Sailing South aboard Lucy III: 2020-2021 (Day 27)

Deale, Maryland: Harrington North Marina:  September 30, 2020

Marc-  It was much cooler this morning than the past few days of summer weather.  We made a good start with dropping the mooring line and going through the Spa Creek bridge at 07:30.  As soon as we left the mooring field we raised the genoa and sailed doing 6.5 knots with a West wind.  Unfortunately the forecasted West wind of 10-12 knots became Southwest wind of 15 to 20 knots.  You guessed it, we are heading Southwest.  After two hours of being beat up and getting salt spray all over the boat we headed for Herring Bay and eventually made our way to Herrington Harbor North.  Apparently most transients go to Herrington Harbor South by the Point.  We were warmly welcomed and given a first rate slip on a floating dock.  

Our electrical starting issue continued to perplex us when we moved to our assigned slip from the arrival dock.  Luckily Mindy Donnelly advised to replace the starter switch and there was a West Marine store right on the Marina grounds.  This is quite a place with all sorts of marine tradesmen based here.  They had 5 Travel Lifts going at once.  There must be at least 2000 boats here and a majority are sailboats.  The facilities are extravagant with a pool, gym, multiple single bath/shower rooms and several very nice boater lounge areas.  I replaced the starter switch after lunch and the engine started immediately (a good sign but not a guarantee of a cure).  We joined Michael in one of the boater lounges for pizza and baseball.

We spotted these thoroughbreds while leaving Annapolis - notice the foiling keel.

A nice start to the day.

Thomas Point Light.

Our pier.

Monarchs love these butterfly flowers.

Always important to read the fine print.

Here comes the moon.

Our plans for the next few days.

 

Sailing South aboard Lucy III: 2020-2021 (Day 26)

Annapolis, Maryland: Spa Creek Municipal Mooring:  September 29, 2020 

Marc-  Another day here in Annapolis due to weather. I've included some more photos of homes seen while walking in this city.  Today was a day to do boat projects.  We sprang a leak in our water system yesterday with water spraying out of a closed space beneath the stove.  Some disassembly of the boat internal structure was required and I found a blown out plastic hose.  I resected the hose 8 inches and reattached the rest.  Time to replace the hose completely soon.  The next project was to discover the source of the recurring starting problem.  I tried a new approach today with Brian Gilmartin (who is an electrician) on facetime looking at the problem and Brother Michael helping me in person.  Ours tests showed that the starting battery was only putting out 50% of its cranking capacity and let's just say not usually enough to start the engine on its own.  The problem stems from running the battery switch on "both" for the past month or so.  We bought a new battery for bank # 2 (the engine starting battery) and vow not to mix the two battery banks, except in an emergency.  (Bank #1 is the "house bank," powering everything but the engine).

Dinner was with Michael aboard Fidler's Green  We enjoyed Southern Barbecue from "Mission Barbecue": ribs, pulled chicken. green beans, corn bread and six different sauces.  It was outstanding.  We are currently in a major rain event that the harbormaster came over to warn us about earlier.  The State has closed the Chesapeake Bay Bridge for this evening due to high winds and heavy rain.

Two views of our sleeping space and our search for the engine starting gremlin:

Normal

Exposed engine under the bed

A tailor's storefront cheering on Navy

"Don't give up the ship" and "Fear the goat"

Sailing South aboard Lucy III: 2020-2021 (Day 25)

Annapolis, Maryland: Spa Creek Municipal Mooring:  September 28, 2020

Marc - 08:00 we backed out of our fixed dock in Rock Hall without incident but it was challenging backing out into 15 knots of wind.  Our tugboat escort, Fidler's Green, was circling just outside the seawall.  Head winds forecast as 10 knots were in reality 15 gusting to 20 as we headed for the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.  The seas were from the South and the ebb current was in opposition creating a rather rough start that was worse when we crossed over shallow areas of less than 15 feet.  The Bay calmed down after we entered the deeper water of the ship channel as we avoided several large ships and passed under the magnificent bridges.  We headed directly for the Severn River and the Port of Annapolis.  The harbormaster was easily reached by phone and we opted for two moorings up Spa Creek above the drawbridge due too predicted foul weather for the next 48 hours.  We only waited 15 minutes for the bridge and easily found moorings available just South of Saint Mary's Church.  Each street here in Annapolis that dead ends on the harbor has a dinghy dock.  Moorings are $25 per night with facilities use included.  

After checking in we walked about this very historic and scenic state capital.  The architecture here is exceptional.  There is a pronounced use of brick from the homes to the sidewalks and some of the streets.  The bricks originated as ballast in the ships sent over from England.  They were unloaded and the ships were loaded up with timber and whatever else was sent back to England from the Maryland colony.  There is also great public water access.  Sue found a park downtown with ping pong tables (with paddles and balls), benches with shade trees and this all overlooks the harbor.  Unfortunately we could not tour the US Navy Academy due to COVID 19 restrictions.  We went to the front gate and found an armed guard with a fully automatic weapon.  

Sue - Pretty soon I am going to break my silence.

Annapolis Harbor photos with Statehouse dome in the background

some really wide sailboats

                                              An Academy building - possibly a field house.

Lucy III in Spa Creek

Time for some architecture:

Returning to Lucy III via dingy after dinner at O'Brien/s Pub

Sailing South aboard Lucy III: 2020-2021 (Day 24)

Rock Hall,  Maryland: North Point Marina:  September 27, 2020

Marc-  Today we departed Chesapeake City at 08:20 to take advantage of the tidal currents in Chesapeake Bay.  It worked out very well for the first five hours averaging 7 knots.  The last hour we slowed down to 5.5 knots.  Rock Hall offers many marina options, very limited anchorage, and even free public dockage with free electric.  We looked into all of them and decided on a marina after Michael took his tugboat over to the public docks and reported 4.5 to 6.5 feet of water on a falling tide.  This was too close for comfort and the anchorage also appeared rather shallow.  Our marina pick was fine and within walking distance of downtown and the excellent seafood restaurants.  We chose Waterman's Restaurant for dinner and enjoyed fried oysters.  Oysters are a specialty here as well as crabs.  We ate dinner outside right on the waterfront watching the fisherman arrive from the Bay.  

Twin tugs in the C&D canal

View of Lucy III from Fiddler's Green

Maryland sunshine at North Point Marina

Oysterman statue

Oyster shell sidewalk

A patriotic ice cream stand

Fall is here