Day 46 – N 38° 46.420’ W76° 13.844’ – San Domingo Creek, MD

Yesterday turned out as forecast, breezy but sunny and warm-ish.  Anything over 60°F feels warm to us now, and it was in the high 60s.  And the sun felt so good whenever we could get out of the wind.  The forecast for Thursday still looked OK for motoring over to the eastern shore again, so we started our day by getting our fuel tank topped off.  This was the first time we had bought fuel since we got to the Bay, and we only needed 17 gallons.  While there we also got our waste tank pumped out, and we were good to leave tomorrow as early as we wanted. 

Wm. B. Tennison, 60-foot Bugeye buy boat

Private cruise aboard Wm. B. Tennison

We returned to our mooring and decided we would use the marinas showers in the late afternoon, one last time before leaving.  Since it was a nice day and May 1^st, the Calvert Marine Museum was just starting their 1-hour cruises aboard their 60-foot wooden Bugeye boat originally built in 1899, and in continuous service since then, mostly as an oyster dredger while it was sail powered, and later as an oyster buyboat when it was converted to diesel power.  It started duty as a museum passenger cruise boat in the 1990s.  We decided we would buy tickets for their 2 pm cruise, and around 13:30 we took our dinghy over to the museum’s dinghy dock and bought our tickets.  It turned out we were the only people for the 2 pm cruise, so we got a private guided tour of the Solomons Island area, including the nearby Patuxent River area.  We boarded about 15 minutes before we were scheduled to depart, and talked for a while with Capt. Don.  He told us a little about the history of this Bugeye and also that she has a new Cummins engine since 2000, but that replaced a diesel that was 1940s vintage, and still worked well, but was getting hard to find maintenance parts for.  As we were cruising on the Bugeye out on the open Patuxent River, we noted that the waves were 2 to 3 feet tall, and we were happy that we did not try to motor through that by leaving Wednesday instead of Thursday.

We were up at dawn, and ready to leave before 07:00.  As usual, we checked the weather forecast one more time before departure, and SURPRISE – it had changed.  Instead of northeast 5 to 10 knot winds with 1 foot waves, it was forecasting northeast 10 knot winds with 1 to 2 foot waves.  And instead of being a sunny day, it was completely overcast and felt like rain (although rain was not added to the forecast).  On the other hand, the wind was calm as we looked with disbelief at the new forecast, and we decided to go for it anyway.  We cast off the mooring at 06:52 and motored out into the Patuxent River, and then into the Bay.  It was still very light winds from the northeast when we got to the Bay, and the waves were small.  We had a flooding tide, so as soon as we got into the Bay and turned northward, our speed was being helped by the tidal current.  We tried sailing, but the wind was not consistent enough to make good speed or the right direction, so we soon gave that up and just motored, as we had originally planned. 

By 10:00 we were entering the mouth of the Choptank River, and our GPS was telling us that we would arrive at our anchorage by 13:30.  Once we left the Bay our speed diminished a bit, but we were still making good time against the 5 to 10 knot northeast winds.  By noon, blue sky started peeking through the clouds and patches of sunshine could be seen here and there, and by 13:30, when we anchored in San Domingo Creek, it was a glorious, sunny day and starting to feel warm (over 60°F).  As we settled into our anchorage, we observed that the weather actually was like the forecast of yesterday, and that NOAA should not have changed it this morning.  It was a very pleasant, comfortable crossing in light northeast winds and small waves.

Peter scrubbing at waterline

We are anchored at the very end of San Domingo Creek.  It is the back door of St. Michaels, and we are actually anchored within the town of St. Michaels.  We are surrounded by million-dollar summer homes that mostly appear empty, so it is quiet here, and we are the only boat anchored in the creek.  It was so early when we got here, Peter decided to put on his wetsuit and scrub the bottom of Kite (it has been 6 weeks since the last cleaning, so it was overdue).  He managed to clean the entire bottom and was pleased to note that there were only a few barnacles on the hull.  Lyn rewarded him with a steak dinner, including a special item – pressure cooked sweet potatoes flavored with maple syrup.  After enjoying that delicious meal in the cockpit, we sat back and enjoyed the serenity of our surroundings.  Birds were singing as the sun was going down, ospreys, robins, Canada geese.  We even saw a loon, but did not hear its song.  Fish were breaking the water and leaving ripples in the smooth surface.  This anchorage is the best one we have found on our trip so far, and it will be hard to beat.  We will spend at least one more day here, enjoying the village of St. Michaels, and at least one more night at this peaceful anchorage.

Anchorage in San Domingo Creek