Annapolis, Maryland

Thursday, May 31, 2018
Day 424
5159 miles

We left St. Michaels on Tuesday morning at 9 am under overcast skies.  As often happens with that weather, the water in the Bay was flat calm.  We like flat!  It was a short ride of 31 miles to Annapolis so we took it slow to conserve fuel.  We like good fuel mileage!

Mike and I had visited Annapolis during our RV travels in October, 2013, but it was a first for Greg and Karen.   I can always revisit interesting and historical places, and it is different from a water perspective.

Our slip at the Annapolis Yacht Basin put us one long block from downtown and just a few blocks from the entrance to the Naval Academy.  We could see the campus from the boat.  We were close enough to hear the playing of the national anthem on Wednesday morning at 8 am during their flag raising.

Passing the Naval Academy entering the marina.  The dome is the Navy Chapel.

Downtown Annapolis

The  State House is in the background.

The Naval Academy is the only one of the military schools that is right in a community.  The city embraces the midshipmen and the naval life.

Every stop on the east coast has been a history lesson, with buildings dating back before we became a nation.  The Middleton Tavern is one of the oldest continuously operating taverns in America.

They say Ben Franklin ate here!

Annapolis is the capitol of the state and Tuesday afternoon we went to see the Maryland State House.

It is the oldest in the nation still in legislative use.  Annapolis was also the capitol of the United States from November, 1783 to August, 1784.

Modern day Maryland Senate Chambers

Old House of Delegates Chamber

At noon on December 23, 1783, George Washington stood before Congress to resign his command of the Continental Army.

Up close and personal with George.

Wednesday morning, after hearing the Star Spangled Banner on the boat, Mike and I went for breakfast at Chick and Ruth's Delly, a local landmark.  Every morning at 8:30 all the customers are asked to stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance.  Here's the back of my head as I am facing the flag, gladly doing this patriotic activity.  They are also famous for their 6 pound milkshakes!

Wednesday afternoon we walked the campus of the Naval Academy, which was established in 1845.

It educates officers for the Navy and the Marine Corps.

The Barry Gate led us to the Visitor's Center which is filled with displays and a film on the life of a midshipman.

Honor ~ Courage ~ Commitment

Honor ~ Duty ~ Loyalty

These words are a way of life for all who attend the Academy, or any other military institution.

"Fear The Goat"

Bill - the Navy Mascot

The Naval Chapel Dome

Inside the chapel.

Not every choir loft has a ship in it!

Housing for the Naval leaders of the Academy.

Most of the time the "Go Navy" signs were followed by "Beat Army" as if Army was the only team they played in sports.  It's obviously the one that matters.

The home of Vice Admiral Walter Carter, Jr - Superintendent of the Academy.

It really is a lovely campus.

The battle flag of Oliver Hazard Perry.

This was in the Naval Academy Museum where important figures in the history of the Academy were honored.  It was interesting to learn about John Lejeune, considered the "greatest Leatherneck of them all."  The aquatics center on campus is named after him, along with Camp Lejeune, back on the ICW in North Carolina where we got held up with the live ammunition firings!

A replica of the Wright Brothers Flyer hangs in Dahlgren Hall.  An event was getting ready to begin and we listened to the musicians warming up.

One of the best parts of stopping in Annapolis was having the opportunity to enjoy a dinner with our niece Rylee, husband Tim and their daughters Gemma and Edith (who made the drive from their home in Washington, D.C)  Rylee's sister Meghan was visiting them so the bonus was we got to see her, too!

Unique and Random Photo of the Day:

While we were touring the State House,  these protesters came in, laid on the floor, and began singing "Everybody's got a right to live . . . "  

It was all very peaceful as the officers escorted them out.

The protesters could have been part of a choir, the singing was that beautiful! 

St. Michaels, Maryland

Wednesday, May 30, 2018
Day 423
5128 miles

A cancellation by another boat was the only reason we were able to get into St. Michaels Marina on Sunday, as this "Nantucket of the Chesapeake" is obviously the place to be for Memorial Day weekend.  Most of the boats in the packed marina were from other places on the Bay, but chose to be here.  On Monday morning there was a parade of boats leaving, which meant the marina, town and museum were all much less crowded.  The gloomy weather probably played a part in that, too.

If I had a vision of what the Chesapeake Bay area would be like before coming here, St. Michaels would be it.  The boat docks shared space with crab restaurants.  (we didn't have to turn our radio on as we could hear the live music being played at the dockside eateries). More restaurants and shops were a short, inviting, two block walk from the marina.  One of the best maritime museums on the east coast was around the corner.  And boats, boats, and more boats.  Power and sail.  The Bay is seriously nautical.

Before I let the pictures do the talking, here is one story about the "Town that Fooled the British".

The battle of St. Michaels occurred during the War of 1812.  The shipyards at this small town became an inviting target for the British.  They expected an easy victory.  Instead, they were outwitted by a clever group of townspeople who learned of the impending attack and dimmed the lights in their houses and hung lanterns in trees beyond the town, causing the British gunners to overshoot the town!

After running through a gamut of fishing boats in the bay, we made our turn to head into St. Michaels and True North had to navigate a local sailboat race!

I took this picture from a brochure as it is a good representation of the marina and and docks.

Downtown St. Michaels has many historic homes now housing businesses.

The Old Brick Inn was built in 1816 as a private residence.

Our walk to the museum took us past these unique older homes.

You can tell that Sunday (Brick Inn picture) was sunny and Monday (above picture) was gray and overcast.

Crabs in the brick walkways lead the way to the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum

Greg and Karen at the entrance.  The museum is an 18 acre waterfront campus that details how people live, work and play on the Bay.

Among the nine buildings is this working boatyard where shipwrights restore and build Chesapeake Bay boats.

A boat in progress.

This "Play at the Bay" building had wonderful displays and information on how the Bay has changed over the last 100 years from a place of work to a place of play.  This is a full sized pleasure boat from the 60's.  The area is still home to working fisherman (crabs and oysters) so the trick now is learning for the two activities to coexist.

Maryland Blue Crab.  The displays in this exhibit declared that nothing is as important to the Chesapeake Bay's culture and economy as the blue crab.  "Watermen, boat builders, pickers, wholesalers, and restaurant owners have staked their livelihoods on the delicious crustaceans.  The State of Maryland has adopted the crab as its symbol."

Crab pots.  These are the things we have to watch out for while on the water.  We only see the little floaty things.

The Maryland Crab Meat Company recently closed its doors and donated all the crab picking apparatus to the museum for display.  

Oyster shells were used for fill on St. Michaels like we use dirt.

The Chesapeake had its own gold rush.  From 1870-1880 oysters were worth their weight in gold.

Like combining peanut butter and jelly into a sandwich, someone, somewhere, had to be the first person to look a raw oyster in the face and think it might be a good thing to put in his mouth!

These tongs are one way to harvest oysters

Trying to master bringing up an oyster.  The nice thing about the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum is how many displays were hands on.

The Hooper Strait Lighthouse was moved to the museum grounds.  It is a classical example of a screw pile lighthouse common in the Bay.

The bell in the dormer was the "fog horn".  Its ring sent a warning every 15 seconds to all on the water.

Unique and Random Photos of the Day:

I've seen this gag before, but it always makes me laugh.

Into The Chesapeake Bay

Saturday, May 26, 2018
Day 419
5,071 miles

Before we left on our Great Loop back in the fall of 2016, there were several places we knew we wanted to spend time in and were excited about getting there.  From the beginning, the Chesapeake Bay area was one of them.  And we made it!

Coinjock was our last stop in North Carolina.  On Wednesday we traveled the last 49 miles of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway to Norfolk, Virginia.  The AICW heading north ends in Norfolk.  We had a love/hate relationship with the waterway.  It provided us with interesting and sometimes scenic views and it allowed us to travel in windy conditions when we couldn't run in the ocean.  But it was also filled with no wake zones where we were barely in gear, and was stressful for Mike navigating and Greg driving due to shoaling, shallow water, and bridge opening schedules.

South of Norfolk we entered the Great Bridge Lock.  It was our first Army Corp of Engineers lock since the Coffeeville Lock in Alabama

Approaching Norfolk, the waterway became very industrial

And then the Navy presence became obvious.

The Norfolk Navy Shipyard was established in 1767.

This is the USS Eisenhower - Ike

This vessel was raised out of the water for repairs.  

We stayed one night at Waterside Marina in downtown Norfolk, which included several firsts for us.

First time to be docked next to a ferris wheel.

First time to watch a local 5k run as the participants went right past True North.

It was also the first time we had alerts on the radio to keep our distance from a submarine entering the Norfolk harbor.  That reminded me of an incident I forgot to mention in my Southport, NC post. 

On March 12, 1942, the tanker S.S. John D. Gill was torpedoed and sunk off the entrance to Cape Fear by a the German submarine U-158.  The people of Southport cared for the survivors.   Amazing that the Germans got that close.

We were too late to tour the Hampton Roads Naval Museum right next to our marina, but we were able to see the outside of  the USS Wisconsin battleship which is attached to the museum by a walkway.

Karen took this interesting shot of the front of the Wisconsin.  It looks like she sucked in her sides for the photo!

A statue in the park next to the museum.  Welcoming Navy personnel home was probably a common occurrence in Norfolk.

We know we are making progress when we can put away another chart book.  

A one night stop in Deltaville, Virginia brought us to Dozier's Regatta Point Marina.  Karen and I enjoyed a cool breeze on the porch of the office, siting in rocking chairs and reading.  Until the noseeums forced us back to the boat - in the middle of the day!

The Chesapeake Bay is a big body of water.  Often we could only see land on one side.

When we passed this marker, we crossed from Virginia into Maryland on Friday.

I chose Calvert Marina in Solomons, Maryland for a two night stay.  They charge $1.00 a foot, the cheapest dockage we've had since coming down the inland rivers.  Unfortunately, it was on the opposite side of Back River from Solomons Island.  But . . . the marina has a courtesy car!  (we didn't want to put the dinghy in the water because we had just readjusted it and tightened the straps holding it to the swim platform the day before.)  The courtesy car is one we will not forget.   I should have taken a picture.  From the outside it was great - a Mercedes.  Inside was another thing.  The air conditioning didn't work and the windows didn't roll down.  Only the driver side seat belt worked.  There was no gas pedal - only the skinny bar that the pedal would have been attached to.  But it had a full tank of gas (if the gauge was correct!) and allowed us to drive around to see the little village.

A view from our side of the river over to the village side.  Notice all the sailboat masts.

The Chesapeake is a famous boating area.

Six Looper boats on our dock at Solomons.  

"On Watch"

This statue is at the end of the peninsula down from our marina. 

It commemorates the WWII U.S. Naval Amphibious Training Base at Solomons, Maryland.  It was the first of its kind in the United States.  Over 68,000 servicemen trained for amphibious landing here and they later saw action in both the European and Pacific Theaters.  

The base operated from 1942-1945.

It seemed appropriate to include this in a post on Memorial Day Weekend.

The names of servicemen are engraved in the brick pavers around the statue.  All branches of the military are represented.

Unique and Random Photo of the Day:

Entering Solomons Island