August 30 to September__ Havre de Grace to Herring Bay and back again

Sunday August 30th

Up at 0730 but fell back asleep. Before we could get going, we had to get Boji from the dinghy dock and inflate the floor, which seems to have a slow leak, and the rest of her. We then walked her to the boat ramp. Bringing baji-naji to the fuel dock is the best way to get Boji attached with the gravel bag in place. Another boat was at the fuel dock so we went out the fairway. Altair was coming back in so we came alongside her to say hello, then circles back to the fuel dock. Laz walked Boji to our stern and I cleated her off. Laz got in the dinghy and I handed him the gravel bag to secure. Left the fuel dock at 1050. Great wind, reef 1, up to 16kts and we are going upwind. SW wind to WSW. Saw 7.5 kts steady on boat speed!

Happy to be on the water again. We had multiple tacks, with the wind mostly S or SSW and staying strong. We saw a storm system pass to our North which could have come our way but did not. We had a lovely conversation with a 28’ Catalina whose name I missed. They hailed “sailboat with the orange dinghy coming out of Worton”. Boji does make us distinctive! They wanted know what make of sailboat we are, because they did not recognize the logo on the sail. We had a nice chat about anchorages after telling them this is a Dufour 382. They looked like they were heading to Worton. We were pointing at Poole’s. The wind did a delightful shift to SSE which allowed us to sail past Poole's instead of needing to tack.

We were able to take that tack all the way to the Patapsco and practically to the entrance for Bodkin Creek. Wheeee! Wind stayed strong, up to 17kts, glad we kept the main at the first reef.

I've been looking for the name of the light house but can't seem to find it. I was just remarking on the lack of commercial vessels (it IS Sunday) when this roro came out of Baltimore heading south. Hoegh Transporter is the name. All Right Now! There was a tanker of some kind coming in, but I didn't get a photo. We took the sails down just outside the entrance to Bodkin and headed in. Found the same cove we were in before (2020) and discovered the electric windlass is NFG. Hmmm. Turned the engine and the breaker off then on. Nope. Laz dropped the anchor by hand. With gloves on (my suggestion). We are pretty protected here, but small craft warnings with gusts to 20kts out there, so we let out 10:1. Laz working hard to troubleshoot the issue.

A hearty dinner is in order! The sauce I made on the last trip on baji-naji was happily sitting in the freezer, thawed in the fridge overnight and turned into bowties with sauce. I added some fresh tomato chunks from the fresh farm tomato I brought. Parmesan Romano cheese atop all of it and voila!

As far as Laz can tell, there is power to the electric windlass, it's that the signal that tells the controller to turn on when the engine is on doesn't seem to be working. Sad panda.

We had a beautiful sunset under the storm clouds. We did get a sprinkle, but with the dodger up and the bimini coverage we stayed in the cockpit to enjoy the sunset and the breeze. It's warm again, up to 85° and won't cool down below 77° tonight. At least the water temperature is below 80° at 78.9°. Tomorrow we are headed somewhere, either Annapolis or Hudson Creek. If Nate can check the generator for why we can't run both ACs at the same time, we might go there.

Monday August 31st

Made breakfast burritos with the leftover burrito bowl. Added scrambled eggs and sharp cheddar. The stuffing overflowed the tortilla, so a fork was required. Also served a bowl of cantaloupe, pineapple and cut up kiwi. And coffee.

Looking at shore, I noticed an odd looking tree, which looked like a balloon on a string. No idea how to why it grew that way.

Nate got back to us and is able to see us first thing tomorrow morning. Laz asked about the electric windlass as well. Nate what the issue would be, but will work with Laz to sort out where the engine on signal comes and goes. Laz texted DJ and he gave us H-0004, next to our usual H3 spot. Laz manually pulled up the anchor; it was well dug in and filled with mud. We headed out Bodkin Creek and put the main sail up well away from the shallows. We noticed that the anemometer is not spinning again, will have to go up the mast to evict the spider and web. Got the code-0 out of the lazarette and put it up, as there was not a lot of wind, maybe 5kts from the N. We saw 3 or 4 dolphin just off of Bodkin Point! So wonderful to see them, wherever and whenever. With the wind from the N, we tacked towards the Chester River giving us 120° and a lovely downwind sail with the code-0.

It was a shock to see pelican north of the Bay Bridge! But cool that the Bay is clean enough for them to fish this far north. As we set up to gybe near Kent Island, I noticed a large nut on the deck. It was the nut from the goose neck that hold the boom to the mast. It had come loose and fallen off on our last trip, and when I looked at the goose neck pin, it was almost all the way up and out. Not good. Laz turned on the engine and lowered the main a little, to take pressure off that area. After I furled the code-0, then we headed into the wind at forward idle, luckily in an area without crab pots and no commercial vessels coming our way. Dropped the rest of the mainsail and used the halyard to raise the foot of the sail so we had room to work. We had to take the shackle off the clue in order to rotate the pin to a useful position. We them used a hammer to bang down the pin after using the boom vang and the main sheet pulled tight to keep the boom horizontal so that the holes the pin goes through stayed aligned. Thank goodness we were able to get the pin back into place.

This is what it looks like after we got it properly in place. Imagine the nut below off, and the top of the goose neck pin several inches higher and definitely not in the lower hole and that's what I found when I found the nut. That was not on our dance card today. However, after getting that all back together, we were rewarded with a beautiful downwind sail back towards the bridge as the wind had picked up a bit. We ended up furling the code-0 close to the Bay Bridge as there was a cargo ship coming out of Baltimore Harbor, and we wanted to stay out of its way. Once under the bridge, the wind picked up again and we unfurled the code-0 and had a delightful beam reach into Annapolis Harbor. Got to H4 at 1730. The tide was out, so the depth was a little low, but no problem backing into the narrow slip. The gentleman going over the beautiful cutter in our ‘regular’ slip H3, was kind enough to take and tie off the aft line to hold us to the finger. Laz got the bow and springs sorted. Next chore up: anemometer spider eviction.

I was happy to go up the mast. As always the view is spectacular. Part way up, I sprayed the top of the jib furler with silicone spray. We will have the rig looked at in Deale, at Herrington Harbour North, but I figured this couldn't hurt.

The reflection of the clouds in the water was amazing. You can just about see Laz in the top right picture, and Boji stands out with her distinct color. There was one or two of the flat spiders living on the anemometer cups, with a thick filament of spider webbing across it. Eviction notice served! Not sure if it was or two, but they both were sent down. I hope I properly severed the strand, or it will just climb back up. I sprayed silicone on the part where the cups spin, in hopes that will help. We shall see. After coming down, we grabbed showers as Jeff Cook is coming over to go to dinner with us. So lovely to catch up with him.

We went to Davis’ Pub in Eastport, one of a few favorites for me. Jeff got smoked mac and cheese with Cajun seasoned chicken. I had a bite of the mac and cheese and it was indeed smoky flavored and quite good. I had their super salad, which has kale and brussel sprouts and other greens and shredded carrots. Today's version included watermelon cubes, blueberries, almonds and feta. I added filet mignon medallions. It was quite delicious and quite generous so a good portion is back on baji-naji. Laz had a bacon cheeseburger with tater tots. I snagged a few of those as they were super crunchy. We shared a Belgian chocolate mousse for dessert and I brought a coconut Smith Island cake back to baji-naji for some other time.

Didn't get a sunset picture but got this dusk picture from our slip. Tomorrow Nate will be here bright and early, after his 0730 first client of the day meeting. Tomorrow’s chores included filling the aft water tank and checking all the sea strainers. The fridge is not piddling water like it should.

Tuesday September 1st

Up at 0700 before the alarm, who knows why. Walked over to the café at the main marina and ordered an avo toast with fried egg for me and a sausage egg and cheese on English muffin for Laz. Went up to the office to pay our bill and then walked back to baji-naji to enjoy breakfast with Laz. He had filled the aft water tank and checked the sea strainers in my absence as well as fixing the refrigerator water cooling system. Apparently air got in when we were heeled over hard the other day so he had to reprime the pumps. We enjoyed our breakfast then time for me to go back up the mast as the anemometer was not spinning. I brought soapy water in a spray bottle this time, as the silicone spray didn't do anything. I suspect I have to kill the offending arachnids as they have made another web entrapping our ananometer cups. Sure enough, I found two of the flat spiders. Hopefully the soapy spray did the trick. As if this evening, it was still spinning but we will see what tomorrow brings. I need to have some peppermint oil to put in there, or the peppermint castile soap. The view is stunning as ever, but no photography today. I got up and down with my spider exterminator duties done before Nate arrived at 0930.

He was in the lazarette working on the generator and talking to someone as well, asking questions. After much testing, he agreed that the generator was not doing what it was supposed to when both air conditioners are on. Some kind of a voltage drop when the bigger air conditioner turns on. This is the first season we have had this issue, as we have definitely run both air conditioners with the generator before. He is contacting Whisperpower to find out what the heck is going on. He then went to check out the possible causes for the intermittent electric windlass failure, jiggled one wire, pressing it in the fuse where it was supposed to go more firmly, and boom, fixed. Glad that was a fast win! Nate the Great takes such good care of baji-naji and us!

As Laz was putting things back in the lazarette, I was making lunch and he called my up to see this big fella on the piling at our port stern. As we were getting ready to leave, a young contractor was looking for a slip that he couldn't find. Laz called DJ and helped the young man find the slip. We left shortly thereafter at 1230. As we came out of Back Creek there was very confused wind, almost a complete gyre from NW to SE to SW. When it finally settled, we had excellent wind from SSE 10-12 kts. Laz figured out that my messing with the ananometer also affected the windex so we had to adjust our minds for the correct sail trim. Seems 40° on port or starboard tack is close haul. It was an absolutely gorgeous smooth and fast sail as we tacked down to Herring Bay.

We were fairly sure that we could cross the Bay ahead of the MSC Nigeria, if the wind stayed true and our speed stayed 6kts or more. Laz radioed, just to let them know our plan, and they agreed. It was a nice back and forth as a different person radioed us back a little later to ask that we kept same course and speed. It's a big container ship! These photos don't quite give the perspective of seeing it coming at you, even at an angle. It was moving 16.4 kts, much faster than us. We sailed past and were able to sail right to the channel to Herrington Harbour South. Tacked to furl the jib as it is easier to fuel with it on starboard tack, especially in 14+ kts of wind. Main sail was brought down and stowed and we were assigned the B dock T. We docked at almost exactly 1700, which is when I told the dockmaster we would be there. The dockhands leave at 1800, so we wanted to be in before then. Since it was 93° and humid, we sat in the cabin with the air conditioning on for an hour before heading to Ketch-22 for dinner.

Their deviled eggs are as delicious as we remember. Laz had beef tenderloin skewers over sweet corn and tomatoes with thyme and I had the summer linguine (asparagus and tomatoes) with grilled shrimp on top. We split the strawberry shortcake, a little sweet but the biscuit was excellent.

I went back to baji-naji to get a take out container for my leftover linguine and got these gorgeous sunset pictures on the way. After dinner we had a delightful conversation with an older gentleman on a Catalina 315, Jazzy. He and his wife used to cruise the Bay, sailing together for 50 years. She is no longer alive, but he is still sailing, on a smaller boat. We exchanged tips on great anchorages. He was considering Hudson Creek and we encouraged that. He told us about Rideout Creek, off Whitehall Bay, which we may check out on our way back. Tomorrow we are not going far, to Herrington Harbour North, to meet a guy about our jib furler.

Wednesday September 2nd

Leisurely morning as we did not have far to go.

I heated up the maple Belgian waffles from Wildgrain and chopped up our last fresh Pocopson peach (grown on Baily’s Farm) to put on top. I added Greek yogurt, blueberries and chia seeds to mine. Laz had maple syrup on his. Now that we have a working windlass, Laz dropped the anchor in the water. We were going to hose it down, but alas, the HH South crew were doing repairs on the water line so there was no fresh water. Instead, he took the deck brush, dipped it in the drink and washed as much mud as possible off the anchor. There was a lot. We were hoping to hose down the boat as well, but…no water.

The seagull was just sitting on the piling at the end of our T dock for quite a while. Off the dock by 1100. It’s a pretty channel in and out of Herrington Harbour South. Decided to sail in Herring Bay and out into the Chesapeake. The wind was quite squirrely for some time; it went from E to NE to SE to ?? anywhere from 2 kts to 6 kts. It finally settled out to ESE at 6-7 kts and we were able to have a decent sail back towards Annapolis. The VHF kept sounding off every 15-20 minutes with a severe thunderstorm warning of a fast moving storm coming from Eastern PA. I don’t know if our house got it; when I talked to our neighbor who’s son is bringing in our mail and watering plants, she said there were 80mph winds and constant thunder and lightning last night. The warnings alternated with Coast Guard talking to mariners in trouble. Around noon, we decided to furl the jib and head in. Herrington Harbour North is also a pretty marina, less resort like, but the grounds seem like a park with a nice paved path by the waterfront. They also have multiple marine services, like at Bert Jabin’s Yacht Yard. We were assigned the T on E dock and a dockhand was there to help us with lines. He is headed to Fort Benning next week and hopes to be stationed in Germany. Laz called East Coast Marine Rigging and they said they would be right down. Two guys came and we had a nice discussion about the Facnor jib furler and what the issues seemed to be. They unfurled the jib and sprayed the soapy water (I told them I sprayed both silicone and soapy water at the top when I was up yesterday morning, just to see if it would help) The consensus is that the bearings are worn. It could be rebuilt, but the cleanest solution is to replace the furler, which we are fine with.

Our discussion was hastened by the oncoming storm. I don’t have the photo of it approaching, but it was definitely a dark line coming in. Clear skies in one direction, at the bow as we looked at the furler, then looked aft and saw the storm clouds roiling. The guys said they would order a new one and let us know when it is expected. If, by chance, it arrives within a few days, we can come back next week and have it installed. If not, we can do it in the spring. They ran off, not sure they would stay dry (their office is next to the marina office) and we brought up and zipped up the dodger. Since the rain was coming from the North, it was coming right in the hatch, so we went below, put the hatch window in to watch the storm. It blew through in 20 minutes, up to 35 kts as far as we could tell, then just rain for an hour or so.

I had bike #3 and Laz took #5, on a similar bike rack behind me. We headed back to baji-naji to relax, read and Laz did some computer things. I may have gotten a short nap in. I wanted to go to dinner before it got dark, so we headed out on our bikes to Umai Sushi a 10 minute bike ride away.

A cute little restaurant, with maybe 6 tables and a sushi bar. Miso soup was complimentary for me (it came with Laz’s order) and was delicious and flavorful. We had edamame, shrimp tempura, which came with asparagus, butternut squash and some kind of root veggie. All quite tasty. I had toro sashimi and a samurai roll which has tuna, salmon and yellowtail as well as some roe in it. Laz had the shrimp yakisoba which was delicious. We had yakisoba and some of my sushi roll leftover. Luckily the bikes have baskets. Beautiful sunset scenes as we pedaled back to the marina, but I did not stop to take photos.

The colors were even more vivid at the marina. A lovely end to the day. Tomorrow we are heading to the Miles River off Eastern Bay to meet up with Fitz and Tranquility.

Thursday September 3rd

We were going to get up on the bounce and head out but it was overcast and raining. Left the dock at 1000 after topping off the forward water tank. It's hot enough to need daily showers to at least cool down if nothing else. Motored out the long channel out of HH North towards HH South, putting up the mainsail just before turning out into Herring Bay. The wind was light, so we used the code-0 instead of the jib. The wind was only 4 kts from behind us (from W to WSW so we furled the code-0 and motor sailed out of Herring Bay into the body of the Chesapeake. There was a rain squall expected and as it passed in front of us the wind picked up to 10 kts, so we pulled out the jib. Wind built to 13 kts and we had a delightful portion where we were doing 6-7 kts speed over water, towards the Eastern Bay. The wind went to nothing, and it built again to 5 or 6 kts , so we pulled out the code-0.

The waves which had been choppy from due S, even though there was no boat traffic or wind from that direction, were nicely smoothed out in Eastern Bay. Boji was happily trailing along.

We were not quite at the right angle to avoid a shoal to port, so we moved the code-0 to the other side to go wing. A smaller Benny, Moonshine, motor sailed past us while we were furling and unfurling the code-0, and also decided to go wing, but we're having trouble holding it. We sailed by them, but to be fair, we have bigger sails. We were able to hold wing much of the way into the Eastern Bay, then gybe the main as we pointed up to 120° then 90° heading towards the Miles River. We intentionally furled the code-0 as we passed the entrance to the Wye River, since the next bit required close haul. We got close to the Miles River but then had to motor sail the last bit as the wind was not quite in our favor. Once past the narrowest spot, we sailed a little further before furling the jib and bringing down the mainsail. We saw Tranquility in a nice little cove just outside St. Michael's Harbor, so we pulled up to say hello to Fitz and then anchored just ahead of him to his starboard. Laz rowed Boji over to Tranquility and I brought S.Pells with lime and the Cape Charles peanuts to share. Fitz had his own tin, already opened (this was our second tin, not yet opened) so we ate from his for snack.

After a quick rinse off shower and change of clothes, Fitz picked us up in his dinghy (which Fitz tells us is named Quaalude as Quaalude brings you Tranquility (insert eye roll here))and we motored to the dinghy dock. Took us a minute to remember where it was. It was not by the church as we initially thought, but by Patriot the sightseeing boat for the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. Headed to the Village Market where I picked up more of that delicious lemon dill shrimp salad, chicken salad, blueberries, the excellent zucchini nut bread and some dill potato salad. Plus two rice crispy bars for me as they were out of gingersnaps. Fitz got a potato salad as well. I brought my insulated grocery bag with two ice packs for just this reason. I texted Tina our photo; we miss her!

Went to dinner at Theo’s because their sign said steaks and Fitz wanted a burger. Well, a good steak place should have a good burger. We had fried green peppers that were great and a spinach dip which was ok, not the best. Laz had a steak Oscar, I had the salmon and Fitz went for the rockfish Oscar. So much for the burger! Their bread basket has a garlic knot and excellent flatbread. Walked back to Cherry St where the ice cream store is and got our dessert. Fitz said the Nutella ice cream was fantastic. Laz had yummy Black Cherry and I had a good rocky road. It was a little too sweet for my taste, but only a kiddie cup and Laz finished it for me. Tomorrow we head to Rideout Creek off Whitehall Bay, the anchorage we learned about from the older gentleman on Jazzy.

Friday September 4th

Quite a bit of excitement overnight. At midnight, something woke me, and I saw flashing lights in the cabin, which turned out to be cloud to cloud lightning. Severe thunderstorm on it’s way. No idea why the Emergency notification on our phone didn’t wake us but when Laz looked at his phone the notification said up to 70 mph winds, headed right for us. We scrambled up to put more scope out (we had 65 feet out in 10-11 feet of water), put up the dodger, and take down the code-0. We put PFDs on and no sooner had we dropped the code-0, than the wind started to pick up quite a lot. Navs were on and we saw at least 35 kts of wind, but there was definitely more than that. It had the same feel as the storm that came over us in Still Pond last month. We saw Boji upside down, then she must have flipped back because when we looked again, she was right side up. Laz pulled her in tight. Looking at Tranquility, it seemed we had dragged anchor a bit and we were much too close. Laz had the aft boat hook to fend if needed, but I think we we hooked and not going any closer. At some point I changed out of my nightgown (yes, I had the PFD over the nightgown, you don’t worry about what you are wearing when immediate action is needed) and put on shorts and my tank top and my Helly for the rain, with the PFD over it. I brought up Laz’s Helly as well. After the worst subsided, Laz talked to Fitz on the VHF and we decided all of us would sleep better if we were a bit farther apart. We brought in 20 ft of anchor rode, but looking at it, it still seemed too close. We decided to pull up and move over. Our first try didn’t hold, our second try, we were too shallow if the wind shifted, and third time is a charm. By the time all was said and done it was after 0200. Back to bed, knowing we were securely anchored at a safe distance from Tranquility and slept in until about 0830. Breakfast of shared chocolate croissant and some zucchini bread and my usual yogurt bowl with blueberries. And coffee, much needed this morning. Laz talked to Fitz to see if he wanted to join for breakfast after he bailed out his dinghy, but he said no thank you.

This is the classic pretty view of the Maritime Museum and the sailboat from the Inn at Perry Cabin as we had breakfast. We got underway around 1020, Laz did not notice much mud on the anchor, and we went by Tranquility to say good bye. The wind was great 10-15 kts from the NW, right on our nose. When we got to the chicane, we were able to tack our way out of Eastern Bay with a great breeze and zipping along.

We noticed this odd shaped sail that, in the distance, thought must be a catamaran. As we got closer, it was a sloop, Harmony. Laz looked her up with her racing number; she is Pogo 12.5 and has done the Annapolis to Newport race. Cool looking and fast with that much sail area. By the time we got to open area of Eastern Bay, where you have to turn SW to get out to the Chesapeake, the wind had softened down to practically nothing, so we furled the jib.

With our slower speed, I saw a few blue crabs swimming in the water. It’s good to see them out and about, hopefully that means the population has rebounded some. We also saw a large roil, but didn’t see minnows chased or hear a dolphin breathe. We saw it again, but never saw the critter that made the silent splash. The wind picked up a little to 4-5 kts, as we came out of Eastern Bay, so we put up the code-0, but alas, it really didn’t stay. We were both pretty tired, so we decided to just motor sail to Whitehall Bay.

As we came closer to Annapolis, we noticed a boat with an unusual sail configuration which I joked was half gaffe. She is the schooner Woodwind II, out of Annapolis., available for sailing cruises. The wind had also picked up nicely to over 5 kts, from the NW again, so we pulled out the jib and sailed towards Whitehall Bay.

As we were heading towards a red ATON that marks a shoal in Whitehall Bay, we noticed a tug, Captain Kenneth, pushing a barge heading towards the same point as us. It’s a narrow spot, with a shoal on one side, so Laz tried hailing them on VHF 16 and 13 with no answer a couple of times. I yelled “Kenneth, what is your frequency?” but that did not help. They finally did answer to say they were dropping off the gravel barge, we could go first into the channel, and slowed down to let us do so. After we got into the part deep enough to turn away from them, I took this photo of the tug and barge as they went by us. Once past the shoal marked by the aforementioned red, we dropped the mainsail and then headed towards Whitehall Creek. Getting in looks tricky and thin, but there was 11-12 feet the whole way if you follow the navigation. We went up to Ridout Creek (pronounced “ride-out”) and saw Song anchored there with a young man jumping off the boat and swimming. The dog aboard barked a greeting as we passed. We have seen Song and dog before in Eagle Cove in the Magothy, and I was hoping to catch the owner so I could email the beautiful sunset picture I have of him and the dog in their dinghy at sunset. After we hydrated some more (I saw 100 on our temp gauge, although with 60% humidity, so did not feel nearly as bad as with 90% humidity) with a S.Pell and a clementine, Laz got Boji ready for a ride. The floor definitely has a slow leak, so he put some air in before we set out. I wanted to find the mansion that Jazzy’s owner was talking about.

Ridout is beautiful! We didn’t really find a mansion, but there was a large house with an odd looking addition with a tin room. Maybe that’s what he meant by a pretty mansion with a terrible addition. No pix of that.

There were many great blue heron sightings as this is the time of day they are fishing. Laz saw some egrets flying as well which I missed. We exited Ridout Creek and explored the rest of Whitehall Creek. It goes quite a long way, and the last heron picture above was in Whitehall Creek.

We were surprised to find a fairly large marina, with a yacht yard up the creek, appropriately named Whitehall Marina.

I had taken more pictures of Song and her dog as we came out of Rideout Creek, including one with baji-naji. On our way back to baji-naji, we knocked on the hull and met the owner, Kyle. His dog’s name is Abbey, as he is a minister. It was originally Abby, but because of his profession, it is now spelled Abbey. She’s a lovely Anatolian shepherd rescue who unfortunately was shot at as a puppy. At one point she needed an x-ray for possible stomach obstruction, which is when they found the buckshot in her. She is a very sweet dog and has been Kyle’s constant companion and best friend, especially as his wife died a year ago. Kyle was happy to see the sunset photo of him and Abbey in Eagle Cove and he gave me his email address, thanking me for sharing it. We headed back to baji-naji for the night. Generator and air conditioning are still needed tonight. It’s supposed to cool down this weekend, and we are looking forward to that.

Dinner was a mash up of leftover summer linguine with shrimp and last night’s salmon with capers. I added some fresh zucchini, mushroom and tomato stir fried in and served with the last of Oso’s focaccia from the CSA.

A stunning sunset tonight. Tomorrow we are off to Worton Creek, to rendezvous with the B-D’s and the Maryland Yacht Club gang for a pot luck dinner.

Saturday September 5th

Decided to make a heartier breakfast.

I made scrambled eggs with onion, cheese and Worcestershire sauce as well as the Wildgrain English muffins with raspberry jam. I love having fresh ground coffee every morning. We left Ridout Creek at 1030, motored to Whitehall Bay through the twists and turns of Whitehall Creek. Once we were in the wide part of Whitehall Bay we put the mainsail up. I looked at the sheet clips and saw this odd moth, nestled up in there, resting, I suppose. He flew off once Laz untucked the strap. As soon as we were out of Whitehall Bay, we pulled out the jib and sailed. There was a great breeze, but at an unfavorable angle, making it difficult to sail under the Bay Bridge. We Laz turned the engine on, so we could get past the Bridge. By the time we were to Rock Hall the wind was solidly in the direction we needed to go. We could continue to sail, but the calculations told us it we would arrive after 6 pm and we would miss the pot luck. I always want to sail more, especially in brisk wind, but going quickly the wrong way is not useful when you have somewhere to be at a certain time.

As we were motoring towards Worton, We were hailed by Cintamani again; this was the Hunter that hailed us the other day wondering what kind of sailboat we are. It was nice to say hello again and wish them a lovely sail. Worton was quite crowded, more than we’ve ever seen! There was a decent amount of room at the spot we usually anchor at, which is even with the first red leading into Worton Creek. Anchor set at 1634. Laz got Boji prepped for a ride, while I gathered our things for the pot luck (the crab salsa from Cape Charles and Santitas). We took off for Worton Creek. Wanted to say hi to Serenity but their dinghy was gone, so we motored on. We saw Brad helping Scott with his dinghy on Endquest. We heard that the B-D’s were at the vineyard so we went to vineyard to find Lee, Jon, Noe and their crewmate Amir on their raft at the winery dock. They gratefully accepted a tow to Kaimana, and then to the marina at Handy’s Point where we were gathering for the MYC pot luck. As we were en route, the Julien Byng went past in the channel. We yelled for Johnny and Tina and I could hear someone say “who was that??” I texted Tina when we were ashore to tell her who yelled at her from the dinghy. So fun to see them out with friends and family.

We helped Lee set up in a lovely area with picnic tables and some small table and chairs. Tina Laporte from Summer Breeze was there, without Murphy her dog, or Steve, her husband, who has to work (he’s a minister). We met Susan from Tiphys (tea-phus, not tie-phus, she was quick to tell us), named for the helmsman for the Argonauts, and Brian and Anne on Rosie Bee (a 46 Sun Odyssey). Pat and Brad from Serenity were there, as were Marja and Scott from Endquest. The spread was marvelous. I especially love the blanched asparagus rolled in cheese dip and roast beef that Tina brought. Someone thought to bring a pack of cookies; like Oreos but one side vanilla and the other chocolate. Yay!

It was getting dark as the sun set, so the party broke up. I walked with Marja and Scott to help carry some stuff down and saw this gorgeous sunset that was happening. Marja likes to take sunset pictures too. At the T head of the dock across from me is Tiphys. We towed the B-D’s raft back to Kaimana, then headed back to baji-naji.‍ ‍Boji and Laz did a great job of steering with the raft in tow.

I had forgotten to take a picture of all the sailboats in Worton cove, so Laz reminded me to take a picture of all the mooring lights. Pretty neat! Marja has invited everyone to Endquest for breakfast in the morning of Dutch pancakes. We had not figured out our next stop, which should include fuel. By calculation we are down 20 gallons. After looking at the guidebook, we discovered MYC has fuel! I asked Lee to confirm, and she said there is fuel, pumpout, ice, water, etc etc. We booked on Dockwa and the reservation was accepted in 5 minutes. I will decide if we are going to breakfast or not in the morning.

Sunday September 6th

Up at 0820 and decided that it would be fun to go for breakfast with the gang. I made my coffee, since I wasn’t sure if there would be ½ caff, and put it in my new metal water bottle, which can double as a thermos.

Fun to see the dinghies and raft tied to the stern.

There was a feast of Dutch pancakes, which are almost like crepes and all kinds of fruit, butter, Nutella, maple syrup, brown sugar and jam. I had two, stuffed with fruit of my choice. I helped Marja do the dishes after everyone else had left and afterwards we sat in the cockpit and chatted with Scott and Marja for a short while, then Bojied back to baji-naji. Minimal prep was needed for departure, so we pulled up the anchor at noon. The wind was from NE and light. The anemometer was not working again nor is the windex. When you look up, you can see a huge web from the windex to the cups that spin (or don’t) and a large web on the windvane as well.  Ugh. We sailed for a while , but then the wind dropped below 3 kts, which means we were not going very fast at all. Put the engine on, and of course the wind picked up to 7+ kts, but it was directly behind us. We wanted to be at MYC before the fuel dock closed at 1730, so no sailing, unfortunately. We arrived at 1630 and filled the fuel tank. We had calculated 20+ gallons, but only needed 17.3. Hmm. Laz thinks the generator is not efficient, so is not taking in as much diesel as she could, which is why it won’t work with both air conditioners on. Marja had mentioned that Slip D22 is free, which we confirmed with the dockhand at the fuel dock. We thought we backed into D22, but turns out we were in D26. You can’t tell from the water, only when you get in close enough to read the lettering on the power pedestal. Radioed the fuel dock person who said that it was fine to stay in D26. A guy from the boat at the end of D dock came to help with lines. He wanted to say hello since he used to race J24s out of Havre de Grace and he saw Havre de Grace on our transom. Lee and Jon texted that they were at the pool, so we changed into bathing suits and headed to the pool. The sun was going behind the clouds and they were cold, so we did not swim. Chatted for a bit, then we each went to grab showers before going to dinner. While we were getting clean, Pat emailed Lee to see if the four of us wanted to join her, Brad, Marja, Scott and Susan for dinner. We went to Anthony’s and had a lovely dinner with everyone.

We started with the bruschetta as an appetizer. Laz had the lasagna and I ordered surf and turf which is filet mignon and a lobster tail with baked potato and broccoli. Too much food! Took home more than ½ the meal. We had hoped to have time with just the B-Ds, so we will have breakfast with them in the am.

Monday September 7th

Breakfast with B-Ds aboard baji-naji. I made smoked cheddar scrambled eggs with zucchini and mushrooms, and served that with some of the leftover fresh fruit from the Dutch pancake breakfast. Lee made bacon. I took the photo belatedly, when we had already dug into the hot food. It was lovely to get time with just them. Funny though, as Marja came to say hello when I was just about ready to put the zucchini and mushrooms in the pan to make eggs, so I couldn’t chat. As Lee puts it “too bad you don’t get along with any of our friends”.

Chores: up the mast to evict spiders AGAIN. Lee loaned us her Spider Fighter spray bottle so I am hopeful that this time it will actually work. The view from atop the mast is splendid, especially on a beautiful morning. Brad Houck came over and took some pictures of me up on the mast. Of course I was taking pictures of the marina and our friends’ boats. We tied the bowline on the main halyard with too big a loop so I was not able to reach the anemometer as easily as before, but between the spray bottle, the fly swatter and the spider brush I did OK. I sprayed some on the way down. Unfortunately some dripped onto my lip…bleech! Rinsed that as soon as I was down.

We washed baji-naji down with the Star Brite non skid using the new flat cleaning microfiber mop, which works a treat! Great cleaning, gets into the nubbly bits of the non stick. We also filled the forward water tank and returned the spider deterrent to the B-Ds. After all the peeps coming to say goodbye and a guy inviting us to the pot luck, we finally left at 1315.  Squirrelly wind sailed out to the big Baltimore channel then we were going in circles when there, with a large container ship coming out. Put on the engine to deal. Tried sailing some more but flaky wind made it tough. Eventually furled the jib and motor sailed to the mouth of the Magothy. As we did, we saw Tranquility on the AIS. He was coming into the Magothy to home port. Once in the Magothy we pulled out the code-0 and sailed up to North Ferry Point Cove and anchored at 1830. Gorgeous. Sitting to watch the sunset.