August 12 thru August 26

Our last week on the Potomac River was spent at the very friendly Corinthian Yacht Club.  The club, founded in 1903, was originally located at D.C.’s Roosevelt Island where its first members would tie up for shad bakes.  Various other D.C. locations served as the club’s home until 1962 when it merged with the Columbia Yacht Club which had purchased the 21-acre Bean Fishing Center on Smith Creek in Ridge, MD.  In 1971 the club permanently located here bringing with it the flagpole as a memento of its earlier days.

 

Each morning at precisely 8:00 we would hear the Star Spangled Banner proudly emanating from the speakers at the nearby Coast Guard Station at St. Inigoes Creek.

 

Blue crabs were abundant along Smith Creek.  Tethered to the dock pilings were crab pots and each morning CYC members would raise them to find about a dozen hapless crabs trapped in each pot.  Some were tossed back for another day; others went home for someone’s tasty dinner.  Each afternoon an elderly couple in a skiff came by to net the crabs clinging to the pilings.

 

                     

We hopped on our bikes and rode down straight, wide-shouldered country roads through soybean and corn fields to Ridge Market for our daily Washington Post and to Trossbachs Farm Stand for fresh tomatoes, squash, peaches and cantaloupe.  Heavenly!  We even managed to tend to some boat chores but, alas, the faulty Vacuflush aft head is on the fritz and in need of some replacement parts.  This is definitely a job for the captain, NOT THE ADMIRAL, and I am sure he is thrilled at the prospect of getting down and dirty at a future stop.

 

“Call Enterprise.  We’ll pick you up.”  And we did and they did.  On Friday, August 16^th, we rented a car from the Lexington Park Enterprise so we could drive on Saturday to Ellicott City for Beth Chou’s baby shower.  Beth is the daughter of Rich and Therese Wills, dear friends from our college days.  We had a wonderful time visiting with everyone especially since the grandparents-to-be are unable to attend the SUNY Maritime College 40^th reunion in September.

  

Beth and the Grandparents-to-be

 

 

     Beth and the Great-Grandparents-to-be

 

Sunday morning was a rainy one but we had a car so we drove a few miles to Point Lookout State Park on the north shore of the Potomac River where it meets the Chesapeake Bay.  In 1830 a lighthouse was constructed here and it still stands though it is no longer active.  During the Civil War the federal government erected Hammond Hospital at the tip of the point to treat wounded and sick soldiers.  After the Battle of Gettysburg, Confederate prisoners were incarcerated in a wooden-walled pen on the bay shore with only tents for shelter; between 1863 and 1865 nearly 50,000 men were held here.  Today the point serves as a thousand-acre park.  There were few visitors on this wet day.

 

Lexington Park is a short 15-mile ride from the Corinthian Yacht Club but the young Enterprise driver who took us back after we returned the car  knew a shortcut.  Well, 90 minutes after leaving Lexington Park he got us back to CYC.  He took us on a long scenic drive to what he thought was our marina before embarrassingly admitting his mistake!  We were in no hurry and got to see lots of countryside we otherwise would have missed!

 

On August 19^th, five hours after leaving Corinthian Yacht Club, we dropped anchor in Solomons Mill Creek.

 

Approaching Solomons

 

Tugs for LNG terminal at Cove Point docked in Mill Creek

 

It was a dreary, rainy day but the water on the bay was as smooth as glass.  Around dusk, we thought we heard the pitter patter of rain drops but further investigation showed that what we heard was the sound of hundreds of small fish breaking the surface of the water amid the sea nettles.  We never saw the bigger fish that must have been causing all this ruckus.

 

We always learn something new at the Calvert Marine Museum, home of the river otters Bubbles and Squeak.  For instance, we now know that a dinghy can also be known as a jolly boat.

 

The 1883 screwpile light, Drum Point Lighthouse,

was moved to the museum grounds in 1975.

 

 

 

Frank meditating in the lighthouse privy

Why do I travel with this man?

 

 

 

Wm. B. Tennison, an 1899 bugeye converted to an oyster buy boat

now used for passenger cruise tours of the Solomons waterfront

 

In 1941 the federal government purchased 6,400 acres of farmland at Cedar Point along the Patuxent River for aviation and armament testing, formally commissioning the Patuxent River Naval Air Station in 1943.  In 1942, in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Amphibious Training Base opened on Solomons to train tens of thousands of troops before their deployment overseas.  Shortly afterwards, the Naval Mine Warfare Test Station whose mission was to research and develop underwater weapons opened.  By 1945 the Navy was making 600 torpedo shots – some live, some not – a month into the Patuxent River.  Fishermen beware!
 

Today the Patuxent Naval Air Station conducts test flights to evaluate the flying quality and performance of military aircraft including the V-22 Osprey.  This tilt-rotor aircraft with vertical takeoff and landing capability has the functionality of a helicopter with the speed and range of a turbo prop.  We were lucky enough to catch sight of one overhead as we cruised the river near the Governor Thomas Johnson Bridge.

Some of the fiercest fighting of the War of 1812 took place where St. Leonard Creek meets the Patuxent River.  The First and Second Battles of St. Leonard Creek were fought in the summer of 1814 when the British navy skirmished with the flotilla of Commodore Joshua Barney.  The sunken remains of some of these ships were uncovered by archaeologists in the 1990’s and artifacts are housed in the Jefferson Patterson Park Museum.  We dinghied over to the Morgan State University Estuarine Research dock and walked the grounds of the park on Petersons Point.

 

As we were weighing anchor to return to Mill Creek, Casual Class arrived on the scene.  Stu and Diana left Ocean Marine Yacht Center on Saturday, just four days ago.  We are getting nowhere fast!

The fuel dock at Calvert Marina advertised diesel fuel for $3.62 a gallon, the most reasonable price we had seen in a long time.  We thought we had snagged a real bargain until Frank, the boat statistician, burst our bubble.  In his Sea Venture log book he had recorded buying fuel in July 2001 at the same marina for $1.10 a gallon.  KA-CHING!  OUCH!

 

A raging thunderstorm overnight gave way to a beautiful sunny morning for our bay crossing to Cambridge and the Hyatt River Marsh Marina.  However, we got off to a worrisome start as an issue with the starboard engine forced us to drop the hook minutes after bringing her up!  The captain/chief engineer remedied the problem and we were on our way shortly after 10AM.

 

Hyatt River Marsh Marina and Resort from our anchorage in the Choptank River

Our toilet repair parts were waiting for us as we checked in with the dock master and Frank prepared for a fun afternoon in the head.  The repairs went remarkably well (easy for me to say) until that evening when a new problem arose – the pump would not stop running. :(  By Sunday afternoon the problem was solved and we were flushing with ease. :)

 

Seaplane landing in the Choptank River right where we had anchored the previous night!!

We were glad we were now docked in the marina.

 

Along the docks at River Marsh Marina we met another Ocean Alexander, Knot for Sail, and the captains enjoyed swapping information about their respective vessels.  While Ocean Alexanders are common on the West Coast, there are few in this area.

Our friends Stu and Carol Wikander were able to get away from their boatyard in Allen, MD to join us for dinner on Lazy W.

We picked an inopportune time to leave River Marsh Marina.  A group of four boats led by The Wine Maker docked before noon on August 26^th; the crews were soon out and about on the dock sipping wine from blue solo cups.  We told ourselves that the homemade wine probably was not up to our high standards anyway.  We moved on to La Trappe Creek and uncorked a bottle of Oak Leaf Sauvignon Blanc from Walmart...