6/23/04 Today was not a good day. We set out for Oxford on the eastern shore and when we left Solomons the water was flat. An hour later it was on the nose and pounding the boat a lot more than we could take. We got to the eastern shore and just anchored in the Bay near shore to get out of the wind and decide what to do next. At the suggestion of the crew and with a threat of mutiny I found us a cove and we waited a few hours and pressed on to Oxford when the wind changed direction some. Oxford was neat. We didn't go ashore but anchored out to save money.

6/24/04  Today was the perfect day.  We slept in until the sun woke us up and after a quick breakfast we decided to head out of Oxford Harbor for the trip to St. Michaels, MD. The GPS said 26 miles to go. Once we cleared the harbor we could see only a shiny sea that went on forever. This is definetly a "Debbie" day. The waterman were all out in their boats working and we had the best and smoothest ride of the whole trip. If everyday were like this we would be in Canada in a week and a half. We decided to get a slip at the St. Michaels harbor hotel and marina. $76 bucks for one night, with no power. This is a really nice and upscale place. It's not really us though and we would be just as happy at the gas docks at a plain old marina. At 39" we are the smallest boat here I think. Our neighbor looks to be 80+ feet on deck. We look like the dingy for his boat. But our's is paid for so I guess it all works out. We ate at the Crab House, a "best of the Bay" winner and it was great. The view of the harbor and the crabs were the best yet. Tongiht was lobster night so Debbie got the lobster and really enjoyed it. After dinner it was off to a free concert in the park overlooking the water. Mostly beach music but the band was very good. A perfect end to a perfect day. Tomorrow it's on to Grasonville and Kent Narrows or maybe Rock Hall if we get good weather.

 

6/25/04  Made it to Kent Narrows just in time to see the bridge going down (it only opens on the half hour) so we tied up at the Crab Deck for lunch. The steamed crabs were great. We wanted to stay tied and come back for dinner but decided to push on to Rock Hall.  We got to Rock Hall just in time to throw out the anchor and wait for the afternoon storm. I wasn't happy with the exposure of the anchorage so we upped anchor and went further up the creek and around a few corners and got out of the wind and had a nice cove to ourselves.

 

6/26/04 Ended up staying the whole day in the same place just being lazy. Barbequed chicken on the grill and didn't even go to shore at Rock Hall. A motor for the dingy would have helped shorten the distance to row to town so we stayed put.

 

6/27/04  Decide to head to Cheasapeke City on the C&D canal. They have a free dock there. They also have canal days the last weekend in June. We met hundreds of BIG boats coming at us as the festival broke up and it turned the river into a washing machine. We surfed one big (100') boats wake up to 15 knots for a while. It brought back my surfing days as a teenager again. Arrived in Cheasapeke City as the festival was over and tied at the free dock for the night. Paul and Pat Esterle had been emailing us to meet them when we got that way and Pat picked me up and hauled me to the Boat US store where Paul is the Asst. Mgr. I decided since I had a way to get a small outboard back to the boat that I should get a 3.3 mercury for the dingy. We all met at the boat after Paul got off work and had a good crab dinner at the Tap Room. Cheasepke City is a great small village that we will be sure to stop at on the way back.