Kinsale, VA

We went for a long walk to explore the grounds of the Dennis Point Marina and Campgrounds on Tuesday, July 14.  The grounds were huge with many boats on the hard including this very interesting one!

We didn’t leave until almost noon because we needed to arrive at White Hall Marina, our home port, at low tide.  Because we have a covered slip and a flybridge, we have to time our entry accordingly so we don’t have to remove the flybridge to get in. Only the radar had to be taken down. We were happy to return to White Hall  - it’s a well run marina with competent and caring staff, great docks, a lovely wooded setting and a sparkling pool!

After a short two hour run across the Potomac from Maryland to Virginia, we arrived and settled in for a couple of days of boat repairs and cleaning.  Our plan is to get started on the installation of the new generator exciter and arrange for the air conditioner to be repaired while we drive down to Miami for a week to ten days.  We need to pack up Janice’s apartment and put her things in storage.  Her senior living facility is still in lockdown mode and she is staying at Andy’s for now until we return from our cruising this year, at which time she’ll stay with us.  Hopefully, once this pandemic settles down, she will be able to move back to Willow Wood, which had really felt like home to her until this. 

In the late afternoon, we went for a refreshing swim and started working our way through the food in the refrigerator.   Next day was more of the same - repairing, cleaning, swimming and talking to family.  

That evening we took a long walk on the beautiful property surrounding the marina.

Can you see the rather interesting shape of the right side of the tree on the next photo?

We ended up at a beautiful point of land on the river where there appears to be an abandoned fish processing plant

or maybe an oyster fishery!

We were graced by a dramatic sunset 

and an even more stunning sunrise the following morning.

Our blog entries will resume when we return from Miami and continue our cruise. Until then...

St. Mary’s City and Dryden, MD

We continued our journey on the mouth of the Potomac River on Monday, July 13 at 8:20 and headed to St. Mary’s City.  This is a beautiful area that we had visited 5 years ago. We loved it so much that we were eager to visit again. It is a the site of the first capital of Maryland and it’s graced by St. Mary’s College, a small state-funded honors college. The setting is bucolic and perfect for boaters as the college is known for its sailing program. After a short one hour cruise, we arrived there with only one other boat in sight. We dropped anchor, dinghied in and tied up at the school’s large and impressive boat house.

Everything was closed due to COVID so we just strolled through the lovely campus and then over to the historic cemetery that looks out on the St. Mary’s River and the Potomac. There are gravestones dating from the 1600’s!  That’s because St. Mary’s City was the fourth oldest permanent English settlement in the U.S.  It was founded by Lord Calvert and is known for being the birthplace for religious freedom in the U.S. having been established specifically to be a haven for both Catholic and Protestant religious faiths. Unfortunately there are no original dwellings from those early times but some of the buildings have been recreated.

There’s also a replica of one of the ships that brought the original settlers over from England. 

We strolled around the pastoral grounds imagining what life must have been like in this tiny colonial “city” in the new world. Some of the grounds were subdivided to show where archeologists have found traces of structures and other artifacts.

We finally tore ourselves away and headed back to Zendo and on to our final destination for the day, Dennis Point Marina and Campground in the town of Drayden, MD.  It was just a short one hour cruise. 

Tying up at the slip we were assigned was not a fun experience.  We had to back in because there was just a short finger pier and we wanted a starboard tie.  That is usually not a problem, but their tie up posts were not easy and the marina offered no assistance.  After about 30 minutes, we were finally tied up properly.  But when we plugged into the shore power and turned on the AC which was desperately needed after all that work, the AC switched off immediately.  We were so frustrated we were ready to untie everything and leave but Jonny diagnosed a bad power stand on the dock and switched to another one. All good. We went up to the marina office to sign in and pay and learn about the pool and other basic amenities and discovered that the pool was closed! The owner said that COVID requirements were that they couldn’t keep the pool open unless management was on site and management was leaving.  Hence, no pool and obviously no swimming in the river because of the jellyfish!

Oh well, at least we had AC on board. So we went back to Zendo to relax and read.  Oops! No more AC in the salon! It just stopped working.  Jonny was very frustrated.  He did what he could to try to fix it but there wasn’t much he could do. Because there are actually two units, we at least had it in the cabins (bedrooms).  The day was starting to cool off (a tiny bit) but the temps have been in the 90’s.

We settled in and relaxed until the 6:00 FaceTime call we had scheduled with our good friends Peter and Paula in MA. Lynn has known Peter since grammar school and we both know Paula from UConn where all four of us went to college.  We had a great time catching up with them and that call was followed by one with Greg in Charlottesville, another of Lynn’s childhood buddies and then surprisingly a call from Mark in Portland, OR, yet another of Lynn’s childhood friends who she hadn’t seen since the last high school reunion 10 years ago!  What a great bookend to a day that could have been more frustrating than fun!

We finished up the evening with a light salad for dinner and an early night of reading in our cool cabin.  We’ll sign off this entry on a pleasant note with this shot of Zendo in the harbor back in St. Mary’s City.

Point Lookout, Ridge, MD

On Sunday morning, July 12, Jonny ventured out to paddle among the jelly fish.  We recently learned that they are called nettles in this part of the world. And there were many of them. Apparently they arrived a month early this year - lucky us!  

While he paddled, Lynn settled in to start watching her favorite Sunday morning political shows.  But that was short-lived as Jonny was anxious to shove off. And so we did at 10:10 bound for the Potomac River.

The bay was sparkling and calm and though the temperature was still hot, there was much less humidity.  There was surprisingly little boat traffic.  We continued watching our morning shows until George Stephanopolous’ show mysteriously stopped broadcasting and ran endless commercials at which point we tuned into some other shows until we burned out on watching the depressing spectacle of our nation’s politics.

As we turned onto Smith Creek, we passed this pretty and unusual blue-roofed barn.

We arrived at Point Lookout Marina just inside the mouth of the Potomac River at 2:30.  We are continuing to stay at marinas for now because it’s so hot that we want to use our AC and our generator is broken so we can only use the AC while at marinas.  This one had good reviews so we thought we would give it a try.

We tied up with the helpful aide of the owner, a friendly woman named Jennifer whose reputation in the reviews had preceded her. There were very few boats on the docks, but as we explored the grounds we discovered many on the hard in the adjacent boatyard. The marina did have a pool but getting to it required us to walk through a hot dusty parking lot and the boatyard.  It was nowhere near as attractive as the pool at Spring Cove plus it was filled with kids.  We walked back to Zendo and relaxed and read in the coolness and comfort of Zendo’s AC.  

Before long and after a brief nap, it was 5:00 and we had lost our motivation to go swimming. Instead, we opted to try the marina’s on-site restaurant.  We donned our masks and walked over and were seated on their porch overlooking attractive grounds, a small koi pond and the river.  We were the only guests until finally about 6 tables were filled, all appropriately socially distanced. We had a surprisingly good dinner of steamed shrimp, crab cakes and especially delicious green beans (with garlic).  

Seated nearby was a couple who had recently docked behind us.  We were immediately attracted to them because they had a Catalina 30 sailboat, much like the one we used to have.  They were a very nice couple from Kentucky and were interested in our transition to a trawler.  We chatted with them for a bit  and invited them to come on board later to see Zendo.

They took us up on our offer and came aboard and it was clear that Rita was particularly impressed with the comfort level of a trawler vs. a sailboat.  Lynn got a kick out of the fact that she had read most of the books that Lynn had lying around and mentioned being active in the Black Lives Matter movement  back home in Kentucky.  This was a welcome antidote to the not uncommon siting of Trump flags on boats that we have encountered on this cruise.

After a beautiful sunset,  we just read and retired early.

Solomon’s, MD

Our day on Thursday, July 9 started in the middle of the night when Lynn was awakened by a slight shift in sound from the air conditioning.  Jonny got up to investigate and determined that it was due to a broken generator! The weather has been so hot that to go without AC is intolerable. It’s a good thing this happened after Stephanie and Ryan left!

The big decision for the day was where to go from here. We clearly needed a marina or somewhere that we can tie up for power. Also, a big storm was heading up the east coast and we wanted to be in a secure spot as far from it as possible.  We knew we were heading south because we needed to be in White Hall Marina by the end of the week where our car is so we could drive to South Florida the following weekend.

We started calling marinas in Herring Bay, about two hours south of Annapolis. They were all booked. Our next option was to call marinas in the Solomon’s, a six hour cruise. Several were booked but we found one, called Spring Cove Marina, that had space. Spring Cove was one of the pricier options but we rationalized the expense, opting for comfort and amenities such ask an on-site swimming pool and laundry. We knew we might be there for two or three nights. So away we went. We left at 11 on yet another hot, hot day. Again, the seas were calm and the passage blissfully uneventful.

Jonny spent a lot of time researching solutions for the broken generator. It turned out that it’s a significant expense since we need a new exciter (the part that produces the electricity) which costs about $3000!!  But the boat is 20 years old and we need it so he ordered it and had it sent to White Point Marina where we can hopefully have it installed while we’re away in South Florida. A minor consolation was the $250 we would save by not having to buy a new power cord and drying it out instead.

We came into the Solomon’s and arrived at Spring Cove Marina at 4:45 and discovered that our bow thruster wasn’t working. If it’s not one thing, it’s another!

That didn’t prevent Jonny from tying up easily up in a nice shady slip.  The grounds of this large marina are filled with large shady pine trees. Grassy areas with picnic benches abound. The pool beckoned and we went for a delicious dip in the jellyfish-free pool.  We had salmon and salad for dinner and slept well with plenty of AC.

On Friday, we did various chores all day. Jonny repaired the bow thruster.   Lynn did two loads of laundry and finally started writing her blog.  Needless to say, it was hot enough for another swim in their very nice pool where everyone remained socially distant in their little family groups. 

We also took the marina’s loaner car to do some grocery shopping.  We really wanted to buy soft shell crabs but the fish market said they haven’t had any for weeks so instead we bought rockfish to cook on the grill. 

 

When we returned to Zendo, we had our nightly cocktail and nibbles and Jonny prepared the rockfish which we had with salad. We watched a TV show that Jonny had downloaded for our viewing pleasure.  We’ve had pretty limited access to television lately which is not a terrible thing as long as Lynn can watch her nightly PBS News Hour.

On Saturday, Jonny did more repairs including diagnosing and fixing the leak in our fresh water system which was driving him crazy with the bilge pump regularly coming on.  Lynn finished up all the blog entries. There was a lovely breeze on the grassy lawn so we sat on a recently sanitized picnic table and read in the cool shade. We decided to stay at this comfortable marina for a third night and just chill. The next day we would amble over to a marina off of the mouth of the Potomac.

That evening we explored our options as to where to go next and we decided that we would move on to the Potomac and do some exploring along the mouth of that great river.  We scoped out two possible marinas (because we need to tie up to get AC in this heat with our broken generator)!  We had burgers, home fries and salad for dinner and watched some TV before going to bed.

Annapolis, MD

On our last day with Stephanie and Ryan (Wed., July 8) we tried to make the most of it.  But first things first.  Jonny decided to try to retrieve the dropped pigtail shore power adaptor.  The tide was a little lower than the previous night and of course there was daylight.  But the water was just as dark and murky. He dove once, no luck. Twice, no luck. But the third time was the charm.  He retrieved the sunken treasure but how different it looked after less than 12 hours! What had been a bright neon yellow cord was now indelibly stained an ugly brownish-black.  He was convinced that would never be usable, but after some research he learned a way to dry it out.

So we took off from Cantler’s on yet another sunny and hot day. We had learned that there are a lot fewer jellyfish on the western shore and rivers of the Chesapeake than on the eastern shore where Oxford and St. Michael’s are.  We headed up Mill Creek for some sightseeing then over to Spa Creek in Annapolis where we had stayed previously moored.

An hour and a half later, we were happily  swimming and paddle boarding in fresh clean water.

Before long, we headed back into the main harbor in Annapolis where we tied up to a mooring ball for the night.  We passed all the colorful Lasers and Optis  sailing in the harbor. 

Ryan’s parents had kindly offered to pick them up the next day and we planned to meet them for lunch at 2:00.  Stephanie and Ryan packed up their things.  We took two trips in the dinghy to transport them and their bags into town and we walked up the grill to the Galway Inn where we were meeting Tim and Kerry for lunch.  After a very pleasant lunch, we walked them to their car.  Kerry had brought Lynn a gift of lovely zinnias (Lynn’s favorite) and a whole packet of fresh herbs from her garden.  We said our tearful goodbyes and confirmed that we had all had a wonderful time together and looked forward to many more.

After returning to Zendo, Lynn gathered all the laundry but was too lazy to take the dinghy into town to do it. Jonny spent time researching the replacement cost of the shore power cord and deciding whether or not to order one.  This was to be our last night in Annapolis for now, until next time.

Cantler’s, Annapolis, MD

Tuesday, July 7 started out with a little excitement. As Jonny was bailing out the dinghy from the previous night’s rain, he noticed that the generator had stopped pumping water. He immediately turned the generator off and examined the generator strainer.   Lo and behold, it was clogged with jellyfish!  Trying to remove the remains was like scraping out gelatinous goo! Gross!  It took awhile to clean it all out followed by checking and cleaning out the air conditioning filters which weren’t quite as bad.

Once that was done, we took off for our long cruise back to the Chesapeake’s western shore.  The weather continued to be hot, but thankfully the seas were calm and there was no more rain.

Stephanie and Ryan kept busy most of the ride with crossword puzzles.



We really wanted to find a place with no jelly fish so we could go swimming - the best solution for beating the heat.  We cruised over to White Hall Bay which is north of Annapolis. After stopping a couple of times to see if it was safe for swimming, we finally found a great spot to swim and paddle board.  It was a lovely wooded cove with some beautiful homes and we spent a couple of hours cooling off and relaxing.

Afterwards, we proceeded with our original plan which was to cruise over to Cantler’s, a very popular seafood restaurant that provides free overnight dockage ( including electricity) for boaters who eat there. We were the only boat tying up.  Another in our series of unfortunate events then occurred.  Jonny had tied up the boat and Lynn was about to hand him the pigtail which is used to connect the boat to the electrical box on the dock.  She tripped on a line and dropped the pigtail right into the water. It happened so fast that there was nothing to be done. The pigtail is heavy and it immediately sank in the murky water. Not a good thing!!  All this happened as Stephanie was tuning into a family FaceTime call with Janice, Andy, Ed and Andy’s daughter, Samantha.  With all the excitement, we postponed the call until after dinner.  Fortunately,  we were still able to plug into the 30 amp plug. It would have been a drag if we couldn’t have plugged in because it was so very hot out.  No air conditioning would have been very uncomfortable especially with having guests on board.

Lynn and Jonny settled down and we proceeded up to the the restaurant where Stephanie and Ryan treated us to a delicious dinner of seafood and crabs served in at least half a dozen ways. We ate outside on the deck and enjoyed every bite.  Afterwards, we returned to Zendo, turned on the AC and resumed our FaceTime call with the family. 

St. Michaels, MD

On July 5, we had a nice lazy start to our day and finally left Oxford at 10:45 for a short cruise to St. Michaels.  The hot sunny weather continued and we arrived at our San Domingo Creek anchorage in just two hours. San Domingo Creek serves as a “back door” to St. Michaels which is usually pretty busy with boaters and tourists. We had been wanting to visit this anchorage because it sounded like a quieter, more private alternative which it definitely was.

We ate lunch on board and then took the dinghy into town which was a short walk from the dinghy dock.  St. Michaels is a very charming town, bigger than Oxford with many more lovely shops and restaurants.  Stephanie and Lynn indulged themselves in some retail therapy and each bought a few remembrances.

Meanwhile, Jonny and Ryan scoped out the local brew pubs and we enjoyed flights of beer at the Eastern Shore Brewery.  It’s to be noted that all the shops and restaurants on our trip have been practicing social distancing and mask wearing such that we have been comfortable with our visits to them. 

Continuing our stroll through St. Michaels, we crossed a flower bedecked bridge and found a great local ice cream shop called Justine’s. Justine’s was so cautious that we had to order, wait and eat outside.

After returning to Zendo, we still couldn’t go swimming due to the jellyfish - disappointing! So we made do and relaxed onboard until it was time to make dinner.  We decided to grill flank steak on the grill.  Just as it was done cooking, the skies opened and it started to pour. We scrambled inside and the storm continued with thunder, lightening and lots of rain for the rest of the night.  In fact, it rained so hard that we had a small leak in the hatch over our V berth where Jonny and Lynn were sleeping.  Unfortunately, this caused Jonny to move out onto the settee in the salon for a rather uncomfortable night’s “rest.”