Anchoring: A process during which the anchor is lowered, and rancor is heightened.  from the Dictionary for Landlubbers, Old Salts, & Armchair Drifters”

    Truer words were never ……  no, really, anchoring is going fine now!

Friday, June 6

We have finally left Annapolis. We’ll be returning in 10 days to have the standing rigging replaced, but in the meantime we’re cruising nearby. Before pulling out though we watched twenty or so sailboats circle around twice in preparation for a race to Bermuda. The parade was led by this boat which, if you look closely or magnify to see, included a bagpiper complete with kilt.

Two hours later we cruised into the Rhode River and anchored.

our first view of Double Life out in the open

Within easy reach of the dinghy is a Smithsonian Environmental Research Center that studies all facets of the ecosystem.  The 2600 acres includes the historic Java Plantation and the Contee Watershed Trail.

 Contee house ruins

John Contee was an officer on the USS Constitution when it captured the British frigate HMS Java in the War of 1812. Legend has it he used prize money from the battle to purchase the plantation he renamed it “Java,” a tobacco plantation. By 1869, after several absentee owners, Contee’s children sold the property and in 1890 the house burned and was rebuilt with less stability. Sold again in 1915 to Robert Lee Forrest, it was a dairy farm until he died in 1962. He bequeathed the farm and two million dollars to the Smithsonian Institution who now use it as a multi-disciplined environmental research center with 17 senior scientists.

view from the old house; SERC has a corn field in front 

                             Contee Watershed Trail with white blazes reminiscent of the AT.

Saturday, June 7

Next morning after more exploration of SERC, I had my first solo experience raising the anchor. It went fine and we had barely begun to move when we came to a sudden halt. Where did that shallow water come from? OK, this is our first (last?) running aground – in about 6 inches of mud! Half an hour later we broke lose with nothing damaged but our pride.

Three-hour cruise to the Wye River; another nice anchorage; a still and lovely afternoon. 

                                                                lunch time 

Sunday, June 8

A short hop took us over to St. Michael’s and the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. This is a premiere museum and easily spent three hours seeing the boatyard, displays of oystering history, a historic crab picking plant; the cabin Frederick Douglass’s sister and family lived in with an heirloom garden; and, perhaps the best of all, the 1875 Hooper Strait Lighthouse. This lighthouse is set in period display and you can access every bit from the living quarters to the Frasnell Lens and walkway on the top. The interpretation in the entire museum is some of the best I’ve ever seen.

                                                unique road entrance to the museum

                                             antique replicas are commissioned here

                                              have you ever seen a bigger bandsaw?

                                                            Hooper Strait Lighthouse

                          the figure is writing a letter home and audio tells you what he writes

                                                                    Fresnell Lens

After poking around town we moved on to Leeds Creek in anticipation of possible wind gusts which, happily, never developed.  At every anchorage so far there are enormous mansions visible. 

 Our view is just as good as theirs and from the lack of people in yards, I’d say we are enjoying the views much more than they are!

What do we do for entertainment while anchored and not in a place we choose to go into with the dinghy?

Yoga on the hardtop has become a favorite in the morning and some afternoons. This can be tricky, but balance is getting better and we are very watchful of wakes from passing vessels.

Some evenings we also enjoy a game of Scrabble and we’ve learned a useful new word for those pesky letters “x” and “z.” 

Xebec (also zebec): A small, three-masted Mediterranean sailing vessel, used primarily in commerce in the Middle East, and in Scrabble in North American waters.”   (thanks to the dictionary for landlubbers again.)

Wednesday, June 11

We are anchored in Solomons, MD. Arrived last night and had a brief thunderstorm this morning with quite a bit of rain, then came into town enjoying a zero day. Stopped by a Leopard 42 on the way in to chat with the folks on it and, if the weather holds, we'll be headed back this afternoon to their boat for cocktails.