Chesapeake-St. Michaels MD 6-10-09

So much of the wonder of exploring the Chesapeake is sneaking back into a small river or side channel and anchoring. We met with Mike and Pegge on Avalon and got a list of their favorite anchorages from their 20 year experience here and departed from Solomons this morning on a 68 degree perfect sunny morning for the eastern shore and St. Michaels, a trip of 40 miles with light winds and a ½ knot current against us. We passed the 5,000 mile mark of our current trip today and notice that we are in another state, Maryland.

We anchored in Domingo Creek by way of serpentining first through the Choptank River and Broad Creek. This is the back door access to St. Michaels and we took the dinghy to the public dock which we shared with day oyster boats. Heat, humidity and hazy skies descended and it isn’t even summer yet. St. Michaels is a charming, upscale, historic town with restored homes, antiques, boutiques, B&Bs, spas, bistros and all made vibrant by the bells from Christ Church.

This is quite a transformation from its past life as a waterman’s enclave of fishing for oysters, clams and crabs and the history of this dichotomy and friction is told in the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum and their exhibit, “Whose Bay Is This?” The museum also offers some amazing boat restorations and Bob was thinking of signing me up for their day apprenticeship program to learn more—always looking for varnishing tips. We continued our search for great crabcakes and the Crab Claw Restaurant had some good offerings but I like mine spicier, but it was a good place to watch the Wed. night sailboat races.

The area has some past and current claims to fame. During the War of 1812, the St. Michaels residents, forewarned of a British attack, hoisted lanterns into trees and ships masts, which tricked the British cannoniers and they overshot the town. Former Vice President Dick Cheney and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld have both bought properties in the area, and according to locals, when they come to town, the streets are clogged with Secret Service and no one can get into a restaurant easily.

For us tonight, it was back to the boat and a quiet anchorage--heaven.

Chesapeake-Solomons Island MD 6-9-09

We left Dozier’s Regatta Point Marina on 6-7 bound for Solomons Island. I should mention that Dozier’s is a first rate stop at a very reasonable price ($1.25 per foot) with nice amenities (pool, laundry, boaters lounge, huge porch with rockers, 2 courtesy cars) and a chance to meet and thank Jack Dozier who writes all the Waterway Guides that we have been following since Mobile AL.

We entered the 30 mile wide mouth of the Chesapeake a few days ago and are now in an estuary world where large and small rivers flow (the Susquehanna, Potomac, Rappahannock, York, James, Severn, Bohemia etc.) and make their way to the Atlantic. The Bay is 200 miles long, but with all the tributaries, it covers 4,500 square miles—definitely enough boating territory here for a few lifetimes but we only have a month. No longer will be going from buoy to buoy like in the ICW but can plot our own course complete with waypoints. Weather in spring and early summer is supposed to be mild with moderate rainfall, but so far we’ve had 5 days of often heavy rain, hot humid weather but it does cool off at night which can create early morning fog.

There are so many choices but high on most cruisers list is a stop at Solomons Island located on the western shore up the Patuxent River. This is sailboat country and on this Sunday afternoon with great wind, the sails were flying proudly in the Bay. Solomons is only 1mile long but offers so many choices—stroll the Riverwalk, visit the Calvert Marine Museum and fully restored Drum Point Lighthouse and walk/bike about 1 ½ miles to the Annmarie Garden. We stayed 2 full days at Solomons Harbor Marina (Holiday Inn Select--$50 each for the first 2 nights; $32 for 3rd night) so that we could do all of this as well as visit with Mike and Pegge on Avalon and also catch up with Dean and Kathy on Briar Patch. Woodburn’s Grocery store is a great place to reprovision.

The Calvert Marine Museum offers a very informative and entertaining prehistoric view of the Bay complete with a skeleton of the 52 foot Megatooth shark that used to inhabit these waters over 2 million years ago—watch out Bob. The cliffs in this area have provided a treasure trove of fossils and you can watch staff gleaning through these. The museum also recreates human history-- Solomons is named after Isaac Solomon who started an oyster cannery business here in 1865 but the RR did not get built to transport his goods inland and his business failed. Other fishing, cannery and boat building endeavors took hold and their efforts are memorialized in the Waterman sculpture at Annmarie Gardens.

The Drum Point Lighthouse is a hexagonal, screwpile variety which was moved here in 1975 and restored inside and out and reopened for viewing in 1978. When winters were cold and severe in the Chesapeake in the 1800’s, screwpile lighthouses sometimes moved 5 miles with the keeper still on it! Check out the amazing array of restored boats here—skiffs, yawls, launches, jolly boat (can you see all of these in the boat barn picture above) and a replica of John Smith’s boat that was used to explore and initially chart the Chesapeake back in the 1600’s.

My favorite activity was walking through the Annmarie Sculpture Garden on a rainy ethereal day. It is an extraordinary place to explore both art and nature. You are greeted by porcelain gates which take you into a 30 acre park with 30 bronze statues on loan from the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. The inside museum offered a Wild Things exhibit as well as a collection of vintage woolwork needle art created by sailors in the 1800s to record their travels, pay tribute to their ships and give as mementos to their families. Bob even mastered the chain stitch in the hands-on demonstration so I am going to give him the mending now.

Living History at VA Historic Triangle 6-6-09

One of the best parts of this trip is touring historical sites and understanding how modern America came to be. This area offers so much—Colonial Williamsburg, the Jamestown Settlement and Yorktown Battlefield. We rented a car with Dave and Peg from Sea Ya and toured this amazing area for 3 days. If you stay in Yorktown, there is a free shuttle bus to the sites and we would recommend staying 5-7 days to really appreciate all there is to see.

You can trace the beginnings of America to the Jamestown Settlement, and with their Powhatan Indian Village, replicas of colonial ships bringing settlers here, and James Fort with thatched roof houses and military defenses, the living museum brings this all to life with reenactors, hands-on demonstrations, galleries and films. We all learned about navigating with a traverse board, compass and chiplog but we’ll keep our GPS.

Colonial Williamsburg is the largest of the historic areas and recreates America just before the Revolution complete with all the drama, struggle and hope of that time. The story is told throughout the village by multi-cultural actors recreating the arguments for and against revolution from so many perspectives and asking we, the participating audience, what would you choose.

Yorktown Victory Center continues the saga into the Revolutionary War and captures the struggle and hardships through a thought-provoking timeline complete with 10 diverse witnesses to history telling their story as well as a Continental Army Encampment replica and film.

We had so much fun and learned so much. We had a lively discussion about Samuel Johnson's 1759 statement that "a man in jail has more room, better food and commonly better company" than a sailor. Could this be true on 32-foot Baby Grand?

Dave and Peg were here 43 years ago on their honeymoon and here’s a picture of them still having fun.

Cape Hatteras NC 6/1/09

My observant readers will notice that today’s entry places us back in NC when we were in VA yesterday. Why-you might ask? We traveled into 5 states in May and kept going as our boat insurance requires us to be in the Chesapeake Bay in early June due to hurricane season. Time did not permit a boat side trip to the beautiful Outer Bank area of NC so we decided to rent a car on this very windy day and go back to Cape Hatteras.

Cape Hatteras stretches north to south across three islands, Brodie, Hatteras and Ocracoke, and the islands are linked by the narrow NC paved road, Route 12 as well as the Hatteras Inlet ferry. You could spend an entire month’s vacation in the Cape Hatteras National Seashore Park exploring the islands, shipwrecks, lighthouses, and wildlife refuge but we only had a day and spent our time on Coquina Beach and the Brodie Lighthouse. With our beach umbrella and folding chairs, we are always ready for a beach day. After the brown calm water of the ICW and Dismal Swamp, the ocean water today was green and frothy.

This area is also home to Kitty Hawk and the Wright Brothers National Memorial. Bob got his private pilot’s license a few years ago so this stop was definitely on our itinerary. The Wright Brothers amazing story of flight is told here from their earliest boyhood longings to fly, establishing a successful bicycle business in Dayton OH, learning mechanics, physics and chemistry from fellow inventors, self-financing their efforts and setting off for Kitty Hawk to test their dreams and theories in an area they referred to as the Sahara Desert. Through blazing heat and cold, bug and rodent-filled tents and primitive buildings, they persevered first with glider flight, and then on 12/17/1903, they made 4 successful propeller-powered flights, the longest being 852 feet in 59 seconds. Our modern world owes a lot to these pioneers.

Loopers Peg and Dave on Sea Ya will be coming into the marina tonight and we will travel together to Deltaville in the Chesapeake and do more aqua touristing in Williamsburg, Yorktown and Jamestown. Stay tuned.

Portsmouth and Norfolk VA 5/31/09

We exited the Dismal Swamp back into the fast lane with jet skis and water skiers having fun on a summer Saturday but we missed the quiet oasis we had just left. Another few miles and we were in the Portsmouth/Norfolk VA area, home of the US Navy fleet. With so many sailors around, there are bound to be mermaids, and there are 2 Hooters within a 1 mile radius.

Portsmouth and Norfolk are connected by bridges, a tunnel and a paddlewheel ferry across the Elizabeth River. We took this over to Norfolk on Sunday to explore the maritime and science museum, the Nauticus. You can get lost here for hours watching The Living Sea movie, engaging in a simulated naval battle at the AEGIS theatre, learning more about NOAA and our ocean world as well as see shark tanks. Adults and kids alike were involved in the interactive exhibits. The second floor is a free exhibit of naval history and art at the Hampton Roads Naval Museum which prepares you to visit the Navy battleship, the USS Wisconsin.

While on the deck on the USS Wisconsin, I spotted our next boat, the 221-foot White Cloud, complete with helicopter. One internet yachting site suggests that it is owned by Barry Diller, the TV programming guru who is married to Diane von Furstenberg. This is their small boat compared to Eos, a 305-foot mammoth yacht. Our little 32 -foot Baby Grand is not even big enough to be their dinghy.

We topped our day off with a walking tour around the Free Mason Historic district and the Free Mason Abbey, now a restaurant, has some interesting stain glass windows. We went back to the Waterside harbor area to take the ferry back and met Joyce and Wayne on Lady J again . They are from San Diego, just bought a Marine Trader here recently, and are figuring out their new boat and traveling plans.

We are staying on the Portsmouth side at the Ocean Marine Yacht Center and picked up diesel for $1.82 per gallon. The marina is next to the nTelos Wireless (outdoor) Pavilion, and during our stay, we were serenaded with rap music on Saturday and the US Army on Sunday and we wished that we were here instead on June 8th for the Celtic Women concert. Waterside Marina on the Norfolk side would be quieter but has a tighter harbor for docking.

Dismal Swamp Canal 5-30-09

When you visit the Dismal Swamp, you are transported back in time to the forest primeval and enveloped in its greenery and quiet. It is 125,000 acres now but once covered 1.28 million acres in NC and VA but it has been drained and logged since the time of George Washington who used slave labor to help build part of the original canal. These slaves found refuge here also as it was a staging area for the Underground Railroad to freedom in the north.

For boaters, it is a chance to get off the ICW fast lane and cruise at very slow speed through the brown tannic water and enjoy more of a wilderness experience. The canal is lined with walking and bike trails and some of the walkers were passing us. The park borders are home to deer, black bears, fox, snakes, songbirds and butterflies. It is not without risk as the canal depth is 7-8 feet in the center but the bottom is full of tree trunks and deadheads that might just reach up and grab your propeller.

You can do the canal in one day with 2 locks but we opted to tie up at the Dismal Swamp Visitors Center dock for the night along with Los Gatos (catamaran sailing family with 3 adorable daughters who have been cruising and home schooling for a year) and Briar Patch (Dean and Kathy on their beautiful hand-built wooden sailboat from NH heading north after the Bahamas; we were even at the same Easter sunrise service on Great Guana Cay and I am unintentionally in two of her photos—how is that for it being a small world).

It was a hot, humid 93 degrees and it was interesting and cooling to spend time in the North Carolina Welcome Center. There is a new Dismal Swamp Interpretative Center across the canal which is reached by a portable bridge which is swung into place for land visitors and swung over again when boaters want to pass. Pretty clever use of space.

Why is it called “dismal” if the experience is so wonderful? There are many stories and legends about this but the best one we heard was from the Deep Creek lockmaster, Robert. Apparently, Colonel Byrd was charged to survey the swamp area to establish the border between VA and NC. He returned years later to oversee the canal building, but it was slow going and the canal crew abandoned him after they ran out of rum. He then pronounced the entire operation, “dismal.” Not only can Lockmaster Robert tell a good story but he gave us a conch shell concert so remember to bring an extra shell for his collection.

We passed a signpost which put our travels in perspective so now on to a month in the Chesapeake. We have travelled through 5 states in May.

Elizabeth City NC 5/28/09

We left Oriental on 5/27 with clouds, rain, NE winds of 15 knots and 1 foot waves in the Neuse River building to 2 footers in the Pamlico River but watch out for the deadhead (tree branch) by the Hoboken Bridge by the Coast Guard Station—could they remove it? On to the Pungo River cut and then 20 miles on the Alligator River for a 79 mile day. We anchored with Avalon at Milepost 102.2 which was quiet until 8-10 pm when the Marine aircraft streamed overhead and then back to quiet and a good night’s sleep

Up and aweigh with Avalon at 6:30am in the fog but this burned off as the sun rose higher. We had an easy day on the rest of the Alligator River and then on to the unbelievably easy, flat calm journey on the 14 miles of the Albemarle Sound—did we luck out. We parted ways with Avalon as they are headed for the Virginia Cut and we are headed for Elizabeth City and the Dismal Swamp route. Thanks for helping we ICW newbies through some difficult sections.

As we neared Elizabeth City, we saw the blimp hangar and a blimp ready to launch—they still use these for advertising on the east coast. As we approached the free docks at Elizabeth City, the SE wind increased to 15-20 knots which would surf us right into the dock with a roaring tailwind just like a sailboat we saw crash. Free or not, we did not want to wipe out. Sam from the Elizabeth City Rose Buddies called us on Channel 16 and diverted us over to an overflow docking area by the museum. This docking had its challenges but no damage to us or our boat so that’s a good boating day.

Elizabeth City prides itself on being the Harbor of Hospitality since 1983 when wine and cheese receptions for boaters complete with roses for the First Mate was inaugurated. See the picture of the plaque commemorating this tradition. Current Rose Buddies, Charlotte and Dave, met all of the visiting boaters (Lady J, Briar Patch, Sea Shell and La Vinea) at 4:30 pm and gave us a welcoming reception as well as an orientation to the Dismal Swamp.

Hospitality does not stop there as Farm Fresh Supermarket will offer a free shuttle and the new museum is free. Check out the pirate history and the new Art Duck O exhibit as well as try your luck at the Shooting Gallery. If you don’t have time to do the Great Circle Loop, consider doing the Caroline Loop from Norfolk to Coinjock to Elizabeth City and through the Dismal Swamp. Elizabeth City also has a walking tour and Civil War markers so its pr campaign slogan of "nestled in history and steeped in charm" is very accurate.

Oriental NC 5/26/09

How does a city in NC get a name like Oriental—it is named after the steamer Oriental and the town even continues the theme with a Dragon Festival. Oriental is the sailing capital of NC and it was great to watch the sailboats on the Neuse River from the colorful Adirondack chairs at Lou Mac Park. We are traveling with North Carolinians, Pegge and Mike on Avalon, and this is one of their favorite stops due to the friendliness, charm and hospitality of the whole town. If you are carrying a bag and look like a boater, you will get plenty of ride offers. Carol on s/v Miranda lives here now and passed us in her sporty red convertible and pulled over and took us to the Town n’ Country Market and then we got a ride back from Doug at West Marine. Cindy at the funky Marine Consignment store, which looks like the cluttered attic filled with “treasures” at the Bayfield Yacht Club boathouse, gave me a ride to the boat to pick up some treasures that Bob was willing to part with—we are still working on decluttering.

We stayed at the Oriental Marina and the dockmaster Tom knows how to do docklines. The marina has a pool, complimentary towels (do we love that) and a tiki bar where you can meet the locals and fellow boaters (bomba Shack, Jet Lag, Moondance) and here’s a picture of Pegge and Sam Spade aboard Avalon. This is a great walking town and there are historical walking tour pamphlets for Midyette and Broad Streets. The Oriental History Museum is only open Friday to Sunday. I’ve shown you a lot of pictures of houses but this Evinrude motor mailbox caught my attention. Oriental also has a free dock big enough for 2 boats and you can check out if there is space by going to the webcam at www.towndock.net/harborcam.

We had planned to have almost a whole layday here except for changing the oil and transmission fluid but then we noticed ooze seeping out of the anchor well and that definitely got our attention. Our anchor chain and rode was clogged with black sludge that the washdown pump did not get so we had to empty it all out, wash it down again, unpack the V-berth and scour the anchor well—4 hours, but since it was overcast and raining, it wasn’t so bad. We ended the day with a great fish dinner at M & M’s and toasted our anniversary of 40 years. My ruby is spending the best year of my life doing the Great Loop with my Skipper Bob.

Boat Moving Mode 5-21 to 5-25-09

While you were away for Memorial Day weekend, we did some major boat movin’ up the Carolina coast. We violated our usual rule of not doing this on any weekend, and to do it on a holiday one is kinda crazy but we had a weather window and experienced ICW boaters to accompany us.

We left Charleston Harbor alone on 5/21 at 6:15 a.m. in the rain, 20 knot wind and 2 foot seas so I was not able to get a picture of Fort Sumpter. As we journeyed up, around and through the narrow ICW, we had low tide, high winds and white caps and Marker 86 was missing in a very difficult section. Yikes. We then noticed seagulls following us. We had just passed McClellanville where we saw the lowest ever depths of 4.6 feet at Red 36/Green 37. Were the seagulls going to dive bomb us; did they think that we were a shrimp boat; or were they drafting behind us as they could not get airborne? Choice #3 as they followed us for 20 miles and then left us for a bigger trawler—birds are fickle that way. We were so glad to pull into the Georgetown Landing Marina and meet up again with Mike and Pegge on Avalon. They are liveaboards on their beautiful Kadey-Krogen trawler, both have their Master Captains license, and are the nicest people you could meet. It is such a stress relief to hook up with boaters who have ICW experience and are willing to take us under their wing. Mileage: 67 statute miles.

We explored Georgetown a little and here is my sweetie having a cup of homemade praline ice cream with carmelized pecans at Sweeties. A tough day deserves a reward. We left Georgetown with Avalon on 5/22 at 8a.m. to take advantage of the high tide almost all the way to Myrtle Beach. What a difference a day makes—a clear sunny day, decreased wind and a wide channel in the Waccamaw River. We started to see holiday boat traffic as we waited for the Barefoot Landing Swing Bridge made more difficult by the 2 knot current and increased wind. But we had good luck at the infamous Little River Swing Bridge which opened in comparatively record time. Myrtle Beach came into view with a gondola looping over the ICW, beautiful ocean beach houses on stilts to protect them from hurricanes, and more speeding boats. Avalon arranged a very good docking rate at Lightkeepers Marina and we took on fuel at Myrtle Beach Yacht Club for $2.09 per gallon cash and a free pumpout. Mileage: 60 statute miles.

Up and away again on 5/23 with Avalon on 5/23 at 6:30 a.m. to go 65 miles to anchor in the Wrightsville Beach area. We crossed into North Carolina so check off another state. We started the day with the Sunset Beach Pontoon Bridge 8 am, opening, but this unique underwater cable bridge will be demolished next year to make way for a high bridge. Even experienced ICW boaters like Mike and Pegge have respect for this part of the ICW as it traverses 4 Inlets to the Atlantic Ocean (Little River, Shallotte, Lockwood’s Folly and Cape Fear) known for shoaling and cross currents that have led to their fair share of boats going aground. You cannot cross all 4 with the same tides, and by the time we reached Cape Fear, we were bucking 3 knots of current with an opposing wind. Sailboats in our group handled the problem by putting up their furling jib and enjoyed scooting ahead of we slow trawlers. Then the real fun began with serious holiday boat traffic of jet skis, sports fishers, runabouts, boats being towed, little kids being towed in tubes through horrendous wakes, everybody going every which way and it was my shift to steer. Look at this picture of the Carolina Beach area packed with sunbathers and boats and we were ok with passing through. We are anchoring in Wrightsville Beach area and are grateful that the skies are clouding over and the wakes will stop mercifully soon but no, here comes another weekend reveler. Mileage: 65 miles.

This is getting too long so I will succinctly say that on 5/24, we traveled 75 miles and made 4 bridge openings (Wrightsville Beach Bridge, Figure Eight Island Bridge, Surf City Bridge, Onslow Beach Bridge) by leaving at 6am and luckily could ride the tide as we got the current boost all the way. At the New River Inlet, we did see a brief patch of 6.9 feet but we were getting to low tide. Other Inlets had no water depth problems. We anchored with Avalon at Spooner’s Creek which is surrounded by high priced homes, and the dinghy dock is now private but we scaled the seawall and were able to walk to town--you have to be creative sometimes on an adventure.

On Memorial Day, 5/25, we had a comparatively short cruise of 30 miles to Oriental NC. This was an easy day filled with great scenery on the Newport and Neuse Rivers connected by the narrow Adam’s Creek. We will rest here for awhile.

Charmin’ Charleston 5-20-09

We did 68 miles to get to Charleston on 5/14 only to encounter strong winds and T-storms so we anchored for an hour behind the trawler, Avalon, in Wappoo Creek and waited for the weather to blow through before attempting to dock at Charleston City Marina, aka The Megadock. We had heard horror stories of boats colliding here due to the strong current but we timed our arrival with slack tide and had no difficulty. The only trouble for yours truly was getting disorientated and not being able to find our boat in this mega marina.

It was our last chance to have dinner with Dan and Deb from Freedom as they will be storing their boat here for the summer and heading back down to the Bahamas again in the fall. Loopers Rose and Gary on Rose's Pick will be leaving their boat in FL and will also be heading back to the Bahamas this fall. Bob and I have seriously thought about this but we are not ready yet to give up the summer boating season on the Great Lakes. The Bahamas have definitely been the best part of our Loop so maybe in the future…..

We had only planned a 2 day stay here in Charleston, but with gale force winds, high seas, rain and a small craft advisory, we stayed a week. The upside is that there is so much to do here; downside, this is a pricey marina. Charmin’ Charleston is a succinct description of this genteel lady of a city filled with historic registry homes, overflowing gardens, savory food and welcoming people with the softest drawl.

We started our stay with an overview mini-bus tour, and visits to the Charleston Visitors Center and Charleston Museum. All of these will acquaint you with the Revolutionary and Civil War history of the area as well as point out other sites to visit. We really like to walk a town and Charleston is the place to do it. We toured the Calhoun Mansion, the Nathaniel Russell, the Joseph Manigault and the Heyward-Washington Homes but you can stroll down any street in the historic district, look for the Carolopolis Award from the Preservation Society of Charleston, and see equally stunning examples of Charleston’s golden age. Magnolia is the flower of the South and we were lucky to be here when the trees were flowering.

I have always wanted to tour a plantation and we took a tour bus 15 miles to the Magnolia Plantation and Gardens located on the Ashley River. This area was heavily damaged in the Civil War and this house (picture #4) was moved here after the Civil War. The back story of plantation life is well told in the Old Slave Mart Museum on Chalmers Street situated on the site of the infamous Ryan’s Slave Mart. You can hear first hand stories of the slaves who were bought and sold here and the chilling effects it had on them and their families as their blood, sweat and tears paid the price for this opulent plantation lifestyle.

The Civil War started here when the Confederates shelled and captured Fort Sumter which lies in the mouth of Charleston Harbor. It was held for 4 years by the Confederacy but sustained heavy damage due to Union bombardments and naval blockades. You can tour the Fort Sumter National Monument by boat or just tour the museum in Charleston.

We had great food anywhere we stopped but the seafood lunch at Hyman’s was great. We want to thank Bob and Helen on Allez for their hospitality. They are MTOA Port Captains and will be starting the Loop next year.