San Domingo Creek – St. Michael’s, MD
We finally cast off the lines this morning – the saga of Rocinante the wonder boat continues!
For the last few weeks, we’ve been checking off the final items on what seemed like a never ending list. New fire extinguishers; replacement flares; new signaling device; manually tested our PFDs (life jackets) & repacked them; got the dink out of the water, cleaned it, deflated it & stowed it on deck; repaired our Webasto diesel heater; had the rigging inspected; adjusted the tension on the shrouds based on said inspection; etc., etc., etc.
With everything in order, we choose our first stop on our way north to Penobscot bay – St. Michaels, MD; just across the Chesapeake bay. We heard a lot of great things about St. Michael’s and at only about a 6hr sail, it would make a great first trip. We started watching the weather for a good window and choose today, May 2nd.
Yesterday we got all our lines ready for an easy get away, and secured everything below decks – nothing worse than stuff crashing about down below when things get funky on the water!
This morning, we woke up bright and early to make sure we caught the high tide getting out of the marina. Maria made a pot of coffee while I fired up the engine, powered on the instruments, disconnected from shore power & stowed everything.
I’d love to tell you how flawless our departure was, but alas, it was not in the cards!
It’s amazing how much we’ve forgotten over the years and just a small amount of wind pinned us to the dock and made for a less than elegant exit. That said, nothing was damaged but my ego – so you know what? All good!
We made our way out of Herrington Harbour North and worked our way through the labyrinth of markers down to Herrington Harbour South to fill up on diesel fuel. To be honest, I was a bit nervous approaching the fuel dock, but while not perfect, we once again managed to pull up alongside the fuel dock and tie off without incident.
It was still early and so we went for a short walk while we waited for the attendant to show up at 9:00 AM. As usual, we met a great couple – these folks had just come back from doing “The Loop” and we had a nice chat while they too waited to fuel up.
BTW, “The Loop” refers to a cruising route that takes you up the Hudson River, across the Great Lakes, through Chicago, down the Mississippi into the Gulf of Mexico, around Florida (or across) and then back up the East Coast to where you started… definitely on our to-do list!
Anyway, we topped off our tank and took off across the Chesapeake for St. Michael’s. It was a gorgeous day, but not much of a breeze and so we motored. In all actuality, it’s what we probably would have done anyway just to get our feet wet again. We made our way around Tighlman Island, giving Blackwalnut Pt. a wide berth to avoid grounding – with a 6 1/2 ft. draft, we can’t simply shoot across the bay from point to point!
After rounding Blackwalnut Pt., we worked our way to Broad Creek and finally turned up into San Domingo Creek. It was actually quite nice, with some very beautiful homes lining the shore amongst a backdrop of trees. No McMansions here, these were beautifully built homes that didn’t really detract from the vista, but rather fit in beautifully.
Anchored in San Domingo Creek
We made the final approach to where we planned on anchoring for the night, but since the wind was at our back, we proceeded well past and turned around to head into the wind. Maria took the helm and motored us slowly back to our desired location while I prepped the anchor for deployment. Once there we went through our usual routine: I lowered the anchor and proceeded to pay out chain as Rocinante was pushed back by the wind. Once I had 40’ deployed, I tied on one of our snubbers, cleated it off and had Maria back down a bit to set the anchor. We waited a bit longer for the anchor to settle and then backed down some more. Easy Peezy!
I have to say, there really is nothing like being at anchor!
Rocinante swings gently with the wind/current instead of fighting against the lines holding her down in a marina slip and to top it all off, we have a gorgeous 360° view!
Tomorrow, we’ll inflate the dink and head over to the St. Michael’s town docks and explore!
Till next time,
Carlos & Maria
SV Rocinante…_/)