Up the Chesapeake

Last Thursday the weather reports improved enough for us to leave our slip at the Hampton (VA) Public Pier at about 11 am, get our holding tank pumped, and head out Hampton Roads Inlet then hang a left to start up the 200 mile long Chesapeake Bay.

 

Rather than repeat stops made on the southbound trip we tried to hit some new ports. We were partly successful. For example, instead of shooting for Deltaville VA that night we went to nearby Gwynn's Island and passed through Milford Haven Inlet to anchor off the SeaBreeze restaurant. The nearby boat ramp provided the necessary dinghy dock access for dog walks. I had wanted to shorten the trip by coming in from the east via a channel known as 'Hole in the Wall' but it was near low tide and a call to the local Towboats US captain for advice yielded this response :

'You might try it but it'll be tight. Near marker 8 you'll find depths of 3 to 3.5 ft. But if you get stuck I'll be happy to come out and pull you off.'

That decided it....the long way around the island for us, which made the day's run a longish 42 nm.

 

For a bigger deviation from southbound travels on Friday morning we pulled anchor at a leisurely 10 am for a shorter 28 mile run to unique Tangier Island, nearer to the east side of the bay. We had read the very interesting Wikipedia entry on Tangier and were looking forward to a visit. We weren't disappointed, beginning with meeting the owner of Parks Marina, 83 year old Milton Parks. After tying Spray to his face dock he gave us (all 4 of us!) an extended tour of the island in his golf cart. Milton was born there and spent most of his working life fishing the local waters, and he knows everyone and everything about his island. Here he is aboard his beautiful 45' wooden crabbing boat.

The 2 industries on Tangier are fishing (mostly crabbing) and more recently, tourism. The 600 or so occupants are squeezed onto not many acres of buildable land (which are eroding away) so houses and yards are small, roads are sized for golf carts, and many of the small yards are packed with the graves of earlier residents, plus lots of cats.

We had an interesting evening walk, first seeing the town's dozen or so high school prom goers (we hit prom night!) parade in their best dress around town as residents snapped photos, then dodging the locals as they zipped around the island in their carts, which is apparently the thing to do on Friday night. We also had a crabby supper at Lorraine's Restaurant.

 

Saturday morning we headed out into the bay before 8 am. I had hoped to pick another new stop for us for Saturday night but there was no good option within range, other than to head back to the west side of the bay and after 40 miles of cruising, return to Solomons MD, dropping anchor off Zahnisers Marina, just as we had back in early November. Turns out it was a lucky choice as we walked the dogs to the nearby Calvert Marine Museum which happened to be having a festival day and admission was free! Lots of people having fun, live music, and many activities. I got a kick out of the 'build your own toy boat' activity for kids where they apparently assemble the boats with small wooden mallets : tap tap tap tap tap........

Here's the Calvert Museum viewed from Spray's anchorage :

 

Yesterday (Sunday) morning we left early for a long 52 mile run from Solomons to St Michaels MD, again crossing the bay from west to east. Weather predictions included a gale warning for west winds 20-30 knots so we hugged the bay's western shore as we cruised north then turned east and surfed downwind on 3-4 ft waves for 2 hours. Steering Spray under those conditions is tiring as she wants to yaw from side to side. At 3 pm we dropped anchor in Fogg Cove and rowed into the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum dinghy dock. We joined the museum back in October and our membership gives us free dinghy dock access and use of their showers, so we are comfortable in St Michaels.

There's a nice lawn area nearby for dog play, and we've already patronized a couple of restaurants. We'll stay 2 nights here and continue northwards tomorrow.

 

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