Learning The Bay

Our plan for Saturday was to spend a quiet day at anchor, but that was not to be, at least for the morning. After the front passed, the as typical winds picked up. We found our nice snug overnight anchorage was not so reliable after all. We slowly plowed through the mud and moved off position and closer to shore. We re-anchored two more times with no success. The 55# Delta was completely buried and even with a 10:1 scope it would very slowly plow through the mud. We did some research and found there are conditions like this on the bay. It was just our luck to find such a spot the first night. We then thought we would anchor up a small creek, but the entry was very narrow and we ran aground. It is just mud so it was not a problem and we were able to back off and be on our way. This was enough to nix the creek idea. We then selected a spot across the river from our original location and found very good holding. The afternoon and evening was much more relaxing. Our voltage regulator has been dead since Old Lyme. We have been running the generator to power the battery charger to keep up with our electrical demands until we could get a replacement. In powering off the mud bar we revved the engine higher that we normally operate and now the voltage regulator is working normally again.

The next day, Sunday, we decided to move Ariel further up the Sassafras River to be closer to Georgetown. We only went two miles but it brought Georgetown into site and made for a much shorter dinghy ride to town. We enjoyed lunch at the Harbor Café at the Sassafras Harbor Marina. The food was excellent and the portions generous. After lunch we continued on another 1 ½ miles to Gelena to buy groceries. We are definitely getting our exercise.