Photo 1: sunrise at our anchorage at Plaindealing Creek near Oxford; Photo 2: workboats at a marina at Knapps Narrows

The rest of our trip is a series of snapshot images in my mind.  The anchorage at Plaindealing Creek, near Oxford.  It’s a wide, calm anchorage mostly surrounded by undeveloped land with just a few houses.  It’s a clear night and there are a zillion stars – I was reminded of how much light pollution we have in Annapolis.  Waking up in the morning to a perfect view of autumn mist rising from the water.  Taking the dinghy into town and learning why Oxford was an important port when Europeans first arrived in Maryland, because of its incredibly protected natural harbor on Town Creek.  Another night at anchor, the wind came up so strongly and suddenly that I was positive our anchor was dragging; how comforting to look at the GPS which assured me that we were right where we were supposed to be.  Picking our way carefully back through the Narrows on our own, with no lead this time (and feeling very accomplished as we went through the drawbridge). 

Finally, we sailed northward up the Bay back toward Annapolis and the loooong list of chores that we needed to accomplish before we were ready to sail south for the winter.  It was about 1 PM and I noticed that the sun was peeking under the bimini, even though it was as high in the sky as it could get this season.  Just another indicator that like the birds, it’s time to turn our thoughts southward.

PS: Uh-oh.  Ellen commented that she’d read my previous blog post and wondered what I was talking about – she didn’t remember any scary big wind early in the trip.  Does this mean I’m a wimp?

PPS: The claim is that a cruiser’s dinghy is like your car.  Apparently that also extends to talking on the cellphone while driving! We were motoring toward town in the dinghy when friend Cathy called to connect us up with some potential renters for our townhouse.  So here I am, trying to strike a deal underway …