June 18, 2004 - Annapolis, MD

After dinner, Tom dropped me off at Telemar Bay Marina where I would be staying on Matt's boat for the night while he was away on a business trip.  They would be staying at a friend's house for a few days before driving back.  I made arrangements with Tom Powers to pick up my car in the morning.  Tom had allowed me to store my car in a garage on property that he owned while we took our boats north.  Tom came by early and I had my car and was ready to go by 9:00 a.m.  The drive back wasn't bad, until I got near Washington, DC on 95.  They were doing evening construction and I was delayed about and hour and a half in stop-and-go traffic.  Just what I needed after driving 12 hours.  I finally arrived at my boat around 12:00 a.m.

I decided to try to find a reasonably priced marina in the Annapolis area since I planned to stay here a while.  I ran into Bill at the library the next morning.  I had traveled with Bill for a short time on the way down south last fall.  Bill had some problems with his boat on the way down after running aground at Deltaville, VA.  He said that he was delayed for about a month and ran up a bill of around seven and a half boat units ($7,500.00) before he got out of the yard and was back on his way again.  He mentioned that a slip might be opening up at the marina he was staying at and the price was only $10 per foot, per month.

I stopped by the marina and spoke with the owner.  He said that he may have had a slip but the people he thought were leaving had just paid him for another month.  He said check back in the beginning of July.  I checked out a nearby marina, which was right on the South River.  It was a little exposed to wakes from passing boats on the river and south winds.  The wind was blowing out of the SE at around 10-15 knots that afternoon and boats were rolling in their slips.  It didn't look too comfortable.  A few days latter I found a sign on a slip in a marina in front of condo on Spa Creek, which was a great location.  The sign said that it was for rent from Jan-Aug and listed a number, which I called and left a message on an answering machine.  I never got a call back so I gave up on that slip.

July 1, 2004 - Corsica River, MD

I took a couple of short cruises during the past few weeks.  Father's Day weekend brought some beautiful weather, so I traveled up the Severn River to Little Round Bay.  It was a short trip and I got there at around noon and anchored near the eastern shore out of the way of any boat traffic.  It was a nice anchorage until the water skiers arrived in force.  They were passing by my boat from all directions.  After a couple hours of this, I finally had enough and pulled up my anchor and moved the western shore where several other boats had already anchored.  It was a lot calmer since the water skiers kept mostly to the other shore.

About a week later I took another trip up the bay to the Magothy River, just south of Baltimore.  I arrived at around 12:30 p.m. and anchored off of the very popular Dobbins Island.  There were several small powerboats anchored just off of the island in the shallower water.  I was the first sailboat to arrive and anchored a little further out between Dobbins and Little Island.  Little Island is just as the name implies, a little island with room enough for one large house, with a structure that looks like a small lighthouse and a lawn with two artificial palm trees.

After lunch I got in my dinghy and began cleaning all of the water stains from Tyche's hull.  When you travel the ICW your boat acquires a brownish stain on the bow and lower portion of the transom called a 'Ditch Lip'.  Well, I cleaned all of this off, as well as the water streaks, and the boat was looking real nice again, so I took a picture of it with Little Island in the background.

All during the afternoon more and more boats arrived and anchored.  I was surprised that there were so many boats here on a weekday.  By sunset there were 18 sailboats, a trawler and on small powerboat anchored between the two islands.  I can just imagine how crowded it's going to get here during the July 4th weekend.  

The next morning I left and headed across the bay to the eastern shore and up the Chester River.  There was nice breeze and I sailed just about all of the way.  I arrived at the entrance to the Corsica River where the Chester branched off and traveled a few miles up the Corsica to explore the different anchorages.  I dropped my anchor in a small cove near a farm and the entrance to a small creek.  I was surprised to see only one other boat here.  According to my cruising guide, there are as many as 50 to 100 boats anchored here on a nice summer weekend.  The only other boat that I saw anchored here was a large trawler at the entrance to the river.  I saw another sailboat pass in the late afternoon and he may have anchored further up the river. 

The next morning I left early because I wanted to get back to the Weems Creek to get a good spot before the July 4th crowd started arriving.  It gets pretty crowded there on holiday weekends.  The wind was blowing from the SE, the direction I would be traveling, at around 5 to 10 knots so I motor-sailed with just the main and unfurled the genoa whenever I got the opportunity.  As I got near the mouth of the Severn River I turned the engine off and sailed close-hauled towards the main channel.  I hope to take another trip soon after the madding holiday weekend crowd departs and we get another stretch of nice weather.