Sun May 16: St Michaels to Kent Island Narrows Harrison Boat Yard

 In which we end up back where the whole thing started ...

We had my favorite thing - a slow start!  Rick was feeling some nerves about approaching the Harrison Boat Yard with the swift current that can come through Kent Narrows, so we waited for slack tide.  Once again we were alone in a peaceful anchorage.  All the day-trippers went home last night - we acted all superior and rolled our eyes and said 'dilettantes', not like those of us who LIVE on the boat.  Then I reminded Rick that we have been 'living' on said boat for less then a week, and he was all 'WHAT?  No WAY?!?!'  It does seem like a month - not sure if that is a good or bad sign.

Rick had enough time on his hands to MAKE BREAD.  ON A BOAT.  Gosh, I married well.  

 

We almost left with a stowaway - It gives a whole new meaning to the term Duck Boat!

 It was a sunny and windy day out - perfect for regattas:

It was a quick jump to Harrison, and  Rick made the bow-in docking look like child's play!  Harrison is where, just about two years ago (back when we had disposable income) we bought the boat - with the help of our friend Rick Dillman (boat broker extraordinaire).   Thanks Rick!  (I think).  It's apparently now just as hard to buy a boat as it is a house.  The piers around us, usually bursting with boats for sale, are pretty empty - and almost every boat has an 'Under Contract' sign on it.  So, basically, the 'essential workers' stayed on the front lines, and fell further behind - and the rich got to work from home and get richer/buy boats.  On that happy note I'll leave you with the requisite ridiculously-pretty sunset shot.

Testing out my new zoom camera! 

We are a stone's through from the hopping crab restaurant area - fortunately it's Sunday so it's a LITTLE quieter than usual.  Happily (that's sharkcasm) the noise of the express way drowns out other ambient noise...

WAIT - why ARE we here at Harrison's??????????

Uh-oh.  Rick's favorite mechanic is here.....  Rick has some 'splainin' to do.....  I need to get to the bottom of this.  I'll be back.

Fri May 14: Oxford to St Michaels anchorage and Sat May 15 Hanging in St Michaels

 In which we are enjoy St Michaels, and then everyone else does too ...

Pulling up the (ridiculously muddy) anchor, we headed back out the Choptank River, turned north and had the seas to ourselves all the way to St. Michaels.  While we were the only pleasure craft on the water, we saw multiple fishing boats out with side-dredgers pulling up bottom muck to take out oysters. We both kind of wish we hadn’t seen Seaspiracy on Netflix as it has made us think twice about eating seafood (both wild and farmed).  We still eat it, mind you...

St. Michaels is another small town on the Eastern side of MD, but it has done some great marketing, or something, and is a busy little place full of restaurants and fancy boutique stores.   Based on the size of the pleasure boats in the marina, they have successfully brought in the $$$.  The wharf area is well done, with one of the better maritime museums and wonderful brick walkways.

Friday the anchorage was quiet and we were almost alone, with only two other boats at anchor.  On Saturday we got our first glimpse of what the summer boating season will be like as the anchorage quickly filled up, and by mid-afternoon there were at least 25 other boats anchored around the area.  A crowded anchorage makes for some hair raising moments as big boats slowly thread their way through all the anchored boats looking for some space to drop anchor.

I expect so many people are thrilled to be able to day-sail and explore again.  Not only is winter over, but so is Covid shut-down.  There was even a big wedding happening, with no distancing and LOUD/terrible music.  It was so fun, tho, to see a 'normal' celebration that we didn't mind the noise! Since we have been sailing out of season since we got the boat (and there has been a pandemic), we are used to quiet and it was a bit startling to see crowds; but it is good to see the tourist towns once again with tourists spending $$.  I guess people are ready to get:

LOL - nautical humor....  It never gets old.

 

On Friday we walked down the Main Street to marvel at the beautiful old colonial style buildings (some from the 1600’s if you can believe the signs) heading towards our lunch destination.  

 

Not sure this counts a 'colonial' but it caught our eye.

Cutie-pea house - I'd live here!

We thought we would try the “Mexican” restaurant but is was only Mexican in that the food was served on a tortilla and they had margaritas.  Otherwise it was more of a seafood/Mexican fusion and the food was awesome.  Some of the most creative tacos we have ever eaten.   It was so good Rick took a pic of the menu so that he can try to recreate some of it on the boat.

We followed lunch with a walk along a nature trail on the edge of town, staying carefully away from the grass to avoid the ticks that we had been warned about!  I have a horror of ticks that stems from my tragic upbringing so I treated all grass as tho it were a cobra ready to strike.  Every now and then Rick would give a little shriek, just to see how fast I would jump away from any nearby foliage.  HiLARious... 

Lovely - but probably CRAWLING WITH TICKS.  I used the zoom lens just in case.

We continued to admire the town as we walked the streets, with Rick carefully leading the way so as to avoid anything involving fudge, ice cream, salt-water taffy, kettle corn, ... He clearly STILL doesn't get my driving force - perfectly captured on this license plate:

 

Stopping in the only little 'grocery' store gave us a clear idea of the clientele they must serve: French cookies, exotic cheeses, more expensive wine then produce - you get the idea.  Rick decided he could make his own fancy smoked salmon.  Based on his success with using his smoker at home, he converted the boat grill into a smoker.  It was delicious - that's my hunter/provider! 

 

Sat morning we stopped to get post cards and stamps, and then made a bee-line for Crepes-by-the-Bay so I could blow my entire sugar ration for May on one meal:

 

Maple crepe with egg, bacon and whipped butter and cream!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Afterward Rick rolled me, like Violet Beauregarde in Charlie and the Choc Factory, to the requisite resort Christmas shop.

We stopped to admire the little lending library, an EXACT replica of the screw-pile lighthouse at the wharf:

And suddenly it was Looper Midnight (7:30pm) and time for bed.

Blog Extra: Winter Boat Maintenance

 In which we come to better understand "BOAT" (but it's only another thousand) ...

Rick speaking - with Mel adding 'helpful' items in parenthesis, in a writing style we boaters like to call:

 

Some of you faithful readers will recall previous posts on the costs of boating, necessary repairs and impacts on the check book.  This is the first time that we have truly "over-wintered" Blue Horizon so it was our first experience with all the costs associated with not using your boat while you wait (theoretically earning money) for spring and the next boating season.   One of the most dangerous things about boating is sitting around during the winter, with a computer and a credit card - "well yes we do need new more comfortable deck chairs, oh, and they're on sale!"  (Just fyi - Melanie has EVER SAID that)

So, I thought I'd just give a quick catalog of all the things we did to the boat this winter (Oct 22, 2020 to May 10, 2021) while we were not boating (or earning money). 

Maintenance:

- Fuel Polishing (this is where a truck comes to your boat, pumps out all the fuel, filters it, cleans the fuel tanks and then puts the fuel back).  The fuel seemed to be quite dirty requiring frequent filter changes so I decided we needed this. The process required that access holes be drilled into the boat sole (floor) above the tanks. (this is the first Mel is hearing about HOLES put into the boat ON PURPOSE).

- Winterize and Shrink Wrap.  All water is removed and anti-freeze added.  Then they wrap up the boat for the winter. (in a giant plastic coat - that will never biodegrade but it is recycled!)

- Purchase/Install 4 new (gigantic) batteries and re-wire a large portion of the boat.  We didn't know we needed this but I felt is was preventative as the original inspector had mentioned it. (Rick also said we would be fine until we weren't, so I was all for waiting until 'we weren't') In the process the refrigerator 110 AC circuit was fixed (it had never worked due to a burned fuse holder), installed two 12 volt/USB charging stations  (it is amazing how many things need to be charged with a USB plug), update wiring and main fuses for the winch.

- Rebuild winch motor. You may remember from last year's blog that the winch quit working.  It had been partially fixed - now it is totally fixed.  (OK - this sounds like a real thing)

- Re-paint the boat bottom with ablative paint, which helps prevent growth of algae and marine organisms on the bottom. (hmmmmm.... is that even a word 'ablative'???)

- Install all new sacrificial anodes. (Sacrificial Zincs would be the best name for a rock band - you heard it here first)

- Purchase and install new VHF radio (Rick did this one himself so no cost for labor! I'm not going to argue about the radio - it's pretty important)

- Repaint anchor chain.  This entailed spray painting marks every ten feet so we know how much anchor chain is out. (Rick did this one too - it was adorable)

- Fixing leaking sink drain in bathroom. (Rick! Yuck!)

"Necessary" acquisitions for the boat: (we differ on the meaning of the word necessary)

 

New comfortable deck chairs (totally not needed, even if they were 'on sale'.

VHF Radio and necessary hardware for installation

4 large round boat fenders to help us navigate the locks on the Erie Canal

New curtains (handmade by Melanie - totally unncessary)

Custom made shelving for bedroom closet (to expand clothing storage - Rick did this one)

Once back on the boat we had to re-load everything and re-provision.   This list could go on and on but we thought it would be informative to give you a taste of what it's like to own a boat in the winter!

Thurs May 13: Solomons to Oxford anchorage

 In which we play thread the crab pot ...

It was a gorgeous day, so that meant I got to complain about getting too much sun.  Poor Rick - having to listen to me.  As many of you have pointed out, Rick is a saint. St Rick was busy today, getting the WADS of spring sea grass out of the cooling water intake for the generator.  He was super happy to have a challenging project and I got a long peaceful time to listen to my audio book while driving.

 We haven't been on the Chesapeake in any season but fall, and it's fun to see all the Osprey nests full of fledglings, all the trees leafed out and so much in bloom.

 The route today took us across the Bay to the little town of Oxford, on the Eastern Shore.  We had driven through it on our Delmarva Adventure, and seen it all in about 10 minutes.  So I was surprised to see it, AGAIN, on the itinerary, but we do need to be on the Eastern Shore to get to St Michaels.  And we expected there might be more to it than what we had already seen from the road.

Nope.

To be fair, it's lovely and quiet and had some of the most well-tended gardens I have ever seen.  There was no 'other side of the track' to the town, and much of it had spectacular sea views.   There is clearly summer-home money from the big cities close by - Richmond, Washington, Baltimore and Philadelphia.  We were also, as environmentalists, happily struck by the fact that no driveways were paved but rather all finished in a grey gravel.

This is basically downtown

We like quiet and peaceful - it lets us focus on the important things:

It was also a quiet and peaceful night - thank you, baby Jesus.

Wed May 12: Smith Creek to Solomons anchorage

 In which its good to see familiar old friends ...

Oh. My. Gawd. What a terrible night we had.  Rick tried a bridle on the anchor-line, to see if it would stop the boat wildly swinging, as she likes to do.  So there were two lines running over the side of the boat forward to the anchor-line.  And, it turns out, if there is any kind of wind/waves/a butterfly halfway around the world/anything at all these lines rub on the rail and produce the most amazingly irritating intermittent sound.  Even with ear plugs in no one got any sleep.  So this morning started with a familiar conversation - should-we-sell-the-boat.... 

However that resolves, we still have to move forward so we (crabbily) got under way - our good moods further helped by the amount of mud on 70' of anchor chain we had let out.  Grump, grump, grump... 

Fortunately the Potomac wasn't too bumpy, and the 'dreaded maw' where it meets the Chesapeake Bay was not the washing machine the old salts like to talk about. It was, though, cloudy and cold and b o r i n g.  Grump, grump...

Our spirits began to lift as we came off the Bay and into Solomons, and threaded our way back among the back channels to Lusby Creek, which is one of our favorite anchorages.  It was calm and peaceful and, as the sun began to break through, it felt like an old friend.

There actually was an 'old friend' - no sooner had we put the anchor down then the harbor hosts, Doug and Susan, contacted us on Nebo.  We 'met' them last year as we passed through - but this year we were able to dingy over to the dock to actually chat, now that everyone is vaccinated.  They are outfitting their boat for a 2022 Loop trip.  I can tell that Susan would enjoy the boat as much/maybe more just tied up to the dock as an expensive floating back porch. Sometimes I feel just the same, sistah.  

My co-captain always cheers me up!

 

We were pretty tired (see the above for more details about getting a good night's sleep on Blue
Horizon) but Rick got us into town for a good walk.  We grabbed an unnecessarily large number of tapas (all involving the theme of 'crab') to go at the St Charles Brassiere and then ... lost our heads. We stopped drinking in January, but SOMEHOW the dingy ended up taking us to a liquor store.  There is just something about being on a boat that makes your brain say 'we're on VACATION - of COURSE there are cocktails'. And, just like that, no more grumpiness!!!

Even the evening light seemed mellowed out ....

Tues May 11 - Colton’s Pt Marina to Smith Creek anchorage

In which we drop our lines!!

It turns out that one of the hardest things to do after so long away from the boat is to drop your lines and leave the safety of the dock - we were so nervous about getting underway.  We thought back to leaving Jacksonville and New Bern and realized that “just do it” was the order of the day. So we managed to remember how to start the motor, and headed away from Colton’s Point. Melanie keeps talking about this article she read on neuro-plasticity and how learning new things is so good for aging brains.  Does it count if you have forgotten what you learned and then learn it all over again?  If so then this getting on and off the boat is really great for our brains.

We dropped our lines at about 1 pm and headed off for a shakedown cruise to an anchorage at Smith Creek just short of Point Lookout, where the Potomac joins the Chesapeake.  We wanted to check all systems including our ability to even remember how to drive the boat.  How to untie from the dock? Do we have fuel? How do we navigate?  Fortunately everything worked like before and with some luck we made it the three hours to our anchorage with no major issues or mishaps. 

Of course our anchorage was beautiful and we watched the sun go down with fish jumping and Ospreys calling close by.   Then the mayflies came calling and the wind came up and our fun boat started swinging back and forth like a pendulum with ADHD.  After about 2 am we didn’t get very good sleep or much sleep at all.  At least there is coffee and tea in our Blue Horizon mugs!

The plan for this year is to head north on the Chesapeake Bay, cross the C&D canal and follow down the Delaware River to Cape May, NJ.  Then we head north along the NJ coast to New York!  Can you imagine cruising into NY harbor on your own boat!! What a wonderful adventure and (sometimes scary) treat.  We will continue on the East River to Long Island Sound (LIS) to explore the coasts of Connecticut, Rhode Island and New York.  No plans to go up to Maine although many boaters say it is a wonderful trip.  We’ll then turn around and head back down to NY and continue up the Hudson River to the Erie Canal.  Entering the Erie Canal we will take our time hoping that Canada opens the border so we can continue on our “loop”...

Thanks for joining us on our adventure. We look forward to your comments and questions!  And, hopefully, to your visit.

In case you were missing the boat name pun of the day, here you go:

Tues May 4 - Mon May 10: Land-based Adventures

 In which we have a fully-functioning boat, minus the water ...

Did you miss us, you 4 loyal readers, you?!?! We missed you too, as you can tell by the 10 days it has taken us to get around to working on the blog.  

*Important housekeeping note:  We are going to double our subscription price this year. In the interest of full disclosure, that means you will pay TWICE AS MUCH this year for the same poorly written posts, fuzzy photos and pun-ny boats names.  And we thank you for it!

**Another note, because I get asked about this ALL. THE. TIME:  I am not a hostage, nor am I on the boat to make my husband happy.  I am on this boat of my own choosing!  In fact, it was MY IDEA.

Off we go on the 2021 Blue Horizon boat seabbatical.  Don't forget your Bonnine, sunscreen and rain jacket.  Also important - a sense of humor, flexibility, patience and a guy with some tools and experience using them.  Also, a bank account because said guy, who recently balked at spending $36 on sheets, loses his MIND when it comes to the boat.

We arrived at the marina to find that the boat we had spent a gazillion $$$ on to have perfect and ready to go was still ...  wait for it ...  on land. Huh. Other words also sprang to mind.  But Mr. Weather said it was going to be windy for a few days, and the marina told us to go away as it makes them nervous to have owners watching them put their babies/boats into the water; AND I had always wanted to go to see the wild ponies of Assateague/Chincoteague (Misty of Chincoteague - need I saw more?!?), AND Rick had driven the minivan up from GA - so off we went.  Just not in the boat.

First stop: Rehoboth Beach in DELAWARE!!!  Does anyone even know where Delaware is? Has ANYONE ever BEEN to Delaware??? It's the First State, and it's adorably small - and we really enjoyed the Rehoboth.  It's probably a nightmare at peak season, but Rick and I always manage to travel at the wrong time, so it was very quiet.  There is clearly a LOT of money there - it's a quick commute to DC, Annapolis and Baltimore.  I enjoyed seeing chimneys on beach architecture and pines on the dunes. 

 

 It was a lovely boardwalk, and BUBBLES!  I'd live there.

 

Less compelling were the hundreds of Horseshoe Crabs that wash up nearby - either dead or molted shells.  They are truly creepy - I'm getting an Alien crossed with spider vibe.

 

On our way down to Chincoteague we passed the Wallops NASA facility, which I had never heard of, but which planned to launch a rocket in the next few days.  Rick had to geek out a bit about that. (Sadly, soiler alert, it still hasn't launched). We got to Assateague early enough to use our National Parks Pass so we could kill ourselves walking. 

 

It was good we did as we saw the PONIES up close!! 

 

The following day we had booked a small pontoon tour of the area, and since we had seen the ponies we got to see Horseshoe Crab harvesting.  OK - I have backed off a bit on my horror of the things as it turns out they are very valuable ($1.75 each to the fishermen) because  their blood is very important to a particular bacterial test process, and they are good bait for crabbing.  But I still don't ever want to see one under my bed.

Creepy Horseshoe Crabs Everywhere!!

 

Besides the ponies, and the fact that we did not get bedbugs from our hotel (sometimes we are too cheap for our own good - but Rick has used all our money for the boat), the highlight was the Island Creamery where we, off sugar since Jan 7, got homemade ice cream. There was an article about the 100 things you must eat in VA before you die - and the Island Creamery was #1!!!!  OMG, SO YUMMY.  As soon as we ate it we were sad we couldn't eat it all over again... But at least we got #1 in before we die.

On the way back to the marina we stopped for a long hike at the Calvert Cliffs - a famous fossil hunting area.  I'm all about the mobile app All Trails, and am forever trying to find a way to make our 5 mile walks more interesting (you most loyal readers will possibly remember the time in NC when I got very enthusiastic about a particular trail that got us so lost we almost had to call for help).

 

Back at the marina we found our Blue Horizon IN THE WATER, which is always what you want in a boat, and we were able to pack and provision - and in the process support the local economy in a big way.  We also suddenly discovered we had butterflies about leaving land.  I don't remember a single damn thing about boats.  WHAT ARE WE DOING??????

Outhouse calendar the kids gave us for Christmas!