10/2/14
Nabbs Creek, Chesapeake Bay
Position: 39 09.817N, 76 32.135W
Posted by Bill

We motor sailed from Havre de Grace, down the bay, into the Patapsco River, into Stony Creek and finally into Nabbs Creek. When we made the turn into the Patapsco, we had a good wind direction and decent winds out of the northeast, so we finally got to SAIL! With the engine off even! We have been pushing to get to this destination, driving hard each day, so we have not really sailed until now.

If you remember from earlier posts, we were driving hard for several reasons:
1) Tricia has some business meetings next week in Baltimore
2) We have had an incredible weather window and needed to get as far as we could while we had it
3) We got a late start (about a month late) and only had a few days of slack to play with

Looking back, it seems incredible that we made it a few days ahead of time and that we didn’t need to use our schedule slack. We are tied up behind some friends of ours that live on Nabbs Creek. They have a sailboat and powerboat and a really nice dock. They are former cruisers and live-aboards (lived on their boat) and they totally get how wonderful it is to have someone offer their dock, house, electricity, car, washing machine, and especially a nice hot shower and real bathroom! They are very low key and love to have a good time…we are such kindred spirits…and have become good friends. I am just so overwhelmed by their hospitality and giving nature. It is something that you usually only experience with family, which by the way, they have all been so wonderful in their offers for help, as well as helping with many things. As and example, my brother the other night told me that if we needed a place to stay, someone to run errands, help of any kind, just call. Now he lives a good 45 minutes from where we are docked and their life is crazy busy, but I know that all I would have to do is call and they would be there. That is absolutely amazing!

I have read how the cruising community supports themselves like this and we have started to experience it. Many people buy homes on the water when they are done cruising and do the same as our friends are doing for us. I just cannot express how really cool that is. If everyone in the world shared this level of generosity and also respected the people giving it (so as not to take advantage), how cool the world would be!

Ok, so enough of blabbing on. Sitting on the boat in Nabbs Creek is just fantastic. The bay is full of these little coves. It is just so beautiful and is fun to explore. We will be back next summer to spend lots of time here. In the mean time, while we are docked I have a list of projects to get done, both on the boat, and misc. things that have been neglected while we were pushing hard to get here.

Havre de Grace

Sailing down the bay you could see the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. It is down by Annapolis. I am sure I will have closer pics of this in the future.

Our friend Mike came out on his power boat to greet us as we entered the Patapsco River.

Coming in to the Patapsco River with the Francis Scott Key bridge in the background.

Coming in to Stony Creek, we had to go through this narrow lift bridge.

Here we are docked at Mike and Sue’s. They have a great set up! It is so cool to be docked here.

The view of Nabbs Creek to the west.

The view from the boat. They have a cool beach area where many parties are enjoyed!

Sunset on Nabbs Creek.

As cool as all of this has been, we think about our Ohio friends and our family every day, and are really missing everyone. Glad we can share via the blog but wish you were with us.