July 11 - 16, 2014 St. Michaels MD

We wanted to take our time getting to St. Michaels, so we planned a 3 day trip for Judie and I. After getting back into the Bay we headed north past the Cove Point Lighthouse and the large Liquefied Natural Gas unloading and storage facility. The LNG terminal was built about 1980 and has been used off and on since for receiving natural gas from overseas. We also passed the twin unit Calvert Cliffs Nuclear plant.

Cove Point Light

LNG terminal and large storage tanks back on land.

After traveling 32 miles, we put down the anchor in Hudson Creek off the Little Choptank River. (passed a Corp of Engineer's dredge just before turning into our anchorage) A fairly quiet area except for all of the crab boats starting at 4:00 in the morning. The moon was so full and bright that you could barely see the stars as the reflection off of the water made it seem more like twilight that midnight. We were joined by two smaller sailboats.

Next day, we slept in a little and raised the anchor about 8:30 for our 7 mile trip back to the Bay. Then turned north another 34 miles to another anchorage. On the way we passed by two groups of sport fisherman after stripped bass. There were about 40 boats in the first group and 60 in the second. We had to go about a quarter mile off-line to cruise around them. Poor fish never had a chance! The anchorage was well protected but the wind never let up and stayed at 10-15 mph all night. Here are some pictures of the views of the area around the anchorage taken from the boat.

The next morning, Sunday, we completed our trip to St. Michaels - only 7 miles away. We left the anchorage about 9:30 and were safe in our slip by 11:00. St. Michaels is a town that has successfully made the transition from watermen to tourists. It was one of our favorite places when we lived here 30 years ago and still is today. There are great marinas, restaurants, shops, houses, churches and museums all within walking distance. Bikes and feet are all you  need to enjoy this place. That afternoon we washed the outside of the boat and took a nice walking tour to reacquaint ourselves with the area and learn what was new.

The Crab Claw - a favorite old restaurant. Many memories of when we came over on the Gilbane boat.

Racing Log Canoe being readied to load on a trailer.

Carpenter Street Saloon - a local favorite and now ours.

Neat storefronts and shops

St. Michaels - surprise!

Ana's - great Italian food

Judie loves all the trim work.

The next day we had to move the boat to a more protected slip in the marina because of forecasted storms with strong winds. It turned out to be a lot more work than we thought and the fact that the staff helping us could not agree on how we should tie up added time and frustration. But we "got er done". Naps were in order that afternoon and then off to the Maritime Museum. The great thing here is the fact that they make and repair boats and you have complete access to the work area to watch, ask questions, and talk to the workers (there were men and women working there). The other new area for us was the display of guns used to hunt ducks/geese in the fall. Big guns mounted in boats, and often with multiple barrels. If you have read Michener's "Chesapeake" you probably remember the section about them. Seems a little unfair to the waterfowl, but had to put meet on the table. The guns, of course, were illegal,

Not certain who has who?

A lady was restoring this boat.

I learned how to make a sailing mast from 8 separate pieces of wood!

You can see the big guns and the "multi-barreled" ones!

Restored from a 1902 ship, (in great detail).

Our last day we revisited the museum to see some areas we had missed, there was a nice collection about tug boats with videos and displays about engines. they even had a model set up where, like the model trains many of us had, you could use a tug to push a barge and see if you could keep from wrecking anything. Ger did well - no damage! Later in the day we did some wine tasting and studied charts for the next days trip to Rock Hall, MD.

Chocolate Zin!