A shakedown to Saint Michael's, MD

Saint Michael's, the town that fooled the British, is a favorite destination of ours. The town is on the Miles River, on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay, approximately 25 nautical miles from our mooring in Galeville, Maryland.

After seven months of refurbishing Rosalind, the time had come to start testing the new systems. So on Tuesday morning with outside temperatures hovering in the the mid-forties (about 8 C), we started motoring out of Galesville. The trip across the Bay and up the Miles River was confortable and the cockpit enclosure proved its worth, keeping the cockpit dry from condensation and cozy with the warming rays of the Fall sun.

After five hours of motoring and motorsailing we anchored outside of the harbor of Saint Michael's. Anchoring with the refurbished windlass was a success.

Once everything was stowed in the cockpit and down below, I went for a hot shower. A hot shower on land (at home or in a hotel) is not a big deal, something one does without thinking twice about it, but on a small boat it's an entirely different story.  It took the better part of one month's work to remove the old plumbing, clean the fiberglass water tank and paint it with special epoxy, install new pluming and a new water heater, install the new shower sump pump, connect the water system to the brand new diesel engine and chase down leaks. The hot shower was fantastic!

Normally we would have lunch on board, this time, however, with so much to check and inspect during the five-hour sail we had only snacks, so we were ready for a nice meal. As a treat, we went to a great Italian restaurant, Limoncello.

Walking the streets of Saint Michael's was pleasant as the town had not lost any of its summer charm. All shops were open and there were a few tourists walking about. After walking through town, we had an ice cream at Justine's and rowed back to Rosalind. Dusk was fast approaching so it was time to test the new LED masthead anchor light. The light worked well and we were by far the brightest anchor light in Saint Michael's.

Sunset, Saint Michael's, MD

At night, the diesel forced hot air heater held the cabin around 70 F (21 C). The next morning we rowed to town and had a coffee at the Blue Heron Cafe, a small coffee shop roasting its own beans. We then rowed back to Rosalind and did some work on board including inflating our Achilles dinghy and setting up its outboard engine.

We took a quick trip in the inflatable dinghy to see the town and shop at the supermarket. Back on Rosalind, we tested the grill and had a great lunch.  While in town earlier, we met a couple from our marina. After lunch we went to see them on their 40 ft Caliber LRC sailboat and subsequently gave them a tour of Rosalind.

With a small craft advisory on its way the next day, we decided to leave the exposed anchorage at Saint Michael's the following morning and head back to our marina in Galesville. Thursday morning we went out for an early coffee, returned to Rosalind, stored the inflatable dinghy and outboard and were on our way by 9 am. It took five hours to motorsail back. The shakedown trip was a great success. We have three must-do projects and then we should be ready to head South. Stay tuned for our departure in the very near future. Thanks for reading our blog.

Rosalind at anchor, Saint Michael's, MD

Keep Cruising,
Alex and Cheryl