Portsmouth NH to Oxford MD

Chesapeake Bay, Oxford, MD.

We left Little Harbor on Dec. 10, dressed in 5 layers, and made a couple of day trips, stopping at night in Gloucester, Onset (Cape Cod), and Newport RI.  Because of the cold, we expected we would have to continue day-tripping through Long Island Sound and New York before coming to the part I had nightmares about: the overnight winter passage down the  open NJ coast to Cape May.  As it turned out, we had a good weather window so went directly from Newport to Cape May--32 hours.  Cold but calm enough with easy NW winds--a most excellent sail and I breathed a huge sigh of relief when we dropped the anchor in Cape May at 1900 hrs, affter making our way into the harbor after dark past giant, halogen-lit tugs, tows and construction vessels that hid  the normal aids to navigation.

When we left Cape May the next morning to go up Delaware Bay, it was blowing hard in our faces and the water was very lumpy.  We smiled, however, as a sweet little whale surfaced right beside Act III.  We anchored at the top of the bay before heading through the C&D Canal into the Chesapeake the next morning.  Weather continued cold, but sunny and calm enough to make it easy going.

Three more nights at anchor (in the beautiful Sassafras River, outside not-as-deep-as-charted-oops Rock Harbor, and in Eastern Bay, then we pulled into a marina in Oxford MD for some respite.  Power allowed us to run our electric space heater at will and catch up on internet, and let some wind and rain go by.

When we came down the Intracoastal two years ago, we met Dave and Bicki Howell on Nellie D, a head-turning Lord Nelson Victory Tug.  They live nearby in Cambridge, MD, in a spectacular home on the Little Choptank River they've been building for 11 years.  The best part of this stop was visiting with them and they spoiled us rotten with dinners at their home (fresh oysters from their stash in the river!), lending us their car for 2 days and many other kindnesses.  We can't thank them enough for their graciousness and excellent conversation (not to mention washer and DRYER).

Today, freshly provisioned, we'll make our way across the bay to Solomon's Island,  We  expect to be in the Norfolk/Portsmouth area in 3 days, then the dull grind down the Intracoastal to Sailcraft Services in Oriental, NC, where we'll haul and unstep the mast for some maintenance.

We think it's holiday season, and our hearts are with you all.