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You are welcome to apply any part of this article to your own personal use. Please do NOT publish any part of the article or apply any part of it to any non-personal use without the express written concent of the author.
We didn't leave the Annapolis area quite as planned. But such is cruising...
Tuesday morning the technician's boss came out to look at the heater and made some real progress in getting it to work in just a couple of hours. In the end he pulled it and sent it off to their Rhode Island office where they have the right equipment for bench testing. It was returned and installed on Thursday morning. It's finally putting out oodles of heat for as long as we want. Let the cold fronts come down. We're ready.
Instead of sitting at the marina on the South River waiting for the heater to be returned we set off to see another "must see" spot on the Chesapeake Bay, St. Michael's. It's a quaint town on the Eastern Shore. It's not quite a place that time forgot, but still has its charm.
To get there we first staged to the Rhode River and anchored for the night. If we had left directly from the marina we would have arrived in St. Michael's well after dark, something we prefer to avoid. The cove where we anchored was a small spit of marshland at the end of a spit of deciduous trees just threatening to turn into their full autumn glory. A small flight of whistler swans made their way, flying low over the marsh as we were setting the anchor. Across the river from the cove were structures commonly associated with the human species, but far enough away that they didn't spoil the site.
The weather prognosticators called for winds in the ten to fifteen knot range for Wednesday. We were expecting a fine broad reach across the Chesapeake before turning into the protection of Eastern Bay and the waterways to St. Michael's. Yet again the weather proved to be much lighter than forecast. We were lucky to see five knots all day. So much for an exhilarating sail. The iron stays'l being set, we booked anyway and arrived just after midday.
My old Army buddy, Rich, whom we've visited a few weeks ago as we came through the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, came down and had lunch with us. He loves St. Michael's, and shared many a memory with us of the fine times he's had there.
Late in the afternoon we called the heater repair people who confirmed that the recalcitrant part would be available on Wednesday morning for reinstallation. It was too far to go from St. Michael's to the marina at the South River in just a couple of hours, so we couldn't stay there for the night. We'd have to find some place closer. Unfortunately there weren't any convenient anchorages close to St. Michael's. So we bid farewell to Rich and headed back to the Rhode River anchorage.
But just before we left I had a stop to make. I have been promising Kit some Maryland Crab Cakes for some time, and had said that I'd get her some in St. Michael's where the best is supposed to be made. And Rich had mentioned that this town is one of the places to get a soft-shelled crab sandwich. Not having time for a sit-down meal, I ordered take-out. The crab cakes were, indeed, very tasty and went down very nicely thank you as we motored back through Eastern Bay. And the soft-shelled crab sandwich was... er... unique. The whole crab, shell and all, is sautéed in butter, then placed between two slices of white bread. And that's it. The shell had a crunchiness to it, something like putting potato chips in a sandwich. Otherwise it, too, tasted pretty nifty.
It was going to be too dark to enter the Rhode River. So as we were crossing the Chesapeake Bay we did some looking for something a bit more convenient. We found Selby Bay at the entrance to the South River. Because was at the entrance to the South River, we wouldn't have to go as far. Yet it was close enough to the marina that we could get there in a bit over one hour. We managed to get in just after twilight, and there was enough light still hanging around to see the few other boats in the anchorage as we set our hook.
On Thursday morning we pulled up the hook and motored the short distance to the marina. Since we had stayed there a full week before, they didn't charge us for the dock space for the few hours we'd be there while the work was being done. The day was turning out to be a bit on the warm side, a bit too warm to need a heater. But I didn't mind as we ran it full blast for twenty minutes and more, just to insure that all was right. And the repair company, bless 'em, didn't feel it proper to charge us for the stumbling around they did earlier. They charged us only for the work from Tuesday morning. Yes, I'd use them again if the need arises.
So now what? We had some mail forwarded to us by overnight carrier, and it arrived late in the afternoon. It was too late to make substantial southing during good light. So we staged for Friday's travel by returning to Selby Bay.
Friday was again supposed to be windy, but right on the nose from the south. Once again the forecast was wrong. But this time it worked out for us. While from the south, it was light so we didn't have to punch into the short, steep chop for which the Chesapeake Bay is famous.
Otto von Steerer, our erstwhile autopilot, did much of the steering chores. Kit, our fearless navigator, kept us on course. Our captain, ever so confident in his crew, retired to the saloon for a couple hours of shut-eye, lulled to sleep by the gentle rumbling purr of the iron stays'l.
We had chosen Solomon's Island for our stop, and made it into the anchorage well before dark. The anchorage is well protected and the holding is fine, sayeth the guidebook. And so it was.
Saturday we got up late, launched Rampant, our dinghy, and headed for the maritime museum. It has dinghy docks which are free to museum patrons. As members of another maritime museum with reciprocal admission privileges, we got in free. It is a very fine museum, well worth the visit.
Shopping was next on the agenda, accomplished via a short walk from the museum. Some locals, cruisers who live in the area, gave us a ride home and told us about an art exhibit at the museum that evening. After completing some boat chores we attended the exhibit and chatted some more with our new friends. Finally to bed, exhausted but satisfied.
Meeting new friends happened easily in Solomons Island. A number of boats were anchored nearby, some stopped to chat with us and we stopped to chat with others. One boat was from Manchester, Massachusetts, one of our favorite harbors in that state. These folks were on their way to the Caribbean 1500 Rally, a group of boats that are sailing together offshore on a direct course to the Caribbean from the Chesapeake Bay area. We had a fine breakfast with that couple on Sunday morning.
More boat chores occupied the afternoon, then dinner and planning our next move southward. It looks like we will be in the Norfolk area in two or three days. We don't know exactly where we'll stop tomorrow evening, but we've got a number of good options. We'll select one that'll be as far south as we feel we can make in good light. And it could be as far as the Rappahannock River, or even further south, if we get the fifteen to twenty knots from the northwest as forecast. As I write this a cold front is passing through, right on schedule according to the weather people. Who knows? Maybe we'll get the wind tomorrow and be able to sail for a change.
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