Days Events:

Wx - great! 73/89, winds SW 3, partial sun, waves SW <1ft.

Travel - left Horn Point at 08:20, traveled at 8mph, arriving at Osprey Pt. at 11:30. Considered challenging a 1043' cargo container approaching us at 16mph just after we crossed under the Chesapeake Bay Bridge; decided to go a bit faster to get out of his way!

See photos - it is rather large. Otherwise, a nice quiet day.

Marina - very nice place; 160 slips, floating docks, solid and well kept; nice mixture of trawlers, sailboats, tugs, express motors; staff gave good directions and helped to dock; TSM coming again this evening so he doubled all lines in the slip; no need to go to the office as everything was paid on-line and they brought our 'welcome bag' to us for the wifi connections, rules, map, etc. Their trolley is not running due to covid, but it is only a mile into the town center for groceries, West Marine, hardware, etc, so I will take my bike in the morning.

Rock Hall is a small community of 1200 on the East Shore, at mile 44 of the Chesapeake; Osprey Point is an upscale Inn & Marina & Restaurant; it has a boat yard across the road on the other [West] side of the peninsula that we passed to get here.

Photos - the cargo container size is deceptive - I know how big it is from the AIS [Automatic Identification System] contact we have which provides length, beam, speed, direction of travel, etc.; a 1043' LOA is 3 football fields with a beam [width] of 138 ft!

There's one of our Dock D - usual array of sailboat masts and trawlers; a good well maintained floating dock walkway.

Planning - we are reviewing our dinghy options, since having it on the sun deck and needing to use the davit has been a deterrent. Looking at a Snap/Lock system with a smaller RIB [Rigid Inflatable] dinghy attached to the swim platform, using our 5hp propane outboard motor and have it installed next spring before we resume our Loop; the key is to make it 'user-friendly' and 'easy-to-use' - the current one is quite useless [at least for us]; so will sell the Portebote this winter. Checked out several boat/dinghy combinations here and had great chat with trawler owner with a RIB Aluminum bottom that hangs off the transom using pulleys, leaving the outboard attached, making it easy to unload/load and for his Admiral to get into.

Admirals Desk:

A pleasant and short trip today. We actually left earlier than planned (we were awake so might as well get underway)and maintained a slow, stately speed so we wouldn't arrive here too early. Some marinas have checkin/out times. Our friend Ernie is always amused and frequently comments on our lack of speed. We did briefly speed up to 3/4 throttle to out run the cargo ship.😁😁

We planned to pick up dinner from the Inn here at the marina. Highly rated, but has now opened for dine-in and will no longer do take out! And we were too grubby to dine-in anywhere. Phooey! Had to cook and of course, do dishes. Some days being the Admiral feels more like being a domestic engineer.

Heat index topped at 105 today. 5 degrees cooler than yesterday.

Good night.

Maintenance:

Holding Tank Monitor - still shows 62%; likely 'stuck'; did visual confirmation and it should be at least 75-80%. C'est la vie, eh!! Will adjust the 'new' external system and see if can get it to work. We are 'good' for at least another 2 days so will pumpout at next marina on Sat.

Strainers - all ok although a/c looks grungy again - will change/clean on Sat. at Bohemian Bay, and add copper coupling.

Covid19 - have seen some masking among boaters on the dock.

Tomorrow - will gear up to go into 'town' for some supplies, using our e-bikes and backpacks.

Comments:

Ernie R - 24 Jul 2020: First off, that is a very smart duck! Must have had relatives that had a bad experience at TP. You know they have always had issues with management as evidenced by the last Commodore not even finishing his assigned tenure! Although I think he was burdened by a particular sorry Bridge! Glad to see throttles will still go past fast idle! Cargo ships must obey rules also, so don’t be bullied by them no matter how big they are! Be safe!

Robert & Margaret - 24 Jul 2020: I am truly fortunate to have someone knowledgeable who's got my back and keeps me humble!! :