September 7th I dropped the lines on the mooring ball at Annapolis and headed North up the Chesapeake Bay. It was a light wind so I motored the whole way. I passed under the bay bridge which always seems freaky to me looking up and seeing a large structure above the boat.
Worton Creek
My destination for the night was Worton Creek in the Upper Chesapeake. So I could see the sunset, I didn’t go all the way in, as it was going to be a pretty calm night. I anchored on the south shore with no one around me. I went and made a late lunch and was down below doing some cleaning and organizing. When I popped my head out around the time I started making dinner, two other sailboats had anchored next to me. Oh well so much for a secluded anchorage.
The next morning brought in some wind. I had texted some other cruisers I had met in the Bahamas. They were just up the bay from me. So I headed off to the Sassafras River to anchor next to them on their boat Mer Du Jour.
The sail up the bay to Sassafras River was a perfect shakedown of the new sail repairs, Quantum Sails in Annapolis had done. The sails looked pretty good. Nice job Quantum.
The sail was mostly downwind, till my turn into the entrance of the Sassafrass River. The Crab Pots were minimal coming in which is always welcome. Sometimes on the Chesapeake, it’s like running a minefield.
I dropped the sails and started the engines as Georgetown was away up the Sassafras River. I don’t like sailing in confined spaces I’m not familiar with.
The Sassafras River
Heading up the Sassafrass is beautiful. Large Manor homes some dating back to before the US revolution dot the hills. I got into Georgetown and passed by Mer Du Jour at anchor, and proceeded to what I thought would be a good anchorage spot. As I inched my way in watching the depth gauge closely. Dropping the anchor, I thought I was in a good spot. The water seemed a bit shallower than what my depth gauge was saying. I put my spearfishing pole down off the back and it hit bottom way before what the depth gauge was saying. I then switched off the fancy depth sounder and turned on the old reliable one which read I was aground. But, luckily it was soft mud. So I moved over to where Mer Du Jour was anchored. At 4 pm, cocktails on Mer Du Jour!
Mount Harmon Plantation
The next morning, we got underway in a light drizzle and motored a few miles to a nice cove right off Mt. Harmon Plantation. Another sailboat was in the cove, which Mer Du Jour had met a few days ago coming through the C&D Canal. The C&D Canal connects the Chesapeake and the Delaware River. Mt. Harmon Plantation was a great place to get a tour and wander the grounds.
We ended up spending the night in the cove off of the Plantation. Mer Du Jour’s had to get up early as they had a slip up the Middle River that was tide dependant. I was in no rush as I was going to anchor out just off the Marina where mutual friends of ours keep their boat.
The morning brought a stiff breeze. Mer Du Jour had texted me that heading out the Sassafrass, it was gusting in the high 20’s. I followed out the other sailboat that was in the cove with us. I decided to put full sails up, as I had thought the wind had died down a bit since Mer Du Jour had left. While I didn’t see high 20’s I did see gusts in the low to mid 20’s. I was able to hold a course tight to the wind out of the mouth of the Sassafrass. I passed the other boat pretty quick and we turned to head down the bay, Trouble just took off. It was a point of sail all cats love. A little off the beam and blowing mid to high teens. I was making good time and it was a great sail.
Crab Pots Everywhere
As I turned the corner to head up the Middle River, I was confronted with a minefield of Crab Pots. Steering through them under sail as best I could, I knew I had to get the sails down and start the engines to weave through this mess. An open patch came into view and I was able to get the sails down and engines started without running over and crab pots.
Entering Frog Mortar Creek off the middle river, I had to pass by the local airport which was a bit freaky as a plane came in for a landing in front of me where the runway comes up to the water. I’m sure I had plenty of room over the top of my mast but it was disconcerting.
I was able to anchor in a little cut right off the marina, being sure to use the proper depth gauge. I was a bit breezy but Trouble seemed to be holding fine, though I thought the area was a bit tight.
We had a great weekend, meeting up with the folks from EOS and Mer Du Jour. We worked on EOS to get a shaft issue fixed and after getting that done we had a great evening dinner at the local Sunset Cove restaurant.