We've cruised up the Chester River, which extends eastwards from Chesapeake Bay, to end up here in Chestertown MD. I remember writing that Essex CT was maybe the prettiest town I've seen but we have another candidate here. Very historic with some beautiful houses and brick buildings.
I had been thinking about how slow things were around here as we are several weeks post-season, so imagine my surprise when we arrive in Chestertown for day 1 of their annual Downrigging Weekend, a gathering of several tall ships and celebration of the end of the boating season. Read more about it here:
But let's back up to see how we arrived here. On Monday we took a break from gunkholing to visit Rock Hall MD. We anchored in nearby Swan Creek, and dinghied in to Haven Harbor Marina where they were nice to let us use their dinghy dock and walk into town. Riggs and I had an excellent lunch at the Harbor Shack, right on the harbor, then walked all over Rock Hall. Later I went solo to a grocery store there and bought some supplies.
Tuesday we cruised south to Queenstown MD, at the mouth of the Chester River. The entrance to the cove there was challenging but worth the effort, since the cove had a nice sandy spit for Riggs to run on, and the small town was very charming. Around here you see lots of history of both Revolutionary times and also Civil War times.
Wednesday we cruised farther up the Chester into Langford Creek, to anchor behind Cacaway Island. Really beautiful with scads of canadian geese (in transit) and eagles, plus the local foliage is near peak in color. Today we went further up the Chester, which is very rural with spectacular waterfront farms.
I had been told not to miss Chestertown, and I now know why. Its a lovely town, with well-preserved old sea-captains homes, and an old-time brick downtown. That we arrived in time for this tall ships gathering is a bonus. After touring the waterfront and downtown areas (If pee-marking is valid then Riggs now owns this town), we were heading back to the park where we had tied our dinghy and noticed two fellas fishing from the bulkhead, So we met these nice retired guys, Franklin and Craig (I think), who have perfected the art of shoreside fishing for carp. They each have a lean-to to sit under, and a bracket that holds two fishing rods, each with electronic sensors to announce when they have a bite. They use some sort of corn as bait. They apparently regularly reel in 10-20 lb. carp, which they take a picture of and then release.
Riggs entertained the three of us with his amazing ball chase-and-retrieve skills and occasionally a fish-alarm would go off. At one point I was offered the chance to reel in one of the behemoths and you see the results above (I'm the one smiling). It was all great fun.
We'll hang here to enjoy the festivities tomorrow, including fireworks (probably directly above Spray). Then we'll gunkhole our way back down the Chester River.
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