The plan for today was to get up at daybreak and get
underway by 08:00 for Oxford, MD, only 12 nautical miles from our anchorage in
San Domingo Creek. There we would take a
slip at a marina, because the holding for anchoring was reported as not good in
the area, and we would be a bit rushed.
We wanted to see Oxford today and then tomorrow go to Annapolis, across
the Bay while the easterly winds were still blowing at a reasonable speed.
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| Historic Oxford home. |
We had the anchor up by 07:55 and were a bit sad to see such
a great, sheltered anchorage with good holding start to slip behind us. We motored out of the creek and then put out
our jib while we motorsailed for half the trip to Oxford. Entering the Tred Avon river our course was
northeast, and the wind was from the east, so we were not able to carry the
sail any longer, but Oxford is only a short way up the Tred Avon river, and the
waves were small so we moved along well, arriving at our marina in Oxford at
10:08.
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| Every street has a view of the water. |
As soon as we were tied alongside the dock, we broke out our
folding bicycles and assembled them.
Then we registered for a night at the marina and set off exploring the
little town. We noticed that the entire
town seemed to be a historic district, with well kept homes dating back to the
late 1800s. There were views of the
water from almost every street. Peter also noticed that nearly every car was a
Mercedes Benz, so this town is apparently well endowed. It is a quiet little town, and the people
seem quite friendly. Oxford is contained
on an “L” shaped peninsula and our marina is at the very end of the “L”. It is so small that we rode the entire length
of both sides of the “L” before lunch, then we realized that there were side
streets 3 blocks deep on the main branch of the “L”, so we started exploring
them too. We found Cutts & Case, a
wooden boatbuilder. They have a marina
as well as a display building that was open to the public, and they both contained
some beautiful wooden boats, both sail and motorboats. We also found Schooners for lunch, a nice
restaurant with outside seating by the water.
Peter enjoyed an Angus cheeseburger (in paradise), while Lyn fell back
on the regional favorite, crabcake. Both
were delicious. And as we were exiting
the restaurant we stumbled upon an ice cream shop and couldn’t resist.
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| Wooden boat at Cutts & Case |
After lunch we completed our bicycle tour of all the side
streets of Oxford and then we returned to Kite, satisfied that we had seen all
of the tiny village of Oxford, MD. Because
we plan to take a mooring tomorrow in Annapolis and use the water taxi to get
around, we decided to deflate the dinghy and stow it on board so it wouldn’t
slow us down tomorrow as we cross the Bay.
Peter also decided to rinse the salt water from Kite’s hull and Lyn
decided to do the laundry because it was so convenient at the marina, and it
was such a good day to dry clothes outside in the sun and wind. With chores finished, Lyn prepared us a light
dinner aboard Kite which we enjoyed inside our heated cabin, as the outside
temperature is already in the 50s.
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