Chesapeake City

We left Baltimore on another calm sea and as we headed north, the Chesapeake Bay narrowed and we saw high sand cliffs on the wooded shores.

Our destination was the Chesapeake and Delaware (C & D) Canal which connects the top of Chesapeake Bay to the top of Delaware Bay. As the Bay narrowed we passed close to this huge ship that had just come west through the canal. Ships from all over the world use the C&D Canal to save the journey around the Delmarva Peninsula in getting to Baltimore from the Atlantic.

Chesapeake City, the only city on the canal, is located a few miles from the western end of the canal. This tiny charming town emerged during the canals early days and is filled with historic homes, some converted to shops or B&B's, each with a plaque in front with its history. There is a small boat basin off the canal with a big restaurant, small marina, a few private docks, an anchorage and City Docks where the dockage is free, but the electric is $15. The free dock was full when we arrived, so we anchored the first night and got into the dock the next morning. This photo taken from the basin shows the Chesapeake City Bridge that spans the canal and a ship passing very close as it transits the narrow canal. About three of these a day go by.

We took a walk through the tiny town admiring the preservation and charm of the old buildings

When we returned to the dock our friends from Eschaton, the Gibson houseboat, were docked behind us. We had split up at the beginning of the Chesapeake so it was great to see them again. We all biked over to the C & D Canal Museum. The canal was first opened in 1829 with 4 locks and mules to pull the boats through. The locks have since been removed and the canal has been widened and deepened a few times to accomodate the larger ships. The museum is in the original pumphouse building. Steve and Nan are reading this large stone that commemorates the workers who dug the original canal.

Inside the museum in its original position is this huge steam engine pump that was used to lift water from a nearby creek into the canal in order to maintain the water levels.

Here are the two boats at the City Dock. Here is Eschaton's blog site if anyone wants to follow their adventure. http://eschatonloop.blogspot.com

Today is Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend and we are having a lazy day. We had no idea that there was so much recreational boating on the canal. Boats have been buzzing in and out of the basin all day, we've seen more big fast performance boats today than we've seen the entire trip. I guess summer is here !!! We'll be having burgers and Lorna's famous homemade potato salad tonight with Nan and Jack to celebrate.

Steve has been studying the next leg for a couple of days. We will be traveling to the east end of the canal and then 55 miles south on Delaware Bay to Cape May. D. Bay has a nasty reputation because there are currents, tides, winds and then the Atlantic Ocean at the end all working together to create waves. There's no way that all the factors can come together to create ideal conditions, but we've decided that tomorrow is our best day to go.

Annapolis AND Baltimore

We woke up in the Annapolis Mooring Field to another cloudy day. While we like the relief from the sun, I much prefer the sun for taking pictures. Annapolis is one of our favorite cities so far and there's lots to see. We took the dinghy up Spa Creek, and saw many fine, but not too ostentatious homes. The homes in this corner of the creek were older and well maintained.
Annapolis loves boating and the city makes it nice for the boaters on mooring balls and anchors by making every dead end street that ends at the water a dinghy landing.

The streets downtown are narrow, lined with historic buildings and lead up hill from the harbor.

At the top of the hill are two circles, one with a church, and the other with the Maryland State Capitol Building at the top of the hill. It's a beautiful city.

Annapolis is the home of the US Naval Academy and this week is graduation week for the cadets. The famed Navy Blue Angels perform a show as part of the graduation festivities. Practice was scheduled for 1400 that day, so we made sure to get back to the boat in time .. and the sun came out in time too. We've seen lots of military planes on the Loop and I've been trying without much success to photograph them each time, so once again I made an effort, this time tried video too ... there's three very short videos at the end of this blog. We had never seen a Blue Angels show before, everyone said the practice is just as good as the show, and it was indeed spectacular. There were a total of 6 Blue Angel FA-18's performing. They were close to the ground and fast, fast, fast as they barrel rolled, flew upside down, corkscrewed, flew straight up then dropped straight down, individually and in formation. Everyone in the mooring field and on the shore was being amazed at these skilled pilots. The practice lasted for over an hour, finally I just threw down my camera and watched in awe.

Both afternoons about 6 of these Navy vessels came out and drove around the perimeter of the harbor. We felt very safe in Annapolis.

The City Docks and Mooring Field are very well run and boater friendly. Here's the marina with the State Capital dome in the distance.

The Naval Academy building are very impressive as well. All these buildings on the shore are part of their large campus.

As we departed Annapolis, there was one Navy War Ship (that is what they call themselves on the VHF radio) and several freighters waiting to enter the river. The War Ship is the one in the center of the picture.

Back in the Bay, we passed under the double span Chesapeake Bay Bridge ...

... and cruised north into the wide and industrial Patapsco River. We saw more impressive gun metal gray military vessels and plenty of container ships, but here's something different ... the US Navy Hospital Ship "Comfort".

We passed by Fort McHenry. Francis Scott Key penned the words to our national anthem as he looked for the flag to continue to fly above this fort while he was held prisoner by the British in the War of 1812.

Baltimore's Inner Harbor is 15 miles up the Patapsco River. The City has revitalized the harbor into a shopping, eating, and museum center. There are marinas, tourboats, water taxis and crazy little electric boats and dragon boats that are filled with families tooling around the harbor.

But there are no mooring balls. We'd read that anchoring was okay and that there was a dinghy dock, so we lowered the hook and the dinghy and off we went. Here's the humble Shingebiss at anchor in downtown Baltimore. If you want to see more of our view from the boat, the last video below was taken from the boat.

So we putted around the entire harbor and could not find any place to land the dinghy. We asked a guy in a boat who appeared to be overseeing the dragon boat activity and he said we could tie up on the city wall for $25 ... so we returned to the Shingebiss and watched the action from the fly bridge. No problem, we get to see the city lights tonight and tomorrow will reach another mile zero as we depart the 200 mile long Chesapeake Bay.

First three videos are Blue Angels and the last one is Baltimore Harbor.

Chesapeake Eastern Shore

The eastern shore of Chesapeake Bay is called Delmarva because it encompasses the eastern parts of Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. From Norfolk the Chesapeake Bay Tunnel-Bridge takes cars under the mouth of Cheapeake Bay to the eastern shore, and at Anapolis, the Bay Bridge does the same. For the 120 miles between these two, you'd have to take one of only a couple of ferry boat options. For this reason the eastern shore is far less populated and more pristine that the western shore of the Bay. The Bay was again very good to us (small waves, little wind) when we crossed to the eastern shore. This red marker is typical of the markers used on the Bay. We were headed for a Mainship Raftout, sponsored by the Chesapeake Mainship Owners Group. Loopers Gerry and Linda had alerted us to the event, so we thought it would be fun to meet up with some other Mainship owners. We traveled 14 miles off the Bay to the anchorage ... up the Choptank River (about 6 miles wide at the mouth), then the Tred Avon River (only a mile wide at the mouth), and finally into Tripp Creek. We rafted up with only two other boats, Jerry and Barbara and Kevin and Kathryn. They were most hospitable and welcomed us to their party where we heard about their years of cruising the Bay. After we ate, we split up the raft and anchored for the night. The anchorage was beautiful and peaceful. The homes around the shores are spread out and separated by trees. The Chesapeake has about a million of these gorgeous anchorages to choose from.

With a cloudy sky and rains forcasted we drove only 13 miles to another lovely anchorage off the Choptank River in San Domingo Creek. We dinghy'd to the "backside" of St. Michaels and walked the few blocks to the downtown area to visit the Chespeake Bay Maritime Museum. The museum has nine buildings on 18 acres on the shore of the Miles River in this small fishing village turned tourist mecca. Steve is standing in front of a miniature reproduction of a SkipJack, the traditional sailing boats used to fish the Bay back in the day.

There is a working boatyard where dedicated volunteers work to restore the old boats to their former glory and teach the skills involved to others. Check out this one, a true handyman special.

It's hard to believe, but after restoration, it will look like this restored one.

New boats are also built in the shops, and visitors are encouraged to come right in and ask questions. Check out this little beauty.

This is the old Hooper Straight Lighthouse. As a working lighthouse, it was several miles offshore and held up by pilings.

At the exhibit about Bay oysters, there was this huge display of #10 cans of all the brands of oysters that have been marketed through the years of Bay oystering.

This is the Museum's tour boat, Mr. Jim. Gerry that we met at the Mainship Raftup is the lead Captain of this boat. Just like all the museums we've visited on the Loop, there is much more to this museum than these few pictures. There are displays of the natural history of the bay, hunting and boating on the bay and an entire building of intricate model boats with the craftsman of the guild working on the boats and answering visitors questions.

We were most impressed with the Chesapeake Maritime Museum and highly recommend it. The volunteer guides were among the friendliest and dedicated that we 've met. We completed our visit to St. Michaels with a visit to Big Al's Seafood where we bought crab cakes made from the famous Maryland Blue Crabs (now in season). We took them back to the boat and fried them up....yummy.

This morning we crossed back to the western shore and are currently on a mooring ball in Annapolis ... lots going on here, but that's for the next chapter.

Chesapeake Cruising

Waiting the extra day in Portsmouth paid off as we left the dock with a sunny sky and light winds. Cruising through the Elizabeth River for a few miles to enter the mouth of Cheasapeake Bay brought us back by this aircraft carrrier and stealth vessel in dry dock again ... a better picture with the sun out. We had seen another one of these stealth vessels in Mobile, AL.

This cruise ship was docked in downtown Norfolk.

We continued to see many military ships.

and of course, container ships being unloaded.

But the grand finale was this group of over 25 huge military vessels all moored in a row. It took 3 photos to get them all (and I "stitched" them together with my photo program for a panorama) ... I had to shoot into the sun, so it's not the greatest picture, but we thought it was pretty impressive.

We've had two cruise days on the Chesapeake with blue skies, light winds and smooth water. We couldn't ask for better conditions, so decided to put on some miles. We cruise several miles off shore and the rivers and creeks that have the marinas and anchorages are over 6 miles off the channel, so it makes for long days. Today we passed the 5 mile wide mouth of the Potomac River ... Smith Lighthouse is 2.5 miles off the southern shore.

The Chesapeake is huge for all kinds of recreational boating, but it's so big that you can cruise all day and see few other boats. Last night we stayed at the marina where the "Waterway Guide" has its corporate headquarters (Deltaville, VA). There was nothing corporate about the lovely family owned marina that the Dozier Family runs along with publishing their great crusing guides. Tonight we are anchored at Solomans Island, MD off the Patuxent River, where there are 17 marinas on one creek off the river. The Navy's active testing ground for new military aircraft (Patuxent Naval Air Station) is just across the river. Several fighter jets along with other interesting looking planes flew over as we came up the river.

I've added a 30 second video to show you just how calm the Bay has been for us ... enjoy !!!

Norfolk VA - Mile 0

It wasn't raining when we left the Visitors Center Dock in the Dismal Swamp, but rain started soon after and continued all the way to Norfolk, VA. This shipping and naval center is located at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. The giant harbor, shared with Portsmouth and Hampton is referred to as Hampton Roads. We are staying in Portsmouth, which is across the Elizabeth River from Norfolk, this is the view of Norfolk from the marina. Quite a change in scenery.

The following day also started rainy, but turned to just clouds in the afternoon, so we toured Naval Shipyard Museum in Portsmouth. This decommisioned Light Ship is part of the exhibit. Light Ships were employed by the Coast Guard as mobile lighthouses, sitting at anchor wherever a temporary light was needed.

This frenzel lens is displayed in the ship. A frenzel lens is facinating to look at, like a huge gem refracting the tiny light source into a brilliant sunburst.

Back on the Eschaton, we had a dinner to celebrate reaching Mile Zero of the Atlantic Intercoastal Waterway (ICW) after traveling 1220 miles from Cudjo Key in less than 8 weeks. We're also discussing our plans for crusing the almost 200 mile long Chesapeake Bay. At 20-30 miles wide, the Bay is "big water", so we are a little anxious about what to expect and have a close eye on the winds. There are almost a limitless number of anchorages and places to stop up the many rivers that flow into the bay. They say you can spend years cruising the Chesapeake and still not see it all.

We decided to wait one more day for the winds to settle down, so today we took the Portsmouth Ferry across the Elizabeth River to Norfolk to explore the Nautilus Naval Museum.

This exhibit includes the Battleship Wisconsin, which was put into this harbor for display in 2000. Here's the view of the bow from below.

Here's Liz on the teak decks with the "big guns" in the background.

These are the anchor chains, there is 1000 feet of chain in the anchor lockers below decks. Only the exterior of the ship was open, but plans are to make the interior of the ship available to the public in the future.

On the way back on the ferry, we got close to this aircraft carrier (on the right) and some other type of military vessel in drydock.

Finally, late this afternoon, the skies cleared up, our plans are to head up the Bay early tomorrow morning.

Dismal Swamp Canal

Even though the docks at Elizabeth City were filled to capacity, the Rose Buddies weren't able to provide the wine and cheese party for the transient boaters because the city was setting up for the annual Potato Festival. We enjoyed some free french fries and looked at the booths and exhibit of classic cars.

We returned to the boat just in time for the Coast Guard demonstration. We had front row seats from the fly bridge as the helicopter hovered to drop divers into the water and retrieve them. It was very cool to watch.

Then this giant rubber ducky came along. This was the "duck race" that we had heard about. About a thousand rubber ducks were dumped into the water from the box behind the giant duck.

Two runabouts herded them together with this boom and dragged them around the harbor. It was the darndest thing, and we never did figure out what exactly was going on, but we did get a kick out of the big duck.

It was a great little town celebration in a wonderful setting, but after three nights we were ready for something new and we departed early this morning. Our destination was the Dismal Swamp Canal, the oldest operating man made waterway in the US. The canal was originally dug by hand in the late 1700's to connect the Albemarle Sound and Pasqoutank River with Chesapeake Bay. In the 1800's the canal was widened and locks were added. Although the canal is no longer used for commercial shipping, it remains part of the ICW, mainly used by sailboats and trawlers. As we entered the narrow and twisting Pasquotank River, the sky clouded over and the rain began. Pretty dismal, indeed.

The rain stopped as we entered Turners Cut, a very straight and very narrow land cut.

There are two locks, one at each end of the canal. A spring fed lake "feeds" water into the canal via a feeder cut. The locks only open at four scheduled times per day, so that the canal water doesn't get too low from running all the water out. The lockmaster told us that the last improvements to the locks were in 1930 and the canal has remained the same ever since. We locked through with 4 other boats (our first locks in many months), and then the lockmaster got into his car and drove down the road to operate this lift bridge.

The sun finally came out. The canal is very narrow and has a 6 mph speed limit, so there is no passing going on, everyone just idles along and enjoys the beautiful forest.

The Visitors Center has a free 150' long dock, so we tied up there for the night. We were joined by two sailboats, then Eschaton came and rafted off to us. We unloaded the bikes, and rode across the pedestrian bridge to the hiking trail on the other side. Here's the view of the boats rafted at the dock, taken from the bridge.

By the end of the afternoon, a total of nine boats were rafted along the dock in this beautiful setting. It's not quite as desolate as we had imagined, there's a 4 lane highway on the other side of the Visitors Center and we have good AT&T and TV coverage. Tomorrow we head for Norfolk, VA.