From Baltimore to the Eastern Shore

So I stayed at Anchorage Marina on the Patapsco River in Baltimore about a month. It was very convenient with a 24-hour Safeway grocery store across the street, lots of restaurants, a West Marine -- all within walking distance. What finally pushed me to leave was the foul water. The boat was floating in what looked like pea soup with a yellow tinge. The last night I was there I slept in my car. The wind had died down, and the odor from the foul water was making me sick. The next day I decided to make my departure. I try not to think of the prepaid 6-months of slip rental I forfeited.

Kent Island, just across the Chesapeake Bay from Annapolis, looked promising. I drove there to check out a few big marinas that allowed liveaboards, but they were all close to the highway with constant traffic noise. On a whim, I called some of the smaller marinas on Crab Alley Bay and got lucky. One allowed a few liveaboards, had wi-fi at the dock, and clean showers. I arranged with Sharon, the manager, to try it out for a few days.

The trip by water from Baltimore to Kent Island was about 30 nautical miles. I had planned to spend time crabbing and fishing in the Wye River area anyway, and if I had stayed at Baltimore the round trip gas would have cost $95 each trip. I set out from Baltimore and cruised a comfortable 18-knots the whole way to Crab Alley Creek in 1-foot seas.

I had Blue Heron out for fishing on the Bay a few days previous in 2 to 3 foot waves and found it was almost too rough for this small 25-foot boat. I had to slow down to 6 knots in what was really just moderate chop. The boat feels big from the inside, but in any seaway, it feels like the small 25-foot boat it is!

I've been at this small Eastern Shore marina for a few days now. The water is clean, the setting rural, there is no traffic noise, and I have wi-fi at the slip. Will soon be crabbing season and the best crabbing on the northern Bay, the Wye River, is only 6 nautical miles away. Life is good!