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.