| It had been a wonderful three nights and two days in Oxford, MD - but time to move on. Our next destination was St Michaels.
As we motored our chartered Gemini catamaran out the Choptank River, toward the Bay, we began to plan the final installment of our week's trip. Having toured Rock Hall, Oxford, and Easton, we looked forward to seeing the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum.
Sharpes Island Lighthouse marks the Bay as you exit the Choptank. Note how it leans to one side. Apparently a hurricane washed away the island and undermined the lights foundation.
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 | The narrow cut between G-7 and R-82 has many crab pots and fish traps to avoid. The scenery, however, is classic Chesapeake Bay material. Here you see one of a number of crab boats plying the area. |
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I made a major oops in switching from one fuel tank to the other. I failed to also switch the fuel return valve. Eight minutes later the engine died from starvation. Luckily, very luckily, the engine restarted after I made the valve correction.
We decided to manually stop the engine again when we realized the wind had picked up enough to sail for a while. It was almost on the nose, but we enjoyed the tacking and tracking toward our destination. When we reached the R-4 at the Miles River merger with Eastern Bay, we dropped sail and motored on.
St Michaels Harbour Inn, Marina, & Spa was to be our marina during our stay. We arrived at 6PM and were tired after having spent 9 1/2 hours on the water. |  |
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 | The large motor yacht, Turmoil, was docked at another marina but was easily visible from our slip. For relative length estimation, the catamaran in the foreground is 45' long. |
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| We said a casual hello to the couple on the neighboring yacht, Adagio, as they left on a walk into town. |  |
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 | After we finished our own brief walk-about, we settled in at Bistro St Michaels- only to find ourselves seated at a table beside Rick and Harriet, the folks from Adagio.
Incredible is the only statement I can make of my soft shell crab diner. The two crabs were so large that the claws extended out of the large serving platter-bowl. The meal was cooked to perfection and included a bed of cut corn, lima beans, red pepper, and cilantro. It may have been my best meal ever. Certainly it proved to be the best of the entire trip. |
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Friday morning, at 6AM, I awoke to the sound of whistling in the rigging and an abrupt slamming of the boat against a piling. It was a cold trip out on deck (in my underwear) to adjust the dock lines, and add another two, to prevent bumping against the piling.
Slipping back into the bunk, I was warmed by Diann's body heat and the blanket. Within 45 minutes rain was pouring and with it, the dock lines had stretched enough to allow the boat to be bumping the piling again.
This time I put on my foul weather jacket to stay warm. The wind was so strong that I had to set a snatch-block in order to pull the bow of the boat toward the port piling and away from the starboard side.
Once that adventure was over, I returned to the bunk and enjoyed a "sailors rain"- the heavy patter of drops tapping on the deck overhead.
When we awoke, we heated some coffee, donned our foul weather gear, and set out to see the museum.
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 | There were a number of things to see, including the relocated and repaired Hooper Straight Lighthouse, boats, and exhibits. |
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| The preservation of this skipjack oyster boat was unique in that the mannequins were sensitive to our motion and began a dialogue as we approached the boat. |  |
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 | The positioning / activity of the "cast" was done to seem as real as possible for a stationary exhibit.
After the museum tour, we walked the main drag of town. As we entered shops for a look at merchandise, it was obvious we were "boat people" as we were the only tourists wearing foul weather gear vs carrying umbrellas.
Dinner that evening was at St Michaels Steak & Crab. We met Eric, the owner who is also the chef. The food was decent. |
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After diner, we walked back to town (it isn't far) and looked for live bands that might be playing. We found two at as many places. However, being tired and needing to get an early start to Annapolis the following morning, we kept our bars visits short.
Rick and Harriet were leaving at about the same time as we were. |  |
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 | The morning sun cast a nice reflection of Adagio's hull as she motored away. |
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| I couldn't help but take a couple of more shots before we left. This one is of an older yacht berthed at the museum. |  |
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 | The trawler was berthed at our marina. |
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| Our return to Annapolis allowed me to foot-steer during much of the trip. |  |
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 | To say that our week had been good, would be an understatement.
(Prior logs of this trip begin with Rock Hall) |
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