Mike
06/27/2008, Herrington Harbour North Marina

June 23... West River, MD to North Herrington Harbor...Deale, MD

With unsettled weather and thunderstorms forecast for the afternoon we left our anchorage around 7:30 on our way to North Herrington Harbour. The trip was only about 15 miles and turned out to be uneventful. North Herrington is Jim and Nancy's home base and it seemed like a good place to meet Davey and Debbie who were expected in the afternoon. Although the place is huge, we had no difficulty finding and getting into our slip-it might have been because Jim and Nancy were standing on the dock waving.

We had shocked our water tank in the morning so one of the first tasks was to empty the tank and get it refilled. Jim and Nancy gave us the walking tour of the place and then we went to work moving things around, vacuuming, and getting ready for company who arrived around noon. We needed to find a Best Buy to see if our radio could be fixed so Jim led us into Annapolis where we left it. After a couple of stops on the way back. We wasted the rest of the afternoon on the boat before walking down to a restaurant for some dinner.

Comments [0]

Mike
06/27/2008, Galesville, MD

June 22nd... Galesville MD

As quickly as this anchorage filled up yesterday it emptied today. By evening there were three of us left. We spent the day cleaning, polishing, and reading. For breakfast today... maybe brunch, I whipped up a Greek omelet with feta, good olives and mild pepper rings.

Comments [0]

Mike and Kathy
06/22/2008, Galesville, MD

June 21st... St. Michael's, MD to Galesville, MD

Our trip today takes us out Broad Creek into the Choptank and then west to the Bay proper then north for about 15 miles to the West River which is a few miles south of Annapolis. We got an early start to avoid bad weather in the afternoon, but nothing ever materialized. We had our sails up, and they may have contributed, but for the most part the wind was calm and the waters flat.

Jim had told us where to anchor and we followed his directions motoring up river until we saw the "Pirate's Cove" sign and then pulling over. We arrived about noon and there were only about three or four boats in the area so we had our pick of locations and backed the anchor well down into the mud.

All the way up the West River (about 5 miles) "Go Fast " boats were flying past us loudly at about 70 miles an hour. When we got ourselves set and looked around they were all docked at a nearby restaurant on shore having lunch. When they left a couple of hours later they seem to be having a contest of who could generate the most engine noise at idle.

After lunch, Kathy spent some time beginning the task of cleaning our storage areas while I covered up the sails, zipped in the bimini insert and lowered the dinghy.

Throughout the afternoon boats were streaming into the anchorage. A couple of large power boats came in and rafted. As we got ready for a dinghy ride to explore the harbor, three more boats stopped and rafted from the first two in the process of anchoring elsewhere.

We went up the West river about two miles and looked at boats. (Kathy's new choice is the Hinckley Bermuda Yawl, Mark II. ) Then we explored up South Creek for about the same distance. Although there are some large homes, the majority were not the elegant old homes or the brand new starter castles that we have seen along the Chesapeake. Most were 50's and 60's middle class places that looked manageable and comfortable.

On our way back to the boat we motored past the boats that were rafting together to find that their group had now grown to about 20. There were all kinds of boats in the raft and they were very organized. The raft consisted of a row of mostly large power boats and another leg of mostly sail boats angling off at about 90 degrees. The positioning of boats was being orchestrated by a couple of guys who had obviously done it before. Smaller boats were told that they need to anchor and come back later to fill in the edges.

Kathy called Nancy to comment on the anchorage that they had recommended and when she hung up we had dinner plans. Jim and Nancy were driving (by car) up to join us.

Although it had been only a week since were were traveling together, we had a great evening with our friends.

Back at the boat we sat in the cockpit at dusk...on the longest day of the year, and heard music nearby. It wasn't a stereo because occasionally a trombone would join in...it didn't take much to figure out it was coming from the raft of boats. Anyway, it wasn't long before we were idling over to check things out. As we approached it was apparent that not only had the raft grown but it's shape had changed as well. There were still two lines of boats forming a 90 degree angle but as we motored to the rear we found about 5 boats anchored with their sterns forming the middle of the third side of the triangle. These boats were tied to back to the first two rows of boats and the ends of this third side were open to allow dinghies to enter the triangle. The band was playing on the stern of one of the boats that comprised this third side.

We believe it was a celebration of the longest day of the year. We had read in our guide book that this was a very quiet anchorage! Not today. . .

As we neared the party, a guy waved us into center of the triangle where we stopped and listened for a couple of sets before heading back. The inside of the triangle served as dinghy docking as well as a swimming pool... the whole system was well done and very "kewl".

Comments [0]