Hello again! We’re back on the blog after a week of cruising on the Chesapeake. We left you off as we were traveling up the Sassafras River to Georgetown, MD (George insisted we stop there). The hot, unsettled weather returned so we decided to take a slip at the Sassafras Harbor Marina. It’s a lovely, family-run spot. The Sassafras River is absolutely beautiful and in its seven mile twisting run up to Georgetown, there’s plenty of water for Robes. Our decision to take a slip was a good one as that night a huge thunderstorm came through with long gusts into the 40+ mph range. While Robes’ ground tackle (anchor and chain) are up for that type of wind, it’s always nicer to be secured comfortably to a dock and not be awake and making sure our anchor is holding in the dark! Georgetown is a small, sleepy town that was great to relax in. We met some nice dockmates (hello Don!) and spent two comfortable nights. We also got out the bikes and rode a few miles to a couple of markets to get some provisions. Once restocked, we left the dock and made a grand one mile trek down the river to a little bend and dropped the anchor for two more nights. It was a magic spot with a sandy beach that we could row George to and it was still within Georgetown’s no wake zone. We got out the paddle boards, rigged Snap!’s sail and had fun drifting around our anchorage. Despite George’s land-based wackiness, he rides on the paddle board with no issues – go figure! A light rain shower even presented a rainbow that really set this spot high on our anchorage list! It was the relaxing Chesapeake experience we had been looking for.
On Tuesday, September 12, we hauled up the muddy anchor and headed down the Sassafras and out into the Bay. A five hour trip down the bay brought us to the town of Rock Hall where we took a slip at Rock Hall Landing Marina – another fabulous, well-run marina that we will definitely return to. Rock Hall is a cool little town that we rode our bikes into, and the harbor holds a fun mix of pleasure and work boats. We spent a nice afternoon and then enjoyed taco and margarita night at Waterman’s right next door!
The next day saw us off to Annapolis, the Sailing Capitol of the World (or so they claim – and it appears to be a pretty valid claim!). Bob spent nearly a decade in the DC area with the Navy – both training as a surgeon and then working as a pediatric surgeon – and spent free time sailing out of Annapolis. Rob Rowlands, a great, long-time friend of Bob’s, has also been living there for the past 12+ years so Bob was looking forward to catching up. We arrived to a welcome cannon from Rob who lives aboard his boat, Harbor Quest, as we passed into the harbor. Two days of perfect weather lay ahead as we squeezed Robes into slip 43 at Annapolis Yacht Basin for a couple of nights. We met up with Rob and Carol for cocktails and appetizers aboard his boat which has a front row view of the whole harbor. We then walked over to Eastport Yacht Club where we are new non-resident members, and had a lovely dinner. Thursday saw us walking all about Annapolis and the Naval Academy. It’s such a gorgeous harbor town filled with beautiful period homes and the amazing Academy campus. A perfect afternoon sail with Carol and Rob aboard their Harbor 20 sailboat in and out of the nooks and crannies of the Severn River, Annapolis Harbor and Back Creek. A post sail drink at EYC followed and then a return to Davis’ Pub (one of Bob’s old favorites) for beers, crab balls and crab dip to top off the day!
Today is Saturday, September 16, and we are now very comfortably anchored in Round Bay on the Rhode River. We arrived yesterday afternoon after a breezy ride down the bay. We tried competing with a fleet of Naval Academy 44’s 😳 before turning into the calm river basin. We were the only ones here last night and it was beautiful so we’re staying another day as the weather is perfect. The crab dippers were working this morning, so maybe we’ll try our luck later. We’ll leave this post on an amazing note. As we enjoyed the morning on our back porch, Bob noticed a familiar boat sailing up the river. “It can’t be” he said, but it was… his old boat, Phyllis May, a 28′ Falmouth Working Boat that he had transported from Falmouth, England to Ohio 20 years ago and subsequently sold in 2012 to purchase Robes. She looked fantastic and well taken care of – what a gift to see – truly a God wink 😉.
