Destination: Worton Creek

Working for ourselves gives us a great deal of flexibility in our schedules, but on the flip side, it can make planning difficult. Some projects are easy to plan for, but for the most part, we're essentially on call for our clients and never really know when a project will come our way or snowball into something bigger.

After one particularly grueling week where we were both glued to our computers for 10 hour days, we decided we needed a quick getaway to unplug and unwind. We originally wanted to take a longer trip down south, but something short and relaxing seemed more our speed after the week we had! The winds were favorable for a trip north, so we decided to head to another favorite anchorage, Worton Creek.

We've been playing around with different sail configurations lately, and this day we had a comfortable beam reach sail with the main and genoa. Even though the winds were light we made good time, all the while dodging the crab pots that typically pepper the Northern part of the Chesapeake. When we reached Worton Creek, we once again had an anchorage to ourselves.

Unlike Still Pond, which is solely residential, Worton has a handful of marinas tucked in the back. There is plenty of depth in the channel, but you should stay close to the marks because it quickly becomes shallow on either side of the cut. You can get block ice at Green Pointe Landing, and Harbor House restaurant is tucked behind Worton Creek Marina if you're looking to get off the boat. If you're interested in nautical history, there's a real WWII PT boat on the hard back there as well.

Once were settled in it was time for cocktails and dinner.

Taco night!

Just before dusk another boat came into the anchorage, and wouldn't you know it he decided he needed to anchor right next to us! I mean about 15 yards away! At first we thought he was going to come over to visit, but he proceeded to go down below, turn on his generator and let it run all night long! So much for our peaceful first night! Luckily he left first thing the next morning.

After breakfast, while straightening up the cockpit, I was startled to find a tree frog in one of the cubbies. Ok, startled was an understatement -- I got totally girly and didn't want to go in the cubby to get him out! I bribed Bill to do it for me -- and he leapt at the chance to get out of dishes duty to play with a tiny tree frog :-) Once he got him out of the cubby, I had to laugh at myself and admit that our little stowaway was actually pretty cute!

Our little stowaway

No clue how this little guy got on board or how long he'd been there, but with as many flies flying around Worton, he was certainly well fed! We didn't want to put him overboard since we weren't that close to shore and didn't want him to become fish food. We were planning to swim ashore and thought he would freak out if we put him in the dry bag, so we figured he'd be fine in the cockpit until we could free him back home. He hopped back in the cubby, we wounded a few flies to give him a quick meal, and we went ashore to do some exploring. By the time we came back the flies were gone, and so was our little friend. Just as mysteriously as he had appeared, he was gone. At least he had a nice meal before heading out on his own!

The beaches at Worton are a little rocky, so you definitely need some water shoes. There's not as much sea glass as other Chesapeake beaches, but there's still plenty to see. I still haven't gotten a great photo of the bald eagles, but there were plenty soaring around and talking to one another. The hillside is eroding more than we've noticed in previous years and other beach combers have decided to turn some beach debris into "art".

 



Pretty shallow all the way to the mark on the left

Definitely more erosion than previous years

He was too cute not to photograph -- love their blue tails!

We saw about 6 of these gloves along the shore, but these were photo worthy!



I guess we missed the party

 

Sumac

We stumbled upon some wild sumac bushes (not Poison sumac) that were beginning to bear fruit. Bill new the fruit was used by Native Americans to make a medicinally active summer tea. The leaves and berries are high in tannins, which gives the fruit some antimicrobial properties. We picked some berries to take back the boat. Bill steeped the fruit in boiling water to make us the tea, which tastes almost like a lemony flavored hibiscus tea. You can drink it hot or cold, but don't steep the berries too long or your tea will become bitter.

We were treated to more fabulous sunsets and eventually had to make our way home.

Bill and me at sunset

We set off in the morning with the outgoing tide. With the winds abeam we sailed jib and jigger (genoa and mizzen) until we were well into Rock Creek, comfortably sailing around 6.5 - 7 knots.

Before we knew it we were home. It was a short, but much needed trip. Neither of us were ready to get off the boat, but Phoenix isn't going to finish herself, so soon we'll have to get back to work! :-)