10/16/2009, Jackson Creek Fishing Bay
Jennifer's update
I can't believe its been a week since we were in St. Mary's City. We arrived there last Thursday afternoon. Friday morning we dinked to shore, acquainted ourselves with the campus and then did the tour of the historic village. It was a nice sunny day; it was very reminiscent of Upper Canada Village back home. On Saturday we dinked ashore again to take advantage of their $10 brunch. It was lovely with lots of choices. We dinked back to Ruth, packed up and travelled about 3 miles to the next little bay Dennis Pt. It had a small marina which we opted for since laundry and a shower were in order. ($1.75/ft)The bonus was the Torpedo Bar and Grill. Managed by a lovely young lady named Lexi. We drank some $1 beers while the laundry was in; we enjoyed the chatter from the locals, wait staff and chef. We had supper there Sat night, we both had the steak special and the chef accommodated my request for baked potato instead of the fries that were offered. They were open at 8 for Sunday breakfast which we took advantage of. Momma Z offered us turkey breast for our thanksgiving on Monday. So off we left with enough turkey breast for three meals (thanks momma). We took off for Mill Creek (Wicomico River)which was about 37 miles away. The trip was nice, weather sunny and warm. We enjoyed a quiet anchorage there and on our Thanksgiving day I steamed up the turkey breast with some stove top stuffing, potatoes and carrots, since we technically were to be giving thanks for the harvest we cracked open the homemade pickled beets and salsa we brought from home, thanks Cathy & Mary. Oreo cookies were dessert. Tuesday we attempted to leave Mill Creek but we were facing 4-5 ft waves in the Wicomico and it was cold and nasty and uncomfortable, it didn't take Al long to say we are heading back, so we followed our path back and anchored just a bit north of the night before. We read, I knit ( a hat for Al because its getting cold)and Al continues to whip me at backgammon. Wednesday we woke to sun and a bit of warmth, the weather over vhf was still not sounding great but we thought we'd see for ourselves. As we entered the Wicomico we could see it was way tamer than predicted so it was a definite go until Al veered slightly off our plotted path on the gps and boom we were grounded and no amount of fudging or coaxing was going to get Ruth off. I guess it's happened enough to me now that I don't panic and think of the titanic and think I'm going down and my life doesn't flash before my eyes. Al tried dinking an anchor out and winching but he was way off from where he thought deeper water was, SO we played our TOW US card. It took them about an hour to come and about 20 minutes to get us off. You could tell how deep we were in by the churning up and roaring of their big engine. They got us off and the rudder was fine and we freely navigated to open water. We did about 23 miles and are now in Jackson Creek in Deltaville, Virginia I call it Smallville. We are anchored opposite the town dock in a bay with 3 other boats. We have met our neighbors Hank and Jan on Octavia. They are a lovely couple from Maryland and we shared the ride to Toby's restaurant and dined with them on Wednesday night. Diner was lovely and it was nice to socialize, it was cold and dark when we got back to the dinghy. Al descended the grassy slope to the dinghy and disappeared in a eroded hole between the wood and the land up to his chest, Jan, Hank and I scurried to see if he was OK, he said he was as he extracted himself. We dinked back to the boat. It didn't take medical knowledge to know Al was injured. We think at least he has bruised ribs on the bottom right. There is certainly a colorful bruise on his side. At the worst they could be fractured. He was not interested in seeking medical attention. Since my eldest bro at home had just fractured some ribs we knew not much could be done other than pain management. We have lots of ibuprofen so Al started off with a good loading up of that. Hank and Jan had invited us for cocktails last evening but Al was not up for getting in and out of the dinghy. He is better today but still walking a bit gingerly. We have accepted the invite to visit with Hank and Jan later today. This would be our first official visit with other cruisers, as cruisers. So I am taking a simple appetizer. Jan is a knitter so I'm eager to have knit chat. Yay. Other than that we have decided to stay here till Tuesday, that's the first day it looks like it may be decent. When Al feels up to it we will dink over for gas in the jerry cans and he wants to go to the hardware store. Fortunately we stocked up on M&M's (comfort food)so we won't have to make the 2 mile trip to the $ store for more. We are looking forward to getting to Hampton to meet Snoodle time. I'm looking forward to getting further south; the cold is catching up with us.
Ps Hope to update out Picassa album today... Any suggestions as to how to cope with the moisture in the boat at night. Damp rid etc?
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Comments [11]
It is only 61F here today, going down in the 40's tonight, we are 25 degrees colder than yesterday. Jen keep knitting those hats you can sell them to freezing sailors. I hope you have a heater. love Nancy
10/13/2009
Well we made a break for it this morning. It was suppose to be 10-15kt winds & 2-3ft waves,Right! It was dead calm no wind & no waves. Unfortunately coming out of the creek I steered a little to close to the edge of the chanel, & got royally stuck. Could not get off, so called Tow US(now we have our monies worth), which put us back 2 hrs. Anyway we are currently anchored in Jackson Creek (Fishing Bay), & will go exploring tomorrow. Nice thing here is you can see what is going on, on the bay, sometimes the marine forcast is wrong. Anyway we are about 40 miles from Hampton, & are looking forward to meeting up with Snoodle Time.. Pokey give the boys a big hug from us..
P.S. Yesterday was so cold here Jennifer has knitted me a hat ! guess when I get down south I can make like a Jamacian Rasafarian.
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10/10/2009, St Mary's Potomac River
We are currently in St Mary's MD, on the Potomac river, just the other side from Virginia!! we had to put in here because the attachment for the tiller autopilot broke, & trying to steer the boat with a tiller is real tiring, compared to a wheel!!!! Any way I managed to put together a hodge podge attachment, actually it may be stronger than what was on the tiller before, unfortunately it is not stainless steel, so at some point I will have to come up with a better attachment. We are planing to leave here on Sunday, but will be taking small hops to get down, as the weather is not cooperating, as in wave heights! & I need to baby the tiller attachment. We are hoping to be in Hampton by the end of the week, if not sooner, Steve of Snoodle Time, has offered us a free slip at his condo so we can fix up things, & then cross the river to the ICW . When we came into the Potomac is was just as the tide was coming out, quite a thrill ride for about 30 mins, but it was tame compared to the run into Barnegat Bay in NJ.
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