Friday, September 20th

What a quiet and peaceful night! When we peeked outside it was very pleasant with mist rising off the water.  It was  8 AM and we thought we better get moving if we wanted to go back ashore, before it was time to head out.  We actually were thinking about staying one more night before we heard the weekend forecast….winds & rain.  So we thought we should move on with the other 2 boats who were leaving at noon.

We dropped our dinghy and motored over to say ‘good morning’ to the ‘Southern Belle’, Lynn and Sally.  We watched  them motor in and anchor while we were eating on the deck yesterday evening.  Their intentions were to head south as far as the Sassafras River and take a dock at the Georgetown Boat Basin.  Even though we were going to the same river, our group  thought we would anchor because there are so many anchorages up and down that river and on both shores.  Once again we were going to have great weather to securely anchor.  We wanted to tool around the Chesapeake, so we didn’t get to Annapolis too soon before the boat show.

We found a neat little breakfast shop called the Bohemian Café and Bakery before a quick check of the town again before we had to go back to the boat. 

We left our anchorage at 11:15 thinking we’d get a little jump on the two faster boats.  It didn’t take us long to get to the Bay but on our way we discovered that, hey, there are freighters on the canal also!   Chesapeake City is an interesting place, and we most definitely will stop on our way home next spring!

The Bay is so beautiful today!  It is so flat because there’s only about 3 kts of wind blowing out of the south and already 75 degrees.  We are in the narrow part cruising toward that Sassafras River which is on the eastern shore.  What a name…it just rolls off your tongue!  I read that there are Sassafras Trees that grow along its shores, thus its name.  The Indians made sassafras tea out of the roots of those trees.   The mouth of the Sassafras is very wide and all reviews from Active Captain direct boats to enter and stay near the southern shore because this is where the depth is.  Of course there are so many crab traps along the river’s mouth that it looks like a mine field.  At times it’s hard to see where the traps are because the floats are submerged.  The hardest to see were the floats painted black.  They tended to blend in with the color of the surface of the water!  

    Scenery on river!

We got to the entrance of the river at about 1:00 and from there had to ride 11.5 miles up the river toward Georgetown.  This was a very scenic ride with houses and properties that were out of this world!  We anchored at Skipjack Cove at around 3:30 PM.  It was 29.5 miles from Chesapeake City  to Georgetown…..4 ¼ hours.

I think I wrote that Chuck took a bath in the Hudson River at Croton Point….well I heard all this hooting and hollering…. and here he was bathing in the Sassafras River!  We then joined our friends in our dinghies to explore the Georgetown Boat Basin.  After walking around, we went back to The Granary Grill & Restaurant.  The six of us had a sun setter, or two, on the upper deck looking down the river to the cove where our boats were anchored.  On our way back to our boats from toasting a safe and wonderful day on the bay, Chuck donned his good Samaritan suit and we motored over to help a couple whose 18’ fishing boat wouldn’t start.  We ended up towing them back to the basin…didn’t think we could pull them…..and then headed back home.

 

Craig, Donna, & Dillon
'Mighty Fine'

Makayla, check this out!