Chesapeake Bay

Sept 20 - Oct 3

Captain's log:

Can't believe we haven't written anything on our blog for all this time. We have had a kind of tumultuous journey.

We left Chesapeake City on a glorious morning with the Bay being as smooth as glass. Planned on anchoring in the Magothy river where we have been before. Arrived in the river about 4:00 pm, dropped the hook, and settled down for what we thought was going to be a nice relaxing evening.

Our phone rang and we found out we had a family emergency that had to be taken care of. Couldn't do anything that evening so the next morning early we scooted across the Bay to the Kent Island Yacht Club where we rented a car and drove to NJ. Stayed a couple of days and then returned to the Summer Wind.

Left Kent Island Yacht Club and found the Chesapeake Bay again very smooth. Decided to do a long day to the Patuxent river and anchor in Mill Creek beyond the bridge. We had a beautiful clear night with a 3/4 moon which shown brightly. The next day we were scheduled to go into Spring Cove Marina where we were going to have our port salon windows repaired. The track on both windows had deteriorated and need to be replaced. Received a quote and decided to stay while the track was ordered and the work scheduled to be complete. That was Sept 25 and so we were there for 9 days until the track came in and the mechanic finished the windows.

Met and had dinner with an MTOA couple Paul and Joanne and also Jeffrey and Karen from Active Captain joined us. That was a beautiful last night in Solomon Island. Our windows are looking great and hope they will be fine for another 12 years.

The next morning we untied our lines and left Solomon Island to continue our southern journey.

To be continued:

Tug working hard on the Chesapeake

Mill Creek Anchorage

Eagle soaring high

Close up to the moon

Window in desperate need of repair

Installing the new track

Caulking the windows

One window finished

Chesapeake City, MD -- What to do on a windy rainy day?

Tuesday September 18, 2012

The weather outlook for the east coast today was rather bleak. So, we decided that travelling just wasn't the greatest idea. The Summer Wind was safe and secure on the town dock .

Chesapeake City, MD forecast
 This Afternoon...Showers with a chance of thunderstorms. Some thunderstorms May be severe with damaging winds and heavy rainfall. Windy with highs in the upper 70s. South winds 20 to 25 mph with gusts up to 45 mph. Chance of rain 90 percent.

Tonight...Showers. A chance of thunderstorms in the evening. Some thunderstorms May produce damaging winds and heavy rainfall in the evening. Windy with lows in the upper 50s. South winds 15 to 25 mph with gusts up to 45 mph...Becoming west 10 to 15 mph with gusts up to 25 mph after midnight. Chance of rain 90 percent.

Music is an accompaniment on those windy, rainy days aboard the Summer Wind. We both enjoy listening to classical, jazz and big band music. Hip-hop or head banging music is only heard in my mp3 player when working out.
Dick is a wonderful musician and usually if we're waiting out some weather out comes the flute. I find his music relaxing and soothing. I can hum along, but do so quietly.  We have often had people walk by and comment that they too are enjoying his music. 
He also travels with his trusty cornet. Dick was first chair in his State band in 19** in highschool. The picture below is the cornet he used during his highschool years and when he played in the US Navy during bootcamp. He says he needs to rebuild his lips to play better. Frankly I think they are just fine!

A Great Cruise up the Delaware Bay

Monday September 17th-
First mate-- After a few days of resting to reassure that Dick was in "good and stable" form to travel, we untied the lines at 6:00am. In fact there was a caravan of boats leaving which gave us some reassurance that we wouldn't be alone on the water.
The sun was rising as we made our way out onto the Delaware Bay. It was a delightful trip up the bay as the seas were absolutely flat. The current was in our favour which gave us a push up the bay. We were travelling at 9 - 10 knots most of the way. The timing worked out perfect for entering the canal we were doing over 10 knots. What could have been a long 10 hour day turned into an easy cruise of 6 hours.
Our stop for the day was Chesapeake City and we discovered that nobody occupied the free town dock. Just as we finished tying our lines to the free dock, two sailboats pulled in behind and we helped to secure their vessels. The city provides a 24hr free docking allowance but they won't make you leave in inclement weather.