TwoGether

Wednesday, 11/1/11      Departed Swan Creek of Rock Hall 10:05 AM.  Although a bit hazy it was a beautiful day.

While cruising  under the Bay Bridge at Annapolis, we passed a large container ship headed north bound.  That was cool!  The cruise down the bay, following the eastern shore was smooth with light winds and the haze burning off.  We passed through Knapps Narrows (Tilghman Island) for our first experience with a draw bridge.  Even though we have a drawbridge on the Sassafras we have never taken Twogether up river far enough to pass through.   Then we turned north up to Dun Cove arriving at 4:15PM.  It was a nice anchorage.

Dun Cove : N38° 44.416 W076° 19.133

Thursday, 11/2/11.          Just after 10:00 we headed south behind Tilghman toward the

Bay. 

Ancient mariners have many tales about the Sirens (mermaids) who would lure them into the rocks by playing sweet music on their lyres.  Well it seems these Sinister Sisters of the Seas have kept up with technology.  They now they lure you with a sweet feminine voice on the marine weather channel.  “South winds 10 to 15 knots…waves one to two feet.”  The late Paul Harvey would say “Now for the rest of the story.”   It was more like steady at 15 with ”chop” of two to three feet with a frequent four footer thrown in for a little excitement!

After a somewhat bumpy ride across the Bay, we cruised into the Patuxent River and anchored about three miles upriver in Mill Creek.  This was another beautiful anchorage.  But our Weather Witch forecasted north to northwest winds increasing to 15 to 20 with gust of 25.  So we anchored near a bluff that would give us good shelter.  But when the winds came from the east there wasn’t much protection.  We gave new meaning to “swinging on the hook”.  There had to be times when the wind reached gale force.  While this wasn’t our most restful night we were glad to be where we were. 

Around 10:00 PM we listened in suspense as a 38 ft. sailboat hailed the Coast Guard for assistance.  He was adrift near Breezy Point.  We could only hear the Coast Guard side of the conversation.  He was apparently the only person onboard.  Maryland Trooper 7 (state police helicopter) found him and stayed with him awaiting the arrival of a fire/rescue boat.  Trooper 7 stayed with him until he had to return for fuel. It would appear the water was too rough for the F/R boat since we didn’t hear anyone talk to the F/R boat after that.  The Coast Guard kept in touch with the sailboat via a radio call every 15 minutes.  Then in the early morning darkness the Coast Guard issued a statement that the sailboat was taking on water and for all other vessels to be on the lookout for him, report his position and offer any assistance they could.  With five to six foot waves (chop) there weren’t any other small boats out there. Finally around 7:00 AM the Coast Guard issued a statement that he had received assistance and cancelled the watch.  We were so relieved to hear he was safe.

Saturday, 11/5/11.           This is getting exciting!!!  About 4:00 AM Linda noticed that our anchor had drug about 20 feet. But reset itself.  We kept a watchful eye on it, with the GPS, and with the arrival of daylight we moved to another location on Mill Creek.  After a hardy breakfast, served by the First Mate, we started to relax.  She even fell asleep on the settee.  A well-deserved rest.  The winds are forecast to be gentler tomorrow so we will just stay put today. 

Mill Creek:  N38° 20. 069  W76° 30.074