Mattawoman Creek, MD

We were welcomed by a stunning sunrise on Thursday, October 7.

Jonny took Archie for one last beach walk while Steve and I had a leisurely morning.

We pulled up anchor by 10:55 to continue our cruise up the Potomac. It was an absolutely beautiful day on the water, partly cloudy early on becoming sunny as the day wore on.

While Stephen  was on a conference call we passed by the Ghost Fleet on the Maryland side of the river. The fleet of 1000 wooden ships was commissioned during World War I. The contracting and building of them were plagued by incompetence and as a result only 264 of them were ever built.  They were scuttled after the war and 140 of them eventually wound up in Mallows Bay. The Ghost Fleet is considered to be the largest collection of wrecks in the Western Hemisphere.

We arrived at our anchorage on Mattawoman Creek by 3:30.  What a pristine setting!  There were woods all around and a lovely park with a couple of fisherman. The waters were very still, so much so that sea grass was growing in clumps which we tried to avoid.

We took Archie in for a walk in the park where he was able to run free.  There was a small boat marina nearby and some hiking trails.  A couple of small cabins dotted the landscape available for campers to stay in.

Some historic placards described the significance of the area. Most notable was the information about Captain John Smith’s three expeditions all around the Chesapeake.  He was responsible for the creation of extensive maps of the area surrounding the bay that are still quite accurate to this day.

We had cocktails on board and a delicious crab cake dinner.  It was a lovely evening with an incredible sunset.  Stephen spent his last night on board with Jonny and he regaling us with their tall tales.

Port Tobacco, MD

Taking off from our St. Inigoes anchorage on Wednesday, October 6, at 9:30, we had another long day of cruising.  It was overcast but quite pleasant with calm waters as we made our way towards Washington, D.C.

Everyone, including Archie, took turns at the helm during our six hour cruise.

In Newburg we passed  under a bridge that was clearly under construction.

I caught up on three days of blog entries and made grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch.

By 3 p.m. we found a nice calm anchorage on the Port Tobacco River, a tributary off of the Potomac on the Maryland side.  We were surrounded by parkland except for two stately waterfront homes. 

We assumed Port Tobacco was named after the famous Virginia tobacco crop but we were wrong.  It was actually a corruption of the name of the Indian village. Potopaco, that Captain John Smith saw in 1608.  Today, Port Tobacco Village has the distinction of being the smallest town in Maryland with a population of 36 as of the 1990 census. Who knows what the latest census shows!

Once we dropped anchor, Jonny found a beach to take Archie to and we spent the rest of the afternoon reading and relaxing.

That evening, we took the dinghy to the Port Tobacco Marina where Stephen treated us to dinner.  It took about twenty minutes to travel a mile.  Sitting outside on their expansive deck, we had a beautiful view of the bucolic surroundings.

We dinghied back to Zendo in the dark and fortunately, as is often the case, the ride home seemed quicker.  Steve watched the baseball playoffs in the salon while I watched one of my shows in the cabin and Jonny tried to sleep.

St. Indigoes Landing, MD

One last walk through the pretty grounds of Harrington Harbor South was the start of the day for Jonny and Archie on Tuesday, October 5.

 We took off at 9:30 bound for an anchorage in Cornfield Harbor. I think that the boat in the next photo should have had Boston as its hailing port. 

The day was overcast and quite hazy and the Chesapeake was nice and calm as we made our way down the Bay to the Potomac River. We expected it to be rainy the next day so Jonny wanted to make tracks while the sun shone (sort of).

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We saw a couple of remarkable vessels along the way but boat traffic was very light.

We quietly covered “ground” until we arrived at Cornfield Harbor on the Maryland side of the Potomac at 4:15.

I recorded our time and distance as I always do I while Jonny set the anchor (or tried to)!  Three times he tried to set the anchor and it wouldn’t hold. So frustrating!  We moved Zendo to a spot further away, near another boat that was anchored, and tried a few more times without success.  So we decided to head deeper into the harbor by Point Lookout State Park but the anchorage was very small and there was already one boat there with no room for a second one.  After that, we came out of the harbor and went a bit further north and tried to drop the anchor once again. All to no avail!  By that time, dusk was beginning to descend and we headed north to yet another anchorage - one that we had initially contemplated and set aside.  

It took us a good 30 minutes to get to the first of three Smith Creek anchorages called St. Indigoes Landing right off of the creek.  Just as Jonny was ready to drop the hook, we ran aground! Try as he might, he was unable to free Zendo.  The tide still had another one and a half hours before dead low tide so all we could do was wait.  Fortunately there was no boating activity - we were in a very quiet area and also one with no convenient land access. Luckily Archie was not hankering for a walk.

To be on the safe side, Jonny dropped the anchor and I made dinner for us - sausage, peppers, potatoes and salad.  We had a few glasses of wine and waited.  Around 10:30 Zendo seemed to be floating a bit so we all went out to see if we could move to a safe spot.  But she wasn’t budging.  High tide was expected to be at 2:30 a.m. and Jonny was concerned that we were drifting into shallower waters.  To prevent that from happening, he went in the dingy in the starless and moonless night to pull up the anchor and kedge the boat forward away from the shallows.  After that, he stayed up on the flybridge determined to wait until we were free.   Thankfully, he didn’t have to wait long and by 11:15 we were floating free. We all got up to help move Zendo safely to deeper waters and promptly retired for the night. 

It was one of the most frustrating anchorage experience we’ve had in our many years of boating!

North Beach, MD

On Monday morning, October 4, Jonny took an Uber to mail all the Trawler Fest materials to a local volunteer so we wouldn’t have to store them on Zendo.  While he was gone, Archie got to visit the dog park one last time. It’s such a pretty walk to get there past lovely red brick townhomes lining the waterfront.

We took off from our berth at the Anchorage Marina by 10:25 for our  cruise down the Chesapeake to the Herrington South Marina in the town of North Beach, MD.   In the past we had stayed on anchor at Herrington Bay but never in the marinas there. They both have great ratings and Bryan, one of the MTOA members who volunteered at Trawler Fest, stays at Herrington South and recommended it to us. He and his wife have a beautiful North Pacific trawler that they wanted to show us. 

We had a pleasantly uneventful cruise.  The weather was gorgeous with calm seas and clear skies. It was a great opportunity for Steve to see how hopelessly boring our life is when we are on the move!

We arrived at Herrington South by 4:15.  The entrance provided a very positive impression.

The dockhand was slow to arrive and the sailboat owner next to the face dock we were tying up at gave us a very unhelpful hand. Eventually, Jonny and the dockhand got us tied up securely. 

Herrington South is a large and very well maintained marina. Though it’s close to the main road, it’s not a busy one. The grounds are quite lovely and the facilities are excellent.

That evening Bryan and his wife Cheryl invited us for cocktails onboard their North Pacific trawler, aptly named Mach Turtle (turtle being the symbol for MTOA - trawlers).  They served a large array of appetizers and we had lots of animated conversations about the interesting travel adventures of Cheryl, Bryan, Jonny and Steve.  From there we walked over to Ketch, the marina’s restaurant, where we had a nice dinner and more wine!

Preparing ourselves for another long travel day we all went to bed fairly early.  Steve is hooked on the baseball playoffs while Jonny and I are making strides in our reading materials. 

Baltimore, MD - return trip

On Tuesday morning, September 28, we had the pleasure of washing the quilt that Archie got sick on and afterwards took him for a short walk.  We had to wait for the portable pump-out that was coming by to provide us with a much needed pump-out. After that we left our Piney Narrows Marina at 10:45 for our trip across the bay.

The weather was a little overcast, but very pleasant as we headed west towards Baltimore across the Chesapeake.  We arrived at Anchorage Marina by 3:35 and settled into our slip there. As always, the first thing we did was to take Archie for a walk to the dog park which was a little over a half mile away.

Baltimore, and the Anchorage Marina, is another of our favorite places to stay.  The marina is a very good one with well maintained docks, excellent amenities and a great location.  There is a brick walkway that spans the Baltimore coastline lined with attractive condos, several marinas, and the occasional restaurant.

One of those marinas is the one close to the Inner Harbor where the Trawler Fest was located.  The day after we arrived, Jonny rode his bike there to check out the booth where he would have to set up shop.

We were in Baltimore for the next seven days to staff a booth for MTOA during the Trawler Fest festival that was taking place there.  One of Jonny’s roles as a member of the MTOA board is to manage MTOA’s presence at boat shows for the purpose of recruiting new members.  It was fun to spend time with the MTOA volunteers, some of whom we knew and others who became new friends. It was a successful show for MTOA since we signed up 18 new members. 

Jonny worked each day, all day, for four days straight. I helped as well but not as much as el capitán. The marina was located in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. We had to walk through historic Fell’s Point to get there which is always fun to do.

On Saturday afternoon, our friend Steve From Sacramento came for a week-long visit. His brother and his brother’s girlfriend drove him over from Reston where he was visiting them. We had drinks onboard Zendo before heading out to a very good pizza restaurant called Verde which had delicious and unique pies.

Jonny worked Sunday, the last day of the show, while Steve and I walked Archie to the dog park and then over to the boat show via a festival in Fell’s Point. The city was hopping. It has become a quite vibrant place and lots of fun to visit!

Steve and I boarded some of my dream boats at the show and after helping Jonny pack up we strolled over to Little Italy to Vaccaro’s for lunch. Fortunately, we didn’t have to wait for lunch.  Unfortunately, their menu was very limited due to Covid. The best part of the meal was the cannolis and we passed by yet another street festival on the way back to Zendo.

We spent a quiet evening onboard planning our cruise for the next few days.  Our plan is to journey by boat to Washington, D.C. which will take four days. If we were driving by car, we could get there in an hour!

Kent Narrows, MD

We left our mooring in Annapolis in the early afternoon on Thursday, September 23 after a very rainy, but blissfully calm night on Spa Creek. We phoned in our good-byes to Kathy and Mark who were continuing their journey up the east coast. Their next stop was Philly for a wedding and they would eventually make their way to Boston.

Our plan was to head across the bay to Kent Narrows where we would leave Zendo to spend the weekend with Michael and Christina Bracken, friends from Miami.  The day was overcast but the seas were calm and we had a pleasant cruise across the bay arriving at Piney Narrows Yacht Haven by 4:15.  Several MTOA members keep their boats here and one of them has extra slips that he rents out.  We tied up at a large covered slip.  This is a very well maintained marina, really another dockominium. 

Michael picked us up the next day to drive us to Bethany Beach. He was very generous to do so because it is a two hour drive for him both ways!  Michael’s parents have a beach house in Bethany Beach and the Brackens are staying there for a few weeks.  We were celebrating their 33rd wedding anniversary and my 69th(!) birthday. After settling into our weekend “digs”, we took the first of many lovely walks on the beach. Afterwards, we headed out to dinner. We ended up eating at one of their favorite restaurants called Matt’s Fish Camp where we had an array of delicious seafood.

For the next two days we spent delightful hours walking the beach, talking, catching up with each other and of course, eating and drinking.  The Brackens have a dog named Kaiser who was quite tolerant of having Archie join him romping on the beach just as long as he didn’t come near his food!

Watching the dogs run and run and run, chasing balls, and splashing through the waves was a source of great joy for us. Archie made friends with every dog and beachgoer he saw - he thinks absolutely everyone loves him! Kaiser, being the more mature of the two, was better behaved!

On Saturday, Jonny enjoyed a long bike ride while Michael recuperated from what he thought were bad mussels.  Christina and I walked into town and I attempted to helped her prepare the picnic dinner we would have that night on the beach. They had a portable fire pit that we carried out to the beach that evening along with a hamper of food and several bottles of champagne!

What a beautiful evening it was! Truly memorable, with a gorgeous sunset, crashing surf and lots of stars. The food and drink were delicious and Christina surprised me with a birthday tart!

We spent a few hours star-gazing and planet guessing and having a wonderful time.

On Sunday morning we walked into town for coffee and donuts.  Bethany Beach is a popular summertime destination for Washingtonians but now that the season is almost over, it was free of crowds and fun to explore.  It is colorful and cute and Michael regaled us with stories of the many summers he spent there as a youth.

Jonny and Michael went for one more bike ride and I packed up our things to get ready to leave. Christina made us a lovely lunch of tofu salad and later in the afternoon Michael drove us back to Zendo.  It was a very nice visit and we really appreciate the Brackens and the time we spent with them!

On Monday, Jonny spent all day doing boat chores, most notably changing the oil and adding water to the batteries. Work on the boat is never quite done and though he accomplished most of what he set out to do, there is still more to be done.  Poor little Archie seemed to be plagued by a stomach bug and he was vomiting on and off all day. After calling our vet and Michael and Christina’s daughter, Sophie who is in vet school, we were advised to wait a day or two to see if he is better.  By then we’ll be back in Baltimore and if we need a vet, we can find one there.  Hopefully, he will feel better soon.

We had a nice surprise from our friends Ken and Fred from Miami. They are the couple from whom we bought our boat and we have become friends with them ever since. They are onboard their beautiful Symbol cruising up and down the east coast. They went as far north as Maine and are now heading back to Miami. We’ve been trying to connect with them in person but keep missing each other. This time they made a special trip over from Baltimore to Kent Narrows to meet up with us. They invited us over for drinks and appetizers and we had a great time comparing notes on our respective cruises this year. Ken is retired but Fred is still working and was able to  do so while cruising thanks to Covid!  We love their “new” boat and always tease them that when they are ready to sell we’ll buy it since we have been so happy with our purchase of Zendo from them! Here are some photos of them and the saloon of their beautiful boat.

We’ll be heading back to Baltimore for about a week to volunteer for MTOA at the Trawler Fest, a boat show for trawlers. We’ll be recruiting new members with a team of local volunteers which is actually kind of fun. Our friend, Steve, who lives in Sacramento, will join us there and together we’ll head up to Washington, D.C. for a week’s visit.