October 26, 2017
Sometimes weeks seem to blur together with a sense of consistency and continuity. Other times, the pendulum swings in the opposite direction and… boom… last week seems a world away from where you are now.
After leaving Back Creek on the 15th, the pendulum definitely swung in a direction opposite from the busy, engaging, clock-oriented schedule we had at the beginning of the month. We sailed back under the Chesapeake Bridge and returned to the Magothy River where we anchored at our old stomping ground behind Dobbins Island. For over a week, we split the days either doing maintenance tasks, going out for day sails, or simply chilling out aboard.
Rare land excursions were limited to a couple of times of stepping onto the Magothy Marina dock – holding tank pump-outs, fresh water, diesel, gas, ice, garbage and oil disposal… truly a one-stop shop (what else could a person possibly need?); or a dinghy ride ashore followed by a long walk to the grocery store for provisions.
Liveaboard Shopping
The whole process of something as simple as a trip to the grocery store becomes an incredibly challenging task when you literally don’t know the layout of the land, are based from a boat, and have no vehicle. One can easily imagine this would have been exponentially more challenging thirty years ago before the internet age.
Kris is the undisputed Master of the iPhone and Google Maps and always earns her keep when it comes to us knowing where what we’re looking for is located, what route we need to take once we’re on land, and what location is the best bet for getting ashore, all well before we ever set out in the dinghy.
Always in the back of our minds is the knowledge that whatever is being acquired will have to be carried back to the dinghy. This becomes especially significant when the distance is upwards of a mile and we are carrying a half case of Coke, a half case of beer, a half gallon of Jack Daniels, a half gallon of Kraken Rum, and a bag of ice in addition to the just purchased groceries, newly finished laundry, and a gallon of motor oil!
A guilty pleasure we’ve been known to indulge in on rare occasion is ordering a delivery pizza by phone while we’re walking back to the dinghy. If timed correctly (and this is important), the pizza arrives at the dock your dinghy is tied to just after you do. Some things are just worth the occasional spurge… bringing a piping hot dock delivered pizza back to our boat via dinghy just has a decadent and thoroughly satisfying feeling about it and probably should never be questioned in it’s logic.
Other than a couple of trips ashore and a couple of dinghy exploration excursions, life existed quietly in our forty six foot by fourteen foot two inch world.
After ten lazy days anchored on the Magothy River, we headed about twenty five miles south, ten miles beyond Annapolis, to the South River so Kris could have a change of scenery for her forty-ninth birthday on the 26th of the month. We picked a secluded cove with good protection on three sides that was right next to Quiet Waters Park, which certainly lived up to its name. A mere couple minute dinghy ride to a nearby kayak rental facility gave us access to the only dock available to tie the dinghy to which, in turn, gave us access to the dozens of trails which meandered through the park. Though I can’t take much credit for contributing to an unforgettable birthday, Kris did get her wish which was to go for a birthday run through a picturesque park amongst the stunning colors of an autumn forest while being able to see her sailboat anchored in the cove… nice.
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