Chester River

Monday 9/14

Fredericksburg, Annapolis and the Bay Bridge were enroute to our vacation rental on Reed Creek (off of the Chester River) near Centerville, MD. The cottage was at a beautiful location! The owner had a boat parked in the only spot we felt comfortable tying up to his dock, but he moved his boat (no one uses it) so we could keep our boat at the cottage. We checked out the public ramp in Centerville to see if we could launch there....and it was Happy Hour!

Tuesday

We launched the boat at high tide in Centerville with the idea of exploring, then dropping Gretchen off to pick up the car and trailer while I motored to the cabin. But, the depths in the channel were very shallow and we decided trying to get back to the launch site close to low tide was not a good idea. So Gretchen did the run around and I motored to the cabin and we figured out how to tie up safely and then we headed to Lanford Creek. Several years ago, I had stayed at Langford Bay Marina (still for sale) and sailed to Cacaway Island where the creek branches. We headed up the East Branch which holds deep water for a very long way and is lined with beautiful estates! Leaving the creek, we motored to Kent Narrows for lunch at Bridges (excellent crab cake sandwiches)!

Our rental was on a farm with huge fields of six foot tall corn, that is until 7:30 p.m. when the combine came and....

by 9:30 p.m. the corn was gone!

Wednesday

 

I had never sailed to Chestertown when I was on the lower Chester River. Wind and time never supported that venture. Today, however, outfitted with a motor boat, no wind and glass-like water, Gretchen and I made the fourteen mile trip from our cottage in an hour's time. We walked around the restored town center, tried to walk to Washington College but failed and had lunch at the local bakery. I was concerned coming up the river where we might find a spot to dock. The town has a dinghy dock but no day slips; nor are there any at the marina. However, docking was not a problem....we tied up at the marina and found a sign on the office that they were closed Tuesday and Wednesday. Still, one would think the town council would make arrangements for day slips and advertise them in crushing guides and in online town documents?

Chestertown has a rich history as a colonial era port serving the agricultural lands adjacent to the Chester River. The s-turns in the river were famous for delaying the progress of schooners sailing up and down the river. To honor Chestertown's nautical heritage, a group decided to build a replica of an eighteenth century British Navy Schooner, the Sultana, in the late nineteen nineties. It was a monumental task that took over 200,000 volunteer hours to complete. Today, we motored past Sultana, filled with school children learning about their Chesapeake Bay heritage!

 

 

On the way back to the cottage, we toured the Corsica River and found the "Dacha" for Russian Embassy staff. Quite an estate we think!

 

Thursday

The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels was our destination. We became members prior to this trip because they have free day docking and free admissions for members. Both Gretchen and I have sailed into St. Michaels in the past but never toured the museum. We arrived just before noon, then walked downtown and had lunch. The next three hours passed quickly as we toured the extensive displays in the museum; restored Hooper's Strait Lighthouse, boat restoration shed, in and out of water boat displays, fishing, crabbing and oystering exhibits, decoy collection, steam boat building, life on the Chesapeake building and other smaller displays. We would definitely recommend touring this museum if you are interested in the Chesapeake Bay!

We don't know what was happening, but today, the small harbor was filled with huge motor yachts. Line the main channel with huge yachts on each side and there is not much open water left! The Museum staff was setting up for a wedding, maybe the yachts are sailing in for that event?

Friday

The Wye River, south of Kent Narrows, has several well know anchorages near it's entrance that draw scores of boats on summer weekends. However, if your boat can get under a fixed bridge with 10' clearance, you can make a 10 mile circumnavigation of the river. That's what we did today. It was a delightful trip. I was surprised at how wide the river was for most of the route; there was only one spot where it was narrow (a couple hundred yards) as I had imagined. We ate a picnic lunch in Dividing Creek, a spot I had anchored several years ago.

We had made arrangements to leave our boat a Wells Cove Marina for the weekend so we could explore the Eastern Bay without making the trip down the Chester River. So our day ended at the marina and we drove back to the cottage.

Our plan was to boat Saturday and then pull the boat out of the water Sunday in order to head for home on Monday. However, the absolutely beautiful motor boat weather we had all week came to an end with small craft warnings posted for Sunday. So we moved our plan up one day....thus ending a delightful week on the Chesapeake Bay!

 

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