Some anchorages do, some anchorages don’t

Some anchorages do, some anchorages don’t   ...   Tuesday 9^th October 2012

There are some anchorages that are picturesque and quiet.  There are some that aren’t all that pretty but are well protected from wind and waves.  Really the protection is what you are looking for, attractive scenery is just a bonus. Then there is General Anchorage Area #4 off Reedy point near the entrance to the C&D canal.  This is to a good anchorage what the hard shoulder of the interstate is to a good parking spot.  In reality it’s just an area to the left of the Delaware River ship channel that is marked as an anchorage.  The guide book says it offers no protection from winds from the north, east or south (that only leaves the west).  Additionally it offers no protection from the wake of passing ships and barges …  We can testify to all of this.  We were forced to take additional seasickness meds at bedtime as the boat was bouncing pretty badly.  Another lovely feature of this anchoring spot is that as the current is fairly strong the boat doesn’t seem to point into the wind.  Once the current switches from flood to ebb you swing round.  This seemed to lead to lots of creaking and banging all night—a fantastic complement to the swaying and bouncing. Mike was up at least four times in the night trying to figure out what all the noises were.  Now that I’ve got that rant out of my system, I’ll move on to what happened today.

Despite the cold, rainy weather, we set out before eight o’clock. We made a smooth transit of the C&D canal in just about 2 hours.  Emerging into the Elk River, we followed the narrow channel until we passed Turkey Point.  As we approached the Sassafras River we put up the sails and had a short but pleasant sail into the river toward Georgetown, MD. After anchoring in about 9 ft of water, we had lunch of Ramen noodles with chicken and eggs.  Then we emptied two jerry cans of water into the port water tank.  Two jerry cans of Diesel went into the main fuel tank. Then came the dreaded showers.  These aren’t too attractive on a warm day; this wasn’t a warm day.  A dinghy trip to town allowed us to re-fill the jerries, have a walk and eat dinner in the Kitty Knight House Inn and Restaurant.  Kitty Knight was a lady who persuaded the British commander not to burn down the last few houses in Georgetown by telling him he would have to burn her as well (this was 1813). Anyway, we had a great dinner and an exciting trip back to the boat in the pitch black across about 2 miles of unfamiliar waterway.  

Kitty Knight restaurant and tavern, Georgetown, MD