On to Hudson Creek and St. Michaels, MD
A loud crunch jolted me to stare out my cabin portlight looking straight into the face of an older gent struggling with his helm as his sailboat crashed along Kelly IV's starboard side, banging his way from our bow aft. By the time his cockpit was even with Kelly's midsection, I had dashed the length of her interior, up the companionway and onto the side deck. The solo skipper was already apologizing as Bob, Jack and I fended off the old, derelict-appearing craft as it scraped from our spare lines on the bow rail, past Kelly's fenders hanging from the starboard lifelines and just missed ripping the davits, radar post and solar panel from their mounts.
Once past the anchored Kelly, he got better control of his vessel and steered her in a circle to wait for me to take our dinghy over to collect his name and contact information, in case of any damage. Thankfully the dinghy was still in the water from our morning excursion so I was quickly alongside his cockpit writing down his name and phone while he circled away from Kelly IV. A quick inspection before jumping into the dinghy, and closer inspections since then, have not yet revealed any damage worse than several significant patches of greasy dirt rubbed into our spare lines and new white fender.
It seems that the Cap'n who banged into us is a longtime liveaboard cruiser who was making his way north to New England away from the threat of hurricanes further south. His battered and bruised sailboat had seen its better self many years prior, as we noted the dirt, rust and grime prevalent throughout. Our newest contact in the cruising world explained that while steering the channel to depart the creek he felt water on his feet and bent over to investigate. While discovering that he only spilled his water bottle, he inadvertently steered his ancient yacht into Kelly IV.
This bit of excitement took place on May 29th as we were preparing to depart Solomons for Hudson Creek. On our arrival the night before, we set the anchor, lowered the dinghy to walk through the small town, got our bearings and info about the Calvert Maritime Museum. Given the museum hours we decided to go there in the morning as our next destination was a rather short trip.
After our typical breakfast of great food wonderfully prepared, we ventured in the dinghy to enjoy the museum and were pleasantly surprised at the terrific displays and genuinely friendly staff and volunteers. An easy going yard worker greeted us as we debarked onto the “back yard” of the museum and guided us to their entrance where “Bud,” the ticket taker, regaled us with stories and features we should enjoy around the facility.
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| Choptank Sailing |
Our first stop was an excellent display on rays and skates described by a very well informed and casual lady who led us to touch the skates in the tank properly as well as understand the “Mermaid's Purse” and it's role in reproduction. From there we enjoyed the instruction and knowledge of the two ladies who ran the children's room. Yes, the three guys proved they haven't grown up yet and learned about sea stars, turtles, hermit crabs, horseshoe crabs and other cool aquatic creatures. The Calvert Museum is well known for having an excellent paleontology collection, much of it from the Calvert Cliffs which run for many miles on the western shore, beginning at Drum Point at Solomons.
We had our run-in (literally) with the elderly Cap'n soon after taking the dinghy back to Kelly to prepare for our day's sail. The sail was gently uneventful to the point of having to motor sail most of the trip because the light wind was not enough to carry us forward. Bob and Jack guided us through the maze of crab pots and nav aids until we found a protected spot on the rural Hudson Creek off the north side of the Little Choptank River.
It proved a beautiful sunset and evening dinner was another repeat. Jack coined our trip in one succinct phrase: “We sailed like pirates, ate like kings and drank like fish.” Well, old fish. It didn't take much with all the sun and food to get us to sleep like babies.
A lazy morning and we were on our way winding out of the Little Choptank, around Ragged, Hill and Cook Points into the Choptank River, then north through the shallows of Broad Creek and San Domingo Creek, finally setting our anchor at the “back door” to St. Michaels.
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| Murph, Bob, and Jack with Delorean Motor Car |
It was low tide by the time we dinghied in and had to twice manually clear weeds off the dinghy's propeller before I gained the smarts to use the oars and forgo the otherwise effective electric motor. A quiet walk across town to the main harbor and a relaxing dinner ashore has us deciding to make Friday, May 31 a lay day. We spent Friday sleeping in, enjoying another great maritime museum, The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. Somehow we fit in time for a photo op with a Delorean motor car, complete with Flux Capacitor (ask a “Back To The Future” movie fan).
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