Gunkholing on the Chesapeake

[SeaSpray]

Wow! That workboat looks a lot like the drawing of Dave's 16 streched to a 26.

Steve

[Bearh]

Ben, ex-Snowdon looks good in your care. We're glad to see you and your family on the water, obviously enjoying the boat. And as you see from these responses, this group is a wonderful part of the experience you will have. Enjoy the thin water open to you now, and if you are ever on the Rhode River, make sure to poke around the corner into the coves behind the islands, across from where Jane works at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. it's a nice place, and plenty shallow if you get back toward the head of the river. Season's greetings to you and your family. Bruce and Jane Holly

[Captains Cat]

Hey Ben, I didn't realize that the former "Snowden" was in your care now. Bruce and Jane came down to our place in the summer of 2004 with Tom and Kathy on Otter. Here's a good picture of your boat leaving to go home....



This was taken just before he went on the wrong side of a green channel marker and ran (softly) aground , much to his embarassment. We miss you on this site Bruce, you're welcome to chime in anytime.

Look forward to meeting you, Ben, on the bay or at a gathering..

Charlie

[Ben]

Hi Bruce,

We have really been enjoying the boat; as you may remember I am a sailor at heart, but I have really appreciated the greatly increased cruising range due to the increased speed. Also I love to get away from the crowds and get back to nature, which is much harder with a 5 foot draft of a sailboat. I am looking forward to trying out a push pole as was mentioned above and getting a little inflatable kayak to poke around on.

We are trying to get the most out of the boating season, in fact I am not really "winterizing" except to empty the water tank and porta-potty, so that we can get out on a moments notice. We still haven't settled on a name but we are thinking about Bon Temps as a remembrance of our last home in New Orleans. If you really start missing your old boat just let me know, I'd happy to let you take it back out. I know you would take special care of it. It is good to hear from you. Ben

[Bearh]

Bon Temps sounds like a good name.
I just got back from two months down in the Big Easy, doin' my ting with FEMA and all--spent my days in St. Bernard and Plaquemines Parish, and stayed in the Warehouse district. The French Quarter and much of the Uptown area are coming back now, or were relatively unhurt by flooding and wind--but out where I was was really tough. Good people though.
Keep on enjoying the boat, Ben, and I hope you get to Langford Creek this year, if that's where the rendezvous is going to be--the Chester River is beautiful. Lemme know when you want your trailer back. Bruce

[Otter-BelleHavenMarina]

Shallow draft is truly one of the joys of the C-Dory in our area. I have a few such spots up here on the other end of the Potomac. One is on Piscataway Creek, just on the south side of the creek from Fort Washington. A sandy beach that, for lack of a true name, we refer to as Zoe Beach after our Belgian Shepherd who loves to run up and down it and sniff out all a the critters that have recently passed by. Another if called Pomonkey Beach, and it is on the east side of the river just across from Gunston Cove, I believe. A bit farther south, Mattawoman Creek is a lovely cruise, and the C-Dory can get way far up it past the where anyone but kayaks and skiffs would fear to tread. Kathy and I have overnighted there and woken up to gorgeous misty sunrises. The cruise around Wye Island is also one of our favorites when we venture farther afield. Happy boating!
Best wishes,

[Otter-BelleHavenMarina]

Here's a photo of Zoe on "her" beach.

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[oldgrowth]

Tom - Zoe is a good looking dog and it looks as though she could have been made from the sand.

[Otter-BelleHavenMarina]

Thanks! She's a sweetheart. Lying at my feet right now waiting for me to go to bed. Mark Twain once said, "I aspire to be the kind of man my dog thinks I am."