Boat Trip: Little River, SC to Plattsburgh, NY – DAYS 13-14: Annapolis, MD

As we left our anchorage at Solomons Island, we followed the Patuxent River back out to Chesapeake Bay.  We passed by the lighthouse at Cove Point, and then by an LNG terminal.  You could see the LNG tanks in the background and the terminal in the water was a big offshore platform that tankers could pull up to load the liquid natural gas.  Luckily there were no tankers there at the time because Captain Mark “cut the corner” of the restricted zone, only to get an earful from the “rule-follower” Sidekick Sue.  Luckily the security and the Coast Guard did not consider us a threat and did not chase us.   They probably saw Sidekick Sue’s animated gestures and understood we were trying to get out of their zone. 

It was a beautiful Saturday morning, and the Explorers could not believe how few vessels were out on the water in the early morning, that is except the crab guys checking their crab pots… they were everywhere, leaving a trail of propeller snaggers which we had to watch for constantly. 

As the day went on, boat traffic increased substantially.  By the time we got within a couple of miles of Annapolis, the traffic had gotten so thick, it was a little nerve-wracking.  There were sailboats, motorboats, navy boats, fishing boats, kayaks, and even stand-up paddleboarders everywhere, going in every direction (and some standing still).  At the entrance to the South River, we passed the Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse. It is unusual because it is totally surrounded by water. It was erected in 1875 and was one of the last manned lighthouses on the Chesapeake Bay. It is now a National Monument.

Our goal was an anchorage in Back Creek.  We had read up on it before heading in and understood that it was OK to anchor anywhere in Back Creek, once we passed the initial channel markers.  However the creek was very congested.  There were marina and personal docks on both sides of the creek and boats were anchored down the median.  There was heavy traffic moving in both directions.  It was very challenging to decide where we could safely anchor, where we could stay out of the way of active traffic and not be too close to any other vessels.  We dropped and retrieved our anchor 5 times (first in the area with the red dot below, and then finally settling on the yellow area).  It was difficult to time the dropping of the anchor with all the traffic going by and the small personal watercraft (kayaks, SUPs, etc.) all around us. The Creek bottom was apparently very muddy because Captain Mark was covered in mud splatters by the time it was over (Sidekick Sue is safely up in the fly bridge manning the controls). 

After waiting an hour to check our tracking to make sure we weren’t moving, we climbed into the dinghy to head to a public dinghy dock in Eastport.  From there, we were a quick walk into Annapolis.  Our first stop was to the State Capitol Building where we were lucky enough to be able to enter (with masks) and take a self-guided tour of the building.  We learned that they had just reopened the preceding day, based on new Covid guidelines.

On the way back, we got stuck as pedestrians on a drawbridge to let some sailboat traffic through.  We thought it was ironic since lately, we have been the ones doing the stopping of traffic.  We were already past the safety gates before they came down, so we backed up as far as we could, but it allowed us to get some good pictures.   Not sure the bridgetender was following the rules.  LOL.

Back on the boat, we had dinner and climbed up to the fly bridge for some vodka-seltzers.  We talked about the day, and decided to spend an extra day in Annapolis because we had enjoyed our walk and wanted to see more of Annapolis. 

The next morning, we slept in until 7:00 AM (is that really sleeping in?).  We both took some time to work on one of our projects.  Mark did some troubleshooting on a 20-year-old auto pilot system that was on the boat.  He found that it seemed to be operational, he just didn’t know how to operate it.  He scoured the internet for the user manual for this obsolete product and finally found a copy on an old forum.  He familiarized himself with the controls so we can try to “give it a go” next time we are out.  It is too antiquated to hook up to any modern-day navigation devices (we are using Navionics on an iPad), but it will be useful for holding a heading when we are on long stretches of open water.  Sidekick Sue worked on custom-fitted bug screens for the cabin doors.  We don’t have a power inverter, so we have to run the (loud) generator in order to use the sewing machine (which was brought along for several projects).  Sidekick Sue is making fabric screens with magnet strips in the lining to adhere around the door so that we can easily take the screens up or down. 

After lunch we rode the dinghy back to shore and walked all around downtown Annapolis from Ego Alley (to see all the fancy yachts) to the Naval Academy (only the outdoors, since the indoors was still closed for Covid), to St. John’s College campus to Main Street.  At my lovely nieces recommendation, we stopped at the ice cream store with the penguin display (Annapolis Ice Cream Company).  We placed our order as “takeout” through UberEats to take advantage of a monthly UberEats credit that Captain Mark gets on one of his credit cards (always thrifty), and an unexpected benefit was that we basically “cut” the very long line at the ice cream shop.  Our order was ready by the time we walked over.  The Naval Academy graduation is next Saturday, and the town is clearly buzzing with activity and tourists. 

Once we had exhausted ourselves (it was very hot and sunny today in Annapolis), we headed back to the boat with a few souvenirs picked up in the Main Street shops.  We feel well-rested and ready to head out again early in the morning. 

Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse.