We left Mill Creek on a windy, warm Sunday morning, heading south on a 12-mile ride to Harness Creek, south of Annapolis. Our navigation team was hard at work, plotting the course.
Rosie knew exactly where we were and was determined to stay there.
We pulled into Harness Creek, depressed. On Monday, Bob made many phone calls to the insurance company and marinas to find another Honda. Instead, what he found was a 90-day waiting period to get one. So, after great deliberation, he decided on a Yamaha 15. While we were doing this, we heard a knock on the hull, and the cruiser on the boat nearby asked he we had trash to go ashore. He didn't know we had no transportation! And as sailors, we're always happy to get rid of the trash.
It turns out the trash man, Ed and his wife Joann, were coming off a two-year cruise in the Bahamas. We spent two days with them, socializing, shopping and doing laundry. They are terrific people, and we gained from their experiences and appreciated all their help, which came just in time.
Harness Creek was lovely, except we dragged anchor three times. We came to the conclusion there just wasn't any good holding.
We saw an old friend from Mystic...again
On Thursday, we went to Annapolis to meet Jim Arnold, who was bringing our mail. We beat through 32 kt winds to get to him in Weems Creek. We spent just a half-hour with him before he went to the marina for repairs. We stayed anchored for the remainder of the day to ride out bad weather that was predicted, but never came.
We went to pick up the new Yamaha on Friday, and
headed to Wye East River, Dividing Creek, one of the most beautiful spots in
the Chesapeake. We had heard how beautiful it was, but nothing
anyone said does it justice. It is one of the treasures of the
Chesapeake. We arrived Friday evening, just in time for chocolate and wine with
Pat and Larry. We were greeted by the locals as we dropped
anchor. On Saturday, Sharon and Bill
Bell on Silver Lining, who left Connecticut the same day we did, pulled in
along with Bob and Mary on First Light, another Stonington boat. It was
great to see them. Three weeks out and we have not had one day
we did not make new friends or meet old ones along the
way.
I have never seen Maggie smile so much!
Dividing creek was
wonderful, the creek was alive with fish, turtles, snakes and all kinds
of birds. Great Blue Herons were in abundance. Thousands of Canadian
geese noisily woke us up every morning on their migration south. They
looked like large black clouds in the southern sky. The morning mist and
flat calm of the creek are everything you could want in paradise, We
hated to leave, but we have to go south before the cold weather sets in and
forces us to wear long pants.
