the weather was hot and humid and marina guests are entitled to the use of all the resort’s amenities – pools, tennis and volleyball courts, putt-putt and frisbee golf – so we never left the resort!  Maybe on our autumn route south we will be more inclined to tour.

One cool morning we did take a short bike ride through the resort which sits on 440 acres along the Choptank River and boasts an 18-hole golf course and 400-room hotel.  Big development plans in 1999 turned sour in the economic downtown of 2008 and even though 357 lots are all platted and ‘shovel-ready’ the only traces of residential housing we saw were twenty townhouses, one lonely single family home on a cul-de-sac, one large condo building and a blue heron rookery.

 

A local family enjoying the beach at the River Marsh Marina

Next stop – Annapolis!  Along the route, we cautiously guided Lazy W through the shallow water of Knapps Narrows and out into the bay.  Hours later as we approached Annapolis we had a bit of difficulty finding the buoys marking the entrance to Back Creek.  The water was a flurry of activity – youngsters on small lasers were haphazardly learning to sail, the Catherine Marie tour boat was heading out, an American Cruise Line ship was leaving its dock, dozens and dozens of sailboats were effortlessly gliding by - and while everyone seemed to know where they were going, we searched the horizons for the elusive buoys.  Finally we arrived at Annapolis Landing Marina in the relative calm of Back Creek.  Our radar unit was waiting for us in the office.

Tim and Vicky Gardner arrived later that afternoon bearing wine, beer, rum, whiskey and other provisions.  Tim has built a replica – a large replica, 30+ feet tall – of the Thomas Point Shoal Light on their property along Smith Mountain Lake.  One of the items on his and Vicky’s bucket list is an up close and personal view of the real light which sits in the Chesapeake Bay just off Annapolis.  So after breakfast the next morning we took a short cruise to snap a few pictures.  Tim fed us historical tidbits as we idled Lazy W near the light.

Thomas Point Shoal Light on Smith Mountain Lake

 

Tim and Vicky and the real Thomas Point Shoal Light

 

That afternoon we drove into Eastport where the Eastport-a-Rockin’ Festival to benefit the Annapolis Maritime Museum was in full swing.  Unfortunately the museum was not open for business so we set off for downtown Annapolis in search of a scarce parking spot.  The beautiful weather brought out tourists in droves along Main Street.  We strolled down Ego Alley to admire the boats but there was nothing this day to invoke yacht envy in me!  After dining on crab cakes at a nearby oyster bar we returned to the marina for another late night on Lazy W.

Tim and Vicky departed for Smith Mountain Lake after breakfast and, for a change of scenery, we left for Weems Creek just up the Severn River from the United States Naval Academy.  USNA mooring balls can be had in the creek except during a hurricane when the academy moors some of their vessels there.  As luck would have it all the moorings marked USNA were already taken but there were numerous others.  The Admiral and the Captain had a disagreement over the use of mooring balls with the letters P-R-I-V-A-T-E emblazoned on them.  After a long discussion while putzing around the creek, the Captain gave up the idea and decided to drop anchor rather than tie up to a P-R-I-V-A-T-E mooring.

We were surprised by the arrival of Woodwind II, a seventy-four foot schooner, with about twenty passengers including a bride, a groom and one navy officer in full dress white uniform.  We watched (or spied through the binoculars) as the officer performed the wedding ceremony and the guests partied on board for a few hours before returning to the Marriott dock in Annapolis.  The Woodwind II is featured for a full five minute scene in the 2004 film “The Wedding Crashers” with Christopher Walken at the wheel; its identical sister, Woodwind, is always a top finisher in the Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race.

 

Wedding aboard Woodwind II at anchor in Weems Creek

We left Weems Creek, passing the USNA abuzz with football practice, women’s rowing team, and a naval patrol vessel, to pay a visit to St. Michaels on the eastern side of the bay.  During the War of 1812 the residents of the town braced for an attack by the British by hoisting lanterns to the masts of ships and in the tops of trees while blacking out the lighting in their homes.  Believing the town was high on a bluff, the British took aim and overshot the town, striking only one house.  St. Michaels proudly calls itself ‘the town that fooled the British.’

Our anchorage in Leeds Creek is just a short dinghy ride across the Miles River to St. Michaels.  We have the anchorage pretty much to ourselves except for the osprey, the occasional white swan, and the early morning crabbers running their trot lines.  The hot humid weather brought out the need for ice cream so a trip to town was in order.  Not only did we find a wonderful little shop for ice cream cones but we happened upon the Edible Arrangements clerks passing out chocolate covered strawberries along Talbot Street and the St. Michaels winery was open for a wine tasting - a great afternoon!

If only we had tied the dinghy more securely to Lazy W we might have had a calm, relaxing morning on June 28^th.  But no, the dinghy took an unmanned jaunt across the creek for a better view of the osprey nest!  Launch the kayak – retrieve the dinghy – secure the dinghy – leisurely paddle around the creek – and then wrestle with the kayak in an almost unsuccessful attempt to hoist her back up on the davits.  Two hours later we discovered that we had not become weaklings who were no longer able to handle the kayak lift but that she has a small leak that enables her to take on enough water into the hollow hull to double her weight!!  After the strategic use of many angry expletives, we managed to drain the water and get her back on the davits.  What fun!! 

We rewarded ourselves with lunch at the Crab Claw Restaurant and a visit to the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum.  The museum is now home to the Hooper Strait Lighthouse, an 1879 screwpile lighthouse that was moved 40 miles from Hooper Strait to St. Michaels in 1966.  In the boat yard building, we met Marc Barto, the project manager for a three-year restoration of the skipjack, Rosie Parks.  The skipjack was built in 1955 (in just three months!) when Maryland still required that dredging the oyster bars be done under sail.  Pictures from her heyday show a majestic skipjack undersail but today her decaying hull and caved in decks are in dire need of some TLC.  When her restoration is complete, she will be outfitted with her original mast, sails, winches, and dredging gear.

Since there was a forecast of pesky afternoon thunderstorms we were forced to close all lazy W’s hatches, windows and portlights while we were in town.  We returned to sauna-like conditions and no power to the air conditioning circuits!  A transfer switch wire had come lose, most probably a victim of the beating we took out on the bay at the start of our trip.  Luckily Frank was able to find and fix the problem but not before sweating off a few pounds in the engine room during his troubleshooting exercise.  That and the surly dinghy and an ongoing issue with the inverter and the battery charger made for, in Frank’s words, quite a ‘good day.’  When pushed to explain that description, he replied in his typical engineer mode, “I got everything fixed, didn’t I?”

 

Hooper Strait Lighthouse at Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum