Today was a day of potential disasters which started very early in the morning. We were anchored in our spot in the middle of the channel of the Back Creek in Annapolis. During the night, the winds picked up and we could feel waves lapping against the boat at regular intervals. It was not a good night for sleep. Captain Mark finally got up at 3:30 AM and was monitoring our position in the channel and was pretty sure we were dragging anchor. It was hard to tell, because it was dark and we still seemed to be lined up with the other two sailboats we were anchored beside. By 5:30, with the morning light, the wind changed, our boat turned around and we were less than 20 feet away from one of the docks on the side of the channel. Captain Mark called for Sidekick Sue to “rise and shine”, although she had already been awake for hours, knowing that Mark’s restlessness meant something was up.
Sidekick Sue came up to assess the situation. Her first observation was that we were still perfectly lined up with the other two boats and she thought perhaps Captain Mark was overreacting…. until she looked the other way, and saw how close we were to the dock. ALL THREE boats had dragged anchor and drifted from the middle of the channel to the very edge. The Explorers jumped into action, started the engine, recovered anchor and moved upstream. At the sound of us starting our engine, one of our neighbors popped up to assess the situation. He had drifted to where we had originally tried to anchor when we first came into Annapolis, so he wasn’t really in immediate danger, so he just shrugged his shoulders and went below. The other boat was also OK for the moment, although if the wind changed again, it would swing rather close to a huge luxury yacht at the end of the dock. We circled around and tried to yell out to them but were unable to get any response, so we don’t even know if the boat was occupied. We did know the luxury yacht was occupied, and we saw then come out and look around, so we assumed they would call the Harbormaster if the situation got worse. We thought about getting an early start on today’s miles, but when we motored out near the entrance to the Back Creek, it was raining and the water in the bay looked pretty rough. We decided to circle back, move upstream, re-anchor, turn on the generator, and have a nice breakfast while we waited for the rain to subside. That way, we could keep an eye on our position.
Sure enough, just as the radar showed, the rain and winds subsided within the hour and we headed out for the day. We reflected on the morning, and decided that, while it is really neat to be anchored right near downtown in a very cool city, it is a little more nerve-wracking than the other anchorages we had been in. When we are in the middle of nowhere, there is no one to damage but ourselves. We also decided our anchor may not be heavy enough for our boat and we might need to have more options aboard.
The water on the Chesapeake was a little rough, but not nearly as bad was we expected based on the rain and wind that had just moved through. Perhaps it is because we were near the top of the Chesapeake now, so it is less “open”. The bay had narrowed and we were able to see land on both sides. During the first hour of the trip, it was still gloomy and spitting rain, but even so, the wind was a little warmer than our previous days.
Today, was the first day using the 20-year-old auto-pilot. Luckily, this was not one of the averted disasters. Captain Mark has declared it “life-changing” as you can change your heading with just a click of a button when you start to move off course, instead of trying to find just the right amount to turn the wheel (which usually entails a sequence of overcorrections one way and then the other). Once he had confidence in the auto-pilot, he taught Sidekick Sue how to use it, and left her to do some open water navigation on her own (again, not a disaster).
The wind and rain picked up again during the last hour of the day’s trip, causing the water to get rough (and Sidekick Sue to go downstairs to get warm). Tonight, was a “marina night”, where we could do all the “chores”: get fuel, pump-out, get water, and take nice LONG, HOT showers with enough pressure for Sidekick Sue to wash her hair. Yay! We were staying in Tidewater Marina in Havre de Grace, MD. The entrance to the marina was super-skinny, and a little scary to navigate with the water in the bay being so choppy, but Captain Mark is definitely getting better with his maneuvering skills. Not only did he get through without a scratch, but he got into a very tight fuel dock, even earning praise from the dock-tenders. We took care of the fuel, trash, pump-out and checking in, and headed over to a bulkhead where we were to park for the night with access to water and electric (yay AC power). Unfortunately, getting to our dock required exiting the really skinny opening, going back into the rough water, and entering another really skinny opening, and backing into our spot on the bulkhead. While that all had the potential for disaster, Captain Mark negotiated it with ease. We got 5-star help from the dock-tenders, who met us at our spot and did a great job securing all of our lines for us. We barely had to do anything but throw them lines and adjust our fenders.
At this point, it was about 4:30, and the guys were closing up the marina shop at 5:00 (we’re not sure what would have happened if we’d arrived late, because they seemed to be unaware of our reservation for the night LOL). Anyway, Captain Mark kept looking at a boat, the Dee Diamond Too, parked in a slip across from us, thinking that something didn’t look right. It was listing to the starboard side, and one side of the swim platform was slightly submerged. He wasn’t sure if it was worth reporting to the guys at the marina office, since it didn’t look like eminent danger and he knew the guys were getting ready to leave for the day. He didn’t want to be “that guy” who overreacts and causes trouble at quitting time. Finally, his better instincts got the best of him and he ran over at 4:55 to report it. He came back with one of the dock tenders, who opened the bilge, and sure enough, it was full of water and the engine compartment was fully flooded….. so much for quitting time. We watched as the three marina employees come over with a tow platform to haul the Dee Diamond Too to the boat lift and out of the water. They were able to get it done in under 30 minutes. We hoped that they were able to save the boat, we joked that the owner might have to move on to the Dee Diamond Three, and went about our business. We still had plans to walk to the laundromat and the grocery store (about 1.6 miles away) to deal with our own chores.
We packed the dirty laundry into our Osprey backpacks and trekked to the local Fluff and Fold (this time, Sidekick Sue called the laundromat to make sure it still existed before walking over). Captain Mark chatted with the employees, in particular, trying to learn how to pronounce the name of the city, Havre de Grace. While Sidekick Sue did laundry, Captain Mark went on a grocery run, as we were basically out of anything fresh. On the walk home, we spent a little time walking through the cute town. We particularly liked the piped-in 70s music being broadcast from speakers on the streetlights all over town. We ran across a statue of Lafayette (yes of “Hamilton” fame), and found ourselves walking on a portion of the Lafayette trail, which highlights the architecture of numerous historic buildings, many of which are now home to art studios and galleries. It turns out that Lafayette had a hand in the naming of Havre de Grace (formerly known as Lower Susquehanna). Apparently, it was named as such because the area reminded the Frenchman of Le Havre in France. The city was burned to the ground by the British during the revolution, but rebuilt and was, at one time, in consideration for the location of the nation’s capitol. In 1976, as part of bicentennial celebration, the statue of Lafayette was installed to honor his service to America in the Revolutionary War, and his connections to this small “Harbor of Grace” on the Chesapeake.
About two hours later, we arrived back at the marina, to see the marina employees still working on the Dee Diamond Too. We supposed they had to pump it out, try to troubleshoot the problem, and notify the owner. We felt bad that they had a long night ahead, but good that we might have averted a disaster for the boat owners. We settled in to have a few drinks and watch some boating Youtube channels since we had the luxury of AC power to run the TV. It was a very full day.
