No crabs today!

Sept 17^th – the most quiet sleep ever…this creek has no car or boat traffic, no airplanes, trains, not even barking dogs….just birds. We decide to stay a second night in this tranquil anchorage. It’s so tranquil that a house boat close by had a large Osprey nest over the main console on the fly-bridge. We didn't get to enjoy much of the day as I converted the deck hose to sea water and installed some

Reworking hoses for sea water on deck

LED strip lighting throughout the Salon (living room) while Julie cleaned the v-berth and laid things out on deck to air. We enjoyed another beautiful sunset and feel asleep listening to Pink Floyd as the new LED lights transitioned through the colours of the light spectrum.

Sept 18^th – just before our planned departure at noon, a man yelled out, “Hey Toronto”, I waved, “Do you want anything at the grocery?” We can always do with something at the grocery but we respectfully turned down his offer and fifteen minutes later we were motoring towards the Chester River on our way to Harris’s Crab Shack in the Kent Narrows.

While underway, I made few calls and sent some pictures to marina’s that are Yanmar certified to have a piece of our exhaust pipe replaced as it is getting a little too rusty.

Storm clouds, not the weather that was called for, are forming over Baltimore and heading our way…we keep watch and follow it on our weather apps. We make it to the entrance channel that will take us into Kent Narrows…the storm is hovering west of us still. Julie has read about the approach to Kent Narrows and how the channel is very shallow…stay close to the green buoys its suggested. We see depths of 7.5’ and make it into the narrows where we plan to take a slip outside Harris’s Crab Shack. Our timing is about 30 minutes earlier than planned so there is still a bit of a current passing through the narrows. The dock outside along the bank has a boat there and not enough room for ours, so we approach a slip slowly that looks wide enough for our boat…remember these slips don’t have smooth docks on either side…telephone poles that we have to lasso as we pass by the first ones. I try to aim high, but the current is taking us too far off course…it wouldn't be pretty with 20 or so people watching which includes the owners of the boat that would be next to us…full reverse; we’ll have crab another day. We follow the large 60ft motor yacht through the draw bridge and into Prospect Bay. Skipper Bob’s says there is an anchorage just around the corner but it is 6 foot depth, not the 8 foot the charts have. Approach slowly.

Skipper Bob’s is a well-known publication, a must for anyone navigating the Erie Canal, Hudson River and all the way down the ICW (Intra Coastal Waterway). It lists most of the marina’s, their facilities, historic sites, where to get fuel, water, eat, etc. with lots of good instructions on what to look for when navigating through.

So we enter into Prospect Bay around 15:00, make a hard right to anchor behind Hog Island according to Skipper Bob. We’re not even there yet, depths are 10 feet and should remain 10ft for another ½ mile…I see the depths change rapidly, 8ft, 7ft, 6ft…abort! Just as I start my 180 degree turn, bounce, bounce, bounce…the keel is hitting bottom. The boat pivots as I power (throttle up) through my turn…we made it…whew! We thought about how that would have played out if we got stuck with that storm cloud heading our way. Change of plans…onward to St. Michaels, a couple more hours south.

Arrangements are made with Annapolis Harbor Marina for Monday arrival and we assess the winds for the next day or two. We alter course again, (that’s what’s great about having no schedule) we head up the Wye River, the storm cloud spilt in two and we only received a little rain as we anchored in Shaw Bay around 17:00 with a few other boats.

Sunset from Shaw Bay

From running aground earlier, I find myself now nervous to transverse waters indicating depths of 10ft…I'm sure I’ll get over it.

I finish adjusting the snubber line (attached to the anchor chain and back to the forward cleats to take the pressure off the windlass while at anchor) and about suggest to Julie that the water is much clearer here for a swim, then I see the water is filled with jelly fish…we’re not swimming!

That night we played with an anchor alarm app we downloaded…very accurate, works great. After being woken up a few times by the sound of a police siren…it should however come in handy.