August 2024 journey back north part 2
Saturday August 24
Got up leisurely, given the late night last night and motored the whole way across the Bay to the Honga. The water was glass.
Point Lookout light, the utilitarian lighthouse look.
Got to the Honga around 1430 and we read, napped and relaxed. There was no cell signal at all, so we didn't even bother with reading email, news or doing the NYT games.
View from our anchorage. So peaceful.
Sun starting to set is sparkly.
Grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup for a simple dinner.
I never get tired of watching the sun set. Such beautiful colors, and different with every water and sky view.
Even the scrawny scrub trees look beautiful at dusk.
Panorama of the sunset
New dusk view as we tack.
Beautiful sky filled with stars at night. Not much light pollution from Hooperville. Heading to the Little Choptank and Hudson Creek tomorrow.
Sunday August 25th
Up at 0900. Laz was in the cockpit as I made breakfast and called my attention to the starboard lifeline.
A visiting dragonfly was hanging out.
I went out to catch a photo without a hatch between us.
Another gorgeous day ahead as this panorama shows.
French toast and bacon for breakfast with a mini spinach and cheese omelette and cantaloupe. Unfortunately the cantaloupe was already starting to ferment. Our boat fridge is good, but not as cold as at home, so the fruit tends to go more quickly. I'd been seeing a fair amount of fruit flies aboard, and when I went over to the starboard shelf where we keep the grape tomatoes, they were covered in drosophila. Ugh. Laz took them up and threw out most of the tomatoes. I could rescue a few, but not more than that.
We saw Thunder, a research vessel, going back and forth in our area. We saw it yesterday as well, when we came in. Never quite figured out what it was doing. A quick Google search when we had signal didn't yield any answers. Anchor up at 11:30. Listened to the Liverpool v Brentford game on Sirius FC.
There was not much wind to start, we waited for 5+ kts to put up the sails. Passed the bridge between the Hooper Islands.
Another hardworking tug pulling a container ship.
The wind built to 13-15 kts and we were down wind so we put the code-0 out. We had amazing sailing all the way into the Little Choptank and the mouth of Hudson Creek. There was a sailboat anchored in the first cove. We headed to our favorite spot in front of "our" mansion.
View upwind down Hudson Creek
View across the creek.
View towards the sun and shallows.
View of our favorite mansion.
Gotta have the mansion selfie!
Leftover sirloin steak from The Grill as roll ups with what's left of the iceberg lettuce and some rescued grape tomatoes.
Dessert of Strawberry shortcake Nightingale ice cream bar. Mmmm.
Every time I tell myself I won't take another sunset photo, I then take another photo, knowing that no camera can do it justice. Sunsets are a present that unwraps itself. There are many beautiful spots on the Chesapeake and the Honga is one of them. With the small population, there is not much around, just a few fishing boats that come and go, and the crabbers.
Monday August 26th
Up by 0800 and off anchor by 0825. Motored out of Hudson Creek then put the main sail up.
A Jenny or Benny anchored at the mouth of Hudson Creek.
Bistro Du Jour's cinnamon bun with cream cheese icing for breakfast as well as yogurt and coffee, served as we motored out of Hudson Creek.
Sails up on a beautiful day with at least 7kts of wind from SE oscillating to S.
It is definitely a code-0 day.
Coming out of the Little Choptank, sailing around to the Choptank. We were able to sail all the way to Oxford.
Passing the light structure heading into the Tred Avon.
Arrived at Safe Harbor Oxford at 1330. It’s a busy Monday at Safe Harbor, we are one of 10 boats docking today! Caught up with Jeff, the dock master and the young man helping him. Got the scoop on things around the marina and around town since we were last there.
Here we are in our slip B9. We walked to the Oxford market for provisions, they don't have much. Did get egg salad and chicken salad, roast beef and turkey, a loaf of wheat bread and milk. The OJ is from concentrate, but it's Tropicana, so we will try it. Walked to the Treasure Chest, local artisans work and other things, and found a triple berry jam. I thought I had extra ham on board but apparently not, and we are just about finished with our current jar. Next door to Scottish Highland Creamery for delicious Death By Chocolate ice cream with strachiatella (chocolate melted then dripped in for delicious crunchy bits). I had a scoop of fresh coconut as well, which was not too sweet and a lovely coconut flavor. Of course it started to rain as we walked back. Me and Oxford=rain.
Back to baji-naji, provisions stowed. Laz mounted the engine onto Boji and we washed baji-naji with soap and water. So much mud on the anchor, in the anchor well and the foredeck.
Washed the teak table leaves in the cockpit as well. They look nice cleaned up.
You can see the rain clouds coming in, and of course it really rained after we washed baji-naji. Free rinse!
As we walked to dinner we saw this heron fishing from the new beach area they have made along the waterfront.
A view of the new beach areas. Presumably the sea grass is to stop erosion. The folks at SH Oxford aren't sure how well it is going and don't think this is necessarily better than the open beach that was there before. There was a cement sea wall, and at low tide there didn't seem to be much erosion before.
We went to the Robert Morris Inn for dinner, the only place open on Monday night. The booths are set between brick walls with grates up high, giving the feel of being in a jail cell. The restaurant is named the Financier, after Robert Morris' profession. Not sure what that has to do with a jail cell feel, but there you go.
The crab and artichoke dip was excellent.
Laz had a lobster dish that was tasty.
I had an excellent crispy duck dish, one of the best I've enjoyed in a long time.
I had part of a crepe cake for dessert; the filling is a chocolate mousse. I was so full, I took 1/2 home.
Laz had a caramel apple cheesecake that was pretty good.
Sunset as we walked back to the marina. Tomorrow we are off across the Bay again to anchor in the Rhode River, a longer day.
Tuesday August 27th
Slept in to 0900. Heated a Bistro du Jour chocolate croissant and made a Pina colada yogurt with the last of the fresh pineapple and my coconut chips. The blueberries, sadly, are gone. Cumbres del paso black honey coffee with Maya decaf mix, fresh ground is always amazing.
The clean teak looks really nice. I put a little bit of teak oil on, just to help preserve it a little. I'm not sure if I like the deeper color or the silvered color, but we'll see how it wears. We were off the dock at 1115 or so, and saw Somewhere South at anchor just past the channel. We saw there was a catamaran there as we walked back from dinner, but we thought it was the rude people looking for a dinghy dock for their dog when we were washing the boat. We came along side and chatted with Shane and Kori while I held baji-naji in place. They are headed to Cambridge tomorrow then eventually to South River Pier 7 where Shane is getting some warranty work done on Somewhere South.
Not much wind as you can see, but we did see this tug Thor, with an interesting crane on it.
The work shoring up Poplar Island has been completed and it looks pretty nice.
Close up of Poplar Island.
Love to see the cormorants a little closer, they normally just fly away or dive.
We headed across the Bay to the Rhode River and as we came in, we got a good look at Love Bug, the 121 foot superyacht that sank in the mouth of West River.
We got a good look at the cranes on barges that had pulled it up and were holding it in place.
Crazy to think it sank there. According to internet sources she was bound for Annapolis, frequently chartered and last asking price in 2021 was nearly $8 million.
She's pretty dirty, but that doesn't take long in the muddy Chesapeake.
View from our anchorage in the Rhode. Very pretty. These three were anchored where we had wanted to, in the second cove in, so we set down anchor in the first cove, which was a little rockier with traffic, but not bad.
View from our stern from our anchorage. You can see Harmony Marina across the way. After we got settled we took Boji for a ride.
Camp Letts is a YMCA camp that has sailing as well as camping
A couple of sailboats along the shore of Camp Letts.
Lovely stand of sea grass just around the corner. There are a few sunken islands in the Rhode, making anchoring baji-naji a little tricky. Boji, on the other hand, can go just about anywhere.
These motorboats don't have much of a draft.
These egrets startled as we motored past and landed in this fish haven, along with a seagull.
Coming around another corner to find an osprey nest, a great blue heron and a beautiful view.
The heron startled as we came closer and I caught it taking off.
Other beautiful nooks and crannies coming around into Fox Creek.
Back around into the Rhode from Fox Creek to baji-naji looking pretty in the fading sun.
View back towards Fox Creek and the sun coming down.
Close up of our beautiful girl.
Back aboard for a chicken salad and apple dinner. Chicken salad from Oxford Market.
Another Nightingale ice cream sandwich to split for dessert.
I never get tired of the sunsets we see on the water. Tomorrow we are headed to Annapolis.
Wednesday August 28th
Anchor up and away by 0900, I made coffee, yogurt and heated up a chocolate croissant from Bistro du Jour while we motored out.
A beautiful cat boat slowly going out the Rhode. Passed the unfortunate Love Bug again.
Wind started to build a little, so we pulled out the code-0 when it was 4-5 kts, and it built to 5-6kts by Thomas Point Light. Thomas Point is always a beautiful lighthouse to sail by. The wind shifted from SW to S to SE as we came around, so we maintained the same angle until we came into the Severn. We could have sailed all the way into Back Creek but did the prudent thing and furled the code-0 and dropped the main sail before we motored into our slip, D261, in Safe Harbor Annapolis. Its the same slip we had before.
Hot hot day, so we got lunch at the pool bar/restaurant and then went for a swim in the pool. Showered and relaxed until it was time to meet up with the Townleys for dinner.
Saw a beautiful goldfinch in the echinacea and roses bordering the walkway.
The Townleys picked us up at the marina gate and we went to Joss for sushi. SO GOOD, the food and catching up with Dave and Erin.
Dan and Dave had noodle bowls, Dan with shrimp and Dave with chicken.
We split the dumplings. They were kind enough to drive us to Giant so we could pick up a few provisions (decent OJ, wraps and fruit) and then drove us back to the marina. We are in Annapolis tomorrow as well.
Thursday August 29th
We took Boji for a ride to Black Market Bakery at Port Annapolis. I’ve been waiting to go there since Erin told me about it last year.
You can tell from my smile how happy I am to be here.
So many choices!
I had their huge and delicious avo toast and Laz had a breakfast sammy. Brought home a big box of pastry for future breakfasts, including one coconut mango filled lovely for me. Saw a few Dufours on our way back, including a 382 at Eastport Yachting Center. At least we are not the only ones on the bay. After safely stowing the pastries, we grabbed a Lyft to a Cube Storage place in Annapolis to meet Roxy from Handcraft Mattress Company. We were able to try the different mattresses and pick one. She will be by tomorrow morning between 9-9:30am to make a pattern. We have to have the mattress out and cleared of bedding for her to do it. Took a Lyft back to the marina with a driver named Roxanne, of all things, with a 6 month old shih tzu puppy named Kobe. She had a book on tape going and she gave us the entire plot rundown. Nice lady. We then hung out on the boat. It is a bit cooler today, so nice to sit in the cockpit and watch the action on Back Creek.
Across Back Creek is almost a Mississippi River Boat.
Her name is Raven. There was another one like her that went out later. Texted with Debbie; the McKellars are in Oxford, heading to Annapolis on Sat depending on weather. They are eating at Capsize tonight and had tried Scottish Highland Creamery. I recommended Social Cafe for breakfast tomorrow, as they are open.
I tried to work on the backlog of the log but I got sea sick with the NE winds and my head down looking at the computer. I went for a walk to the pool head and back. Took a nap below which helped a lot.
Had dinner with Jeff Cook at Tarin Thai Cuisine, recommended by the Townleys. He picked us up since it was raining. Feasted on chicken satay, fresh spring rolls (they had avocado), curry puffs, pad thai with shrimp, Thai crispy duck with chili sauce and green curry with chicken. Jeff got the leftovers. The food was delicious and it’s always great to catch up with Jeff. We were so full we asked Jeff to park in his normal space in Eastport and we would walk back to Safe Harbor Annapolis. It was drizzling a little, but not bad. We could see/hear thunderstorms farther away, but we didn’t get wet.
Tomorrow we will be going to the Magothy after the mattress measurement.
Friday August 30th
Up by 0800. Breakfasted on leftover avo toast and egg sammy from Black Market Bakery. We cleared out our bunk for Roxy to measure. She got here early, 0845. Ordered a System 5, which costs 50% more but you can't feel the other person move as the coils are individually wrapped. So exciting! Roxy left around 0945. We then filled the aft water tank and Laz took down the code-0 as rain was expected. Wind from the E at 10 so anticipated needing dock help to leave as I wasn't sure the bow thruster would be enough. Turns out we were fine, but it was nice to have some help with lines. Off the dock at 1100. The wind is most excellent at 8-12 kts from the E alternating with NE. We sailed using the jib tell tales instead of looking at instruments because the wind was so touchy. Sailed across to Kent Island then tacked, keeping close hauled due to constant wind direction change. You can get a feel for the wind as we sail towards the Bay Bridge in the video below.
Wind blown selfie after going under the Bay Bridge.
