The further adventures of Lazy W

On the morning of August 29^th we left Oxford bound for one of our favorite anchorages near St. Michaels - Leeds Creek.  To get there we had to negotiate the skinny water of Knapps Narrows cutting through Tilghman Island.  The Narrows are dredged regularly but they also shoal regularly. Since the charts show six feet of water in the channel and Lazy W draws four feet of water there is little room for error when navigating this stretch of water!

 

The bascule bridge at Knapps Narrows opening for the passage of Lazy W

 

The Captain did a fine job traversing the Narrows without incident and we arrived at Leeds Creek just off the Miles River in early afternoon.   The vintage catboat, Selena II, was a frequent visitor to Leeds Creek during our five day stay on the hook.  Yes, five days at Leeds Creek – it was Labor Day weekend!

Selena II

 

Bright and early every morning the watermen arrived in Leeds Creek to work their trot lines.

Goose Buster was a frequent visitor to Leeds Creek

From our anchorage it was just a short dinghy ride across the Miles River to St. Michaels, “the town that fooled the British.”  One August night in 1813 the British planned to attack the then thriving port but the townspeople foiled their plans by hanging lanterns high in the treetops and darkening the rest of the town.  The British aimed for what they thought were the lights of town – their cannon fire overshot St. Michaels!

 

Today St. Michaels lures boaters from all over the Chesapeake Bay. Its bustling shops along Talbot Street and scores of restaurants serving up crabs, crabs and more crabs appeal to the hungry, wandering masses that arrive by land and by sea.  And this weekend was especially crowded due to the 16^th Annual Boat Auction taking place at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum (CBMM).

 

Up for bid at the auction were over eighty water toys ranging from 12-foot windsurfers and canoes to a 38-foot power boat and a beautiful 39-foot motor sailor.  For those with a smaller pocketbook, there was also a nautical tag sale where we were big spenders – one crisp dollar bill got us a much-needed spotlight for our after-dark dinghy excursions!

 

This 1989 18-foot Cobalt Bowrider had a run-in with a tree sometime in its life.  But that didn’t deter one lucky bidder who picked it up for a mere $25.

 

A winning bid of $500 would have gotten you this wooden 16-foot Lapstrake Skiff.  This project boat will be keeping its new owner busy for a long, long time.

A 12-foot wind surfer for $100 – A 16-foot Hobie cat for $650 – A Hunter 18-foot sailboat for $2,100 – A Freedom 21-foot sailboat for $2,500.  The bids were coming in fast and furious.  All the action made us hungry and thirsty so we headed into town for crabs.  As we sat on the deck of one of the many crab houses along the waterfront we were amazed at the number of boats still arriving in the harbor looking for dock space! 

 

The drawbridge that once linked Tilghman Island with the rest of Maryland at Knapps Narrows spans the land entrance to the CBMM.

 

We love St. Michaels but five days on the hook, dinghying across the choppy Miles River, was a bit too long to spend here.  We walked Talbot Street searching for ¼” fuel line hose for the dinghy, stopping in at Eastern Shore Brewing, eating at the Blackthorn Irish Pub, tasting Italian wines at Simpatico, replenishing our wine inventory at Village Market, perusing the aisles of Calico Toys & Games and Chesapeake Bay Outfitters, and roaming the grounds of The Inn at Perry Cabin.  By the end of Labor Day weekend we were anxious to get underway again.

Also located in St. Michaels - The luxurious Inn at Perry Cabin

was once owned by designer Laura Ashley.

 

 

Kent Narrows is a convenient shortcut linking the Miles River and the Chester River.  In the 18^th century, this waterway was filled with sailing cargo vessels loaded with tobacco. Today, condos, marinas, dockside restaurants and tiki bars are wedged into every square inch of shoreline.  We carefully made our way to the eastern end of the narrows and waited patiently for the opening of the bascule bridge.

Lazy W was comfortably docked next to a big Hatteras named Pleiades in the 550-slip Mears Point Marina.  This busy destination marina would be our home for the next two days. 

Adjacent to the marina is the start of the Cross Island Trail, a six-mile paved bike path that links Kent Narrows with the Terrapin Nature Park.  The first mile or so past the causeway runs parallel to the strip malls of busy Route 50 - while winding through stands of tall pines you hear the traffic but see and smell the woods!  The rest of the trail was a peaceful pedal through wetlands, farmlands, Old Love Point Park and the Kent Island High School parking lot!?!  We desperately wanted to visit the West Marine Store on the opposite side of Route 50 (our bargain spotlight needed a new light bulb) but I didn’t dare attempt to cross that busy six-lane divided highway.

 

The Captain relaxing at the Terrapin Nature Park end of the Cross Island Trail...

 

...and the Watermen’s Monument at the other end.

 

Kent Narrows and Mears Point Marina as seen from atop the Chesapeake Exploration Center. 

Somewhere in that mess of boats sits Lazy W.

The town of Chestertown is twenty-five miles up the Chester River from Kent Narrows.  After snaking our way through the narrow channel at the western end of the Narrows, we turned north for a cruise up the Chester River.  No mega-mansions hugging its shoreline.  Instead we had wonderful views of farmland and fields of shimmering greens and golds meeting shorelines edged with lush marsh grasses and dotted with rickety duck blinds.  These scenes were perfectly captured by the artist Bonnie Foster Howell whose paintings were on display at the Artists Gallery on High Street in Chestertown.

 

Along the Chester River

 

In 1774 the residents of Chestertown staged their own version of the Boston Tea Party when, after outlawing the sale and consumption of tea, they stormed the British brigantine Geddes and dumped her cargo of tea into the Chester River.  Things have quieted down since then but the residents still know how to throw a First Friday celebration!  Free beer, free wine, free munchies and plenty of good conversation were provided by the proprietors of Salon and Creative Focus at Stepne Station and the shopkeepers along High and Cross Streets.  We admired art work at the Artists Gallery and ogled the wooden floating tables of Vicco Von Voss at the Massoni Gallery.  We were given a free loaf of focaccia bread at the Evergrain Bakery.  But the Chestertown Marina claimed to have no slip available for Lazy W (even though we saw plenty of empty slips) so we were anchored off Devil’s Reach, a short 1.5 mile dinghy ride  from downtown.  Without a light bulb for our spotlight we were back on board Lazy W before dark.

The schooner Sultana along the Chester River

 

Next stop – Rock Hall, the self-proclaimed ‘Pearl of the Chesapeake’ and the Rock Hall Landing Marina.  Jim and Mary Anne Lancaster, past owners of the marina, and Ed, one of the new owners, met us at the dock to help secure Lazy W.  Unlike our first visit here in 2002, we did not go aground!  We enjoyed an early afternoon happy hour aboard Meander and then met up again with the Lancasters for dinner at Waterman’s Crab House.

 

Along Main Street in Rock Hall. We may have gone aground in 2002 but we were never quite this bad at docking!

The following day, Bonnie and Charlie Burke arrived in Rock Hall Landing Marina aboard Sonata fresh from their trip down the ICW from Cape Cod. 

 

That evening we all gathered for a dock party on the finger pier separating Sonata and Lazy W.  While it may not appear to be so from this picture, the OMYC gang had a wonderful time!

 

Jim, Mary Anne, Frank, Charlie, Bonnie

 

 

Oysterman Tribute

along the seawall in Rock Hall

 

Crab pots retired for the season line the seawall in Rock Hall

On September 10^th – Happy 25^th Anniversary, Peg and Greg! – after much debate over our next stop, we departed Rock Hall bound for the Magothy River. 

Lazy W leaving Rock Hall Landing Marina

 

The winds were blowing from the west and we were prepared for a choppy crossing of the bay but we were pleasantly surprised by how smooth the ride was.  When we arrived on the Magothy we dropped anchor in Sillery Bay between Little Island and Dobbins Island.

The only house on Little Island in Sillery Bay

 

Dobbins Island in Sillery Bay

The shore of the Magothy River is lined with the bedroom communities of Baltimore and Annapolis.  There are plenty of little creeks to explore so we launched the dinghy and took a ride.  This glass-walled house sits overlooking the entrance to Broad Creek.

But the lone house on Little Island was certainly the most picturesque.  We suspect that the owner frowns on visitors to his enclave – there is a cannon perched on the island to the right of the house; it is aimed at uninvited boat guests.

 

While we were off exploring, the winds shifted and Lazy W was getting pummeled with waves.  This made our return to the mother ship a bit nerve-wracking as the bow of the dinghy was being knocked under the swim platform of Lazy W.  We managed to get onboard safely, raise and secure the dinghy, weigh the anchor and motor over closer to Dobbins Island to escape the wind.  After three attempts at dropping the hook, we got the anchor to set and settled in for happy hour.  And the wind died down!

 It was at anchor in the Magothy River that our PC was officially declared DEAD!!!  After days and days of enduring its repeated attempts at startup, only to be followed by restart, boot, reboot, crash, freeze, black screens and blue screens filled with undecipherable error messages we gave up playing around with it.  We called the Geek Squad who thought that maybe the hard drive needed replacement.  KA-CHING!  We vowed not to turn the PC on again until we arrive in Baltimore.

In our opinion, no cruise of the Chesapeake Bay is complete without a stop in Annapolis.    We had a plan to dock Lazy W along Market Slip, aka Ego Alley, next to the City Dock.  This is where the really B-I-G yachts dock to see and be seen in Annapolis.  So why not dock Lazy W there for the night?

Approaching the Chesapeake Bay Bridge

 

Well, by the time we arrived in Annapolis there were already enough big yachts in Ego Alley to fill the wall so we grabbed a mooring ball instead. 

 

Annapolis from the mooring field

It turned out to be a great decision.  It was Wednesday night and we had front row seats for watching all kinds of sail boat races!

The junior sail boaters were practicing their maneuvering skills right off our bow.  Some came precariously close to Lazy W but always managed to avoid hitting her.  They were having a great time!  And so were we!

 

The Junior sailboat racers

 

Later on the older sail boaters came in off the bay.  The maneuvering skill of some of these adult boaters was not nearly as precise as the juniors.  One duo narrowly avoided wedging themselves underneath our dinghy hanging off the stern davits of Lazy W!

 

 

 

 

 

 

A visit to Oxford

 The crabbers along the Choptank River were out bright and early as we made our way to Oxford.  Above us an eagle chased an osprey clinging tightly to its morning catch – neither one got to enjoy that morsel.

 

The Talbot

In continuous operation since 1836, the Oxford-Bellevue ferry is believed to be

the oldest privately operated ferry in the United States.

It plies the Tred Avon River between Oxford and Bellevue.

 

 

As we entered Flatty Cove off the Tred Avon River we noticed on the point of land a large brick edifice that we thought, oddly enough, must be a conference center.  We later found out that this is the home of a purported arms dealer who, without ever spending a night in his sixteen bedroom monstrosity, has irked all the residents of Oxford.

 

 

Oxford was established in 1683 when the Maryland General Assembly laid out the seaport town.  In 1694 Oxford and Annapolis were selected as the only ports of entry for commerce on the Maryland side of the Chesapeake Bay.  Until the American Revolution, it served as a bustling center for trade as finished goods from England were traded for tobacco.  Prosperity returned to Oxford after the Civil War when improved methods of canning, packing and shipping oysters opened up new northern markets.  Once the oyster beds were depleted in the early 1900’s the packing houses closed and only the watermen remained.  Today life on the Tred Avon revolves around sailing with cardboard boat races and regattas filling the summer calendar.

 After setting the hook, we launched the dinghy and made our way to Town Creek and the ‘Devlin’ dock.  John, another ex-Ernst & Young partner and colleague of Frank, and his wife, Susan, live in what was once a waterman’s house on the creek.  Even though they were preparing to leave on an exciting European sailing vacation they were gracious hosts during our two days in Oxford.

 

Robert Morris Inn

The Robert Morris Inn dates back to 1710.  Robert Morris, Sr. was an early Oxford resident and prominent merchant.  His son, Robert Morris, Jr., known as “the financier of the American Revolution,” was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution.  Part of their residence is incorporated into the structure of the inn.  James Michener ate here while penning Chesapeake and so did we!

 

After dinner we were faced with yet another dinghy ride in the dark back to Lazy W.  We need a spotlight!!  Frank’s Hampton Yacht Club ball cap with lights in the brim has its limits in the pitch dark!!

 John, past Commodore of the Tred Avon Yacht Club, invited us to the Wednesday night club dinner.  He even secured a slip for Lazy W so we wouldn’t have another dark dinghy ride in the forecasted evening thunderstorm. After dining on soft shell crab (my first!) we listened to a talk by local author Roger Vaughan.  He regaled the audience with excerpts from Sailing on the Edge – America’s Cup, a book he co-authored with several other sailing enthusiasts.

 

Sailboat launch at the Tred Avon Yacht Club

During cocktails we were introduced to Geoffrey Longfellow, an Eastern Shore resident and professor at Chulalongkorn University in Thailand, who supposedly has ties to the royal family.  We shared our Thailand travel experiences with him.

Just as Norfolk has it mermaid street art, Oxford has its picket fences.  The 5^th Annual Picket Fences Auction takes place in October with proceeds supporting the charity of the artist’s choice. Until then, the small 4-picket sections of picket fencing are on display throughout the town.

 

The Pride displayed at

the Ruffled Duck Inn

 

Oxford Wildlife displayed at

Mystery Loves Company Booksellers

 

 

Frank outside the Oxford Inn with the Pope’s Mobile.

The Pope’s Mobile is used to transport inebriated customers back home.

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...