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.

Pasadena, MD

First thing in the morning on Thursday, September 7 we took a longer than expected walk through a different part of Baltimore to Walgreens to pick up some prescriptions.  We hoped to leave Baltimore by 11 but had to wait for a package to arrive that Jonny needed for the MTOA Rendezvous.  So we had a relaxing day and finally left at 3:10 after the package arrived.  It was a short one and a half hour cruise to the Maryland Yacht Club where we were going to stay for the next five days to attend the Rendezvous.

We really like the Maryland Yacht Club because it is in a beautiful setting on a promontory with 270 degree water views and acres of land for Archie to frolic in.  It also has very nice facilities for a conference such as this.

The Rendezvous was a big success with around 110 people attending and 45 boats staying at the marina.

Jonny was very busy the whole time we were there with his responsibilities as president of MTOA and he did a great job. We got to visit with many of our boating friends and we met many new people as well.  The workshops were mostly informative and the social gatherings were lots of fun.

We also got recertified in First Aid and CPR and Zendo passed her safety inspection too.

We stayed an extra day after the Rendezvous ended on Monday so Jonny could relax and recover. One of our air conditioning units is out again and this time it might be more serious. Fortunately, Woody, our AC guy who is a MTOA member, was volunteering his time coming aboard members’ boats to troubleshoot their AC issues. He came aboard ours and thought there may be one more opportunity to repair it, though it’s a long shot. We’re going to have to wait until we return to Baltimore where Woody lives to address it. Fortunately, it is not as brutally hot as it has been and we still have the AC in the cabins (bedrooms) that still works.  Later that night we went out to dinner with Mike and Cindy, MTOA members we know from Fort Lauderdale. The one negative thing about this yacht club is that it is not close to anything. But fortunately Mike and Cindy had a car so we were able to drive to a local restaurant. 

We began and ended each day with lovely walks with Archie which are always a joy.