Three weeks in
14 October 2014 | Great Wicomico River
Ok.... So we mentioned that the majority of the friends we cruised with last year are not making the trip this year...something about taking a year off to touch base with life on land.... Or something like that.... However, having said this, these fellow land- lubber cruisers continue to remind us that we need to make our blog entries more frequently... And we need to post photos on Facebook.... we're sorry we've been such lousy bloggers and we will try to meet their requests - and in the future, our blog entries will be much shorter than this one!
Anyway, since we last wrote, we have traveled south on a pretty steady pace. Cruising from Port Washington, Manhasset Harbor, NY through the East River is always a fun experience no matter how many times you do this trip. NYC Harbor is always hopping with ferries, charter boats, pleasure boats, commercial airplanes, helicopters, etc. We spent a fun evening in Atlantic Highlands, NJ with fellow cruisers, Dan and Dawn, trying desperately to entice them to pack up their sailboat and trail along beside us.... We ended up leaving the harbor the next morning, alone, and cruised along the NJ shoreline, spending a night in Atlantic City and Cape May before heading up the Delaware River and through the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal and onto the Chesapeake Bay.
It feels great to be back on the Chesapeake! There are so many rivers and creeks to explore. Last year we spent a month exploring all the fun ports of call and anchorages. This year, we want to be ahead of the cold weather so we have made the decision to keep moving south on a steady pace. We visited 2 new rivers on the western shore - Middle River and the Magothy River. We loved both rivers , and especially the Magothy River. Think about this scenario: beautiful anchorage with protection from all wind directions, 5 other boats in the anchorage, overlooking a beautiful horse farm with 6 gorgeous horses ....and taking the dinghy to Gibson Island and exploring it by foot. And to make the situation even better - having dinner with dear friends of ours, Carol and Jeff, at the Gibson Island Yacht Club - what a treat!
The first weekend in October, we took a break from the cruising lifestyle, left Sanderling on a dock at a marina, and drove to Philadelphia to check in on Chrisy's mom and Courtney! After several delicious dinners with family and friends, catching up with Chrisy's mom and Roger's mom, and a huge bike ride with Courtney on Sunday morning, it was time to head south on the highway, back to the sailboat. It was a great weekend getaway!
After Roger successfully fixed 2 major problems on the boat: repriming the refrigerator system and unclogging the air in the fuel tanks, we took off for Annapolis. We initially anchored right off of the Naval Academy for our first night but after experiencing a night of "being in a washing machine" as the wind picked up and the waves were hitting us on the side, we quickly picked up anchor the next morning and anchored off of South River, south of Annapolis, in Harness Creek, another idyllic and protected anchorage, where the boat never moved in 4 days! We spent one day at the Annapolis Sailboat Show, and the other days visiting with friends and fellow cruisers we met the year before. Great reunions!
Saturday.... and Roger is desperate to watch the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday night so we need to find an anchorage where we can watch the football game at a local bar.... So off to St. Michaels, on the eastern shore, we went on Saturday! Our first day where we sailed the entire voyage despite the dreary drizzly day! We just love St. Michaels! It feels like a "home port" for us, very quaint, with cute stores to browse as you stroll down Main Street, and of course, an Eagles victory over the New York Giants made the weekend even better!
We currently are in a quiet anchorage in Solomon's Island on the western shore of the Chesapeake.... And plan to sail to Reedville, Virginia tomorrow where we will spend two nights to wait out some bad weather.
Casey continues to be a great crew member, loves his 2 walks a day and his morning snuggles in bed with us! Life is good!