Today would have been a perfect cruising day had it not been for the extreme heat. The Inner Harbor where we spent a day and two nights reported today a heat index at noon of 117 degrees. We were hot all day but were sailing for most of the time and the breeze cut the heat significantly. We are both drinking voluminous amounts of water. I estimate somewhere between 1 and 2 gallons each.
I started the day with a skinny dip in our private little cove. Boy was that refreshing. We fixed breakfast of bacon, eggs, blob strawberry muffin and V-8. After cleaning up the boat and ourselves, we headed out at about 8:30. We plan to go to the town of St. Michaels. We had visited there on our earlier reconnoiter trip and found it to be a great place. The water was again glassy so we motored to the Kent Narrows.
There are two bridges that cross from the Eastern Shore to Kent Island. They lay side by side. One had a vertical clearance of 65 feet and the other is a draw bridge. We have a mast height of about 40 feet above the water. The draw bridge opens every half hour, so we were in good shape as we entered the narrows at 9:45. I checked the current on the GPS for the time we were passing and it said that it would be at about 0.4 mph which is really nothing. The cruising guidebook suggested that the current could be a significant factor in passing through the narrows. We were motoring along at about 5.2 mph as we approached and as we got closer I noticed that we were slowing down. I checked our GPS speed and we were down to 3 mph. The current was really roaring out towards us and as it turned out, we just barely made the bridge opening. I called the bridge tender on the radio and told him we were coming but he seemed to open the bridge early. I revved up the motor and ran for the opening as fast as I could. We made it with no problems but it was another moment of excitement as it happened.
We were in need of ice and a few other supplies so we pulled into and tied up at a dock that was obviously a yacht sales organization. One of the salesmen came out and agreed to let us stay there while we got our supplies. We walked a half a block to the “Fisherman’s Inn, Crab Deck, Market” and bought a bag of ice. As we were looking around, we noticed some really nice crab cakes and decided that we would have fresh crab cakes for supper. They packed them in ice for us and we headed back for the boat.
The channel coming south out of Kent Narrows winds around but the markers are good and we had no trouble. Our trip to St. Michaels would take us about 4 to 5 hours if we motored at 5mph. There was still little wind so we started the trip using the engine. After a short while, a nice breeze came up and we put up the sails and had a wonderful ride. The wind was a few points off of the starboard bow so we were not able to follow our original course, however, there was plenty of deep water so we sailed as high as we could point and then tacked to get back on course. It was a really nice ride. We were able to move along at about 4 to 4.5 mph.
As we were arriving near St. Michaels, a large boat passed us from behind and slowed way down so as to give us no wake. A few minutes later, a very large cruiser, probably 70 feet or so, came past throwing the biggest wake I have ever experienced. He did not slow down and Panache pointed her nose to the sky and then drove down into the next wave. The bow went under water sending a wave back across the deck, up over the cabin top and back into the cockpit. The worst thing was that the hatch above our bed was open so a significant portion of the Chesapeake Bay ended up on our bed. Thanks Pal!
We motored into the harbor of St. Michaels, contacted the Maritime Museum for permission to dock at their wharf and their response was that we could do so if we would become members of the museum. I enquired as to the fee for membership and he answered $70.00 plus $15.00 daily dockage fee. I respectifully declined his offer to join and went looking for a spot where we could drop our anchor and take the Damn Dink into town. We wound such a spot in a corner of the harbor, dropped the hook, and headed for an ice cream parlor.
As we were walking into town, we met a couple who were eating ice cream cones and we cornered them and asked for directions to their source. It turns out that the ice cream shop was less than a half a block from where we were so we made a bee line for the establishment. We opened the door and walked into a wonderful atmosphere of air conditioning. Janine and I both ordered one scoop of butter pecan in a cup and sat down to savor the special treat. I enquired about internet service and the proprietor said that the public library which was located a block away directly behind the grocery store provided the service. Ah – a grocery and internet.
We left the ice box climate of the ice cream shop into the oven outside and the contrast was amazing. By now the air temp was above 100 degrees with a heat index of above 110 degrees. We walked to the grocery and while Janine picked up a few supplies, I walked back to the library to check their times. They close at 5:00 and it was approaching 4:00. The computer was back on the boat so back to the dink, back to the boat, back to the library with 30 minutes to get the blog out into cyberspace. I planned to put a number of pictures on the site but the computer acted up and we ended up just getting the posting completed by 5:00.
We had decided to seek out a secluded anchorage for the night in Wye River so we rode dink back to the boat, fired up the engine and headed out. By the time we raised anchor it was 6:00 and the trip promised to take 2 hours so we discussed the menu for a late supper. As we entered the river, we were greeted with beautiful scenery, pleasant winds and smooth water. We decided that even though we would be late getting to our anchorage, a dusk sail would be worth it so we again raised the sails.
We got to our anchorage at about 8:15 and found it to be a very secluded pond-like cove with trees completely surrounding it. I tested the waters for the feasibility of a swim and found them to be the temp of a very warm bath so that did not appeal to me at all. Janine fried our crab cakes in butter and prepared a Alfredo pasta dish for dinner. We opened a bottle of Knarly Head red zinfandel and enjoy a wonderful meal on the deck.
We were ready for bed by a bit after 9:00. Temp in the cave was abSove 90. Fan helped some.
Some pictures.
USS Constellation
Lenny's Deli
Fort McHenry
No comments:
Post a Comment