Mill Creek to Deltaville

“Argonauta” left Lake Champlain in 2005. They’ve been in the Chesapeake ever since and will be heading south in a few days. We agreed to look for one another on the ICW.

Motoring for six hours in the middle of the Chesapeake leaves a lot of time for other things. Bob, always vigilant with his binoculars, spotted a sailboat heading north with a nude woman sunbathing on her cabin top.

The weather changed suddenly a few hours before we reached Deltaville. Winds out of the south, going against the tidal current, increased to 18-20 knots, creating a 4-6 ft chop that gave “DeLaMer” a complete salty bath. Spray was going over the top of the cockpit canvas. The dodger windows were so covered with salt deposit that we had to clean them off to safely make our next landing.

Having so enjoyed our anchorage in Mill Creek, we used Skipper Bob’s book again and picked Jackson Creek at Deltaville for the night. Little did we know we would meet our neighbors from last night. The channel into Jackson Creek snakes between two very shallow shoals. As we approached, we heard on the VHF, “Boat aground at Marker 3 in Jackson Creek Channel.” Seeing the distressed sailboat dead in the water, we slowed and circled once just outside the channel entrance. Two sailboats ahead of us decided to go in, and we followed. As we reached the beached sailboat, “Marie Gallante II’s” Captain was waving both arms, yelling, and directing us to move further away from him in the very narrow channel. We reluctantly moved about a boat length from his boat, on the ragged edge of where we judged the other side of the channel to be -– and “DeLaMer” hit bottom. Bob increased power and plowed the channel for about 50-70 feet until we were clear again. We later heard he went aground three times coming through the channel.

Finding a Post Office, or Two Bananas Make an Enjoyable Evening

My oldest grandson’s birthday is 10/27, and I wanted to mail the two cards I purchased when we were still in Maine. Finding a Post Office is not always the easiest thing when cruising. Reading in the guide there was one within a mile, we took the dinghy and motor off their respective davits, motored to shore, and walked to the Post Office.

On our walk back, we met and talked with Catherine, from Dream Time, a boat that had anchored near us. Her husband, Neville, with a British accent, had humorously asked Bob, “Hey Captain, mind if I anchor in your front garden?”

Catherine was in search of a grocery store for bananas and ice cream. Everything we had seen in the center of the small town was closed. As we walked back to our dinghy, Bob said, “We have three bananas, let’s give them one.”

We invited Neville and Catherine aboard for drinks and bananas and had a most enjoyable and interesting evening filled with laughter, stories about our journeys, and great conversation. They will be circumnavigating the world over the next 5-10 years while running their New York City graphic design business onboard. The March issue of Fortune Magazine has an interesting article on Neville and “Dream Time” which can be downloaded from his website, http://www.zeroxte.com/ We are looking forward to staying in touch with them and hope to see them again soon on the ICW.