{"id":726,"date":"2012-09-24T14:08:46","date_gmt":"2012-09-24T14:08:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=726"},"modified":"2012-09-24T14:08:46","modified_gmt":"2012-09-24T14:08:46","slug":"a-most-beautiful-spot-queenstown-creek-and-a-brush-with-a-sand-bank","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=726","title":{"rendered":"A most beautiful spot, Queenstown Creek and a brush with a sand bank."},"content":{"rendered":"

At the mouth of the Chester River and about 4 miles NE from Kent Narrows is a small harbor, Queenstown Creek. \u00a0The entrance is narrow and shallow but getting inside makes the nail\u00a0biting\u00a0worth it. \u00a0 Actually, we almost didn’t make it as we ran hard aground on a sand bank just inside the mouth after bumping a few times on the way in. \u00a0The tide was running out and still about 90min from dead low\u00a0which made any mistakes doubly problematic.<\/p>\n

So, here we were, after a run back down the Chester River, at 6:00 pm and hard aground about 100 yards from our destination. \u00a0What’s \u00a0a traveler to do? \u00a0Hmm…<\/p>\n

After a few futile attempts to back off of the sand bank, I did what any head scratching captain would do, I lowered the anchor the few feet to the bottom (probably not needed as we were firmly stuck anyway) and opened a beer.<\/p>\n

A short while later another boat came in and took a slightly different path, with more water it seemed, and passed us. \u00a0Armed with the confidence of now half of a beer and the new knowledge of a better path, I put the boat in gear and powered forward. \u00a0Alas, we were off and into deeper water. \u00a0 \u00a0Free, free, free at last!!!<\/p>\n

So, 100 yards later we were happily swinging at anchor as the sun set over the bay. \u00a0The view, perhaps the best yet.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Perhaps you are asking yourself why I would subject myself to such a tricky entrance knowing that the likelihood of running aground was great. \u00a0Since you asked, here’s why. \u00a0We began sailing, about 40 years ago, in small boats with shallow draft and I still love the secluded cozy anchorage from my catboat days. I am also hopelessly optimistic and am confident that after all low tides, there comes a high tide. \u00a0 So, there you are, I have bared all. \u00a0Besides, running aground here is much different than where the bottom is hard and rocky. \u00a0It almost doesn’t matter. \u00a0Besides, it keeps slime off of the bottom of the keel.<\/p>\n

This spot is really lovely and after dinner last evening, fillet mignon, farm fresh\u00a0heirloom\u00a0tomatoes, from a farm stand in Essex, with\u00a0mozzarella\u00a0and herbs and fresh boat-baked bread, we enjoyed the twilight from the cockpit. \u00a0 We have been experimenting with baking peasant bread aboard from a recipe that we got from a baker in Old Saybrook near home. \u00a0He also sold us high\u00a0gluten\u00a0flower (we have 20 lbs on board). \u00a0We are making progress. \u00a0After dinner, when it was totally dark, Brenda and I climbed into the dink and drifted for a while looking up at the stars. \u00a0Not a lot of light\u00a0pollution\u00a0here. \u00a0 The sight was really beautiful. \u00a0With the help of the program, Star Walk<\/em>, on the i-pad we picked out a few stars and\u00a0constellations.<\/p>\n

A\u00a0benefit\u00a0of being an early riser is to see sights like this, with mist flowing over the water.\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I love the golden light early in the morning just before the sun comes up.\u00a0\"\"<\/a>The offending sand bank. \u00a0I didn’t clear it by quite enough. \u00a0Oh well.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>We decided to cut our visit short in Chester Town yesterday so that we could avoid motoring back down the Chester River into the wind which was forecast to shift to the south and to take advantage of a late afternoon ebb tide.<\/p>\n

However, prior to departing, we spent the morning \u00a0exploring the local streets and lovely architecture of the area. \u00a0Here are a few of our favorites.There is a very pretty board\/brick walk along a portion of the river near the town dock.\u00a0\"\"<\/a>Brick has been a very popular building material here over the years.\u00a0\"\"<\/a>The owners of these two homes aren’t\u00a0prisoners\u00a0of tradition or perhaps they are just pissed off. \u00a0“I swear, if you don’t change the color of your home from that\u00a0ghastly\u00a0yellow, I will paint my home purple!” \u00a0So, there…\"\"<\/a>“Betty Sue, how about a mint julep on the veranda? \u00a0Which one, you say? \u00a0Well, of course, I mean the west veranda. \u00a0 I just can’t believe you need to ask, every time!”
\n\"\"<\/a>Speaking of mint juleps and verandas. \u00a0It seems that everyone has a spot to sit and enjoy the sights. \u00a0This is a lovely old hotel in town, porches and all. They were advertising a fig\u00a0daiquiri. \u00a0Is that a Southern drink? \u00a0Perhaps a Southern yuppie drink.
\n\"\"<\/a>I do love porches and shade lined streets.
\n\"\"<\/a>This fountain was recently restored. \u00a0Not so sure about the color, a really pale green, but it’s in a nice spot surrounded by magnolia trees.\"\"<\/a>And, of course, yet another photo of Pandora. \u00a0This time, framed by the bowsprit of Sultana.
\n\"\"<\/a>Well, that’s all for now. \u00a0In a few hours, when the tide will allow me to escape this very pretty spot, hopefully, we’ll head to St. Michaels, about 15 miles south from here. \u00a0We plan to stay put there for a few days prior to heading to the SSCA gam on Thursday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At the mouth of the Chester River and about 4 miles NE from Kent Narrows is a small harbor, Queenstown Creek. \u00a0The entrance is narrow and shallow but getting inside makes the nail\u00a0biting\u00a0worth it. \u00a0 Actually, we almost didn’t make it as we ran hard aground on a sand bank just inside the mouth after […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","_s2mail":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=726"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":743,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726\/revisions\/743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}