Chestertown, MD

We left our Centreville anchorage at 7 on Tuesday, September 19 so that we would make it to the marina in Chestertown in time for my 9:30 Spanish lesson.  That way I would be assured of a good internet connection. 

After a short two hour cruise we arrived at the Chestertown Marina and tied up on our own. I immediately called in for my lesson with no problem.  The marina sits at the end of the Chester River, one of the longest rivers on the Eastern Shore.  The marina was a very nice one but strangely it had very few boats in it probably because it’s late in the season and a weekday. But we didn’t mind as it was close to the town and a park and we could walk Archie nearby without a leash. 

Chestertown had been recommended to us and described as second only to Annapolis for its charm, architecture and history. We definitely agree! It’s a lovely town with beautiful, well-kept homes, attractive and interesting shops and restaurants and a clearly affluent population. 

It also has one of the coolest bookstores we’ve ever seen. It looked very small from the street but it had numerous small rooms chock full of books and organized in a unique manner with whole sections on the presidents, espionage, boating, the Chesapeake, etc.  

The next morning Jonny picked up some delicious croissants from a local bakery - the best and most flaky croissants we’ve had since being in Paris. 

Michael Bracken came to pick us up on Wednesday to bring us to his parents’ beach house in Bethany Beach. We stayed with him for a couple of days which was great. The beach there is gorgeous - wide and deep, and sparsely populated at this time of year.  We spent many hours walking along the shore. Archie loved it and discovered sand crabs which he chased into the water.  He must have run a hundred miles up and down the beach in two days! 

We strolled along the boardwalk and through the cute town of Bethany Beach, a lot quieter than usual now that the season is over.

Jonny and  Michael went for a long bike ride and rewarded themselves afterwards at a local pub. We ate out both nights, once in Bethany and the second time in Rehoboth Beach where we discovered a particularly delicious restaurant called Shorebreak. It had fine food and incredible deals that night with half price bottles of wine and 50% off the second entree! Unfortunately, Christina wasn’t arriving until the next day so we would miss her but Michael now has a new place to take her for dinner!

On Friday, we packed up the car so Michael could take us back to Chestertown. Ophelia was making  its way up the east coast and we wanted to be sure  that Zendo was well secured at the dock.  But as we started to leave, the car was not sounding right and Michael wisely decided to take it in to get checked (hopefully just a new battery). He had to leave the car and rent one which delayed us some but we were in no hurry.  Returning to the marina, Michael helped Jonny add more lines and secure the boat before heading out to pick up Christina who was flying into Salisbury. We were all worried that she might get stuck in Philadelphia due to the storm.  Fortunately, Christina made it and wasn’t too terribly delayed. 

For the next couple of days we hunkered down aboard Zendo waiting for the storm to pass through. It was very windy and rainy but we had no problems and just stayed cozy on board except to walk Archie between downpours. On Saturday night we ventured out for a date night to have dinner at a restaurant called Watershed Alley that had been highly recommended by a few people we met. We bundled up in our boating wet gear in case it started raining again and walked to the restaurant. Fortunately the rain held off.  The restaurant lived up to its reputation. The food was excellent and we had a lovely evening together!

On Sunday we started to prepare the boat for our first visitors of the season. Addie and Lange have begun a tradition of staying with us each year on my birthday. They will meet us in Baltimore for a couple of days to help me celebrate turning 70 years young!  That evening I made a new recipe from the New York Times - a fish Provencal with shrimp and squid. It was a big hit - very savory and delicious.  

The next day we will travel six hours to Baltimore where we’ll be staying for the next 12 days.  We will be volunteering at TrawlerFest by staffing an MTOA booth with the goal of recruiting new members to MTOA. After Addie and Lange leave, Stephanie will give me my favorite birthday present by coming to visit for the weekend!

Centreville, MD

We enjoyed a quiet and calm overnight in our lovely  anchorage on Langford Creek.  It was a little overcast with occasional rain early in the morning on Monday, September 18 so we stayed inside, warm and cozy.  There’s beginning to be a touch of fall in the air.  The heat and humidity are gone (at least for now) and we’re finding it quite pleasant.  After awhile we took Archie in to shore for a very long walk up the road past forested areas, farmlands and a neighborhood of attractive homes.  We are definitely enjoying being in a more remote area.

After returning to Zendo we had lunch onboard and pulled up anchor by 1:25 for the short 75 minute cruise up the Corsica River to an anchorage in Centreville, MD.  This one was also quite nice though not as pleasant as the day before.  We took a very long dinghy ride to the little town of Centreville which is set quite a ways back from the river.

We walked along the side of the road and up a hill and eventually came to the town.  Centreville is the largest town and county seat of Queen Anne’s County has a population of only 2,100.  It was incorporated in 1794.  There is some attractive architecture in town - Victorian homes with wrap around porches, late 19th century rows of commercial buildings and some newer architecture as well.

But Centreville is very small and nothing much was open as we walked along the streets. We decided that it wasn’t worth a return visit especially since we can’t take Zendo up to the town dock as the waters are too shallow.

We returned to Zendo and had a delicious dinner of chicken with vinegar, broccoli with anchovies and garlic and a couscous mix.  We turned in relatively early so we could get up and leave first thing the next morning. Our connectivity here is very poor and I have my Spanish tutoring session on Tuesday mornings so we decided to make the quick trip to the Chestertown Marina, (with hopefully good connectivity), in time for my 9:30 lesson.

Langford Creek, MD

The first thing we did on the morning of Sunday, September 17 was to go to the Annapolis City fuel dock to fill up with water  While Jonny handled that task, I took Archie for one last walk and we went to the CVS in the center of town to pick up a couple of items. We had our last stroll along Ego Alley.

We thought the day was going to be sunny with calm winds but it ended up being overcast and breezy as we left Annapolis at 9:50. After a four hour cruise across the Chesapeake we arrived at the Chester River on the Eastern Shore. Our plan for the next couple of days was to explore various anchorages on the Chester River, the longest river on Maryland’s Eastern Shore and a place we had not visited in the past.  Ultimately, we planned to reach Chestertown where we would dock Zendo and where Michael Bracken would pick us up  and take us to his parents’  beach home in Bethany Beach for a few days.

In the meantime we would enjoy some quiet anchorages on the Chester River, the first one being on the east fork of Langford Creek where we arrived at 2 p.m. We dropped the hook in a bucolic setting with several duck blinds, osprey nests and only a couple of large homes in sight.

We took Archie in the dinghy to a little boat launch and walked up the quiet country road lined with corn fields on each side.  It was a lovely, peaceful setting.

That evening I made salad Nicoise for dinner and we ate our last two ears of corn sitting on the aft deck.  Afterwards we watched a few episodes of the Wire which was quite a contrast to our serene surroundings.

Annapolis, MD

Before leaving Pasadena on Wednesday, September 13 Jonny had to help the Rendezvous organizer load all the conference materials and bring them to a storage facility. While he did that I walked Archie one last time on the Maryland Yacht Club’s beautiful grounds. Archie wanted to walk near the little beach so we did that first then circled around the whole expanse of lawn.

We didn’t leave until noon and had an uneventful trip south on the bay to Annapolis.  The weather was sunny and warm and we proceeded along under the big Bay Bridge.

We timed our 3:30 arrival in Annapolis to correspond to the opening of the bridge we had to pass through to get to our favorite spot to anchor or moor, Spa Creek.  We decided to grab a mooring because the area was filling up. This is such a perfect spot for us.  It’s tucked away in a quiet part of the harbor surrounded by lovely homes and beautiful boats.

We could easily dingy into various parts of town and many of the closest tie ups were at the end of residential streets where there are often pretty pocket parks.  A house near one of those tie ups had an excess of tomatoes and left them in a basket for people to take on the honor system.  We were thrilled because we had not found a good source of local tomatoes until then. 

We love staying in Annapolis. It’s such an interesting little city with an enormous amount of history, cobblestone streets, historical homes and charming byways.  We spent the next couple of days relaxing and exploring its ambiance.

On Thursday, our friends Greg and Lynda drove up from Alexandria and we had lunch together at our favorite Boatyard Grill. They kindly brought us to the grocery store so we could pick up a few items and then we treated ourselves with ice cream.  It has become an annual tradition for them to meet us when we’re in Annapolis. It’s always fun to catch up with them. (Sometimes I’m having too much fun and forget to take pictures!)

Fellow MTOA boaters, Mike and Marilou were moored near us and we invited them over for a drink one night. Mike is a new board member and it was nice to get to know them a little more. They live aboard their boat full-time!

The next day we made it a point to visit another favorite place - the Galway Irish Pub - for a brew at this classic Irish pub.

There was a big songwriting festival going on in town throughout the weekend. The artists were performing in pubs and different locations throughout the city. We were able to see several acts for free and all of them were very good.  On our last afternoon we hung out on the patio of the Ram’s Head Tavern (which was the festival headquarters) eating lunch, drinking beer and listening to some very good musicians. One of the songwriters had won second place on The Voice!

Earlier that day we walked quite a ways into another part of town to pick up a prescription at Walgreens. On the way we came across a big farm stand where we stocked up on local corn on the cob and lots of fresh vegetables.

 That night while I was making cream of celery soup with the excess celery I had mistakenly purchased, Jonny took Archie for a dinghy ride to Ego Alley where all the big boats cruise. Some of the biggest acts for the songwriting festival were performing there so he got to hear a little of that too.

We had a very quiet evening with our soup and corn, both of us nose deep in our books. The next day we would be leaving to explore some anchorages on the Chester River.