Happy 4th of July!

So obviously this is way belated. Trying to live life as a cruiser and write blogs is not so easy.

We were feeling pretty good after our Annapolis getaway and wanted the feeling to continue. Apparently the Chesapeake Bay is super busy during 4th of July, which was right around the bend, so we decided to find an anchorage that was off the beaten path.

Way back when we first arrived in MD, our buddy Dan told us about this little area called Davis Creek, just off of the Chester River. For weeks we talked about taking a couple days and anchor out there, but it never came to be. So we decided now is the time to check it out. Davis Creek is out in the middle of nowhere, so it should be perfect for the crowded upcoming holiday. Its kind of funny that the creek is only a 10 minute drive from the marina, but by water it is nearly 6 hours away.

The plan was to leave Annapolis on Monday morning (June 29), and stay through the weekend (July 5). It would be our longest time in one anchorage thus far. It would also be the longest day of cruising. We had to cover about 28 miles from where we were, and depending on conditions would take between 7 and 10 hours.

The Journey

At 9AM we headed out of Annapolis back up north. The path was a little winding because we had to go around several outcroppings of land, under a couple of bridges and through a busy channel. We managed to sail the first 10 miles or so on a steady beam reach at about 5 knots. As soon as we neared the Bay Bridge, a huge freighter came out of nowhere (or at least it felt like that) and almost ran us down. They even hailed us on VHF to recommend that we move out of the way, because it wasn’t slowing down for anything. So I (Jill) cranked the engine to haul our little Bosco butt out of there before the massive beast came hurling by.

As soon as we crossed the other side of the Bay Bridge, the wind died. So we motored for another hour or so before rounding Love Point. We did manage to sail down from Love Point to the bottom of the Neck, though it was slow going. We wanted to get as much sailing in as possible. But once we rounded the bottom, the wind was coming directly from the north (where we were headed), and it was very light. So again, we revved up the engine and decided to just motor the rest of the way.

Right now, we have our ‘boat jobs’, which is both good and bad. Its good for obvious reasons: its faster and not stressful because we know what we are both good at. Jake tends to do all the laborious things, like pull the anchor (since we don’t have a windlass), and raise the sails. I do all of the navigation and boat handling under power and under sail. I am very comfortable and confident when we have to go through busy areas and have more intuition with how to sail Bosco. Its bad because we depend on one another to accomplish these jobs. If one of us is incapacitated for some reason, the other will need to be able to run the ship solo.

So in an effort to work on this, both Jake and I took turns manning the helm and trimming sails. Eventually we hope to redo the rigging so that everything can be done from the cockpit, and allow us to take breaks. Especially once we start multi-day hops to cover long distances. I did manage to take a nap and fix lunch during the long trek, but right now sailing the boat is a two-person job.

We rolled into our anchorage a little before 5PM. We passed by a small marina (Lankford Bay) and a tiny mooring field that had a couple of boats, and then it was nothing but wide open space for anchoring. The anchorage is completely protected from all sides, and had nothing but lush green trees and grasslands intermixed with a couple of houses. But really it felt like we were in the middle of nowhere, all by ourselves; YAY!!!

A Week of Fun

Once settled in, we let ourselves absorb for a bit (which we do anytime we anchor in a new place). We were surrounded by Eagles, Osprey and Heron on all sides. Jake put out the hammock which we both enjoyed until the sun set.

Since we were planning to stay here for so long, we tried to lay out a loose plan for the week. The main goal was provisioning food, water, diesel and maybe accomplish some boat jobs (ie – clean the head, insulate the fridge). After that it was all about relaxing and having fun with friends.

We coordinated with our BFF, Dan (s/v Clyde), to accomplish several of these tasks. It worked out pretty well, because the anchorage is just outside of his friend, Deb’s, gorgeous home. Dan does work on her property since she’s in her mid-70’s. Deb also has an adorable pup (Commodore, Dory for short) who was super cute and sweet.

Deb was such a doll, because she told us (without even knowing us) to feel free to use her dock, her pool and her home to our heart’s content. And we did. Every day we came to shore, we would tie our dinghy to her dock, hang out at her pool, provision water, remove our garbage, etc. It worked out great. Dan gave us the grand tour on the golf cart (since the grounds are so huge) and the Dory pup even joined us. What a cutie…

The week flew by in a whir, as they do now that we are nomadic. We managed to accomplish all of our provisioning goals and boat tasks with plenty of time to spare. It couldn’t have happened without Dan chauffeuring us around just about every day, to whom we are ever so grateful!

One night we grilled out at Deb’s with her, Dan, Jake and I. We also met some of her neighbors (Ron, Theresa, James, Tessa) and their cute pup Nola and had a little pool party. We even made it back to our favorite restaurant By Wolf, with some friends.

It wasn’t all fun and games. We did do a ton of boat work. We took apart the head, giving it a good scrub down and de-gnatting, and then redid the compost with an extra helping of the bug-killing stuff. We also cleaned every surface, top and bottom, and began shooting our ‘cribs’ boat tour video (Which will be published soon!). We even managed to provision groceries and insulate the fridge (thanks to Dan driving us around everywhere).

We celebrated the 4th of July on the 3rd, because that is when the old marina does its firework extravaganza. Dan drove us there so we could spend the evening catching up with our old weekender friends, that we never had a chance to say goodbye to; Scrumpy (Dave & Lynn), Karen and Tom, Cindy and Chuck, and of course Dom. We hung out on Clyde for most of the night watching fireworks right off the bow of the boat. It was SO COOL to see fireworks on a boat.

On July 4, we planned to move Clyde up to Davis Creek to anchor out with us. The weather kind of sucked in the morning, but we didn’t care. Dan picked us up early in the AM and we made our way back to SE to help him get Clyde ready to sail. We headed out by 930AM.

As we motored out of the harbor, we noticed a Beneteau 41 passing by us on our port (left) side. Both Jake and I thought, wouldn’t it be funny if that was Captain Dave. He did tell us he was planning to anchor up at Swan Creek for the fireworks (just north of us), so it could have been. Jake grabbed the binoculars, and sure enough, it was At Last. We tried to hail them on the radio, but he didn’t respond, so we just shouted out to him. We managed to get his attention and it took him a minute to recognize us (since we weren’t in Bosco). We chatted for a few minutes with him and his wife, Penny before taking off again. How random! We have been seeing Dave all over the Chesapeake!

The sailing was so much fun. Dan’s cool because he lets Jake and I do a lot of the work of sailing his boat, which we love. I manned the helm the first chunk of the way. At one point the rain started coming down hard and fast, but it felt glorious. After awhile it started to get cold and uncomfortable so we donned our rain gear (so as not to get fatigued by the elements). But eventually even the rain chilled out and it stayed cloudy and overcast all day.

It took us about 5.5 hours to get up to the Creek, and we passed the time in true sailor fashion; listening to the megabooms, pretending to be in a race with an Island Packet that was on our tail most of the day (and we kicked its butt by the way), and snacking on all sorts of random goodies. It was a great day of sailing, and once we got to the anchorage, Dan let me paddle around on his kayak. (* we have to get one of these!!!)

That night we planned to hit up a Tiki Bar with Dom, Rachel and Phil (and their Daughter), Dan, Jake and myself. The weather was supposed to be crappy, but it turned out to be perfect night. Live music, gorgeous sunset and a little beach to walk on…oh yeah and yummy BBQ to munch on. We left before the fireworks because we were all wiped out [from the elements] (though Dan would never admit to that).

We did see fireworks from our boat that night, which was even better because there was no one around; just Bosco and Clyde in the water. [cue the ‘Friends Forever’ song].

That brought an end to our 6 days of fun. Sunday morning we decided to leave because we wanted to beat the supposed bad weather that was aiming for us. The next stop on our journey: Saint Michaels. Stay Tuned…