Wednesday

May 17, 2017

Yesterday, we took off from St. Michaels, MD and headed to Chestertown, MD.  It was a beautiful ride on a winding river.  The day was warm and the wind was kind.  Our friends took off for Annapolis, across the Chesapeake Bay.  We tend to spend more time at the smaller towns, so we stayed on the eastern side of the Bay.

Elwood was squished behind Joell and happy about it.  He must have thought we would be in for another ruff day on the water.

Noticed this "Sand Bar" along the way at a marina along the Chester River...

This is the name of the mobile bar Mike built at SSYC...

Looks like they used a work/crabber boat to make the bar...

These two houses were in Chestertown.  One very old and one very new.

This large brick home is known as the Hynson-Ringgold House.  It hosted George Washington in 1773.  It also hosted Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Patrick Henry, and other Revolutionary leaders as they traveled throughout the region.  It was donated to Washington College and now is home to the College President.

The pink shown in the above home really was in the picture.  There is a red roof that reflects up from the porch on the home.  Pretty cool!

Interesting about the above building is traditionally it is known as the Custom House.  Yet it seems the office of His Majesty's Customs was likely in the building below.  This mansion was in fact the home of Thomas Ringgold, a merchant, lawyer, and prominent advocate of American liberty, although he was also a large-scale slave trader.

Chestertown is not very large by todays standards, but around the Revolutionary War era, it had become the largest and most important town on Maryland's Eastern Shore, with thriving cultural and educational institutions.  In 1782, Washington College-the first college founded in the newly independent United States- was established here.  Today Chestertown water traffic comes from recreational boating.

We left Chestertown early Wednesday (before 6:00am) morning and headed up the Chesapeake Bay to our undecided destination.  The River was beautiful in the early morning sunrise and the wind was calm.  

After over seven hours of driving, we arrived at Georgetown, MD for a two night stay.  The Chesapeake was so calm, we decided to head further than originally planned.  When the going is good, the boat gets going 😀

Monday

May 15th, 2017

Saint Michaels, MD was a great stop...

It was going to be a blustery day at the Maritime Museum, so we thought, why not a Bloody Mary with a good Nippitaty Chaser...

Definition of nippitaty:  particularly good and strong liquor; especially  :  good ale

First stop the Boat Shop...

This is one nice boat shop...

A couple of dinks being completed...

One of their boats under construction...

A little bright work...

A couple of old keels...

Size 10 1/2 Chain for sure...

Next, Hooper Strait Lighthouse...

Removed from operation  on the water and now at the museum...

The Fresnel Lens in the Hooper Strait Lighthouse...

A Fresnel lens (/freɪˈnɛl/ fray-nel or /ˈfrɛznəl/ frez-nəl) is a type of compact lens originally developed by French physicistAugustin-Jean Fresnel for lighthouses.^[1]

The design allows the construction of lenses of large aperture and short focal length without the mass and volume of material that would be required by a lens of conventional design. A Fresnel lens can be made much thinner than a comparable conventional lens, in some cases taking the form of a flat sheet. A Fresnel lens can capture more oblique light from a light source, thus allowing the light from a lighthouse equipped with one to be visible over greater distances.

This Fresnel Lens was on display in the lighthouse...

Looking East out of the lighthouse...

Got a little cold and rainy but we kept going...

The "Screw Pipe" used for securing lighthouses into the sea floor in the water...

The girls are looking good...

Myron was just not enjoying his photo-op, sometimes we girls can have off days...

Hey, the "Tower of Power" Mercury outboard...

Mikes' parents had a 125 hp on the back of their 1963 20' Cruisers Inc. wood boat back in the day...

Stopped in the Crab Claw to check out their prices...

An order of a dozen large crabs went for over $80 dollars...

We had a beer and scrammed outta there...

Had to post a picture of this beautiful wooden Nonsuch Sail Boat in the harbor...

In the mid-1970s, Gordon Fisher, a respected Canadian sailor, commissioned designer Mark Ellis to create a design for a cruising sailboat which would have decent accommodations, but still be easy for a singlehander to manage. 

A newer version...we have one at the South Shore Yacht Club which Heidi and her father Bob sail...

This Christ Church was founded in 1672.  It was one of the original water churches for the church of England.  The English crown levied taxes payable on the feast day of St. Michael and the settlement and shipbuilding community that grew around this church became known as St. Michaels.

The Parsonage Inn/Dr Seth's House was built in 1870 with elaborate brick work.   The brick came from the Dodson and White Brick Yard in St. Michaels.  It is the only example of brick Queen Anne style building in St. Michaels.

The Wickersham home was a part of a large plantation owned by Robert Hardwood, a wealthy Quaker farmer.  It was moved from Easton, MD to St. Michaels, prior to demolition for enlarging the airport.

St. Michaels is known as "the town that fooled the British" for its role in the War of 1812.  It is said the town folks new attack from the British was inevitable, so they hung lanterns in the trees to make it believe the town was on a hill.  Only one home was hit by a ball and it still stands today.  All is not known about that day, but it was August 10, 1813.

What was interesting about these canons is they are replicas of the two used on August 10, 1813, to warn the British and were only owned by the town because of a prank.  Jacob Gibson sailed up San Domingo Creek flying a red flag during the War of 1812.  The town folk fell for his prank and called out the Militia believing they were being attacked by the British. As an apology, Gibson gave the town two cannons.  They were soon used in defense of St Michaels on August 10, 1813, against the British.

Saint Michaels Marine and Restaurant..

Another bayside restaurant..

Getting Elwood off the boat...

Do we have this puppy trained or what...

 We will be heading north again tomorrow morning, Tuesday May 16th.

Friday

May 12th, 2017

The sea's have been pretty rough...here a trawler is plowing through a monster wave...

This was actually posted in the mens bathroom, at the Carpenter Street Salon, with the caption...

"I told you so"

The boys at Carpenter Street Salon, St. Michaels, MD

Replaced both engine fuel filters, cleaned the flame arrestors (air cleaners) and decided to change all 16  spark plugs after pulling one and seeing that the center tip was pretty much gone...

I also noticed, before changing the spark plugs, when I revved either engine to 3000 rpm's and quickly pulled back the throttles that the engines would die...   Not anymore :-)

Our newly acquired friends Larry and Elka Murphy, also loopers...

Super fun people...Elka was born in Germany.

We are standing on Main Street (Tabot Street) in St. Michaels, MD.  This is the only street with sidewalks.

The neighborhood of St. Michaels, MD is more like we expected to see.  Small town, close to the water, narrow roads, and cute little homes.

In the background you can see a few of the homes have been added on to in the rear.  Only direction to go for most.

Notice there are no sidewalks.  

The marina is directly in front of us.  The town directly behind.

These two houses above and below are for rent by the Higgins Marina.

Thursday

May 11, 2017

We left Zahniser's Marina in Solomon, MD today and headed to the beautiful little town of St. Michaels, MD.  The day looked promising at 6:45am, but the weather got ugly very quickly.  We were traveling with two boats that both were able to be driven from the salon with glass windows and windshield wipers.  We only have the ability to drive from the flybridge.  Our flybridge has flexible strata glass, which you can't even put Rain Ex on.  Mike checked his weather apps and noticed a large rain mass approaching quickly, we radioed our friends we were going to get up on plane and go fast.  They said "Go for it!" We arrived in a St. Michaels marina at 10:35.  They arrived at 2:00pm.  We did run into some heavy rain during our drive, but it was a lot easier for us to see other boats and hazards while going fast.  We really ate up the gas, but had a smoother, less tiring ride, than if we had been going trawler speed.