Thursday, September 23, 2010 – Solomons Island

We were on our way before 6:30 am.  There was a little bit of haze over the water which made for a magnificent sunrise with beautifully subdued colors.  We hit the tide just right and received a nice push up the Bay.

The winds were calm as we began, but later a slight breeze came up to help keep the bugs away and cool us off a little.  It turned out to be a hot day with the temperature climbing to 90 degrees! 

After cruising 43 miles and eight hours, we arrived at Solomons Island and dropped our anchor in the same spot we had used when we were here over the Labor Day weekend.  This time, however, it took us four tries for the anchor to hold!  It seemed the anchor flukes were just sliding over the top of the mud and not digging in properly.  When we were finally settled in, we hopped into the dinghy to ride over to the Holiday Inn’s dinghy dock and picked up a few groceries at the gourmet market. 

Back at the boat, we unloaded and put things away.  We had thought about going back to shore so Gale could stop at the West Marine retailer, but it was getting late in the afternoon and we were hot, tired and ready to take a break.  After a cocktail on the bow, we fixed something to eat and relaxed for the rest of the evening.   

Wednesday, September 22, 2010 – Galesville, MD

 

 

 

It was a surprisingly quiet night – no wind at all!  Our friends on Links had their anchor up and were on their way by 7:30 am.  Right after they left, we were visited by a pair of swans looking for a handout.

We relaxed at our anchorage all day.  The only moving we did was to make a fuel run to the West River Fuel Dock right after lunch.  We wanted to be prepared to leave early the next morning so we filled up with diesel and fresh water. 

Just before sunset and about the time the full moon was rising, we were visited by four swans that came right up to the boat.  Evidently the two birds we saw this morning gathered up their friends and came over!

  

 

 

Tuesday, September 21, 2010 – east side of Chalk Point, Galesville, MD

Happy Fall! It was another sunny morning with nary a puff of wind. While Maureen backed up several months’ worth of photos to disc, she got the “cleaning bug” and took on a few projects that needed attention. After a nice lunch, we pulled up anchor and headed out. The original plan was to sail to Annapolis to pick up a part at Performance Cruising; however, they were unable to get it crafted and ready for us in time so we decided to point our bow southward and look for a good place to get out of the strong winds forecasted for the night.

Shortly after leaving St Michaels, we received a call from Tim and Jill Argie aboard s/v Links. They were in the same neighborhood as we were and suggested we meet them in Galesville. Well, of course, we wouldn’t pass up a chance to spend some time in a burg named “Galesville!” At 5:30 pm our anchor was set just east of Chalk Point near our friends’ boat. They were already lowering their dinghy, had hors d’oeuvres ready and picked us up to take us over to their Gemini where we enjoyed a great visit.

Monday, September 20, 2010 - St Michaels, MD

The wind was out of the north at 15-20 knots when we awoke this morning and it was feeling a bit chilly! Not to worry, though; the sun was shining and the wind was in our favor for a change! We pulled up anchor at 9:15 am and had a wonderful 5-mile sail to St. Michaels – the destination for the day. We only wished we had more miles to go since it wasn’t often that we had such perfect wind, tide and wave conditions.

 
 
 
 
  
 
 
St. Michaels is a lovely little village and a very popular yachting center. The town was officially chartered in 1804 but early accounts of trading there date back to 1631. It used to be an important shipbuilding center especially noted for its “Baltimore Clippers,” the fastest sailing vessels of their time. After lunch, we dinghied to the public dock and took a walk around town. We stopped in a few shops, did a tasting at St. Michaels Winery and then decided to check out Eastern Shore Brewing where we were given a tour and tasted their five ales. We loved the St Michaels wine as well as all of the beers.

Before going back to the boat for the night, we needed some dinner. We dinghied over to the Crab and Steak House where we shared a bowl of cream of clam soup, a shrimp melt on English muffin and sweet potato fries. All was delicious!

Sunday, September 19, 2010 - mouth of Wye East River across from Bruffs Island

We stayed at anchor today enjoying a beautiful fall day with temperatures in the 70’s, dry air, clear sky and no wind. We were content to watch the world go by, throw in a fishing line from time to time and answer email.

Saturday, September 18, 2010 – mouth of Wye East River before Shaw Bay

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
We slept well and woke to a calm, clear and cool day. The wind was out of the north at 8 knots and the temperature in the low 60’s. Our agenda for the day was to cruise up the Wye River a little further to enjoy the scenery and then turn around and come back towards the entrance of the Wye where we knew we could get a strong internet signal and take care of some correspondence. At 9 am we had the anchor up and motored through the river where we saw dozens of boats out – most of them “crabbing.” On one side of the river were many beautiful homes while the other side was undeveloped and designated as a natural resources management area.

At 11:15 am, we dropped anchor in an open area at the mouth of the Wye where we had a strong 3G signal and could watch the weekend boat traffic at a comfortable distance. It was so nice there, that we stayed the night!

 

Friday, September 17, 2010 – Quarter Cove, Wye East River

 
 
After breakfast we headed out for a morning walk. This time we located the grocery store on our GPS before leaving the boat and thought we might pick up a few things. We never know for sure just what will be offered in the small town markets, but we can always find milk, bread and a few other staples to get us through to the next stop. There were a couple of monuments to the Chesapeake Bay watermen that were very interesting. Both memorials were fashioned after the local hometown oysterman, Stanley Vasant.
 
 
 
We found downtown Main Street and checked out a few shops. We came close to purchasing the popular watermen’s bracelets – Maureen had her eye on the ‘CB’ version, or Chesapeake Bay, where the ‘C’ is in the shape of a crab and the ‘B’ is a rope with a lighthouse superimposed; Gale preferred the fish hook and line – but we passed them up and went on our way. The grocery store, Bayside Foods, turned out to be a very nice store indeed! Before loading up, we asked a stock clerk if there was a taxi in town because if we could get a ride, we would buy a lot more than we would if we had to walk the mile back to the boat. No problem – it turns out the store offers cruisers courtesy rides to and from the grocery. What a nice surprise!

Back on Blue Heron, we put our groceries away and had some lunch. At 1:30 pm, we had the side anchor aboard, the fenders put away and pushed away from the dock heading toward the Wye River. The sky was partly cloudy, temperature 80°F and the wind out of the west at 10 knots. We motor sailed for nearly five hours and found a quiet spot at Quarter Cove in the eastern branch of the Wye River where we settled in for a lovely evening.
 

Thursday, September 16, 2010 – Rock Hall, MD – free dock

The night was very quiet and we rested well. After breakfast, we put on our walking shoes and set out to see Rock Hall. We found a lovely small town that reminded us somewhat of our own hometown, Clear Lake. After the walk, it was back to the boat to get down to business. We worked all day writing, paying bills, balancing checkbooks and answering email.

The wind came up in the afternoon as forecasted and we started to bump around pretty good against the dock. We put out a side anchor to keep us away from the dock and that seemed to help tremendously. A thunderstorm in the late afternoon dropped quite a bit of rain in a few minutes. The temperature fell several degrees and the wind died down.

For dinner, we walked to the Harbor Shack, and found a popular local hangout. Thursday night was Tequila Night; however, we skipped the tequila and shared a shrimp and asparagus quesadilla which was quite tasty!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010 – Rock Hall, MD – free dock

 
 
 
The sky was clear, the temperature was 65°F and the wind was calm. We left our anchorage at 8 am in search of a scenic and protected spot where we could get a good internet signal to finish up on our computer work. Early in the afternoon we checked out a beautiful little cove in Fairlee Creek that upon approach using the channel markers, looked as though we would run aground! We did not touch bottom and were rewarded with a great little lake that had 5 to 6 feet to anchor in, a small marina and tiki bar, and several strong unsecured WiFi signals coming from the marina. However, upon clicking onto the networks, we found a password was required (payment needed) to obtain a user name and password. Also, because it was so protected, we couldn’t get a 3G signal to use our Smartphone as our modem, so we decided to continue south a little further. “Long story short”: we ended up at the free dock in Rock Hall, MD where we had stayed last week with Life’s 2 Short and Knot Tide Down. This time, however, there were no other boats on the dock.
 
 

Tuesday, September 14, 2010 – Piney Creek Cove on the Elk River

Because of the strong tide on the Delaware Bay and the C&D Canal, the plan was to leave the marina at 3 pm and take the favorable tide through the canal in the late afternoon. The morning was filled with the usual cruising chores and shortly after noon, we stopped what we were doing and walked up to Kathy’s Crab House for lunch. The server who helped us out yesterday said she was just getting ready to put some crabs in the steamer and would be happy to add a few more in for us. We asked for three medium-sized crabs as our appetizer and ordered a sandwich and cup of soup to share. Our server brought the crabs and gave us a lesson on the proper way to eat them. The crab meat was sweet but you really had to work hard to get it!

 

At 3:30 pm we left the dock proudly flying our new gold “Looper” flag and headed out into the bay. The tide was giving us a nice boost and we were able to make the passage at around 6.5 knots. Since we were moving along so nicely, we decided to pass up the free dock in Chesapeake City on the C&D Canal and continue all the way through into the Elk River where we found a terrific anchorage in Piney Creek Cove and set our anchor at 5:30 pm.

 
 

Monday, September 13, 2010 - Delaware City, DE

Maureen was up early and at the marina’s laundry room by 8:30 am. It had been nearly two weeks since we last had the opportunity to wash clothes at Don & Ally’s. While waiting, Maureen used her time to post photos to the blog as we tried to get everything updated before sending out our Loop Accomplishment announcement. Gale spent his morning trying to get caught up on emails and some writing he had wanted to do.

About 1 pm, we walked over to Kathy’s Crab House for some lunch. We noticed several patrons were served huge platters of crabs with sweet corn and other sides. Each table had a bucket and each diner had a wooden mallet. The tables were spread with butcher paper to make it easier for cleanup. Kathy’s serves All You Can Eat Maryland crabs all day, every day for $20 per person. We ordered a BLT and a cup of soup and promised to come back tomorrow to try the crabs – although, we won’t likely choose the All You Can Eat option!

A little more computer work in the afternoon and then another celebration dinner at Crabby Dick’s, with the shrimp and crab pasta entrée.

CHEERS!! We Completed America's Great Loop on September 12, 2010

 

At 1 pm and after 6,700 miles and one year and four months, we tied up at the Delaware City Marina dock where we began our journey on America’s Great Loop on May 12, 2009. We celebrated with dinner and drinks at Crabby Dick’s restaurant and recalled many of the wonderful times we have shared with each other and with friends and family along the route.


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Sunday, September 12, 2010 – Delaware City, Delaware – Completing the Loop!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
We woke with much excitement and anticipation for the day. The rain and drizzle that had started early in the morning did not dampen our spirits in the least. We had about 30 miles to go to reach Delaware City and left at 9 am with a fair tide. Our trip through the C&D Canal was swift! With a 2.5-knot tidal push, we were able to travel at more than 8 knots the entire 13-mile length! When we exited the canal and entered Delaware Bay, we turned the boat around just to see what it would have been like going westward. We were only able to get her up to about 3 knots.



It was exciting to see the various familiar landmarks as we came into Delaware Bay and the Delaware River and, finally, to Delaware City.

At 1 pm and after 6,700 miles and one year and four months, we tied up at the Delaware City Marina dock where we began our journey on America’s Great Loop on May 12, 2009. We celebrated with dinner and drinks at Crabby Dick’s restaurant and recalled many of the wonderful times we have shared with each other and with friends and family along the route.




CHEERS!!

 

Saturday, September 11, 2010 – north of Grove Point at Sassafras River

 
 
 
The morning was a relaxing one. We did a little shopping at the outdoor store next to the dock. Gale picked up some fishing tackle, some crab fishing items and a fleece jacket. Maureen found some soft wool socks she thought would be nice to wear around the boat on the cooler days. A little later, Todd brought his laptop over and showed us the “Active Captain” web site. It was ironic that our friends on Cloverleaf had just mentioned this web site to us in an email the day before.

At 11:45 am we headed out into a beautiful Saturday. Shortly after 1 pm, we were at Tolchester once again and decided to stop in for a drink at the marina’s tiki bar to commemorate our previous journey. After a little less than an hour, we were on our way once again. The tide was against us all afternoon, but at least the water was calm – that is, except for some big boat wakes! We ended up anchoring just north of Grove Point off the Sassafras River in about 3 feet of water. It wasn’t a designated anchorage from any cruising guidebook, but it worked for us and got us out of the high traffic area. We witnessed another great sunset and rested well during the night.