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July 23rd Update - Sassafras River, Maryland

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This time, we managed to stick to our departure date.  We pulled away from the dock at noon on July 21st.  There were a few tears shed as we bid our friends farewell, especially by Cassie and Juliana.  They had gotten accustomed to the constant fun provided at Camp Cunard (more about this in the logs)!  Sam and Kari were wonderful baby sitters and entertainment directors, and Holly has always been a favorite friend of both of them.  Bruce, always with a smile on his face, facilitated the whole affair.  Our only complaint is that we did not get to see enough of Alison.  We will miss them, and all of our friends from home, very much.  We are, however, after three weeks, ready to start our new adventure. 

Our first trip was a short 20 mile hop to Rock Hall, Maryland, north of the Bay Bridge on the Eastern Shore.  The wind was light, but we wanted to sail so we raised the main as we exited the Rhode River and rolled out the big genniker once we cleared the green can the marks the shoal off Shady Side.  We made about 4 to 5 knots in the 8 knot breeze, sailing pretty deep downwind.  We gybed across the bay until we could make the center span of the Bay Bridge.  From there is was a straight shot to Rock Hall.  We found a nice anchorage in Swan Creek with a half dozen other boats.  The kids swam, Joe set up some wind scoops, and Christy made dinner of Pesto and salad.  I have to confess that we were all asleep by 9:30pm.  Actually, Joe stayed up to make sure that the lightening and thunder we were observing did not turn into a major thunderstorm.  Welcome to anchor watch!  The storm did not affect us, however, and we slept relatively well. 

We took a dinghy ride into Harbor Haven Marina and walked towards town.  We quickly decided that it was too far and too hot so we found some nice shady bench swings and rested there before returning to the dinghy.  A disappointing first expedition ashore.

Friday brought continued hazy, hot and humid weather.  Zero breeze.  We fired up the engines and motored out from Rock Hall north towards the Sassafras.  We had current against us and we showed only 5.5 knots of speed over the ground.  Man it was hot.  At 4pm our captain Joe came up with the inspiration to pull over and go for a swim.  I think it was the most refreshing swim we have ever had!  The water is nearly fresh up in this part of the Chesapeake and totally jellyfish free.  We all jumped overboard and immediately felt our spirits rise.  We broke out the scrub brushes and tackled the scum that had built up along the waterline after sitting at the dock for three weeks.  Joe scraped the props and we did our best to clean the bottom with a long handled scrub brush.

Our cleaning efforts were immediately rewarded when we fired up the engines and resumed our course for the Sassafras.  Granted, the current was not quite as strong, but our speed over the ground jumped right up to 7.5 knots!  It was only an hour trip to our destination, Ordinary Point.  It is a nice anchorage that offers some protection from all directions and was only a mile into the river.  There were 5 other boats here with us.  We enjoyed another swim and a dinner of ribs, corn and salad.  The kids are doing wonderfully with the meals.  No more complaints about not liking this or that.  They have already learned to eat what is offered to them because there are no other options on the boat. 

The breeze finally picked up after dark.  Joe and I decided to sleep on top of the bimini.  Scott, the previous owner, had told us that it is the most comfortable spot on the boat.  He was so right.  The moon was nearly full and the breeze kept most of the mosquitoes away.  It was spectacular. 

It looks like we will spend a day or two here, waiting for our friends Claude, Rike, Celine and Anouk.  Their boat was put back together again yesterday, with new shrouds and rebuilt engines.  The family just moved aboard and although they are anxious to escape the brutally hot weather, they need to spend some time getting everything in its place and making sure it all works right.  The forecast is for a little more pleasant conditions and we think it will be worth it for us to wait and travel with them.  There are some beautiful beaches here and the kids are dying for a day at the beach. 

We miss you all.  Thanks for visiting our web site and checking up on us.  We are thinking of all of you and hoping that we will get a chance to hook up with you somewhere on our travels.  Drop us a line if you have time.

Christy, Joe, Cassie and Juliana

Time to go!

Wednesday, July 20th, was our last day of vacation.  We had a lovely day at Camp Cunard with swimming, wakeboarding and dinner.  At the end of the evening, I just wasn't ready to go to bed.  The moon was nearly full and it was dead calm.  I hijacked one of the kayaks from the dock and went for a moonlight paddle.  It was so peaceful and beautiful - a perfect way to reflect on the huge adventure we were about to undertake and the wonderful three week vacation we had to precede it. 

Upon returning to the boat, I decided to write in my journal for a bit.  I was sitting at the cockpit table and all of the sudden I heard this strange banging at the stern of the boat.  I got up to see what was hitting us, and discovered a family of ducks had decided to spend the night on our bottom step!  We had been feeding this family Cheerios and chips and other goodies for the last three weeks so I wasn't all that surprised to see them hanging out so close by, but I never imagined they would take up residence!   Clearly, it was time to go!

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