jake and i decided to do an extended trip for the purposes of shakin’ down, more kitty experience, and fun (of course).  we really wanted to do something different, but, kinda’ at the last minute, we decided to head back to rock hall, md. it was a good decision!

a little map of rock hall. courtesy of rockhallmd.com

we had a lazy sail over on friday.  the wind was blah, blah, blah, who cares, it was a really nice sail.  it took us about 5 and 1/2 hours, 2 tacks, and an average speed of 4 knots.  it was supposed to be really hot, and it probably was in the sun, but shaded and on the water, it was lovely.  we arrived around 6 pm and swan creek was pleasantly not full (of boats, that is.)  we had no problems anchoring and the wind was so light, we didn’t even back down on it…  don’t worry, we did eventually!  we flipped on some music, busted out the natty bohs and took in the sunset.  jake played with his dinghy (ha!) and made sure the motor worked properly.  we grilled up some chicken, i made mac ‘n’ cheese, and we called it a night.

jr inflating the dinghy.

one of many sunsets from our cockpit.

saturday morning i woke up at 6 am!  what!?  and got some coffee started using our new baletti coffee maker (thanks, boat galley, for the tip!)  jake got up shortly after and we messed around with boat stuff for a bit…  i drew out, and pinned together a little pocket bag thingie i wanna make for the cock pit to hold the binoculars, iphone, and sunscreen.  jr made pancakes that were yummy.  then, we went to town.

we dinghied over to rock hall harbor and cruised around, looking at all the beautiful boats.  we found a spot to dock and headed into the river rock pro shop.  i noticed that they had some bikes for rent and i asked about ‘em when we went in.  the guy behind the counter replied, “well, how long do you want them for?”  i was like, “i dunno, a couple hours.”  and he was all, “go ahead and take them, they paid for themselves the first season we had them.”  i was like, “what?”  seriously, don’t these people know they could still be makin’ money?  who just lends bikes to strangers? rock hallians, evidently!  they are so nice!  next we rode to a marina called sailing emporium that had a cute gift shop and found a cool t-shirt for 50% off.  and there were 2 cats in the shop!  like, real, live ones!  then we rode into town and jr got a milkshake.  it was all bikeable, and adorable, and nice.  we even rode to west marine and jake bought some dock lines to work on a new snubber for us.  then we got a beer at noon (!) at the harbor shack and checked out the pool that was open to the public for TWO DOLLARS!  like, you can go to that pool, anytime you want, for two bones.  really, rock hall?  really?  it was great.

the sailing emporium was a very cat friendly place!

we went back to the boat after returning the bikes and joined leo in a nap.  well, i joined leo, jr replaced our accumulator tank so that the water pump runs less often, of course.  oh!  and we both took showers on the boat!  and it was fine.  they weren’t long, warm showers, with endless water, but quick refreshing ones that did the trick.  and sara (you know which sara i’m talking to!) i washed and conditioned my hair!  woot woot!  granted, i was bent all the way over in a space that is about as big as a linen closet, but my hair was fresh and clean!  it’s the little things, folks!

ok, back to rock hall.  for dinner, we went back into town, but this time from the swan creek side and the nice people over at haven harbor marina let us dock our dinghy at their dinghy dock!  we called the rock hall trolley, did i tell you that rock hall has a trolley that runs through town all day, everyday and on the weekends ’till midnight!?  well, they do, and its $1 for a ride.  you just call them, and they show up.  so they scooped us up and took us to watermans for dinner.  yum.  you should go there.  the view was incredible and the food was yummy.  i would recommend the fish tacos if you’re not up for crabs.

me and jr catchin’ a ride on the rock hall trolley.

our view during dinner.

leaving harbor haven marinas dinghy dock.

that night at anchor, it got a little windy.  we saw wind gusts up to 22 knots!  i was a little worried mostly because it gets noisy, but we did just fine.  we are still using our bruce anchor that came with journey, and it is great for the muddy bay.  we felt very safe and secure.  we were more worried about the power boat that haphazardly anchored in front of us a few hours earlier.  we also played with the anchor alert app.  it’s a really cool app, i gotta remind jr to blog about it!  ok, back to rock hall…

so, i always thought the “bay-cation” commercials, encouraging you to vacation somewhere on the chesapeake bay, were kinda’ lame, but now i think they are right on!  we should all take “bay-cations!”  “bay-cation” to rock hall!  by boat or by car, it is the sweetest little town with lots to do and they are itching for tourists.  they have great restaurants, bed and breakfasts, live music, wine tastings, charter fishing, and charter sailing trips.  they  even have a little beach and a public pool (2 bucks!)…  just visit it, it’s so cute.  oh!  and we saw captain johnny again!  but he didn’t bring us crabs this time :)

in closing, i recommend that you visit rock hall, maryland!  here are a few more pics to enjoy :)

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 the end!