May 18 Oxford to San Domingo Creek Anchorage

May 18

Short trip today from Oxford to an anchorage in San Domingo Creek which is a” back door” entry for visiting St. Michaels. It avoids running around Tilghman Island on the outside and fighting with the boat traffic you can expect to see there on a sunny  80 degree day with light winds on a late spring weekend. The trip was uneventful other than getting used to seeing the depth finder occasionally flashing 1-2 feet of water under the keel.  After navigating through it’s a fairly well protected cove with 7-9 feet of water and good holding on a mud bottom.  Took about 2 hours to travel.   Once anchored we launched the dingy and headed for the headwaters of the creek where there is a small local pier where you can tie up and then it’s just a few blocks walk into town.

Passinga  pretty sailboat leaving Oxford

Osprey have made  great comeback. Nests are everywhere

At anchor in San Domingo Creek

We had not been to St. Michaels in over 20 years.  Much of it is the same with beautifully restored houses and old churches.  Still proud of their history as “the town that fooled the British” by hanging lanterns high in trees during a nighttime bombardment that had cannon fire going over rather than into their homes.   It has grown and is even more touristy than years past with a few too many souvenir and t shirt shops now lining the streets. .  Somehow it seems to be maintaining its small town cuteness but the pedestrian traffic is insane.  The Chesapeake Maritime Museum which was a collection of a few buildings and several older wooden boats is now a proper full-scale museum taking up a much bigger portion of the waterfront. The harbor is still small and crowded with marinas and waterfront dining. 

Private residence with a free book box on one corner and a tranquility garden on other side.  Open to anyone to enjoy.

Old church downtown with fascinating old tombstones in the side yards

There is now a local distillery, brewery and winery in town.  We stopped at the brewery for a flight of 5 different craft beers.  Can’t say either of us were very impressed with any of them.    Checked in at the winery but with bottles labeled “Sweet White Table Wine” and “Sweet Red Table Wine” we decided it probably wouldn’t be to our liking and passed on the tasting.  

After more walking around town we met up for dinner with our friends Russ and Jax.  They had taken the long way to St. Michaels had anchored and dingyed in.  Almost 8 o’clock by the time we finished dinner so getting dark as we hurried back to our dingy and the trip back to the boat in time to get our anchor light lit and watch the full moon rise over the tree line.  Big and orange it was a site which neither of us could get our cameras to properly capture. 

Early to bed but then awakened around 2:30 with a flash of lightning and the crash of thunder. Quick check of weather radar showed an isolated but strong storm crossing the bay.  Close the windows, check the anchor, check the other boats around us and stand watch until it passed. Martha snapped a couple shots off the weather app as the storm went over.  We appeared to be smack in the middle.  Love the note about lightning strikes 0 miles away.

Our anchor held just fine (once again happy with my decision to upgrade to a 25 kg Rocna) but there were 2 sailboats rafted across from us who dragged several hundred yards. Thankfully their anchor caught and held before hitting any of the boats anchored further back in the creek  in their direct line.  All in the day of a boater!!

Journey for May 18, 2019