August 21-23, 2020 Wye River & LaTrappe Creek Anchorages & Cambridge MD

 On our way out of Annapolis, we needed to pump out so we stopped @ ACM which was easy in & out. We enjoyed a nice short cruise with some larger cruisers & sailboats out & about around us. The weather is finally cooling down some, it's still warm but not so so hot. We found a pretty anchorage on The East Wye River: the second spot in the cove on the north side. We are the only boat we can see with no houses nearby. 

After getting settled, we took the dinghy for a cocktail cruise and who did we find? About a mile further up the river tucked into the mouth of Grain Era Creek, (another nice anchorage) sat KKLimerick. Don & Cindy Dahl owners of Limerick are a couple we have met & communicated with for years.  We haven't had many opportunities to visit in person so we knocked on their hull and luckily they were on board and had time to chat. We are so grateful for our Krogen family and these two are extra special. 

Limerick 39KK

The night was calm & warm so we used our portable fan which helps. In the morning, Limerick stopped over in their dinghy to deliver some fresh baked cookies & brownies-told you they were special. After lunch, we went exploring in the dinghy. There was a group of cruisers rafted together in Dividing Creek. We cruised past Limerick to the end of Grain Era Creek and found a canoe ramp & picnic area. Further up the Wye, is a Nature Preserve in Pickering Cove with a small Visitor Center but it wasn't very dinghy friendly so we didn't get out of the dinghy. The weather has been pleasant enough to enjoy dinner out on the back deck. 

We pulled our anchor to cruise over to the Chop Tank River which in some areas is 70 feet deep. The weather was so nice, we drove from the bridge for a change. We cruised into LaTrappe Creek and stopped at the #1 anchorage as noted on AC, another pretty spot with a forest of trees on our side and only a few homes across the way. We were tired of cooking on board, so we hopped into the dinghy & crossed over to the town of Cambridge. We stopped at the Marina to get gas for the dinghy. Then continued along the shore, up the creek into town, to find a restaurant that had outdoor seating & a place to tie the dinghy. There was wall space on the Municipal wall and Snappers was walking distance from there. We were able to keep an eye on the dinghy from the deck at the restaurant.

August 19-21, 2020 Annapolis, MD

 Left Herrington South late morning  because we waited for the rain to stop. We didn't have a long day of cruising so we could wait till it cleared up. We picked up some diesel fuel on our way out of the Harbor because the price was great: $1.85/gallon. The bay was calm, quiet & not too hot today until we reached Annapolis where the boat traffic really picked up. Waterford & Sea Dweller had told us about the moorings available in Spa Creek and we love moorings so we headed in that direction rather than dock in any of the busy tight Marinas. We did need to have the Spa Creek Bridge opened for us & it opens on the half hour so we had to wait a bit. There are 3 sets of mooring balls past the bridge. The first set are for boats 35 feet & smaller, the second set is mid way up the creek and the 3rd set which is for boats up to 50 feet, is at the end where the creek splits to the right or left. There were not any boats moored on any of the balls. We had lots of options. We picked the middle set of moorings #63. The shore is lined with houses, apartments and what looks like an old monastery. The Harbormaster in town manages the moorings. After settling in, we took our dinghy into town to sign in. We docked it at the end of the narrow basin, which is very busy and did not feel safe and there was not a good way to lock our dinghy up. We signed in and the dock guy told us about all the dinghy docks scattered around the harbor.  He suggested we use the one at the end of Prince Edward Street which is safer and has cleats to use our lock on. That night we ate on board while many paddle boarders, kayaks & small boats meandered by. We did not have to deal with any big wakes, so that was nice. 

Our next morning, we took the dinghy and explored the area. At the end of the creek, where the 3rd set of mooring balls are located, there is a pretty wooded park but on each branch of the split are more homes. We docked the dinghy on Prince Edward Street & walked into town past the Naval Academy. I bought a delicious decaffeinated Mocha Frappe from Beau & Biddy's Coffee Shop. We met Jeff & Ellen in town mid afternoon. First stop with them was Pusser's outside on the water for drinks. Then we walked around the stores with masks in hand & on our faces when going inside. After walking the shopping district, we stopped at a cute patio place for another drink. Ellen & Jeff then drove us over the bridge to The Boatyard for dinner outside under a tent. After dinner, they were nice enough to take us to the local Safeway to get a few groceries. We had a great visit with them and loved  hearing about the construction of their new 48 Krogen. We got back to Day Dreams in time to watch the end of the DNC Convention & hear the Presidential Candidate: Joe Biden speak. Mr Biden gave an excellent speech. We are proud to have him as our candidate. 

This board was up in the park
with KK Lali in the forefront

August 17-18, 2020 Herrington Harbor South, North Beach MD

 Our cruise out of Solomons Harbor was entirely different this morning. The weather is hot, sunny and super calm. We continued our cruise north in the Chesapeake Bay to Herrington Harbor South Marina. We had been here years before and liked it. The Marina is quite large with many slips and is currently full. The dock master assigned us a nice large slip with a long finger pier. Their transient face dock was full so they found us one where the regular boat slip owners keep their boats. It is a busy harbor. It appears that many boaters here actually use their boats. 

This Marina is the first place that we have been, since the COVID Pandemic started, that is requiring everyone on the docks & walkways to wear masks.  Signs are posted at the intersection of each dock run.  The grounds here are very pretty with lots of flowers, benches, walkways and gazebos. It's a short walk to the pool and their small beach. They have complimentary kayaks, small sailboats and paddle boards. There are also rental cottages on site. This is a wedding venue. Ketch 22 a trendy outdoor bar & restaurant also on site and where we dined our first night. We did get caught in the rain @ dinner but we were able to move to the bar which had a roof. When the rain began to blow we used our umbrella behind us and we were fine! 

On our second day visiting, we walked to the beach and I borrowed one of the Paddle Boards. I do enjoy the sport but I don't necessarily like doing it by myself and where there really isn't a destination or a winding river. (Doug's shoulder wasn't up to doing the paddling required.) It is great exercise so I did take it out for awhile. 

We took advantage of their shuttle and went into the town of North Beach. There is a long boardwalk and beach but the beach & concessions were closed due to the pandemic. We walked along the boardwalk but did not walk out the pier. We did find an ice cream shop and a Mexican Restaurant & indulged in both, outdoors of course. Ice Cream & Margarita's what a combo! 

August 12-16, 2020 Chesapeake Bay, Solomon's

We said our good-byes & good luck to Nelson's in Deltaville and cruised across the bay to Mill Creek. We threw our anchor for the night, near the mouth of the creek in order to catch a breeze.  Outdoor temps are still running in the 90's. We skirted around the crab pots & fish traps.  *Historical moment, Joe Biden, the Democratic Presidential nominee has chosen Senator Kamala Harris as his VP running mate, a black female. 

Our next destination; the Solomon Islands. We enjoyed an uneventful cruise into the busy harbor, passing beautiful sand cliffs & a pretty lighthouse.  On our way in, we passed KKWay To Go on their way out to fish for the afternoon. We anchored up a different Mill Creek past Calverts Marina to the east but it was narrower than we thought with many docks & houses. 

The next day, we attempted to leave and we got as far out just passed the lighthouse and the waves were 2-3's right on the nose & growing.  We were taking spray over the bow & it was not a pretty day.  We decided, there was no reason to put up with this for 4 hours, when we could turn around & try again another day. So that's what we did.  Not a usual event for us but why not? We are retired, during a pandemic where nothing is normal anyway. Once we turned around, we had a nice following sea pushing us back into the Solomons. We called a Marina that we had heard about but never docked in: Spring Cove Marina. Unforgettable was there and Lili was on the hard getting some work done in their yard. The Marina has old wooden fixed docks with small finger piers but luckily all that was available was a T-Head, which was perfect for us. Spring Cove grounds are pretty and well maintained.  Many tall, big trees are scattered around in a parklike setting. They have a large lap pool with a bar & piped in underwater music. The Marina office has a nice shop and upstairs is a clean laundry & clubhouse with a ton of books.  Due to the pandemic, the clubhouse is closed but the rest of the facilities are open. We walked out to the Main Street which is busy and has a West Marine, liquor store, walk-in Medical Clinic, a Nautical Museum and fast food restaurants close-by. 

Spring Cove Marina is situated towards the end of a pretty harbor that has some nice homes lining the shore.  Doug especially had his eye on a really cool boathouse that was currently housing a beautifully restored classic wooden boat. Scott & Melissa from Unforgettable stopped by to say Hi. KK Talalah passed by, waved and then emailed us to say Hi. They were anchored nearby. After cocktails our first night, we took our dinghy to Talalah to introduce ourselves and chat for a few minutes. The Marina also offers a shuttle service, which we used once to go to dinner @ the Island Hideaway. The shuttle stopped running before we were finished with dinner, so we walked back which wasn't a bad walk at all. The Marina also has a courtesy car available and we borrowed it to go to the nearby Weiss Grocery store.

The Marina has a tent without sides and picnic tables scattered around their grounds.  We met Unforgettable & Way To Go safely social distanced in the tent for cocktails. Bob & Ria on Way To Go were docked at Calvert's, across the bay and had a car, so they drove over to meet us. We enjoyed the company.

August 5-11,2020 Deltaville VA-Doziers Marina

 We experienced the calm after the storm so we took advantage of the beautiful day to leave York River and cruise more of the Chesapeake Bay on our way to Deltaville. Our good friends, Garry & Jacque on KKWaterford have been staying at one of their favorite marinas which is located in Deltaville, Virginia. The Marina used to be named Doziers Regatta Point but is now under new ownership with a new name. We wanted to spend time with them because we hadn't seen them since March. Garry told us we needed to enter at or near high tide and we timed it perfectly at 1:00PM.  The channel is a bit shallow in a spot or two even at high tide. Garry & Jacque arranged to get us a primo spot on the face dock close to the Clubhouse, showers & pool and not far from them. They have their car with them, so during the week, Garry & Jacque took us to a local farm stand, grocery shopping, outside dining @ a great Thai place & for a review tour of the town.  We had been here with them 6 years ago. We started our week's visit, enjoying their company & cocktails on the big front porch of the Clubhouse in the rocking chairs. 

It's still been very hot, too hot to do much outside through the mid part of the day. We also continued experiencing rain & thunderstorms. We even had to postpone celebrating Garry's birthday for a day because of rain. The pandemic is still raging so we are staying outside when we socialize-not going into other's boats, inside the Clubhouse or inside restaurants. We met a few of Waterford's friends who are in the Marina and shared Chinese take out with them for Garry's birthday on the big porch. Jacque & I were able to spend some girl time going to Starbucks & shopping. Doug & I were able to get some morning walks in before the oppressing heat got too bad.  The pool was a great place to get together with Garry & Jacque to cool off & enjoy our cocktails. 

Some of our other KK friends were staying in another Marina across town. One of our days, we took G&J in our dinghy & met Vicki & Bob, KK Last Mistake @ Raw Bar, a waterside restaurant, for lunch. Another day, Doug & I took our dinghy across the bay, around a peninsula to Deltaville Boatyard to visit all the Krogens, 4 of them: Casablanca, H'Evans Gift, C'Est La Vie & Last Mistake. Our ride there was a bit sporty & farther than I had thought. It was worth the ride, we all met & enjoyed cocktails in the pool. Our ride back was great with the wind behind us. 

It was important to us to spend time with Garry & Jacque because their boat is For Sale and we don't know how much more boating time the 4 of us will be sharing together. This was a great week to reminisce and make new memories. 

July 28-August 4, 2020 York River Yacht Haven, Gloucester, Virginia

 It's a short 3.5 hour cruise from Hampton, VA to Gloucester. We had made reservations at York River Yacht Haven, after we heard good things about the marina and knowing 2 boats docked there. We enjoyed calm water cruising through a portion of the Chesapeake Bay. 

When we arrived, the water was temporarily shut off due to a leak.  The dock originally assigned to us on B dock was very narrow, so we declined that one and they put us temporarily on C dock T-head. It's very hot again in the high 90's. KKTapestry our friends, Lisa & Mark are docked here for the summer & invited us to their dock for cocktails. Before cocktails, we took a dip in the Marina's big pool.  The water was clear, cool and refreshing. We enjoyed catching up with Lisa & Mark before a storm blew in. The winds were at least 30 mph sustained for about 20 minutes. Since we were out on a t-head, we felt the brunt of it, pushing us into the dock. That evening, we participated in a conference call with Jeri, Jerry, Craig & Cheryl to discuss our options regarding our New Zealand/Australia trip planned for Feb/March 2021. Due to the COVID Pandemic, it will not happen so we need to decide to cancel or postpone. 

Our next day, we moved the boat to D Dock where the slips are wider & the finger piers are longer and also more protected from wind & waves. Doug is healing well and actually cleaned the boat's mustache off on the bow, using Lemon Juice. His abrasions are all healed. His right shoulder area still does ache with use & he is still icing & taping it. There is a restaurant on site here & we ordered take out a few times during the week we stayed and the food was good. The other boat we know docked here is Fidelity, a sailboat owned by Kevin, Hope & Windy. We found the boat but the owners are back in Texas working for the month. 

On the weekend, our nephew John & his wife Christina from Great Bridge, who we saw last week came and picked us up. They took us for a scenic drive on the Colonial Parkway, to the Jamestown Settlement and for a walk through Williamsburg.  The day was very, very hot! We ended our visit with a stop at a great winery where we sat at an upstairs outside terrace sampling wines. We loved our visit with them. 

Hurricane Isiasis was working his way up the east coast and warnings predicted Isiasis would come over us as a Tropical Storm. We had a few days to prepare. We borrowed the courtesy car and provisioned at a nearby Krogers. We were scheduled to leave but decided to ride out the storm here @ YorkRiver Yacht Haven. Meanwhile, another Krogen arrived: Miller Time so we had a cocktail party on Tapestry's dock with the 7 of us (Miller's daughter joined us). 

The path of Hurricane Isiasis has been sporadic, it hit land between Myrtle Beach & Wilmington as a Hurricane then downgraded to a Tropical Storm as it blew in over our heads during the night. We had 4 inches of rain & 50 plus mph gusts, calm then wind & gusts once more around 4:00-5:00 AM. The Marina lost power and there were tornadoes in the area but not at the Marina. Our Marina did not experience any damage other than the power outage. We did run our generator in the evening as the heat returned. Luckily the storm brought some cool air with it so we didn't need the AC most of the day. 

 Southport Marina/Zimmermans & area were hit very hard & it destroyed docks & boats there. 

Southport Marina, NC

June 19-23, 2020 St Simons/Wahoo Creek/Savannah GA

When we left Cumberland Island, we cruised out into the ocean on a white cloud, blue sky day.  There was about a 2 foot swell on the water. As we entered the Brunswick GA inlet to the St Simons Sound, we passed an unusual sight but one that folks from Georgia have been watching since September. The Golden Ray, a 656 foot long cargo ship ran aground & capsized after leaving Brunswick. It was filled with 4,200 new Hundai autos. It has been a challenge to remove it & to contain the oil & other toxic materials. Doug was enthralled with the large cranes (largest he has ever seen) and the ongoing salvage project.

We enjoyed our 6 hour, relaxing ocean cruise and pulled into Morningstar Marina in St Simon early afternoon. We had been here before in 2014 & 2015 & liked it. We docked on the face-dock between KK Lady Kadey and a 155 ft. mega-yacht named Privacy.  I researched Privacy & found out that Tiger Woods is the owner. We didn't see him but his crew sure were catering to some guests that were aboard. Lady Kadey has new owners, who have only been aboard for 5 days. We met Colleen & Tony, who are from Chicago, answered a few of their questions & told them about Active Captain. While staying @ Morningstar, we borrowed the marina's loaner bikes and rode onto the island, stopped at a few stores, had lunch @ Sal's pizzeria & ordered delivery from there for dinner.

Our next stop was an anchorage in Wahoo Creek near the mysterious lamppost. There is nothing around but trees, grasses, sand, dolphins and a gator here & there, yet someone has left a light on for us. Our route from St Simon to Wahoo was north on the ICW through the low country of marshes & grasses.  We only saw the occasional center console, otherwise our cruise was very quiet, serene & hot. 

We are trying something new this trip. Doug has downloaded Bob 423's tracks. Bob 423 cruises in a sailboat up & down the ICW every year and is an experienced, knowledgeable and capable Captain. We became aware of him when we first started using Active Captain years ago. Bob 423 always had straight forward, correct comments that we respected & used. Now he is affiliated with Waterway Guide and he publishes his routes. He now has spoiled us. Following his tracks on Doug's iPad, is like playing a video game and takes much of the guess work & in-depth research out of our daily cruising. 

It's too hot to anchor so we moved on north and reached Isle of Hope Marina by the next afternoon. We have stayed here before too. Our first day there, we borrowed the courtesy car & drove the short distance to Walmart. We wanted to visit Savannah again, but they don't let you use the Courtesy Car to go there. We used Uber & wore our masks & our driver wore his.  Sadly, it became a rainy day after we got into town. We made the best of it, but between our rule of not going inside a bar or restaurant due to possible exposure to COVID 19 and the rain, it was a bit tough.  We walked around Forsyth Park and some of the squares. We found the square where Tom Hanks sat on the bench waiting for a bus in the movie Forest Gump. We found a restaurant in the City Market area that had outdoor, covered seating so we enjoyed a nice meal there @ Belfourt Restaurant. We did have difficulty with our Uber for the ride home. The driver who was supposed to pick us up, never came.