On the Water with As You Wish: May 25 Rock Hall/Swan Creek Anchorage to Bohemia River Yacht Harbor

May 25

The winds finally let up late Friday afternoon and we could tell it was the start of a holiday weekend on the Chesapeake as our anchorage in Swan Creek suddenly filled with another dozen boats. With a good weather window finally opening up for us on Saturday we decided it was time to make some progress. We opted to refuel at Gratitude Marina on the way out. As we approached, we thought maybe we had spotted the elusive “Chessie”. Just as the Lock Ness has their “Nessie” it is also rumored that the Chesapeake has a sea serpent that lurks in these waters. Luckily, we made it around her without issue or damage.

Despite wanting to visit some of the anchorages we used to frequent years ago when we kept a boat in Middle River, MD we moved past Fairlee Creek, Worton Creek and Still Pond Creek and pushed our way into new territory for us – The Bohemia River and the Bohemia River Yacht Harbor. It was getting busy on the bay during the trip with lots of large boats tossing out big wakes. So, we were glad to pull into the marina and get settled down. As you get to this northern most part of the bay the scenery changes a bit as the water narrows and the land rises a little higher.

After having the bay to ourselves so far we had to get used to traffic and getting waked

Back in civilization. A beachside full of modular units

Elk River Lighthouse

Small lighthouse marks the start of the marina entrance channel

After a week of anchoring Martha was ready to get some laundry done and I was ready to give the boat a good wash. Last wash was before Norfolk and since then we got clobbered with saltwater during that move from Cape Charles to Crisfield and I wanted to make sure it all got washed off before corrosion set in. There’s a very generous AGLCA Harbor Host that is based out of this marina and he was kind enough to take us shopping. I needed to replace the generator battery which had become temperamental occasionally needing a jump from the big house and engine cranking batteries. It’s supposed to work the other way around. When at anchor if you discharge the house batteries too much, you want to fire up the generator to power the 120V battery charger and bring the big batteries back to full charge to start the engine. The trip from the marina to Elkton reminded us of the countryside in PA. when we lived there. Nice rolling farmland with corn just starting to germinate and show itself. This is a large marina with roughly 500 slips and it is loaded with big boats. We have a slip right next to the entrance channel and it’s been a constant parade of 40’, 50’ and 60’ boats. They call it the Pennsylvania Navy as most of the boats are owned by PA. residents who store their boats down here for weekend fun. We can’t bad mouth them as we used to be one of them!! It’s a very social marina with a continental breakfast on Sunday with some awesome pastries as well as an evening ice cream social once a month that we happened to catch. Staying put here through the weekend to stay away from the heavy holiday waterway traffic.