08 Cruise of the Lower Bay
Ports of Call
Tim Dull
HORN HARBOR A nice spot, just a mile or two north of New Point Comfort Light, which I have only started to use on my trips up and down the Bay. I was blown in there a couple of years ago coming south out of Deltaville in a Nor’easter that just kept getting stronger all day. I had never tried it before then, even with a shoal draft Cape Dory, as when you look at the charts, the channel is “blue” water, not the sort of place you willingly motor into even when you’re looking for new places to explore. However, the waterway guide was convincing enough, and I was wore out from surfing five to six footers south all day in the storm in my little DART, so I gave it a try. Amazingly, even though the entrance channel is open to the northeast, the waves flattened as soon as I rounded the big “HH” day beacon just offshore of the channel. And true to the word in the guide, the channel really does stay a wee bit above five and a half feet through the “blue” parts and deepens to a friendly seven further in. Just follow the markers, but don’t hug any of them too tight. I’ve been in there a number of times since with no problems in boats with up to five foot draft. This time in SINDI K, our Tartan 34C with 4’ draft centerboard up and 8 ½’ draft centerboard down, I found the Horn Harbor Marina is still a full service place with I believe a 70 ton lift. Much of the place is self service including the ice. It’s in Mathews County and the area is about as undeveloped as you can find in the southern Bay. There’s a great little anchorage on the port side just before you get to the big green day beacon before the marina. They have a few transient slips available too if you want to just hook up. A nice place to explore by dinghy, and I spotted two river otters in a nook just up from the Marina; however, there are no restaurants or fine creaturely things available ashore, although the marina lounge is very comfortable and full of reading material and there is a pool available in the summer. There are a number of fine old wooden yachts under their floating boat house that you could spend a good few hours just ogling. A good quiet gunk holing type of place.
PUT-IN-CREEK off the East River in Mobjack Bay The wind was picking up out of the Northeast, so I decided to duck back into Mobjack Bay for a few days of exploring. Anchor on the port side past the Public Launch or proceed another ½ mile upstream, depending on the predicted wind. The City of Mathews at the head of the Put-in-Creek can be reached by dinghy at high tide plus or minus two hours. There is a short dock on the right hand bank amongst the reeds and the main street is just a ½ block from the landing. There is a visitor center in the old General Store and the folks there are very helpful. Just three buildings down on the left is a full size grocery and a ½ block further is a general store and gas station, all within easy carrying distance from the landing. I picked up bags of ice and five gallons of gas while there, following a great lunch at Richardson’s Restaurant & Ice Cream Shop. There are plans afoot to dredge the head of the creek to six feet and put in a proper landing for transients at the downtown Court House area, as there are no other staples available to boaters the length of the East River.
JACKSON CREEK Deltaville I was able to sneak north before the gale started blowing out of the northeast on the 23rd and anchored at the far end of Jackson Creek in the shelter of a few trees on the north bank. The creek entrance is infamous for folks having trouble, but I managed to slide in this time without a bump, only figuring out two days later that the 8 ½ foot keel had been in the down position for the passage north and into the creek. (The control arm had slipped off the keel axis bolt; the reattachment of same is a complete story in itself). I saw nine foot all the way through the channel, and just kept to the center of the markers as I came in (and departed). I have run aground in that channel; about two weeks after Isabel came through and shifted the shoals all over the place. The markers have been moved and a couple added since that storm. Deltaville Marina is another fine place to either tie up, or, as I did, anchor out and pay the $10/day $35/week fee for use of all the facilities; pool, laundry, showers, indoor and outdoor lounges with WIFI, bicycles, car for longer trips, etc. The Boatyard was busy with folks getting quick haul outs and bottom cleanings prior to heading south for the winter, and a few getting voyage repairs. There are a number of good eateries within biking distance of the marina (Taylor’s for supper and the local coffee shop, Coffee Creations, for breakfast and lunch) and a True Value general store with so many things that it has been said, “If Hurd’s don’t have it, you don’t need it.” The Marina has a number of modest boats things, but there is a West Marine just up the road also. I found the general store had everything I needed and at non-marine prices. There is a wooden boat museum just up the street from the Marina, with one of the three “DISCOVERY” scallops that was built as an estimate of the craft used by John Smith in his exploration of the Bay. With or without kids, you could spend a nice afternoon on the museum grounds watching the work that goes into making or restoring wooden boats from dinghies to passenger vessels and crawling through the displays.
DELTAVILLE MARINA
CRISFIELD, MD Somers Cove Marina
With a wind shift to the west, I headed across the Bay south of Tangier Island and then up Tangier Sound, turning to starboard just before Jane’s Island Light to arrive at the crabbing capital of the Bay, Crisfield, MD. Sommers Cove Marina is a state run facility in the same cove as a Coast Guard Station and what used be a very busy fishing port. The entrance to the cove appears to open up on your starboard hand as you approach the public dock area, and runs right along the docks where the crabbers are lifting off their baskets of crabs. The mail and school boat to Smith Island still runs out of the cove, and takes tourists along for a cruise a few times a day. The marina runs off season rates after Labor Day of $1/foot/day plus third day free, so it is a great bargain. The staff actually comes down to help handle your lines as you come in, and seem to know what they are doing. The pool is laid up after Labor Day, but all of the other facilities are open, including laundry and shower facilities on each corner of the marina. Lots of area for kids to cut loose and run around also.
SOMERS COVE CRISFIELD
There is ample room to anchor out in the much protected cove, just mind the No Anchoring Area signs; and the dinghy dock fees are only about $10/day. There is a Museum on the grounds and both general and marine hardware stores just a street away. The Side Street Café is closed, having changed owners again, but there are still a number of good to very good restaurants close at hand. A small grocery down the street past the Fire Station carries all the victuals a sailor can need. Five sets of condos have reared their ugly heads above the skyline now; however, the little ol’ lady selling hand-dipped ice cream is still open for business right on the water off the public landing.
CRISFIELD TO SOLOMONS
DEAL ISLAND HARBOR, Tangier Sound With the wind still out of the north, I decided to break my trip across to the Solomons into two, and stop at the north end of Deal Island in the small harbor there. This chops about 13 miles off the cross Bay trip. I found the entrance channel to carry 8 plus feet with a rising tide of about 2 foot. Just follow the markers in, then head toward the bulkhead on your starboard side before turning out into the anchorage.
The Market on the bulkhead to the south is now closed. The General Store in Chance to the north is about a ¾ mile trek from the landing on the north end of the harbor. Scott’s Cove Marina is accessible for shallow draft vessels and has fuel. There are four skipjacks at that marina, one of which is undergoing repair. This is a real working port with dozens of watermen in and out of the Harbor; most tie up at Scott’s Cove (hidden behind the marsh grass to the north of the anchorage). There is room for a dozen boats in the Harbor, with 8-10 foot of water throughout. Anchor closer to the southern end behind the bulkhead if the wind is to be out of the NW; the breakwater stops the wave action but you are open to the wind from clear across the Bay. (I spent the first night there with two anchors out and didn’t get much sleep when the wind shifted and strengthened from the NW; the next morning I dug out the anchors with some effort and moved closer behind the bulkhead and road comfortably on one anchor the whole night).
SOLOMONS You could easily spend a week in the creeks and inlets in this area and not stay in the same spot any two nights. After a day or two on the hook in a secluded part of Mill Creek I found it pleasurable to pick up a mooring at Zahniser’s Yachting Center ($30 for up to a 35 foot boat a night) and enjoy their superb facilities. The pool was closed for the season, but everything else was hopping. They have the best showers on the Bay; the bath house has private bathrooms for the guests that are better than most three star hotels. ZYC has been upgraded over the years to the point that it looks more like a village than a boat yard or marina. Quantum Sails has just moved into their new facility on the street side of the “village”. If you happen to be out on the Bay without PC they have a computer available in the office for your use. WIFI if you come with your own. From the mooring it was an easy row to the Calvert Marine Museum with its old screw pile light house, or from ZYC it’s a ten minute stroll.
CALVERT MARINE MUSEUM
You can spend a day in this museum exploring everything from the bay oyster industry to whale and shark fossil displays big enough to be swallowed by. It’s a nice place to escape with the kids from either the mid-summer’s heat or a drizzly day. Most of the restaurants are an easy few blocks away if you decide not to go to their own Dock Side restaurant, and they have bicycles available if you need to make a run to the local grocery. There is a very good specialty wine and cheese and bread shop in the shopping center a half block past the West Marine store just down the road at the Patuxent Plaza.
SOLOMONS TO TRED AVON
TRED AVON RIVER OFF THE CHOPTANK Crossing the Bay to the Choptank River, I wound my way up the Tred Avon, planning to anchor in Plaindealing Creek just to the north of Oxford. However, with the predicted wind again coming around out of the north, I found Plaindealing Creek to not only be shallower than charted but also very wide and open to the north. I decided to tuck back into TAR CREEK after coming back and around G”1” from Plaindealing Creek.
There is six foot of water well into Tar Creek, just stay about 2/3 of the way to the port shore as you come to the stone breakwater in front of a big white house to starboard. Shoaling to four foot from the northwest was found there. However, as I discovered on the way out of Tar Creek, there is a shoal on the port side as you come in (I hit it going out) that juts out from the southwest from the duck blind on shore to the left. There is about a 100 foot channel between them that is seven foot deep. When I was there at the beginning of October, Tar Creek was a favorite landing spot for geese as there were fields to the southwest of the creek. The marks for Oxford’s Town Creek are readily visible less than a mile SSE from the anchorage. Tar Creek is well protected from the NE all the way round to the south. I can sketch the channel for those who may want to give this neat place a try, but I now understand why the Bay Guide leaves it off their list of anchorages off the Tred Avon.
SNUG HARBOR OFF TRIPPE CREEK Just a short jog up the Tred Avon is Trippe Creek with Snug Harbor opening to the north after you enter Trippe. Snug Harbor is well named and it’s everything that’s in the Ches. Bay Guide and more. There are no “bumps” in the channel entrance and it carries well into good protection from all but the SSW and that only has about 1/3 mile of fetch to the shore to the south. There is room for three to five boats inside depending on whether the moorings are in use.
OXFORD I stayed at the Hinckley Yacht Center which was in a cove off Town Creek that put it just a block off the main street of town. I saw six foot of water at the slip and while the rate was $2.25/foot they have a 25% discount for BOAT/US members. They had laundry, standard modest showers, and pool in season. There was a small but full service grocery/deli within two blocks (hand dipped ice cream at $2 for a very large cone) a variety of restaurants nearby in season and on weekends, but walkable in the off-season (“Latitude 38”). This is a nice quiet town with scenic views of Tred Avon or Town Creek at every turn. There are boatyards at every corner; seven or eight at one count, and all were busy. The Ruffled Duck Inn, a B&B just up the street from Hinckley’s, looks like a great place to meet my spouse the next time I am out on the Bay. Latitude 38 was the only place open in town in the middle of the week, but they had an excellent menu and were crowded by 6 PM every evening; the décor was very yachty but comfortable, whether you were in your “oilies” or in Blues and Whites.
OXFORD TOWN CREEK The next evening I anchored in Town Creek, where it widens just north of Campbell’s Boatyard at Jack’s Pt. Leave G”9” well to port and stay to the south side of the opening and you will find good water (6 foot) clear to the piling in the middle of the cove. There is good protection from winds from all directions and a short dinghy ride to the docks. Or dinghy up into the inlet, leaving the cemetery to port, and Paul Martin is very gracious about the use of his docks. He does like to chat. He lives at the end of Hell’s Half Acre Road. The pub Latitude 38 is on the corner of that road at Route 333/ Oxford Rd. On departure just remember to use care when you leave the anchorage and stay well to the left of the green until you are in the channel.
RETURN TO SOLOMONS
BACK CREEK INN, SOLOMONS For the finale of my cruise, Carole drove up to the Solomons and we stayed at the Back Creek Inn, the number one rated B&B in the area. I sailed in from the Choptank on Thursday, prepped the boat for the run south, and then tied up in front of the Inn for the weekend. There are two nice slips with 6.5 foot of water at low tide. The pier is on your port hand just past R4 and before G5 as you are coming in Back Creek toward Zahniser’s, and there is an Osprey’s nest piling on the right as you approach the pier. There is a flagpole on shore with a Kansas State flag flying and a trellis at the head of the pier. The slip is included in the room rate which is very reasonable. We were there for the Patuxent Appreciation Days weekend celebrations, which were held on the grounds of the Museum. We spent one lovely afternoon on the patio of the Inn, with a bottle of very good wine, slices of fresh bread and a number of cheeses, watching the traffic on the creek, with SINDI K nodding agreeably in the foreground. Nice way to close out a pleasant month on the Bay.
GROG ISLAND, DYMER CREEK, FLEETS BAY Heading south, I stopped for an over nighter at my old favorite anchorage, behind Grog Island off Dymer Creek. As you head into Dymer Creek, the inlet toward the anchorage opens up as you approach the first green (there are three reds to starboard leading you into Dymer Creek, then the green). You need to put the green to your stern and head for the house on the west end of the inlet (about 340 magnetic) for about 200 yards before you turn north into the inlet, as there is a shoal that curves out from what’s left of the island on your starboard side. The years have not been kind to Grog Island. When we first started coming there in the ‘80’s with our kids, there was a stand of at least a hundred pine trees between the anchorage and the Bay that you could imagine pirates hiding behind and leaping out into the Bay to capture their prey. The kids could play in the large basin in ankle deep water in the shelter of the island. Off the north end of the island was a fifty foot long sand bar that you could spend the evening on, cooking hotdogs and listening to the lapping of the waves on the beach. By the late ‘90’s, storms had taken their toll. When I got back to the spot then, most of the land was gone with maybe two dozen trees alive. This year all that remained of the hundred plus trees was seven lonely, five to twelve foot tall stumps, looking like kicked in teeth in the moonlight. No beach, now only a sand bar is waiting to catch the unwary boater and that not even high enough to break a wave. There is still good protection to the north and west, and it’s a nice spot to tuck in on the way north or south, but along with the protection from the east, all the magic is gone.