07/07/2010, Annapolis, MD

July 6, 2010 Annapolis, MD

We left the Magothy River and headed back to Annapolis on July 1st. Kim and Steve (Fine Lion) were due to arrive today or tomorrow and we'd like to get together before we head for Michigan via Minnesota in a couple of weeks. Kim and Steve did not make it on the 1st, so we went in to town to purchase some On/Off hull cleaner and mail a card. I'm sure we found some lunch in there also.
We took the dinghy down to Truxton Park, took the motor off and pulled the dinghy up into the shade and flipped it over. There was some VERY gross slimy stuff growing on the bottom. We scrubbed and scraped for over an hour, and still couldn't get it all off-even with the hull cleaner that is able to eat holes in your clothes in minutes! We will pull the dinghy up at night from now on-lesson learned.
Then came the weekend flurry of Kim and Steve and their family and friends from Annapolis. Picnics, crab boils, pools, cocktail parties, and some really great fireworks that were set off nearly beside our boat. A busy weekend of fun. Mike, Steve, Steve's son Scott, and Scott's friend Matt went crabbing at 5:00 a. m. for 3 days to catch about 3 bushels of crab for the big crab boil on the 5th. Yum.
It's very hot here today with high heat indexes-time to go find a place with air conditioning and perhaps a soccer game later. We always enjoy Annapolis, but will leave tomorrow to head for Deltaville, VA where we will have the boat pulled on Friday.

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07/01/2010, Chestertown, MD

June 28th, 2010 Corsica River to Chestertown, MD

After coffee we weighed anchor and headed up the Chester with the tide. Chestertown is about 25 miles from the mouth of the Chester and we had only come about 8 miles to the Corsica. At first the Chester was so wide that we really couldn't see much of the shoreline. It was mostly wild land with quite a bit of marsh. There were homes along the way but they were interspersed. Where there was high ground there would be a few and then there would be a mile or two of wild land or marsh.

As we moved upstream, the river narrowed and the land was higher. The marshes gave way to rolling hills and farms. In this section of the River, there were very few homes on the water. The homes were beautiful old farmhouses situated about a quarter of a mile off the water with views over their fields to the water where most had a dock and a boat.

Except for folks out crabbing and watermen dredging for oysters, we were the only ones on the water this morning. We had a great morning and ended up in Chestertown before noon.

After lunch and a second anchoring, (the current here is nasty) we hiked the town where the buildings were mostly built in the 1700's. We stopped at the post office to mail out an item that we sold this morning on eBay and then wandered around a little more. There were lots of nice shops but since we really didn't need anything it didn't take us long to do the town.

On our way back we stopped a waterfront bar for a beer and to watch some soccer.

Back at the boat we had a nice dinner of Mahi, new potatoes, and salad. We are down to reruns .... tonight it was House.

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39 04.61'N:76 05.81'W
07/01/2010, Annapolis, MD to Corsica River

June 27th, 2010 Annapolis to Corsica River, MD

This morning after coffee I took the dinghy to town to check out the Farmer's Market. It is still too early for many vegetables but I did pick up some nice red potatoes and a loaf of bread. Then it was down to the CVS pharmacy where they have a cooler with dairy products and bought a dozen eggs and a NY Times. Before I left I loaded up 20 gallons of water to keep our tank closer to full than empty.

Back at the boat we wasted some time debating whether to leave or not while I put the water in our main tank. While Kathy read the paper, I got the boat ready to weigh anchor.

By 11:30 we were ready to haul the anchor and work our way out of Spa Creek. We made the 12:00 opening and headed out into the Severn River in summer Sunday traffic.

We got our sails up and headed north under the Bay Bridge and up around Love Point at the mouth of the Chester River. After motor sailing up the river about 8 miles we pulled into the Corsica River and went up stream a couple of miles before finding a sheltered anchorage.

June 28, 2010 Corsica River, MD

The Corsica River was beautiful and our anchorage was no exception. There are homes along both sides but there is also lots of undeveloped land, farms, and marshy areas.

There was a front forecast to come through today so rather than moving on to Chestertown, we elected to stay and ride any potential storm out here where we have good holding and SW protection.

It was another scorcher. The temps have been in the mid to upper 90's for the last 10 days and a few times broke 100. Today was no exception so we didn't move too fast. Our project for the morning was to begin the process of changing out our life lines.

Instead of using stainless steel line we purchased fittings from Johnson Marine that allowed us to use some of the new no-stretch line that is used on racing boats. I've read about people going this route for a few years and since our life lines needed replacing decided that it was the thing to do.

So after reading up on splicing single braid line we started. Because of the high tension we had to use some splices that were not completely normal but were supposed to hold better. The only problem was that one end was spliced directly to the stanchion at the gate and it was so hot in the sun that by the time I finished one, I had to take a break and a quart of water to rest up.

It took most of the morning to finish off two of the eight sections but we are happy with the final product and they won't rust.

After a late lunch we took a dinghy ride to explore the area but had to cut it short as the skies darkened. We got back to the boat with just enough time to get everything closed up and tied down before the wind hit us. It was a textbook roll-cloud and it really blew. We didn't have time to check, but we must have seen gusts above 50 knots. I started the engine just in cast we need to take a little pressure off the anchor but it wasn't necessary.

A few minutes later the rain caught up and we had a downpour for about 40 minutes and drop of about 20 degrees. I got out and scrubbed the decks a little as the stormed passed.

We had a nice meal and then resumed our dinghy ride.

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