Harness Creek Annapolis MD USA

We had no water left in our aft tanks and the laundry basket was full to overflowing so Thursday 15 October had to be an admin day for us.  We left Weems Creek at 0930 and motored around into Spa Creek where the boat show had been.  There was already quite a lot more room to manoeuvre now that so many of the boats had left and we got onto the fuel dock at Annapolis City Marina almost immediately, where we had our holding tank pumped out and refilled the aft tanks with water.  Our timing was pretty good getting in ahead of several other yachts and we left 15 minutes later with an empty holding tank and almost completely full water tanks.

Approaching Harness Creek with the Quiet Waters Park out to our right

It is a short distance to Harness Creek as the crow flies but a 10-mile passage by water (out of the Severn River, giving the Thomas Point shoals (and lighthouse) a wide berth, before approaching the Annapolis area again but from South River).  Harness Creek runs almost all the way up through the Annapolis peninsula from the south, almost all the way to Spa Creek.  Here we knew that we could anchor and, during daylight hours, walk the couple of kilometres through Quiet Waters Park to get to a laundrette and some useful shops.

Creeping into Harness Creek watching the depth gauge carefully

We crept into Harness Creek at low water, watching the depth gauge carefully.  There was plenty of water for us but we knew that the tides were abnormally high at the moment and we wanted to be sure that we had plenty of depth in hand so that we would not end up inadvertently aground at low water or, worse, when the additional stand disappeared down the Bay.

There was space for us above the other anchored yachts in the creek

For a good laundry and shopping location, Harness Creek tuned out to be surprisingly pretty.  It helped that we had clear blue skies and very still conditions but when we had anchored up above some other yachts we felt that the creek merited a visit in its own right, and not just because of the convenience of the nearby shops.

But for us the laundry was the next big priority, so we launched the dinghy and hot footed it up through the park.  Nicky had suggested that we take the bikes ashore but I had been concerned that that the paths through the park were footpaths rather than bike trails.  She, of course, was right because the park tracks turned out to be tarmacked and as wide as most of the roads back home in Guernsey.  The exercise did us good though and whilst the washing machine was running through its cycle we made a quick dash to the nearby Giant supermarket followed, after the tumble drying, with a trip to the hardware store and West Marine.  There’s also another very good yacht chandlery, Fawcett, here so Harness Creek deserves its reputation as a good shopping anchorage.

At the hardware store Nicky had found a selection of baskets that might work as storage containers in the newly refurbished fridge.  Back aboard BV, she emptied the fridge and tried out various combinations, with and without the Perspex dividers that have long been a part of our fridge’s interior.  We decided on keeping most of the Perspex (minus one shelf) which meant that the fridge would now accommodate 3 large and 2 small baskets. So, with some containers needing returning, Nicky made a second trip (this time by bike) to the hardware shop.

I was left on board to sort our dinner which was much easier to do having just emptied everything out of the fridge to test the new storage boxes.  Normally whatever you need from our top loading fridge seems to be stored right at the bottom.  This time I had an organised pile of ingredients ready for me on the side.  We are hoping that the new baskets will help the cold air to circulate better (making the fridge even more efficient) and will make lifting everything out much easier.  More importantly, the veggies won’t be stored in sealed boxes which accumulate condensation, something which seems to have got worse now we have fitted the new, more powerful, fridge condenser and evaporator plate. It will be interesting to see how it all works out.

Autumnal colours starting to show

Nicky returned as the sun was getting low in the sky and the was light turning golden.  We stowed the dinghy ready for an early start in the morning and then relaxed and enjoyed the beautiful surroundings.  Harness Creek is definitely an anchorage to return to if we are in the Annapolis area again.

Harness Creek, Annapolis, Maryland, USA