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.

September 10, 2006 Baltimore, MD Part 1

We have been on the water now about 6 ½ weeks and have traveled 924 miles. It is amazing to think that one can drive that in a few days…but it is the process not the destination, as they say in boating!

This is on our way into Baltimore going under the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

We arrived in Baltimore on Wednesday, Sept. 6 in the afternoon. We stayed in the Inner Harbor Marina East which is right near the Inner Harbor, Little Italy and Fell’s Point; a great location. Our view of the Baltimore skyline at night was wonderful. Our good friend, Robin, lives about 15 minutes away and came by to say hello and drink some wine. It was great to see her again.

Thursday was boat washing and laundry day. Joy. It takes us most of a morning to wash the boat and is exhausting. But that gave us the afternoon to tour Ft. McHenry, where Francis Scott Key was inspired to write the Star Spangled Banner near the end of the war of 1812.

Ft. McHenry looks very much like Ft. Macon in Atlantic Beach, NC. We took the water taxi there and on the way home got off at Fell’s Point, home of Bertha’s Mussles, for a cold beer before walking back to the boat. Baltimore is doing a terrific job of updating the waterfront and we loved walking through Fell’s Point and Little Italy.

On Friday we went to the Aquarium. It is fabulous. The last time we were there was when Rick and I were dating 18 years ago! It has grown about twice in size since then. Robin was generous enough to take me to a wine store and grocery store that day. That was a huge help. We had a delicious dinner in Little Italy with Robin and her husband John that night.

On Saturday we walked down to the Inner Harbor and lucked upon dragon boat races being held there (but forgot to bring our camera). We were also able to visit with my nephew, Jamie, and his girlfriend, Carrie. It was great catching up with them. Then we were invited to Robin and John’s house for a barbecue that night. We got a great tour of their large, stately home, built in 1931 ... complete with now dysfunctional buzzers for the wait staff. Robin is still one of the best cooks I know!! The whole weekend just couldn’t have been more fun.
More pictures in Part II.

September 10, 2006 Baltimore, MD Part II
Here are some random pictures of Baltimore. It was a fun place to visit and we will plan to come back here. Lynnie and Rick at Ft. McHenry.

Fell's Point Main Street.

Our view at night across the Patapsco River.

War of 1812 re-enactment soldiers on their way to Ft. McHenry from the Inner Harbor.

The USS Constellation being moved from the Inner Harbor to Ft. McHenry for the re-inactment by 3 tug boats.

The following are of the colorful Inner Harbor as we took a cruise through it on our way out.

The Baltimore Aquarium below.

September 5, 2006 Labor Day Weekend with Vicki and Norm

We had such a great time over Labor Day weekend. Our friends who live in Wilmington, DE, Vicki and Norm, invited us to spend the weekend with them. After several weeks on the boat we were ready for some land time. Norm picked us up from the boat on Friday and took us to their home. On the way we stopped and, FINALLY had steamed crabs for lunch! We ate at a local crab shack in historic Chesapeake City which is on the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. Rick isn’t a blue crab fan so Norm and I got to eat them all. Rick had a humongous sub. Of course, beer is a necessary component when crabs are involved, so while Tropical storm Ernesto caused lots of rain to fall outside we were enjoying our crabs.

The next day we drove up to Philadelphia. It has been years since either of us had been there. It rained all day so it was a good thing we were inside most of the day. We really enjoyed Independence Hall and the new Constitution Center is fabulous. Lynnie, Norm and Vicki at Independence Hall.

Rick is standing in the back of the room where the Continental Congress met and debated the future of America. The chair is the original chair that was used by George Washington and subsequent Presidents of the Continental Congress.

He is also signing the Constitution 'guest' book.

The last picture is in a fabulous room in the Constitution Center that has life sized bronze statues of all of the signers of the Constitution.

We had to take a lunch break so we went into south Philly to the home of the original ‘Philly Cheese Steak’. There are two dives, er, restaurants, that say they are the originals and here are pictures of both as well as ordering instructions. What a hoot!! (You can double click on the picture to make it larger.)

On Sunday we all went to a wine festival at a local winery and had a great time tasting the different wines and listening to jazz. On Monday Vicki and Norm took us back to the boat. They have decided to purchase a DeFever, which is the same make as our boat so we took them for a ride down the Sassafras River to the Chesapeake. It was another gorgeous day! Thanks to our hosts for a wonderful weekend.

August 30, 2006 Galesville, MD to Georgetown, MD

We were on our way to Georgetown, MD which is in the very northern part of MD. Our goal was to meet up with our friends Vicki and Norm who had invited us to their home in Wilmington, DE for the Labor Day weekend (which is about 45 minutes north of us and about 45 minutes south of Philly, PA ... if you happen to be travelling by car ... by boat it's pretty much a whole day at 8 knots).

So, we began to pull anchor in Galesville about 8:30-ish, with Lynnie on the upper helm keeping the boat headed toward the anchor, and Rick on the bow washing down the anchor chain as it was pulled onto the boat by the windlass. You really have to wash down the anchor as it comes in, because it is usually caked in bottom yuk ... aka mud ... and that's not really what you want to dump into your chain locker. Anyway, Rick seemed to wash forever, and finally got the anchor out of the water after about 30 minutes. That was the stickiest stuff we have encountered yet. Rick left the anchor dangling in the water as Lynnie made her way out of the West River back toward the Chesapeake Bay proper. It was easier to let the motion of the boat wash off the anchor than to try to blast the caked mud off. We also use a fresh water washdown, so just as Rick finished, the port tank was sucking air. Not too much of a problem as we planned to fill the tanks again in Georgetown.

When we left Galesville it was cold, windy and rainy day. Maybe we should have stayed where we were but what kind of adventure would that be? Anyway, our pictures are a bit dull because of the weather. This is the Thomas Point Light House. There are several of these types of lighthouses on the bay. They're called "screw pile" (...no kidding...) lighthouses, and this one was originally built in 1825. Obviously, we love lighthouses!

As we mentioned earlier, summer left us for a bit! Here we are heading toward the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Sweats were the dress of the day.


Georgetown and the river it sits on, the Sassafras, has a rich history with many land titles that go back to the original grants from Charles II and Lord Baltimore. It was just beautiful. The Sassafras river is near the top of the state. If we were continuing to head north we would have gone through the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal which would have put us into the Delaware Bay. Next time.
This was an old working boat that we followed into the river to Georgetown.

The marina in Georgetown had bikes we could use and we went into the closest town, Galena since there is really no town in Georgetown. We peddled by two cemeteries; one that was started in 1896 and the other in 1726. Turns out that Georgetown was burned down by the British in the war of 1812.. After all that exercise we had to stop at the bakery in Galena before heading back to the boat.












Tomorrow we'll plan to get caught up on the blog with narratives and pictures of our time with Vicki and Norm in Philadelphia, and our visit to Baltimore's Inner Harbor.

August 28, 2006 Solomons Island, MD to Galesville, MD

Hey, don’t leave the blog!!! We’ll try to get caught up. We left Solomons Island on the morning of Wednesday, Aug 30 in the rain. We thought it was going to clear up pretty quick but, alas, no such luck. In fact, not only did we leave temperatures in the upper 90’s, but we got into lots of rain and colder temps - 68 degrees!

Ultimately, we were headed for Georgetown, MD about 6 miles up the Sassafras River in Northeastern Maryland, which is the farthest north we are going on this trip. We had originally planned to go all the way to Rhode Island but we left from NC too late to get that far this time.

Anyway, we ran for 7 hours and stopped in Galesville, MD which is a really small town on a river south of Annapolis, the West River. Again, lots of crab pots to worry about but it was a nice place to anchor. We took the dingy into town which consisted of a small market, an art shop and a wine shop (we were happy!).

We had lunch at the Pirate's Cove restaurant next to their marina ... nice place right on the water. Their specialties revolved around crab ... no surprise, and Lynnie and I both had the "Gabby Crabby", which was a very yum crab melt on english muffin with mozzerella cheese, and home made french fries. Also shared a home made key lime pie slice. Then we waddled over to the West River Market, which was an old timie general store with an elevated railroad running around on the inside. Quaint town, with not a whole lot going on.

We then went back to the marina and took the dingy out to Rickshaw in the harbor with threatening clouds and predictions of severe thunderstorms. We watched as they gathered, and then finally dumped for a few minutes. Then the skies cleared and the late afternoon sun came back out. All-in-all another fine day ...

August 27, 2006 Solomons Island, MD

We enjoyed Solomons so much we thought we would just include some additional pictures. The first couple are on the way to Solomons. The light house is Point No Point lighthouse (isn't that a great name?). It is a 'caisson' style lighthouse build it the 1800's.

Then there is the blog meister! I can't say enough good things about the Verizon wireless card. We've used it everywhere. Hey, who's driving the boat???

The entrance to Solomons Island is beautiful with some real pretty homes surrounding the water. We've been to Solomons by car before but it wasn't until we saw it by water that we realized how much we liked it.

This is the welcome committee. Two swans come right over to the 'new' boats in the harbor looking for handouts.

And this is how we celebrate another day on the water.

We left Solomons on Monday and have made 2 stops since then. More info to follow.

August 27, 2006 Solomons Island, MD

The last few days have been just great. We decided to hang out on the creek beside Solomons Island for a few days and just enjoy the scenery. We will have anchored out for 4 nights before leaving tomorrow to go north.

We got the chance to really practice anchoring. The first time it took us about 3 tries to set the anchor, with everyone watching. Last night we found that we had moved too close to a neighboring sailboat so we picked up the anchor and moved (at 11:00 pm). This morning we woke up very close to the dock and moved again!! Practice makes perfect, I've heard.
Yesterday morning we took the dingy searching for a place to have breakfast. On the way, we stopped at one of the neighboring boats to ask if our anchoring techniques had scared them! They were very sweet and laughed and said that they had been there themselves at one time or another.

This was the first time that we've had so many other boats in an anchorage with us. A bit unnerving but we are getting more used to it.

Our neighbors are very self sufficient. I'm guessing those with sailboats won't think anything of the pictures below but just another reason why we think motoring is the way to go! He hoisted her up on a winch and she proceeded to drill two new holes in the mast. The first time she used a cordless drill and the bit broke so she had to come down and get the electric drill.