On Wednesday, May 23 we ventured on our second cruise of the Bay.  Our goal (based on the wind direction forecast) was to head across to the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay, south of Annapolis to the Rhodes River to anchor overnight, and then sail back across to the East Wye River on the eastern shore  for several nights.  Walter had solved the mystery of why our dinghy motor was cutting off...old, foul gas; so we were looking forward to exploring with our dinghy.
We passed famous Thomas Point Lighthouse.  Because of the shifting sands of the Bay with the tides, the lighthouse can be levelled by adjusting the screws on the legs of the lighthouse!  We arrived at Rhodes River anchorage and were picking our way in following our paper chart and GPS chartplotter, but things just weren't matching up....There were supposed to be 3 islands, but we could only see two.  We slowed to a crawl to try and solve the discrepancy.  We are pretty novice relying on the GPS chartplotter so we were depending on our skills at reading the paper chart and matching it with what we were seeing.  Walt kept saying, "The GPS is saying we are heading onto an island!" and yet we couldn't see it.  Suddenly, we felt a nudge as the boat came to a stop.  We were aground.  Fortunately, the bottom is mud and with a quick reverse we backed off.  We had hit "High Island" as you can see from our GPS chartplotter!  There really is no land showing above water at any tide level.  We learned later that High Island has been eroded away with the tides.  We felt much better later when we met an experienced sailor who recounted how he'd been in there 5 times and run aground 6 times!
We relied on the GPS chartplotter to retrace our path out of the anchorage the next morning and set sail for East Wye River.  We had a lovely sail with 15 knot winds and sunshine.  We motored up the East Wye River and dropped the hook by Granary Creek.  The next morning we dinghied ashore to hike the trails of Wye Island.  It is a nature sanctuary.  There are trails through old growth forest with huge trees 250-300 years old, including a 275-year-old holly tree.  It was a very quiet, peaceful anchorage with blue herons and ospreys soaring around.  In the morning, crab boats slowly plied the waters checking their crab pots.
On Saturday we headed back to our marina slip.  We had a long sail of 27 nautical miles that took close to 12 hours with all of the tacking back and forth that we did.  However, being the Memorial Day Weekend with glorious winds and weather, the Bay was dotted with brightly coloured sails, so there was a lot to see.
Spring Cove Marina has been delightful.  Madelyn Reni, the owner, keeps the grounds and facilities immaculate.  There is a refreshing pool, picnic tables, and a friendly ambiance among the sailors.

Thomas Point Lighthouse

The nudge

Guess which one is the old growth

Powering up

Agitated Osprey 

270 year old Holly tree

The pool with marina in the background

Each morning as Walter & I continue to head out on our runs we spot numerous cottontail rabbits.  The surrounding cornfields are growing at least 3 inches a day!  We are looking forward to heading back to our home in Bracebridge for a few days to see family and friends.  When we return to Windspell, we will have our son, Andy, joining us for a few days.