Dot's Way Cruising Cat: Sassafras River to Tidewater Marina in Havre de Grace, Maryland

It was a still, hazy Friday morning outside Lloyd Creek and Glenn still has not been able to get the new dinghy engine running successfully after three times up on the deck rail and back on the dinghy. So we pulled anchor and headed back across the bay and up the Susquehanna River to Havre de Grace. We pulled into the fuel dock for a top-off and a pump out and then we were directed around to another entrance and back to the bulkhead behind a row of small power boats. It is close to the bathhouse and the marina exit to the historic downtown and a perfectly quiet spot out of the wakes, We headed downtown at the dockhand's recommendation to Abbeburger and had a great burger at the bar watching Wimbledon tennis. The Enterprise car rental folks picked us up so we have a rental car to make a road trip to Annapolis on Saturday for a spare dinghy engine. The rain started as we drove back and a thunderstorm was predicted so the First Friday street band was cancelled. We did not find that out until we went out later for a stroll so we ended up walking the North Park Rails to Trail along the Susquehanna River and under the highway and railroad bridges and then along the old railroad bed along the canal.

Approaching Tidewater Marina near Highway 40 bridge

Concord Point Lighthouse in Harvre de Grace

Sailing School off our bow next to Tidewater Marina

View off flybridge on starboard side

On Bourbon Street at the marina entrance on the art center wall

Charming building in historic district

Burger place in a historic building

Community Garden

Home to decoy museum

Susquehanna Lock House Museum

The trail headed under the bridge

The rail bed along the canal is now a hiking path

On Saturday morning we enjoyed breakfast at the Vintage Cafe before walking through the Farmer's Market all within a couple blocks of the marina. The Evergrain Bakery from Chestertown had a line a block long for their baked goods. We got fresh veggies and a huge steak and dropped them back at the boat. We headed north in the car to near Perryville to the E-Z Pass administrative office to get another E-Z Pass. After waiting more than 30 minutes and the two cashiers had not handled the first customers and there were more ahead of us so we decided just to use the toll by mail for the toll near Baltimore. We headed to Trader Joe's in Annapolis only to find out that grocery stores in Maryland cannot sell wine. Our next stop was Fawcett's Marine Store which had almost everything we had been looking for. They had a second location for inflatables and engines in Eastport near their original location on Ego Alley, the dock for showy boats. We decided to head across the Annapolis Bay Bridge and head north to Blue Elk Winery in North East which had a wonderful red wine tasting flight and a charcuterie board served in an old barn with each stall converted into a seating area. We enjoyed the country roads even though we ran through another pouring rainstorm before we got to the winery. We had our laundry in the car so we stopped at the Fluff and Fold laundromat back in Havre de Grace and it was nice to get multiple loads done at once. The only thing lacking at Tidewater Marina is laundry facilities.

Local honey stand

Great variety of veggies

That's a dog sleeping in the van behind the veggie stand

Mural along the Annapolis docks in Eastport

View of the vineyard at Blue Elk Winery along Elk River

Great dry red wine flight

Yummy munchies

Ironically a sign was posted for what was next on our itinerary so we bought a bottle

We walked over to Vintage Cafe for another excellent omelet breakfast. Then we drove to Susquehanna State Park to the historic Rock Run Grist Mill. We found the Farm Road trail that we hiked to the road to the campground. We got to the entrance of the campground and found the connecting road to the Park Headquarters and the Ivy Branch trail that reconnected to the Farm Road trail so we were able to make it a 6-mile loop. Next, we drove to Boordy Winery as the rain started. They had a covered pavilion for us to do the dry white wine and red wine flight. Because of the thunderstorm, they canceled the food truck and live music We got drenched on the way back to the boat as the thunderstorm rolled through. Back to Abbeyburger for another great burger and onion rings as our options were limited for food choices at the Market Street Brewery. We got the refrigerator and freezer defrosted as the rain continued.

Delightfully decorated homes

Amazing blooms

Grist mill at Susquehanna State Park

Along the river near the toll house for original covered bridge

Remnants of original pilings for covered bridge

Great system of marked trails

Historic mansion of Army general

Colorful butterflies landing on the road

Steppingstone Falls

Boordy Wine tasting flight

Old farm buildings

Beautiful vineyards

We walked into town and had a bagel breakfast at the coffee shop sitting outside as it was an amazing cool morning. We went back to get the rental car and drove to Conowingo Dam. The wildflower trail was closed due to an Avian Flu issue but we visited the Fisherman's Pier. We drove across the dam bridge and stopped at Octoraro Creek trail and walked along the creek to where it intersected the Susquehanna River. Our last stop was to walk along the promenade in Port Deposit beside the turtle habitat visitor center. We headed back to stop at the grocery store before returning the rental car. We were dropped off back at the boat where they had dropped off our package. We did a late lunch at Coakely's Pub intending to dine in the courtyard but Wimbleton Tennis was on at the bar. We spent the rest of the afternoon scrubbing the decks. It was a nice evening on the flybridge for our last day in town.

Conowngo Dam

Fisherman's Pier

Catching Rockfish with a limit of one daily

Wood carving of Bald Eagle with hundreds here in winter

Butterfly on the butterfly bush

One of the dozen Bald Eagles here year-round

In the spring, they run a fish ladder over the dam

Octoraro Creek trail

Canada geese and buzzards

Sounds of frogs

Erosion causes a tangle of roots

Port Deposit Town Hall and stairs up the cliff

Historic Port Deposit along the river

Tome Visitor Center and Turtle Habitat

Out sunning on the rock

Promenade along the Susquehanna River

Havre de Grace Art Gallery where I picked up a frog that said Take Me Far

On our last morning at the dock, we did a final breakfast at Vintage Cafe and walked to the post office to mail off estate forms. We walked down to the Concord Point Lighthouse and followed the promenade

past the Decoy museum and down to the city marina. We stopped back by Canvasback Cove where we used to have a condo on the water. It was nice to see even more revitalization around town and preserving the history.