Rock Hall, Baltimore and Annapolis

On Friday, September 10th, we left Queenstown Creek about 2:30 p.m. and were tied to the city bulkhead in Rock Hall Harbor by 4:00 p.m.

A monument to the oystermen of the Eastern Shore.

Along the way, we talked to Gale & Maureen aboard “Blue Heron” on the VHF and learned they were on their way to officially complete the Great Loop by crossing their wake in Delaware City. Since Rock Hall was only about an hour out of their way, they decided to backtrack and join us for the evening. We met Gale & Maureen last fall at Waterfall Cove on the Tennessee River and have kept in contact with them ever since.

After hanging around on the wall chatting and catching up on Gale & Maureen’s travels over the past year, which included a trip through the Panama Canal on a friend’s boat, Bill & Ana invited us all over for Bill’s wonderful homemade spaghetti sauce. What a treat – again!

Gail & Maureen left Saturday about noon to continue their journey to Delaware City. The remaining four of us walked in to downtown Rock Hall and kicked around for while, doing a little shopping and checking out the town’s “best” (and probably only) ice cream shop.

Goodbye Blue Heron, safe journeys until we meet again!

We then gathered on “Knot Tide Down” for happy hour and ended up at the Harbor Shack for Alabama football, dinner, dancing, and live music by a band called Crossing Delmar.

When we returned to our boats about midnight, we found them bucking and bouncing around and, at least in our case, being pummeled against one of the pilings we were tied to. A south-component wind had kicked up while we were away causing the boats to be thrown against the pilings. Bill had already loaned us one of his large fenders but we added a second one and that prevented any further damage, although the Captain still had a restless night.

Boat ding, there goes another few hundred dollars….

We had rain overnight and woke up to a cool, gloomy, drizzly Sunday. We went over to “Knot Tide Down” that afternoon to eat nachos and watch the second half of the Chicago Bears football game. The rest of the day was spent reading, relaxing and watching more pro football on TV.

The Captain rode Bill’s bicycle in to town Monday morning to do a couple of loads of laundry and then we pulled away from Rock Hall about 10:30. We crossed over to the western shore and were anchored in Rock Creek, just outside Baltimore, a couple of hours later. “Knot Tide Down” left shortly before we did and went on in to Baltimore’s Inner Harbor where they anchored.

Ed aboard “Alfie” was staying at a marina in Rock Creek and called to invite us over for happy hour. We met Ed earlier this year as we were coming up the east coast. He had been in e-mail contact with Todd and offered the use of a guest dock near his home north of Boca Raton, FL, which we gratefully accepted for an evening. We dinghied over to visit with Ed around 5:00 p.m. and then returned to “Life’s2Short” for dinner and another quiet evening.

We got underway around 8:30 Tuesday morning, hoping to get to the marina in Baltimore before the wind kicked up. We didn’t make that goal, but we did get in to Henderson’s Wharf Marina without incident and were secure in our slip by 10:30. That afternoon Bill picked Todd up in his dingy and they took a trip to a nearby Safeway to pick up a few things.

Later Tuesday afternoon we dinghied over to “Tide Hiker” to meet up with Norm & Vicki who invited us to join them at the Marine Trawler Owners Association (MTOA) potluck. MTOA was having its 2010 Northern rendezvous in Baltimore while we were there, but since we didn’t sign up for it, we went to the potluck as their guests. Thanks for the invite, Norm & Vicki!

Jim & Pam Shipp off “Silver Boots” (left) and Norm & Vicki Naughton off “Tide Hiker”(right) visiting at the MTOA potluck.

Bill and Active Captain’s owner Jeff Siegel enjoying the festivities.

Tuesday evening we walked around Fell’s Point and hit a few local establishments along the way.

Wednesday we walked back in to Fell’s Point to explore a little more and grab a bite of lunch at Woody’s Rum Bar.

Early evening shots from the marina. You can just see “Knot Tide Down” anchored in the background of the first photo.

Wednesday evening we went to see Crosby, Stills & Nash in concert at the Pier Six Pavilion in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. In the words of the Captain: “Starting with Woodstock and playing other favorites such as; Guinevere, Almost Cut My Hair, Southern Cross, Marrakesh Express, Deja Vu, Wooden Ships, the show ended with Love the One You're With & Teach Your Children! What a wonderful 3 hour show!! As an added bonus when I looked around I noticed, at the age of 52, that I was one of the younger folks! Truly a nostalgic night of music, memories & laughter!”

Thursday was a mellow day aboard “Life’s2Short,” although we did accomplish a few boat chores. After visiting with dockmates Wayne & Lynn aboard “Skinwalker” that evening, we took a cab to the section of Baltimore known as Little Italy where we had a top notch Italian dinner at Chiapparelli’s.

Wayne, a.k.a., Captain Bones, is the senior captain of the pirate vessel “Fearless” and takes paying guests on booze cruises around the harbor. They even attack other boats with water canons, including the Coast Guard Cutter “Eagle” when she’s in the harbor!

This is the “Eagle” being escorted into the harbor.

Captain Bones poses with the Admiral.

We pulled out of the marina just before noon on Friday and went over to the Baltimore Marine Center where we pumped out and took on some fuel. It was quite breezy in the harbor and we were concerned that the Bay might be rough, but it was a calm cruise down to Annapolis. We entered Spa Creek and were on a mooring ball ($30/night) less than four hours after leaving Baltimore.

This is one of many “trash boats” that scour the harbor picking up floating trash.

A few of the LARGE container ships that move up and down the bay.

Friday afternoon we took a dinghy ride around Spa Creek and the Captain took advantage of the early evening light.

After finishing our Italian leftovers from Chiapparelli’s for dinner, we walked around downtown Annapolis to see what we could find. But we didn’t linger long and were back on board around 10:00 p.m.

Saturday we went in to town again and did some more extensive sightseeing in the light of day.

Our view of downtown Annapolis from the mooring field.

The Maryland State Capitol building.

The Rams Head Saturday special!

Bill & Ana made it to Annapolis late Saturday afternoon and joined us downtown at Mangia’s for the rest of the Alabama football game, followed by another evening of food and fun with good friends!

Sunday afternoon we met Bill & Ana at Mangia’s again to watch the Chicago Bears football game against Dallas. After the game we went back to our boats for a while and met up that evening for ice cream.

Monday morning the four of us met at Chick & Ruth’s Delly, a locally popular, diner-style restaurant that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. They start each day off by reciting the Pledge of Allegiance with their patrons.

Note the lower left hand corner of their menu, anybody care to take this one on?

After breakfast we worked our way over to the Naval Academy and spent some time walking the grounds. Unfortunately, a service was being conducted at the chapel and we weren’t able to go inside.

The view of the mooring field from the Naval Academy Visitor Center. Can you spot “Life’s2Short?”

We then dinghied over to the other side of Spa Creek to tour the Eastport area but didn’t find much of anything to tour. So it was back to the boat for a few quiet hours, until around 3:30 when we went in to town with Bill to kick around while Ana worked her four-hour shift.

We killed a few hours trying to decipher pictograms on the inside of Natty Boh (National Bohemian) bottle caps.

Bill picked Ana up at 7:00 p.m. and we walked to the Rams Head Tavern for what turned out to be a very disappointing final dinner in Annapolis. We said goodbye to our “Knot Tide Down” friends, at least for now, as we are leaving Annapolis in the morning and they are staying in the area for several more days.

Today is Tuesday, September 21st, and we are now back at Solomons, MD after a calm, but seemingly long, six-and-a-half hour cruise. We will probably spend a few of days here since the wind is supposed to pick up again tomorrow, plus we need to have some zippers replaced on the flybridge canvas, work on the water pump and install a new horn.

After we leave Solomons, we will head to Crisfield and then on to Tangiers Island (both on the eastern shore) before crossing back to the western shore and continuing south to the Norfolk area. After leaving Norfolk, we have plans to meet up with Todd’s mom & dad at the North Carolina Welcome Center in early October, and they are going to join us on the boat for several days as we cruise south to Morehead City.