September 17-20, 2006 South River and Church Creek

We anchored in a small creek off of the South River which is ... surprise ... south of Annapolis. We will be here for 4 nights. Talk about peaceful. This actually is a ‘hurricane hole’. There are a number of these creeks identified on the bay for boaters to come to when there is a hurricane threat. The creeks are narrow with high banks and trees to help protect from wind and high waters. Hope we never have to use one for that purpose. For grins, we took the dingy off the boat and tooled around. We have been using the grill for dinners, and during the days we have been catching up on reading, blogging and boat logging, while worrying if the anchor is still holding!!

No one around!

Breakfast at anchor and below the leaves in the water. I can't believe that summer is coming to an end.

Next, on to St. Michaels.

September 13-17, 2006 Magothy River to Annapolis

We left Baltimore and decided to anchor out in the Magothy River which is halfway between Baltimore and Annapolis, our next ‘city’ stop. Because of its proximity to both cities and to Washington, the river was packed with boaters. But since we were heading into the river on Sunday afternoon as most people were leaving, we had it all to ourselves by dinner time. We anchored behind a private island on the north shore of the river called Gibson Island. It was peaceful and pretty. We looked out onto a house that appears to have been built around the same time as Mount Vernon, George Washington’s house. It has a long, green lawn in front of the house where horses grazed. We certainly enjoyed the view and stayed there 3 days.

We arrived in Annapolis on Wednesday, Sept. 10. It was humbling docking at the marina. There were at least a dozen 100+ ft yachts in this marina. Usually a dockhand helps boats get in their slip. As the kid tied our lines around the cleats, we heard him say on his radio “I’m helping a little 44 DeFever, I’ll be right there to help with the big one”. Perspective is everything!

It was also a bit of a challenge getting Rickshaw into her slip at the Annapolis Yacht Basin. The entry way was narrow, just off the bow of one of those mega yachts; then had to make a 90 degree turn to the left into a narrow slip area, then pivot the boat back 90 degrees and back in. The space to pivot in was just about the length of Rickshaw, so the pucker factor was a bit high that afternoon. (Rick wrote the above paragraph and I just want to add that he did a great job of getting the boat into the slip!)

It has turned cooler and rainy. My girlfriend, Stacey, picked me up on Thursday morning and I spent two days at her house doing ‘girl’ things like hair cuts and shopping. We had a blast. Rick stayed on the boat and got a few repairs done. Our water pressure system had gone caput so he had that replaced. He tried to find a barber to get his hair cut within walking distance from the marina, but no luck. Pretty soon he will be sporting a pony tail if we don’t find one soon! We had some great meals in Annapolis. We found the best ribs ever at Griffin’s on the Annapolis waterfront. What a great town.

My youngest brother and his family came for a visit on Saturday and we had a great time catching up with all of them. We wandered around Annapolis, as the weather wasn’t cooperating for a boat ride, and enjoyed the afternoon together. We went back to Griffin’s and begged for more ribs for dinner. Following are some random shots of Annapolis as we were leaving (of course, that was a great weather day!!).

Above, Maryland State House.

Annapolis water side and below the Naval Academy.

We have become used to dodging crab pots this whole trip but leaving Annapolis on a sunny Sunday afternoon, Sept. 18, gave us a different perspective of what we needed to dodge! We’ve never been in the midst of so many boats going in all directions.



























This is the Thomas Point Lighthouse. It is the only screw pile lighthouse remaining in its original position (remember we like lighthouses!). It was a pretty sight. There were 8 or 9 tankers lined up to get into Baltimore Harbor.