Ran Aground

There is a tired old saying that is especially appropriate for the Chesapeake. It goes something like this, "There are three kinds of sailors on the Chesapeake, those who have gone aground, those who will go aground and those who lie about it. " Well, I am not going to lie about it, we ran aground. We were in San Domingo creek which is also known as the "back door" to St. Michaels. The channel is very tricky and narrow and it was an especially low tide. (Mental note--check tides before entering a narrow, tricky, shallow creek.) I was driving in the narrowest part of the creek and apparently got too close to one side when, boom, the boat stopped and the bow dipped down. I put the boat in neutral, then reverse, and the boat backed off of the shoal. Fortunately, the bottom throughout most of the Chesapeake is muddy and soft.

Went aground near that green square in the middle

The dreaded green mark where we went aground

 

After we were free and I overcame my confusion on where to go without going aground again, we proceeded on and found a place to drop the anchor. Then we went for a swim. Swimming from the boat remains one of my favorite things about cruising, so far.

The next day George inflated the dinghy and attached the motor. The entire operation took about 40 minutes. Not too bad. We got into the dinghy and motored about 1/2 mile to the dinghy dock located in a park in St. Michaels.

 

We walked about a mile from there to the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. We had heard good things about it and weren't disappointed. We spent a few hours at the museum but it was such a hot and humid day that we decided to leave before we had visited all of the buildings. We will definitely be back. We stopped at a deli for lunch before walking back to the dinghy dock. When we rounded the corner to approach our boat it was such a pleasure to see her there at anchor from our dinghy. We took a quick swim and then napped. As usual, we hadn't slept well the night before. Every little noise of the anchor chain would wake us.

There was a 30% chance of isolated thunderstorms that evening and we debated about leaving for home. We decided to stay for our planned second night at anchor. We weren't in the lucky 70% that didn't get thunderstorms, however. The radar showed a line of storms headed right for us. Before they arrived the winds quickly picked up and a pop-up storm came through. George let out more anchor chain and we anxiously watched to see if our anchor was dragging. We were both kicking ourselves for deciding to stay. That part was definitely not fun. There was only one other boat anchored within sight of us, a large sailboat anchored about a 1/4 mile away. I looked over at them and saw that they had dragged quite a bit. We watched them pick up their anchor and move toward us. I was hoping they were just going to leave the creek, but, no, they stopped and dropped their anchor within three boat lengths of us. GREAT! Now we not only have to worry about our boat dragging but we also have to worry about theirs dragging into us! George brought the air horn up into the cockpit in case we had to alert them that they were dragging again. The storm passed within an hour and the anchors of both of our boats had held. Phew! The winds calmed quite a bit and we went to bed. We both slept well until George woke at 1 am when a second thunderstorm passed by. I didn't even wake up for that one. The anchor held again and George went back to bed. We woke up to a very calm morning and headed for home.

This was an experience of firsts. Our first time going aground, our first time using the dinghy and our first time experiencing a thunderstorm while at anchor. Going aground and going through a thunderstorm were not fun experiences but we felt good that we managed them.

 

 

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