St Michaels Maryland to Annapolis Maryland – May 30, 2017

May 27^th – It was a warm day that started out sunny and then clouded over in the afternoon with intermittent showers.  We are enjoying the St Michaels area and there’s lots of long weekend boating traffic thus our plan is to stay here for the weekend.  We went to the dingy dock this morning with Mark and Karen and walked along the nature trail from one end to the other.  Maria and I stopped by the grocery store to pick up a few things while Mark and Karen decided to check out a few shops.  There was a great deal on ribs thus Maria and I returned back to the boat to put things into the fridge and shortly after it started to rain.  I decided to top up our batteries with distilled water and check the boat fluids while the engine compartment was cool.  Our son Sean contacted us and I walked him through steps to get our John Deere running so he can cut the grass … and he was successful.  There’s a high probability of rain all afternoon thus we’re just going to stick around the boat today.  Tomorrow looks like it will be a better day to spend more time in the town.

May 28^th – It was a warm day with a mix of sun and clouds in the morning followed by a rainy afternoon.  We are still hanging around St Michaels and we’ve heard that another Looper, Scott and Karen “Last Call”, is joining us at the anchorage today.  When they arrived we went into town with Mark and Karen (Captains Choice) and Scott and Karen (Last Call).  The group of us walked through the town and checked out the marina then stopped at the Carpenter Street Saloon for a cold one … but the music was too loud … thus we moved on and made reservations at Awful Arthurs for dinner and then walked over to Eastern Shore Brewing Company for a cold one and then headed back to Awful Arthurs for dinner.  And finally we headed back to the boat in the dark and in the rain but we had a great time with some great folks.   

May 29^th – It was a hot sunny day with light winds.  Today will be our last day in St Michaels thus we headed into town one last time for a good walk.  When we got back to the boat I checked the props and zincs to ensure they were OK and then I checked the bottom for barnacles to determine if I needed to clean the bottom.  The water was warm but it wasn’t very clear thus it was difficult to see thus I had to use my hands to explore for barnacles and I didn’t find many thus I decided to delay my bottom cleaning job until the water is clearer.  Afterwards Maria and I sat on the front of the boat to top up our tan and later in the day we had a great BBQed dinner.  After dinner Mark, Scott and the two Karens came over to our boat to socialize and discuss our next moves. 

May 30^th – It was a cool cloudy day with moderate winds and chance of thunderstorms.  We left our St Michaels anchorage and headed 41 miles north to Annapolis Maryland and grabbed a mooring ball in Spa Creek.  Scott and Karen on “Last Call” travelled to Annapolis as well but we said our goodbyes to Mark and Karen on “Captains Choice” last night since they had other plans.  The weather was crappy thus I decided to pay some bills and catch up on the blog while it was laundry day for “Last Call”.  A Looper that we haven’t seen in some time “Sanctuary” has invited both us and “Last Call” to dinner tonight.  We’ve heard that we’re not supposed to bring anything, however Maria is going to make some bread in the bread maker since she never likes to go empty handed.

This is a scary piece of art in St Michaels!

High Tide ... Before picture

Low Tide .... After picture

Another amazing wagon but the price!  On special today for $2,000

A classic Ford parked on a side street in St Michaels

A warm up drink while we listened to some LOUD music

Dinner by the fire

Not sure what this is, however it's in the middle of no where on Chesapeake Bay

Our St Michaels anchorage in San Domingo Creek

Captain's meeting

Admiral's meeting

A light house on the way to Annapolis

Naval Training Academy in Annapolis

Hmmm 5 motors on a dingy ... Overkill?!

Solomons Maryland to St Michaels Maryland – May 26, 2017

May 24^th – It was a cool cloudy day with intermittent showers and light winds.  We left our Solomons Maryland anchorage this morning and headed to Spring Cove marina which was 2 miles away.  Maria started the laundry on the boat and then we borrowed the marina’s courtesy vehicle and headed to Walmart to get some provisions.  After we loaded everything on the boat we walked into town and visited West Marine to get a few things as well as pick up some supplies from the liquor store.  We noticed that the town was very quiet and the restaurants were empty … maybe because of the crappy weather.  After a long walk we headed back to the boat and then I performed my own pump using the marina’s pump out system, which has an outlet at every dock. 

May 25^th – It was a warm sunny day with moderate winds and an evening thunderstorm.  We left Spring Cove marina and headed 41 miles north on Chesapeake Bay to St Michaels Maryland and anchored in San Domingo Creek.  We had a large following sea on the way north, and as I mentioned in one of my Lake Michigan posts I had the song “Surfing USA” stuck in my head.  When we arrived at our anchorage we noticed that “Captains Choice” (a Looper we know) was anchored in the same bay but their dingy was gone since they went to town.  When they came back Mark and Karen dropped by to say hi and we made plans to get together tomorrow.  Afterwards Maria and I went to town which is quite nice, busy and flooded in some areas since they’ve had a fair amount of rain here.  We returned back to the boat since we saw a thunderstorm approaching and had a great light show with some loud booms, high winds and heavy rain and then it was over just in time for dinner.

May 26^th – It was a warm sunny day with moderate winds.  We stayed at our St Michaels anchorage and decided to do more exploring today with Mark and Karen (“Captains Choice”).  First we visited the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum and spent a good part of the day checking out their exhibits.  Afterwards we were in need of something cold to drink thus we stopped at Eastern Shore Brewing Company to sample their craft beer selection and then headed over to Ava’s Pizzeria for dinner.  After dinner we walked over to the park for a free musical performance but since we were early we stopped at Foxy’s and had one more cold one while we listened to a guy playing a guitar and then finally we checked out the musical performance in the park.  When we got back to the boat a large number of boats have joined us in our anchorage … I guess they’ll be here for the long weekend.  It was definitely an action packed day!

Areas of St Michaels are flooded ... you need a boat to get to this restaurant!

I wish I had a wagon like this when I was a kid

St Michaels church

Calm before the storm

The storm is almost here!

Walking path in St Michaels

Workshop of the Maritime museum

Maritime museum some of the floating exhibits

Maritime museum workshop area where old vessels are restored

Mark and Karen (Captains Choice) with us on an old Owens classic

Karen and Maria in their new bathing suits ... So Sexy!

How do you like my new boots ... I was told one size fits ALL!

Mark and I test driving a boat

Beer sampler at a local craft brewery

Dinner at Ava's on the patio

We found a Great Loop sign at Foxy's

Free musical performance in the park

Portsmouth Virginia to Solomons Maryland – May 23, 2017

May 21^st – It was a cool day with a mix of sun and clouds and moderate winds.  We decided to stay another night at the town dock in Portsmouth Virginia.  We went into town and watched the second Guardians of the Galaxy movie at the Commodore theatre with Henry and Debbie (Seven Tenths) and we quickly learned that it was not your normal theatre.  You were seated at a table with a telephone and you could place phone orders for food and drinks … it was Exxxcellent!  Later we went to dinner with a number of Loopers including Henry and Debbie; Jim and Cindy (The Journey) and Dan and Jean (Time Out) as well as their local friends.  We ate great bar food and had a couple cold ones with a great gang of people.

May 22^nd – It was a warm cloudy day with rain showers throughout the day with light winds.  We left the town dock at Portsmouth Virginia and headed 60 miles north on Chesapeake Bay and anchored in Fishing Bay which is close to Deltaville Virginia.  On the way we passed all kinds of Battleships moored along the Norfolk side of the river.  They were quite impressive and Maria was taking pictures along the way.  It didn’t take us long to get to the anchorage since we gave the boat a good run while we were on Chesapeake Bay. 

May 23^rd – It was a cool rainy day with winds increasing throughout the day.  We left our Fishing Bay anchorage early this morning and headed 70 miles north on Chesapeake Bay to Solomons Maryland and anchored by Pancake Point.  We left early and ran up the bay quickly to avoid the high winds that we’re supposed to experience this afternoon.  Our crossing wasn’t bad but we were a little worried about “Seven Tenths” since they did the same crossing however it would take them significantly longer to do thus they’re more likely to be impacted by the higher winds and waves.  During the last few days our GPS Chartplotter has been very slow to load the charts and respond to commands to zoom in and out.  I noticed that our trail has accumulated 24,000 points thus I deleted them to see if it’s a memory issue.  If it’s not resolved then I’ll have to call Lowrance for support.

OMG - Maria is holding a live crab!

At the Commodore Theatre with Henry and Debbie (Seven Tenths)

That caramel apple pie with ice cream looks soooo good!

Us with an old movie projector in the lobby of the theatre

Not your normal theatre ... Tables with comfy seats and telephones to make your food & drink orders

Notice that I'm wearing jeans and a sweatshirt ... Oh no!

Who has the bigger guns?

Navy ships everywhere

And more ships

Our Fishing Bay anchorage

Belhaven North Carolina to Portsmouth Virginia – May 20, 2017

May 18^th – It was a hot hot hot sunny day with the winds increasing throughout the day.  We left Belhaven and headed 79 miles north along the ICW to an anchorage in Broad Creek which is on the north side of Albemarle Sound in North Carolina.  And yes we had to cross Albemarle Sound which was a little lumpy but nothing compared to some of the crossings that we’ve done.  We pulled into a very protected anchorage and dropped the hook for the night.  Tomorrow we will be leaving North Carolina and we’ll move on to the state of Virginia. 

May 19^th – It was a hot sunny day with moderate winds.  We left our Broad Creek anchorage and headed 15 miles north on the ICW to Coinjock North Carolina and stayed in Midway Marina.  We expected to go farther however Brian from Mar-a-Lago called us on the VHF as we passed by their boat and he let us know that a bridge 30 miles north of us was closed for repairs thus we turned around and they helped us on to the dock.  It was amazing how many boats were docked at both Coinjock and Midway marinas … they were rafted all the way down the river.  I did a couple of boat jobs including fixing the forward head which had a problem due to a blocked vent line plus I washed the boat.  While I was washing the boat another boat pulled on the dock in front of us and almost hit our boat … I had to use all my might to hold them off … what a close call.  They gave us a container of strawberries later in the day to thank us for helping them avoid damage.  Later we got together with Gold Loopers Henry and Debbie (Seven Tenths) and Canadian boaters Brian and Jane (Mar-a-Lago) and had blue crabs, fresh bread and strawberries for dinner. 

May 20^th – It started out as a hot day with moderate winds and transitioned to a cold cloudy day with high winds.  We left Midway marina and travelled 47 miles north to Portsmouth Virginia and pulled into a free dock.  We left Midway early to try to beat the traffic north, however many other boaters had the same idea.  The VHF was busy with boaters calling other boaters to pass plus it was challenging to get to the bridges to meet their opening schedules as well as getting through 1 lock.  We stopped for fuel at Top Rack Marina and then stopped for the day at a free dock in Portsmouth Virginia with the help of Henry and Debbie on Seven Tenths.  Afterwards a catamaran pulled onto the dock and hit our boat on the way in, however luckily no damage was caused to our boat.  Unfortunately they did sustain some damage on theirs but they did a fairly good job docking in a high wind situation.  They were very apologetic about the whole situation, however SH!T happens, however twice in 2 days?!  Directly behind us there is a beer, wine and BBQ festival with a live band … great entertainment while we enjoyed the comfort of our own boat.

On the road again

Major log jam in Coinjock NC due to a broken bridge

Crabs with Henry, Maria, Debbie, me and Jane ... (Brian is taking the picture)

Major boat traffic jam once the bridge was fixed

Bald eagles everywhere nesting

Exiting a lock ... we haven't seen a lock for some time now

Navy ships everywhere in Norfolk

And more navy ships

Apparently this is an old time theatre that serves you in your seat

A catholic church in Portsmouth

An interesting marine store in Portsmouth

Festival behind our boat ... with free live entertainment