Not many days get better than this! ….
A walk through charming Chestertown….
In the mid 18th century Chestertown was a thriving British Colony and busy port. Who knew?? (Well, clearly, I didn’t!) It is so far up the Chester River it is hard to imagine this being such a busy port, but the number of stately brick houses and the depth of the river definitely attest to the town’s history of wealth. Even the sidewalks are brick!
I know most sailors love a bit of shore leave, but I sometimes wonder if they can possibly love it as much as I do. When I get ashore I sometimes wonder if it’s the shore leave I love most! Walking through a beautiful town like Chestertown, seeing all the lovely homes, doing my best to get a glimpse of the interiors in some of these houses and the equally beautiful private gardens seems to be my main goal. I’m always a little sad to go back on board. Embarrassingly, I had never even heard of Chestertown before our visit.
We left in the early afternoon to take advantage of an ebbing tide and winds that should have been behind us. Sailing back down the river was somewhat less than perfect, but the sights along the shore were still bucolic, in spite of a flukey north wind that caused me some discomfort when we heeled more than I like! At one point we heeled rather severely and I heard a crash, which was my computer flying off the nav station and sailing across the cabin. What a distressing moment that was! Kudos to Apple for making such a sturdy little machine. The only damage seems to be a tiny nick in the corner. I’ve learned my lesson not to leave it out anymore while we are underway.
We ended the day in another perfect spot, which makes me realize there are benefits to sailing that no land trip could ever match. We are anchored in a quiet cove that is so undeveloped only our boat gives away what century we are in. Trees and other fauna grow right to the banks of this little estuary off the Chester River called Queen’s Creek, and the banks are teaming with wildlife. We took the dingy to explore this little round bay and saw a number of blue herons each staking their claim on a bit of shoreline, patiently wading the shallows. Our dingy was ghosting along on a mirror surface with only the tiniest little rings of disturbance which I took to be insects landing on the water, which I imagined would be attracting the fish that the herons were anticipating. When I looked a bit closer I saw that each of these little rings was being caused by a small jellyfish, and there were thousands of them! The little bay was teeming with them. Are these the stinging nettles so famous in the Chesapeake? Further into the bay we saw a few deer drinking at the water’s edge, something we haven’t seen in many years. These days we are so familiar with deer wandering our suburban neighborhoods, eating right out of our manicured gardens. I’d forgotten just how perfect they look in their natural setting! Just above we noticed a bald eagle perched at the very top of a dead tree, surveying the bay. Wouldn’t you know we left the camera on board when we set out on this wonderful exploration??
This photo was actually taken early the next morning when there was a light breeze ruffling the surface and a morning mist.
Perfect day turned into perfect evening as we watched a sunset just like the ones that must have inspired Maxfield Parrish….the sky all ‘parrish’ blue and deep rose. Stunning. The bright half moon rose shortly before the sun set, so that as one light faded the other was ready to take its place. The large cumulus clouds that had filled the sky before evening made a dramatic setting for the moon’s travel across the sky. As things go on such rare, perfect days, we also managed to put together a marvelous dinner, which included another loaf of bread fresh out of the oven….wish you could have smelled it!
The absolute highlight of the day was getting in the dinghy to look up at the night sky. Bob cast off from Pandora and we drifted around this lovely bay, barely moving since there was hardly a breeze and hardly a current. We watched the Big Dipper slide down below the horizon and and then found the easily identifiable Arcturus and Polaris. And then I realized the autumn equinox was last night! The moon will be full in another week, and I wonder what that will do to the higher than normal tides we’ve been seeing the past few days….
Day 14, Sept. 24: Queen’s Creek to St. Michaels
