August 28, 2014  Day 123  Chesapeake Bay

Vienna Town Dock
Vienna, MD

We pulled anchor at 0740 to take advantage of the current and tide and headed back up Marshyhope Creek. We were aware of depth issues of a particular bend that we remembered on the way in when we bumped something on the port side. The chart shows a depth of 30’ but the depth sounder knew better.  So, we tried to avoid it today and still went aground.  After analyzing the situation, knowing the tide was going to be going out, Bill got in the dinghy and eventually managed to pull us into deeper water.  So we were back on our way and soon left the creek and reentered the Nanticoke River.

We arrived at the Vienna Town Dock and tied up in the same spot we had last weekend. Docking was not easy because the current was pushing us off the dock. We managed to get the boat secured on our own.  We knew we could dock to our port side and it would have been easy, but we wanted to come into starboard and this was a good challenge for us.

We walked back to Millie’s for lunch and then stopped in at the small bakery. The owner, Jeanne, has been so friendly to us and even offered to lend us her car. We thanked her but just planned to stay on the boat.  Joyce did walk back to the post office later this afternoon.   Other than that we relaxed after our challenging morning.

We will depart early Friday morning and cruise over 50 miles to Salisbury, MD and spend four nights at a marina over the Labor Day weekend.

August 27, 2014  Day 122  Chesapeake Bay

At Anchor, Marshyhope Creek, Nanticoke River
Near Brookview, MD

We spent another day here at anchor as planned.  We woke to fog that lifted by 8:00.  In the afternoon, we took a long dinghy ride farther up the creek, under two low bridges that are not a problem for the dinghy! 



Love the reflection of the sunrise mixed with fog



Fisheries Services dropping nets

Bridge at Brookview

The creek is lined with trees and a few houses.  Lily pads line the edges as they do on the river that the creek joins.  We spotted men in a fishing boat dropping a long net with floats. They pulled over to talk to us and explained that they are with a Fisheries Service. They are attempting to catch the sturgeon that inhabit this area. They will then tag them with a telemetry device and release them.

We also saw eagles, vultures, and an egret on our dinghy ride.

We had dinner on board and made plans to depart in the morning, We still have to go five miles back out of this creek and then head back down the Nanticoke River. We will return to the town of Vienna and spend another night at their free dock.

August 25,26 2014  Days 120-121  Chesapeake Bay

At Anchor, Marshyhope Creek, Nanticoke River
Near Brookview, MD



Broad Creek

We don't usually see farmers at work 



Charts are not always right!  This shows us on land
but we cruised at least two more miles with
plenty of water on Marshyhope Creek

The 11' bridge at Brookville - end of the creek ride for us!

The bridge did open as promised and we left promptly at 3:00pm and retraced our route down part of the river. We decided to check out Broad Creek as a possible anchorage and cruised on it for two hours, returning near the entrance to the creek to anchor. It is another meandering, narrow creek with houses dotting the side in many places.  We had an amazing quiet night and the stars lit up the sky!

We departed that anchorage at 0800 today and traveled five miles to the entrance of Marshyhope Creek. We then cruised another five miles up the creek and could go no farther due to an eleven foot bridge that does not open. So, we turned around and anchored about ¼ mile from it.  A resident came out and took our picture when we turned around. We doubt that many big boats come up the creek this far! This is another quiet spot. We only saw one fishing boat and two jet skis today!

Bill took advantage of the warm engines and changed the engine oil this afternoon.  Joyce worked on reading and budgeting!  She also took the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and posted the video on Facebook.

We will spend one more night here and plan to take a dinghy ride on Wednesday.

August 24, 2014  Day 119  Chesapeake Bay

Nanticoke River Marina
Seaford, DE

We left the town dock at Vienna, MD at 0800 and continued up the Nanticoke River to Seaford, DE.  We had a 1.5 knot current against us all the way so it took us three hours to cruise 17 miles. 

 

The cable ferry crosses this narrow section of the river

Another tow with barge -
we learned the sand goes to Baltimore

We passed one tow with its barge of sand, a few fishing boats, and a pontoon boat, but again not much boat traffic today. We did wait briefly for a cable ferry to cross the river, and for the ferry captain to radio us that the cable was on the river bottom when he docked so we could safely pass.

The Seaford, DE commercial wharf

We arrived in Seaford around 1100 and passed its commercial and industrial docks.  Shortly after that we were happy to see the railroad swing bridge open.  This led us into the marina. We did not have a reservation and when we could not reach them on the radio or by phone we went ahead and tied up on the face dock with the help of another boater who was there working on his boat.  The dockmaster came out and all was fine – he was very friendly and happy to have us for the night.  He did warn us about the work being done on the railroad bridge. It may or may not be open on Monday!  We will see what happens. 

Later in the afternoon we had a request from the boaters who helped us dock for us to come and talk to them and another boater about the Great Loop.  We spent an enjoyable time with Andy & Cheryl on Grand Folly, and Bill on Irony, talking about our looping experiences. We hope they will be able to take this amazing trip some day!

We came back to our boat and had dinner on board – chicken dijonnaise, yellow rice, green beans, and fresh cantaloupe!

Joyce finished the laundry and we planned our travels for the next week. The dockmaster will call us in the morning to let us know the status of the bridge!

Update: Monday morning – the bridge will not open until 3:00pm so we will leave then!

August 22-23, 2014  Days 117-118  Chesapeake Bay

Nanticoke River, Vienna Town Dock
Vienna, MD

It rained most of Friday so we stayed on board.  Bill did more bird carving and Joyce read and did some cleaning.  We saw lights of another boat approaching about 10:00 pm and Bill went out and helped them get tied up.  They traveled all day in the rain on their sailboat and were grateful for the help in the dark.  We are at a free town dock so there are no facilities and no lights. We do have very good and well maintained docks though!



A view of some of the booths from our boat



The Tomato Wars

Bluegrass band entertainment

More booths

Today, Saturday was the day for the Tomato Festival, so we attended that off and on all day. It was right here on the waterfront, so we could come back to the boat as needed. We walked around the booths and met many of the vendors. We walked down to the Community Center and met a local author. We listened to two different music groups perform in the gazebo.

We had lunch under the tent – had to have fried green tomatoes with the cheeseburgers!  The final event was the “Tomato Wars” which was consisted of teams throwing very ripe tomatoes at each other! It was a full day of family fun for the community and we enjoyed the atmosphere. The weather was cooler today and the rain held off until after the event was over!

We also walked to a Farmers Market today and bought cantaloupe, fresh corn on the cob and yes, a tomato! 

We had dinner on board and planned our trip tomorrow. We will continue to the headwaters of this river, the Nanticoke, which will take us to Seaford, Delaware.

August 21, 2014  Day 116  Chesapeake Bay

Nanticoke River, Vienna Town Dock
Vienna, MD

The load was sand but there were
several birds taking a free ride!

We departed Crisfield at 0800 and cruised back into Tangier Sound, then to Fishing Bay and then north into the Nanticoke River under a mix of sun and clouds and very calm water. The river is bordered by marshland and winds back and forth for several miles. There are only a few homes scattered along the shoreline.  We passed one tug boat with its barge and saw one fishing boat on the river. Otherwise we had it to ourselves!

We had planned to find an anchorage, but continued on to the small, historic town of Vienna, MD.   The town has very nice free public docks and we decided to dock here for two nights.  There is no power or water, but we can run the generator as needed.  And, we can get off the boat and walk!

One of many homes on Water Street built in the 1800's

We walked two blocks to Millie’s Roadhouse, the only restaurant in town. We had a nice seafood dinner of shrimp and scallops.  We also spotted a bakery across the street and stopped there on our way back. We bought a couple of cupcakes and cookies for tomorrow. The owner told us about the annual Tomato Festival here at the Waterfront on Saturday and insisted we stay for it!  So, our two night stay has now become three nights!

August 19-20, 2014  Days 114-115  Chesapeake Bay

Somers Cove Marina
Crisfield, MD

On Tuesday we waited for the rain showers to clear and then walked to a drug store and to Dollar General, which has some limited food supplies. Many of the storefronts on Main Street are empty, which is unfortunate. There are some tourists who come here to take the ferry to visit either Smith Island or Tangier Island.  Crisfield is known as the Crab Capital and we have seen many watermen on their deadrise boats heading out for their catch.

The weather was good on Wednesday, so Bill took advantage of this and washed the outside of the boat.  Joyce worked on cleaning the inside.  We will not be at a marina again until next Tuesday, so it is important to get many tasks done that require water or power. We had dinner on board and spent a quiet evening reading.

We will depart Crisfield in the morning and cruise north to the Nanticoke River, about 30-35 miles from here. The river is 40 miles long and we may go as far up as we can over the next few days.  This river will be new cruising grounds for us!

 

August 17-18, 2014  Days 112-113  Chesapeake Bay

Somers Cove Marina
Crisfield, MD

Hooper Island Light

We decided to move again Sunday morning and departed our anchorage just after 8:00 and headed back out of the Patuxent River and into the bay for a 32 mile cruise. We crossed the bay and passed the Hooper Island Light House and went past the Hooper Islands. We entered the Honga River and eventually chose an anchorage near Crab Point Cove.  This is a very exposed area and we did have some waves that were about 1 ½ feet that rocked us.  They finally died down and we had a fairly calm evening.

Another beautiful sunset

We left this anchorage at 8:15 Monday and cruised 35 miles to Crisfield, MD going through Sharkfin Cut and into Tangier Sound.  We could see Smith Island in the distance on our starboard side.

We docked at Somers Cove Marina at 12:45 and will stay here three nights. We decided to take the day off and did some sightseeing, and browsed through some local gift shops. We also toured the Tawes Historical Museum which has displays of the history of Crisfield, Ward Decoys, oystering, skipjacks, and more.  Oh yes, we managed to have time for an ice cream cone!  We came back to the boat for a while and then walked back down for a crab cake dinner at the Chesapeake Crab House. We were not disappointed!

We will watch the weather which will determine our activities the next two days.  We do have some rain in the forecast!

 

 

 

August 16, 2014  Day 111  Chesapeake Bay

At anchor
St. Leonard Creek, MD

We left Zahnisers Yachting Center this morning and headed back out to our anchorage nine miles away on St. Leonard Creek.  There were many boats out today taking advantage of a Saturday and nice weather.  As soon as we anchored, Bill had his camera out and took over 200 pictures of eagles, osprey and herons, in flight and perched in trees.  We had quite a day observing them!

There are two eagles in this tree!

An osprey landing on the creek behind our boat

This blue heron stayed here for hours!

We turned the generator on to start cooking dinner and once again it was not putting water out of the starboard side of the boat. This time we figured out the problem (and we are sure it was the problem yesterday as well, and not an impeller)…jellyfish were blocking the through hull!  The strainers were clean so we did not suspect that at first.  We decided to take a boat ride and knock them loose and that worked!  We only went across the creek and since the sun was setting we decided to stay there and anchor for the night.  There are of course jelly fish here as well, so we can only hope they stay off the boat!

We will stay in this area again tomorrow and perhaps observe more wildlife!

August 13-15, 2014  Days 108-110  Chesapeake Bay

Zahnisers Yachting Center
Solomons, MD

We left Solomons on Wednesday and went to a wonderful anchorage on St. Leonard Creek off the Patuxent River.  We were treated to “fly bys” of several eagles on both days we were there.  It was a very peaceful and calm anchorage and we enjoyed being there.  We also saw a few herons.  They are so content to stay in one spot along the water’s edge.

Approaching our anchorage
on St. Leonard Creek

 

One of many eagles

We planned to stay three nights but had some generator issues on Friday morning.  We went back to Solomons and picked up a new impeller that Zahnisers had ready for us.  We took advantage of being there and got some other chores done as well – laundry, cleaning windows, etc.

We went for a nice walk after dinner. We do need to get off the boat at times!

We will leave the marina in the morning (Saturday) and return to our anchorage on St. Leonard Creek and look for more eagles!

Masts at Zahniser's Yachting Center





August 11-12, 2014  Days 106-107  Chesapeake Bay

Solomons Yachting Center
Solomons, MD

We left our anchorage at 0830 Monday and arrived at Solomons Yachting Center shortly afterwards.  First stop was the fuel dock.  After that task was competed, we moved over to a T head on their B Dock. Friends, Jerry & Wendy Taylor were there with the dock hand to help catch our lines.  (Jerry & Wendy were our delivery captains/instructors that helped us bring our boat home when we first purchased her in December 2011.) It has been good to stay in touch with them!

After we got secured and checked in, Joyce went to Walmart with the Taylors to do provisioning. That was a major stop!  We spent the afternoon doing a few chores – and relaxing!  We met the Taylors and another couple from SC for drinks at the poolside pub here at the marina.

Dinner was pizza on the boat, followed by another evening of reading and relaxing.  We did spend an hour or two watching coverage of the news of the death of Robin Williams.  So very sad to lose such a legend.

On Tuesday, we got more chores done, including laundry and chart plotting.  Joyce even baked a pumpkin pie – not the season for it, but after two days of thinking about it, she had to have it!  We had storms all afternoon.

Our friends, Jeff and Gail, on YOLO, (also a 45 Californian) drove their car from their marina at Point Lookout and joined us for appetizers. We went to dinner at Stoney’s, a popular restaurant here in Solomons.  Then we came back to Carried Away for… yes, pumpkin pie and coffee.  We looked at the pictures showing the removal and reinstallation of their recently rebuilt port engine. They started the Loop in June and were stranded three days later. We hope they can resume travel by the end of the week following sea trials.  The have been beyond patient during this process!

We will depart Solomons tomorrow and go about ten miles to an anchorage on the nearby Patuxent River.

 

 

August 7-10, 2014  Days 102-105  Chesapeake Bay

At anchor, Miles River

Near St. Michaels, MD

We walked back downtown on Thursday to have a breakfast sandwich of eggs and scrapple at Shore Barbecue - locals love it here!  Then we headed back to the boat to prepare for departure to an anchorage. Boats are starting to arrive for the Waterman’s festival on Sunday.

We had a very short cruise of 45 minutes today and arrived at our anchorage on Hunting Creek on the Miles River.  Like most of our anchorages, we chose a scenic spot – tree lined, irregular coast line, and dotted with lovely homes. 

Burgers on the grill, corn on the cob, fresh cantaloupe made a good dinner tonight!

On Friday, we left and went back to an anchorage even closer to St. Michaels.  This is a large open area near the entrance to the harbor. By the end of the day we counted 21 boats, most of which were sailboats.  We took a short dinghy ride around the harbor before dinner.  We fixed barbecued chicken on the grill for dinner and spent another relaxing evening on the boat.

Dinghy ride past the Pride of Baltimore

More boats

We remained at anchor Saturday and took another dinghy ride around the harbor, being careful to stay out of the way of tour boats, jet skis, boats coming into a dock, etc.  We saw two Looper boats and said hello to Willie on Next Chapter.  


By mid Sunday morning we decide to leave and head to Solomons, a 55 mile journey.  The bay was very calm today and our only discomfort at times was from the wakes of other boats. We arrived at 6pm and anchored on St. John Creek, a pretty area lined with trees, and houses that have their own docks.  We watched children maneuvering on their paddleboards and kayaks while we had dinner.

Tomorrow morning we will go to a nearby marina and spend two nights. Time to see friends here and do more provisioning.

 

 

Our neighbors at anchor on the Miles River
in the St. Michaels Harbor



Bigger boat traffic out on the Chesapeake Bay

 

August 4-6, 2014  Days 99-101  Chesapeake Bay

Higgins Yacht Yard
St. Michaels, MD


Waterman on the Wye River

At anchor on the scenic Dividing Creek

On Monday, we left our anchorage at Drum Point and cruised the remainder of the Wye River.  We finally anchored at the popular, but narrow Dividing Creek. We stayed near the entrance to the creek since there were a few boats there ahead of us.  We spotted eagles and hawks and enjoyed this scenic spot.

We left Tuesday morning and entered the Miles River which took us to the historical town of St. Michaels.  We stopped for fuel at St. Michaels Marina, and then docked at the nearby Higgins Yacht Yard.  As we were checking in we decided to spend two nights here. We have been to this lovely town at least six times by car, and always enjoy it here. There are many shops, restaurants, beautiful churches, bed and breakfasts, historic homes, and of course the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum which includes the Hooper Strait Lighthouse.  We toured it last time we were here and would encourage everyone to see it! We did make an important stop at the local grocery store to do provisioning!

We were so happy to connect with Walter and Gwen who are here on their sailboat, Salt Shaker.  We bought Carried Away from them! We had a nice visit on our boat and then went to dinner with them at the Town Dock. 

Two skipjacks, a buy boat, & a bateau in front of the
Hooper Strait Lighthouse at the Maritime Museum

On Wednesday, Joyce went browsing through most of the shops, and then got her hair cut at a nice salon.  Bill worked on his bird carving much of the day and finished his puffin.   We had dinner of artichoke linguine with chicken on board tonight and then prepared for our departure tomorrow morning to another anchorage on the Miles River.  

The Pride of Baltimore is visiting St. Michaels

Bill's latest carving - a cute puffin!







July 31-August 3, 2014  Days 95-98  Chesapeake Bay

At Anchor
Wye River, off Drum Point

Lots of big ships pass under the Francis Key Bridge
on their way to Baltimore

We left the Inner Harbor of Baltimore just before 0800 Thursday and headed back down the Patapsco River.  Only a few water taxis and sailboats were out this early.  We entered the Chesapeake Bay and crossed under the Bay Bridge at 11:30.  We had a sunny and fairly calm day for our 55 mile journey.

We arrived in the scenic Wye River on the Eastern Shore around 3:00, and by 3:45 we had chosen an anchorage off Drum Point.  We had it to ourselves except for a few fishermen and crabbers who wandered in and out. We anchored next to an island with a small sandy beach.   We cooked dinner on the grill and had a quiet evening after our long day.

Lazy Dolphin

Sunset at Drum Point on the Wye River

We stayed here Friday getting some work done. Joyce made several phone calls for reservations at upcoming marinas and Bill worked on his bird carving. Gold Loopers, Randy & Barb, on Lazy Dolphin arrived in the anchorage that afternoon. We gave them a call and arranged to see them the next day.  We had not seen them since October, 2012!

We took the dinghy down on Saturday and visited with Randy and Barb on their boat. We had a nice time “catching up” on our cruising adventures and future plans. 

Today, Sunday we did some more chores, talked to several family members and planned our trip tomorrow.  We will leave this spot and go to another anchorage on the Wye River, a few miles away.