Category: 2019 on the Chesapeake

I’ve always thought of myself as a definite House of Gryffindor person until living on a boat. But I’ve developed a perfect way to make our bed each morning which suggests Sltherin. The technique involves pulling up the sheets and coverlet, smoothing them down before I actually get out of bed. The final step in this process is to slither out while keeping sheets and coverlet properly in place. It works pretty well.

Making up a “berth” in a “stateroom” (the official boating terms for bed and bedroom) is more difficult than you’d think. Friends who have stayed aboard Dot.Calm have some pretty hilarious memories of the gyrations, grunts and gymnastics involved. I can tell you that no one wants a photo of themself at work. The problem is that there is no room to work on the bed from side to side. So you have to start at the top. And you have to inch up enough of the sheets and bedding to take into account that you are kneeling on the bottom of the same sheets and bedding. In other words, you are in the way.

The topic for this blog occurred to me since I spent too much time in bed these two days! We are off to Chicago tomorrow for my last (I hope) biannual oncology check up!

After we got our celebrating out the way, we both got sick. It wasn’t the food. Cliff has been dealing off and on with a sore tooth for the entire summer and last night it bloomed into a real problem.

He found an emergency dentist that quickly determined that a tooth on which a root canal had been performed years ago was the source of the pain. A referral to an endodontist confirmed the situation. Apparently, the original root canal “missed” a root. (The endodontist assured Cliff that this is not entirely unusual.) The infection was cleaned out, he got a fistful of prescriptions and he is feeling much better.

When we stopped at Walgreen’s to fill those prescriptions, Cliff bought a digital thermometer. He’s been insisting I have a fever and I’ve been saying I’m fine. I’m not fine. I had a 103.2 fever….so off we went to the Anne Arundel Medical Center emergency room. By the time we got there, I had chills to go along with my fever. It turns out I have a bacterial infection (not the flesh eating kind!) and will be popping pills for about a week.

Aren’t we a pair? At least we didn’t get sick until AFTER our celebration dinner!

Today’s my five year cancer-free anniversary. A wonderful (though I think a bit arbitrary) milestone. I think it is good that the five-year clock starts after surgery and not after the rest of the treatment. I can still remember the feeling I had when I struck the gong, a Northwestern radiology department tradition to signal the completion of radiation treatments — a mixture of relief and being scared. Now that I was finished with what the medical establishment could do….what next? For me, the “what next” question has been answered as positively as can be. I had so many people rooting for me and supporting me — for which I remain incredibly grateful. I know from first hand experience that it makes a difference.

A celebration dinner is order, don’t you think?!

It’s great to have a “home base” here on the Chesapeake and to have our car at our disposal. We are getting to know the area and but still need to use GPS to get us places. We’ve got “favorite” grocery stores and restaurants and even a favorite West Marine. Surprisingly, when we’ve entered “West Marine near me” in the GPS, the system has taken us to three different West Marine stores. As all boaters know, you always need something at West Marine.

We took the scenic route home from our favorite West Marine and spotted these trees, an ingenious solution to big trees vs. power lines. Coral Gables and Florida Power & Light could probably take a page from this arborist playbook. The city and FPL seem to be in a constant battle with homeowners about the banyan trees.

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We’ve had a bit of weather here — loud cracks of thunder and bright flashes in the sky that seem a little too close for comfort. I think the sounds travel farther and seem louder on the water. Despite the fact that we have several sailboats on our dock (which presumably would draw lightning strikes), we are careful and stay inside during the worst of the storms. Not sure if “getting struck by lightning while you are in the shower” is an old wives’ tale….but we avoid showers during storms as well.

Here are some photos of our trip back to Galesville. Thought these would be much more interesting that showing piles of laundry or bags of groceries waiting to be put away:-)

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The lovely La Trappe anchorage was down to just three boats as we departed for our next stop. A couple of things made us decide to go to Slaughter’s Creek — definitely not the name:-) It had a funky, barge restaurant that served a terrific, inexpensive soft-shell crab dinner. There was a large swimming pool. A loaner car was on offer to take us into the nearest town (Cambridge), and more importantly, down the road five miles to Emily’s market stand, where, in addition to fresh veggies, all sorts of prepared foods AND Scottish Highland’s ice cream can be found. Another lure was to see how much progress the new general manager who we met last year has made on his marina improvement plans.

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Breakfast of champions…..cold champagne plus something sweet. In this case a pastry that declared “no artificial flavorings” and touted some sort of “natural ingredients.” But, it was five days old and in “perfect” condition. I can only imagine what sort of preservatives (all natural!) were involved. The champagne, on the other hand, was aged to perfection.

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The funky barge is still there, though the price of the soft-shell crab dinner has crept up a bit. Pool was delicious and we had it to ourselves! Emily’s was as bountiful as we remembered. The new general manager, alas, is history and his plans for fixing up things around the marina apparently abandoned. The ship store (such as it is) was better organized and they could find the keys to the loaner car (they couldn’t last year), so maybe he orchestrated these changes.

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At any rate, we’ll probably skip Slaughter’s next year. However, I did learn some interesting things about Cambridge. Up until the late 1950’s, Cambridge was a prosperous town that supported three department stores, many restaurants and a wide variety of other businesses — all fueled by a single company, The Perkins Canning Company. Improvements in refrigerated transportation of fruits and vegetables were the doom of Perkins and eventually the town. Things are looking up these days, though. Hyatt opened a big resort (on the grounds of a former psychiatric hospital) and there are more and more chef-driven restaurants in town. Maybe we’ll drive next time!

Happily cruised under bright sunny skies to one of our favorite anchorages from last year — La Trappe Creek. As we approached, we took note of a sailboat mast and resigned ourselves to sharing this spot that we had to ourselves last year.

We were also on the look-out for a beach area we could dinghy to since we’d noticed a “No Trespassing” sign near the spot we went to last year.

It’s about noon and we are relaxing on the top deck, deciding whether to eat lunch or wait to have an early dinner. We glance over our shoulders and notice a couple of small boats have entered the cove and driven up onto the shore of the spit of land…..despite the “No Trespassing” sign. Hmmmm. Then comes another power boat jockeying for space between us and the sailboat, followed shortly by a huge sailing cat that managed to put an anchor down way too close to our new neighbor. Another power boat arrives and launches two jet skis. We turn our attention back to the beach….and it is packed. An umbrella dots the shoreline. When they aren’t in the water, kids run all over the spit, exploring well past the rather large “No Trespassing” sign. Readers are Leaders just doesn’t seem to be true anymore! At least not in La Trappe.

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We decide to skip a swim. Sunset arrives. Grilled hamburgers for dinner on the deck. Lovely. Another boat — a small sailboat — cruises in and moors directly in front of us. We were pretty sure we were as far into the cove as we could be….guess not. A not-young couple (but not as not-young as us!) lounges in the sailboat’s cockpit. It’s a very small boat. We think back to our sailboat days and wonder how we vacationed in South Haven on our 34-foot Hunter….with three kids and a friend aboard. I’m pretty sure we were less comfortable than these two!

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P.S. Cliff came up with the headline for this post — he was describing our La Trappe stay to me.

So we stayed an extra day. We walked down the main street to the tiny local grocery (gin! blueberries!) and the even tinier local bookstore, a jumble of mostly used books with helpful, handwritten signs like “Scandinavian noir,” “France,” “Sherlock Holmes,” etc. We selected three hardback books and got out of there for less than $30.

Plenty of time to finish up our current iPad book selections and get in some pool time. We must be getting old….we opted for a spot in the shade.

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Highlight of our extra day in Oxford was a chance to eat at Pope’s Tavern, a small restaurant on the far side of the town, about a 20 minute walk from the marina. They are only open for dinner and we remembered the place from last year. We weren’t disappointed on any score. First, the person taking our reservation said they would pick us up at the marina and return us after dinner. Second, and most importantly, the food was divine. Scallops for Cliff and softl-shell crabs for me. They call them “soft crabs” here, an apt but less appealing description I think. Cliff splurged on a great bottle of wine. Also divine.

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Off to our favorite anchorage from last year at La Trappe cove tomorrow.

Not really….but Cliff did pour us some margaritas for cocktail hour. And we spent the day doing things just like we might have done in the Keys.

Morning coffee and e-news. Check.

Trip to the beach. Check.

Lunch out. Check.

Reading on the top deck (sort of like our lanai). Check.

And those margaritas. Check.

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Cliff asked me if I was “still okay” with this floating life. Don’t know what he’s worried about though. What’s not to like? It’s not a total vacation, but nearly so. Yes, there are those constant chores that need to be attended to whether you are in a house, condo, boat, or, I imagine, spaceship. Maybe not a tent or teepee, but I’m definitely not going in that direction! So we take care of the incessant (at least for us) laundry, routine grocery shopping, simple meal prep, (occasional) cooking, doing dishes, and (even more occasional!) cleaning. Though, the nine square feet of space in the heads (that may be generous) are a lot easier to keep ship shape than our condo bathroom!

And after nearly two months aboard, I do wonder a bit about all the stuff we have waiting for us in the condo, in the condo storage area and in the rented storage space we have in Coral Gables. Yikes. Jassa described living on the boat as being in a “tiny house,” a housing trend that his mom often talks about. For the record, he’s not a fan:-) On Dot.Calm Cliff and I share a closet rod of about 6 feet and we each have two medium sized drawers and we’ve managed to dress ourselves appropriately (I think!?) for a variety of occasions. Mostly casual….but our life in Coral Gables is also mostly casual. Something to think about. I don’t ever want to be a live-aboard, but admire the self-sufficiency (and clutter-free!!) lives of the couples we’ve met who are.

Three days at home to do chores, re-provision, make some decisions about where we will moor Dot.Calm next year and plan another trip to Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

Then we are off. First stop: Oxford, a little town and former Colonial port with only about 650 permanent residents. Summertime population explodes and I’d guess that visiting boats at the local marinas add another 100 or so and the beach rentals add even more. The marina where we are staying is located close to a tiny beach and it has a swimming pool. So….if we can’t conquer our fear of necrotizing fasciitis, we’ll at least be able to take a dip there:-) We visited Oxford last year and had an extended stay as the result of a recalcitrant fuel pump and enjoyed it very much. Great restaurants. And a Scottish Highlands ice cream store. YUM.

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It’s lovely to be cruising these days without a schedule — no need to get from Point A to Point B by a specific time. First, of all, is the delight in NOT having a schedule. Second is the ability to plan our trips AROUND the weather instead of through it. Today, however, we ventured out with some rain clouds semi-threatening in the east. But the trip from Galesville to Oxford is short — just 3 hours — and we were confident we’d beat any storm in. We did. And the storm was a piffle….just a few rain drops amidst darkening skies.

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The trip across was smooth as could be. We took the “short cut” through Knapp’s Narrows (where we stayed when Jassa visited). You get a completely different perspective going through this short, straight channel on Dot.Calm rather than the dinghy! We radioed the bridge tender for a lift — this is the lingo they use when you ask for the bridge to be raised — and made the passage from start to end in less than 10 minutes including the wait for the bridge.

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We’ll spend two days in Oxford and then anchor out in a nearby cove for a couple of days. If weather cooperates, we’ll head to Slaughter Creek (nicer than it sounds) to another marina that we visited last year.

It’s lovely!

Back in Galesville. Both of our boat neighbors are away. We ran into John and Gloria in St. Michael’s. They were enjoying an outdoor concert with some friends and hailed us as we walked by on our way to a dinner reservation. Our other (less friendly!) neighbors have called it day for the season or for Hartge. We’re not sure.

At any rate, here we are. Chores to accomplish. Re-provisioning to attend to.

After all that WORK….dinner out at our local favorite Pirates Cove. If you get this way, you have to try the fried shrimp. Undoubtedly the best ever….I’m talking to you Fred!

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