Month: June 2020

We were up and ready to go fairly early. We pulled anchor and we were on our way by 8:30am. We went forty miles, crossing from the east side of the Chesapeake Bay to the west side, making a slight detour around Smith Island because it was in our way. Our trip took us about five and a half hours, and it was a pleasant ride, with our arrival around 2pm.

We made our way up the Potomac River, which would lead to Washington D.C. if we followed it all the way, but we turned off into St. Mary’s River to find our selected anchorage. We had read it has countryside scenery, protected waters and fabulous sunsets. We followed the chart and eventually came to our spot. We noticed another boat was anchored here already, but the bay was quite large so we could stay far away from them. We tucked up behind a piece of land sticking out and close to shore and the dinghy dock. We dropped anchor and had a beer making sure we were secure. We were looking at St. Mary’s College, a liberal arts college established in 1840. They have docks along the water not far from where we anchored, so that was nice to get Frank in to shore. After making sure we were secured, we took the dinghy to the docks.

“St. Mary’s College of Maryland is located on the original site of Maryland’s first colony, St. Mary’s City, which was also the first capital of Maryland and is considered to be the birthplace of religious freedom in America. Colonial St. Mary’s City was actually only a town and at its peak had between 500 and 600 residents. However, as the colony quickly expanded and settlements spread throughout the Eastern part of what is now Maryland, the town remained the capital and representatives would travel from all over the colony to participate in the Maryland General Assembly, the colony’s first legislative body. The Colony was founded under a mandate by the colonial proprietor, Cecil Calvert, the second Lord Baltimore of England, that the new settlers engage in religious tolerance of each other. The first settlers were both Protestant and Catholic during a time of persecution of Catholics. This mandate was unprecedented at the time, as England had been wracked by religious conflict for centuries.” So yeah, there is some history here…. we learned a lot of them while exploring the “historic St. Mary’s City, which sits next to the college, is a State-run archaeological research, historical research, preservation and interpretation center and an indoor and outdoor museum complex. The area managed by the commission also includes a reconstructed colonial town and sailing ship, located on the historic site of Maryland’s first colony.” We walked around the archeological areas and walked for miles. Frank was even tuckered out after our walk. We saw there was a bakery on site as well, which Lauren looked up and placed an order for tomorrow, as they only are doing online ordering at this point due to COVID. We returned to the boat and relaxed the rest of the evening, looking at tomorrow’s weather and destination, but nothing was firm due to the forecast.

Day 2- I woke up early and checked the weather. It was not looking good for traveling. I still had to take Frank to shore and pick up our fresh bread that Lauren has ordered. Frank and I were waiting at the bakery for them to open, but we were too early so we walked around the grounds a bit longer. We made our way back and picked up our order, then retreated back to the boat. The weather was not looking good, so Lauren and I discussed our options- we decided that we would stay here another day and wait out the weather. The rest of the day was mostly spent inside, with occasional runs to shore to walk Frank. We explored the campus area of the college and decided tomorrow we would head around the corner to Solomons Island, Maryland…

We were only going about thirteen miles, so we weren’t in a hurry to leave in the morning, besides I still had to pay for our slip. I walked Frank and looked around for Mr. Parks. I didn’t see him, so we hung out for a while. I kept looking for him and eventually saw him looking out the door of his house which was right behind the marina. I walked a little closer and gave him a wave. He waved back and I made my way over. He had disappeared from sight for a moment, so I figured he was getting dressed. I was wrong. He opened the door and had no pants on! He was in the doorway and I was a few steps down, but I never lost eye contact. The bill was $35, but we didn’t have exact change, so I handed him two twenties and tried to make a quick exit. He chatted with me a bit, keeping me in the awkward situation, but I was eventually able to get back to the boat. I told Lauren what happened and we had a laugh. Mr. Parks is an amazing and wonderful man who made the visit to Tangier Island one we will never forget!

We shoved off about 8:45am and made it to Crisfield in little over two hours our destination was an anchorage we saw on the charts, in a protected cove in the middle of town. As we got close we followed the channel in to Somers Cove. There are several marinas in there, as well as a Coast Guard station. We dropped anchor and were the only boat on the side closest to the Coast Guard. There was a boat ramp nearby so we could have shore access too, so that was good for Frank. I put out plenty of scope and we hung out for a while making sure the anchor had set and we were secure. I took Frank for a walk and explored the area a bit before returning. Once back at the boat, Lauren and I loaded up the bikes to take to shore. We went to one of the marinas and filled up the dinghy with gas, then used their dinghy dock. I checked in at the office and they told me it was ‘no charge’ since we were only going to use ot for the afternoon and they technically weren’t fully opened yet from the corona virus shutdown. Sweet! Off we went to explore the town!

Our first stop was the pier which wasn’t far away. We checked that out then went and got some lunch at Captains Carryout. We had some great crab bisque and a seafood sandwich which we shared. We really wanted some Smith Island cake, which is Maryland’s State Dessert. There is a bakery, called Smith Island Bakery: “Smith Island Baking Co. specializes in Authentic Smith Island Cakes, Maryland’s State Dessert” located in Crisfield. We looked it up and rode the bikes there, only to find out it was closed. This was a bummer. As we tried calling the number on the door to see if there was anywhere we could get some of this cake , I looked down and noticed something on my leg. Upon closer inspection I realized it was a tick that had buried in. Wtf! I was trying to talk on the phone and show Lauren what I just found! After hanging up I decided I needed to remove this ASAP. I lit a cigarette and did exactly what I probably shouldn’t have done- I burned it (and my leg) until it backed out so I could pull it off. I was kind of freaked out, but figured since it was out, I should just carry on. So, no cake for us. Crisfield is also referred to as “The Crab Capital of the World.”, so we thought maybe we could find some crab to take back to the boat. All the fish shops were closed. No cake, no crab- other than our lunch. We stopped and got beer though! At least we weren’t going back empty handed. We made it back to the boat and saw we now had a neighbor in a small boat anchored near us. We had dinner and hung out, only going back to retrieve the bikes as we were planning on departing tomorrow. Frank was walked again and I chatted with our neighbor. They were from Maryland and were out for an overnight excursion and this is one of their favorite places.

Lauren and looked at the charts and weather, and decided tomorrow would be a good travel day to go to an anchorage in St. Mary’s River, which is just up the Potomac River…

We left around 8:30am and headed north up the Chesapeake Bay. Today’s trip is about forty five miles, which will take about six hours. I called and left a message at the only marina on the island, Parks Marina, while we were en route. I received a call back and Mr. Parks confirmed there was space available for us. He told me he would call me on the VHF around 2pm to tell me how to get there and where to dock. We continued our journey and it was a nice day for a boat ride. Around 2pm I was waiting, listening to the radio for his call, but it never came. When we finally got close to entering the channel to the island, I tried calling him on the VHF, and then the telephone, to no avail. Mr. Parks is in his eighties, maybe even ninety years old, so I chalked it up as being forgetful. Soon we were entering the channel and I had no idea where to go. I tried calling again to no response. We were now at the T of the channel and not sure where to go, so we were just floating there. The radio came to life and it was Mr. Parks directing me to turn right and the marina was on the left. We slowly made our way over there and he told me to dock wherever I want. I was coming in to the dock next to the office, and he started to tell me to go around the post that was there. Hmmm… I backed off and reversed out. Then he told me to come on the other side of the office pier to the other dock. Okay- got it. We maneuvered over there and pulled in, with him helping with a line. He kept directing me forward, then told me to stop. Got it. I hopped down to assist with the rest of the lines, and he kept telling me where and how to tie them. I wasn’t going to argue, so I just did what he told me. We eventually were tied up to his satisfaction and he continued chatting with me for a bit. He is eighty nine years old and has had the marina forever. His daughters (his oldest is sixty-something) are doctors, and one still lives on the island. Lauren took Frank for a walk while we chatted and eventually another boat pulled up. I could see Mr. Parks talking into the radio, but he wasn’t pressing the button, so that’s why we couldn’t hear him! The other boat, like us, got close enough he could talk to them and told them the same- pick a spot- and when they went for the slip, he told them to go around the post and come in bow out. I was able to break away at this point while he told them how to tie off… Here is a little bit about Tangier: “Tangier Island is a squiggle of mud and marsh in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay, which is about 30 miles wide at that point, and a dozen miles from the nearest mainland port, Crisfield, Maryland, and the only way to get here is by boat or a very small plane. It is home to roughly 460 people, all of them descended from the first settler on the island, a guy named Joseph Crocket, who moved there in 1778. Though it’s only 100 miles from Washington, D.C., it’s among the most isolated communities in the East. The island’s isolation has spawned a style of speech that you’ll not hear anywhere else in America. For 240 years the islanders have earned their sustenance from the waters surrounding the island, which are rich in fish, crab, and oysters. They’ve especially made a name for themselves in harvesting the Chesapeake Bay blue crab, which is the chief ingredient for Maryland-style crab cakes. They are also the world’s primary source for soft shell crab, a delicacy that many restaurants on the Eastern seaboard serve. Rising sea levels may make the island uninhabitable in 50 years.” It sits only a few feet above sea level and loses 16 feet of shoreline a year. The islands population is also dwindling as the younger generation loses interest in this traditional way of life.

Lauren and I eventually took the bikes for a ride around the small town. We found a beach and walked around, then explored more of the island. We noticed many of the small homes had graves tucked away in the corner of the yard. This was done to protect from grave robbers (back when that was a thing) and so the family members could tend them easily. It also was due to lack of space on the small island. Unfortunately most shops were closed but there was one restaurant serving take out. We ordered some soft shell crab (of course!) and returned to the boat. The crab was an appetizer, so we made dinner and figured out our next stop: Crisfield, Maryland. It seems like we blew through Virginia, unintentionally. We still had to pay for our slip, which was a bargain at $35. I figured I would see Mr. Parks in the morning to cash out…

We dropped our lines at the marina around 9am. We were going just under thirty miles and made good time. We arrived at Kiptopeke around 1pm and found a spot to drop anchor next to a row of old concrete boats which now form a break wall. Here is the cool part about this: “Years ago drivers and passengers wanting to cross the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay boarded a ferry. There was no bridge-tunnel. In the late 1940s, the Virginia Ferry Corporation moved their terminal from the relatively safe harbor at Cape Charles to Kiptopeke. Officials needed some way to shield a new pier they were preparing to build on the exposed Eastern Shore of the bay from the fickle Virginia weather. The U.S. government, flush with ships from World War II, offered the perfect solution, and in 1949, officials partially sunk nine concrete ships–the lower half of the hulls below the surface, resting on the bay, the top half exposed above the waterline–in two neat rows roughly parallel to the shore. Why were there concrete vessels in the first place? A wartime shortage of plate steel. Allied shipyards constructed several dozen barges, tankers and freighters to supplement the steel fleets…The army used several in the South Pacific as floating storage space for the supplies necessary to fight the Japanese. The Allies sunk a couple off the coast of Normandy, France as a breakwater ahead of the D-Day invasion…” Now you know about concrete ships. After making sure we were securely anchored, I decided this would be the best place to dive under the boat so I could check the propeller. The water was cold, so it took me a short while to talk myself into it. I thought we might have something wrapped around it, as Lauren and I both heard something, like we ran over a crab pot one day. Then maybe I was being paranoid, but I thought I felt a slight vibration too, so I was trying to find a place that the water wasn’t muddy and murky so I could jump in and look. I finally did jump in and put on the snorkel mask; I went under and saw that the propeller was clear and spun fine, so after a few minutes I got out so I could warm up. Once dry and somewhat warm, we took the dinghy in to shore to explore the park. There were large beautiful beaches and several walking trails. We tired Frank out and returned to the boat for the evening.

Day 2- We took Frank and walked for miles, following the trails and wearing ourselves out. Frank got to run free at times and I caught a tick on him before it could burrow in. The campsites were bustling and there were a lot of people enjoying being outside. We actually made a few trips to shore and back, and finally returned for dinner around sunset. I too found a tick on me, but again it had not burrowed in, so I was able to remove it. I guess we need to be especially careful in the forests. We also talked about our next destination which will be Tangier Island…

We prepared to leave our dock and head to another free dock in Portsmouth, Virginia. The lock we were behind opens at 8:30am, 11:00am, 1:30pm and 3:30pm. We had assessed the weather and we were only planning on going about ten miles, but we planned on going through the first lock opening. I took Frank for his morning walk and saw some people on the other boats moving about. I inquired if anyone was leaving, and three other boats were going to be locking through with us. Since it was so early, the lockmaster was not in yet. I figured I would let him know we would be going through this morning. He did arrive as we were coming back to the boat and I told him a few of us were planning on coming through, and thanked him for the hospitality of letting us stay there two nights due to the weather. He laughed and said he would normally have us all in for coffee and a ‘talk’ to prepare us for the next leg of our trip up the Chesapeake. He asked where we were from as where we were headed, I had mentioned Norfolk and apparently I didn’t pronounce it correctly, so he told me a story: “picture this- my mother was born and raised here, and in the 1930’s she was a cheerleader in Norfolk high school; they had a cheer, which we used to ask her to do at get-togethers, because it was so funny to hear her do this cheer, even when she was eighty-something years old!…It went like this: Norfolk, Norfolk, We’re the best! We don’t don’t smoke, we don’t drink; Norfolk!” He and I cracked up laughing! If you didn’t get it- Norfolk is pronounced with a soft U and silent L. I went back to the boat and told Lauren about the lesson in pronouncing Norfolk, and we prepared to depart. At about 8:15am we pulled away from the dock and floated in front of the lock. The other boats leaving did the same. Since we were the only non-sailboat, they wanted us to go in first so we would be in front of them, as power boats usually travel faster than sailboats. Once given the ok we pulled in to the lock and tied off following the lock masters direction. Once everyone was in and secured, he gave us all a conch blowing demonstration and told us what to expect for the next few miles. We all waited while the lock filled with water until he finally opened the gates and told us we could proceed out.

We were the lead boat out and made our way up the ICW toward the Chesapeake Bay with everyone else following. Soon we were passing massive commercial boat yards and some had very large military ships in them. Our plan was to stop about ten miles down the river at a free dock at High Street Landing in Portsmouth, Virginia. “Portsmouth was founded as a town in 1752 on 65 acres of land on the shores of the Elizabeth River. The town was founded by William Crawford, a wealthy merchant and ship owner. The 65 acres were part of Colonel Crawfords extensive plantation and were constituted as a town by an enabling act of the General Assembly of Virginia. The town was named after the English naval port of that name, and many of the streets of the new town reflected the English heritage.” We pulled into the small cutout where the dock is and saw only a smallish sailboat docked there. We maneuvered to the far wall and tied off to some pilings. We could see the walkway was just at water level, so if not for the pilings, we would be on top of the walkway! Once secured, we were looking around and saw we were right downtown. There was a bit of pedestrian traffic passing by and a few homeless guys across from us watching. We hung out for a little while before taking a walk around town. We walked around for a while, then came back to the boat. There was a brewery across from us: Legend Brewing, so we decided to order some food. I went and picked it up (and some to-go beers) and we ate lunch on the boat. While eating, we decided this wasn’t the best place to hang out overnight. I got online and found a marina not too far away that only charged a dollar a foot. We had to book it online, so we went ahead and made the reservation. We decided we should leave now that we were done with lunch. We untied from the pilings and I started to pull away, but the current was pushing me back and there wasn’t enough room to gain any momentum! I eased back on the throttle and tried spinning the boat with the engine. This wasn’t working out so well either. We were now being pushed back to the back end of the little square harbor. Hmmm… this was not going as planned. We were now back against the pilings, but I couldn’t get the bow of the boat around and there just wasn’t enough room. A guy emerged from the small sailboat that was there and walked over to us. I was contemplating what to do and he helpfully suggested we run a stern line from the outside of our boat to a piling, and I could use that to pivot the boat with the engine. I had heard of this and it was going through my mind when he suggested it, so I was willing to give it a try. We ran the line from the outside (starboard side) to a piling and I put the boat in forward gear; the boat started to move, then pivot, so I gave it some more throttle… it continued to pivot to the point I was turned enough to head out. At this point he released the line which Lauren quickly pulled in, and we were heading out! Yay! As we came back to the main channel, I followed up with a phone call to the marina to make sure they knew we were coming. They were very friendly on the phone and told me to call when we got closer and they would tell me the slip assignment and assist with the lines. We followed the chart and made our way to them. The dock master did meet us and assist with the lines. This marina had short ‘quarter’ docks, so when we pull in bow first, we have to exit the boat via the bowsprit, as the dock ends before our midship gate. Frank has become pretty good at this. Once we were secured and settled, we needed to do some laundry. I went to the office for quarters, but he had to empty the laundry machines to give me the change. Now it was laundry time. The rain came and we did runs between the rain to load and unload the machines. We also had power since we were at a marina, so we could watch TV too. I chatted with a guy on the dock for a bit and he told me about a s good anchorage at a State Park- Kiptopeke. We would look into this as a possibility of our next stop.

Day 2- The weather was once again crappy, so we hung out on the boat all day, with walks for Franklin between rain. We looked into the Kiptopeke State Park and decided that will be our next stop when we leave tomorrow…

Due to the lock schedule on the Great Dismal Swamp, we left the dock at about 7:45am. The locks open at 8:30am, 11:00am, 1:30pm and 3:30pm. You have to be there at these times, or you cannot get through. We had about seventeen miles to go from our free dock in Elizabeth City to get to the first lock. I figured if we do about six knots, we would get there in three hours. I wanted to make sure we were there for the 11am opening, so we were the first to leave in the morning, but the others weren’t too far behind us.

About the Great Dismal Swamp: “The Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge is the largest intact remnant of a vast habitat that once covered more than one million acres of southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina. Formal protection of this resource began in 1973, when the Union Camp Corporation (a local forest products company) donated 49,097acres to The Nature Conservancy. The Nature Conservancy conveyed the donated land to the federal government, which, combined with additionally purchased land, was used to establish the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge in 1974. With a secondary purpose to: “Promote a public use program when not in conflict with the primary objectives of the refuge.”” Now here is information about the canal: “The Dismal Swamp Canal is located along the eastern edge of the Great Dismal Swamp in Virginia and North Carolina. It is the oldest continually operating man-made canal in the United States, opened in 1805. It is part of the Intracoastal Waterway. In May 1763, George Washington made his first visit to the Great Dismal Swamp and suggested draining it and digging a north–south canal through it to connect the waters of the Chesapeake Bayin Virginia and Albemarle Sound in North Carolina. As the first president, Washington agreed with Virginia Governor Patrick Henry that canals were the easiest answer for an efficient means of internal transportation and urged their creation and improvement. Work was started in 1793. The canal was dug completely by hand; most of the labor was done by slaves hired from nearby landowners. It took approximately 12 years of back-breaking construction under highly unfavorable conditions to complete the 22-mile long waterway, which opened in 1805.” So why is it called Dismal, you ask? Here is what I found: “In the dog days of Virginia’s summer, it would seem to be no surprise that a place as inhospitable to humans as the snake-infested, mosquito-swarming Great Dismal Swamp would have such a downer of a name. But rather than being what might be considered an apt description, its name is a redundancy. Called “great,” possibly because of its size, it was called “dismal” because that was a common term at the time for a swamp or morass.”

Back to our story: we made it to the first lock about thirty minutes early. We floated there while the others caught up and were given directions from the lock master about how to proceed into the lock. We went in first, and due to the COVID restrictions, she couldn’t handle the lines with her hands, so she reached down with a long boat hook, took the line and wrapped it around a pylon, then lowered it back to us. Lauren was on the bow and I took the stern. Once the process started it took about thirty minutes for her to lift us about eleven feet. Once the chambers were full the gates opened and we all proceeded out, with us in the lead. The canal is a ‘no wake’ zone, so you are only supposed to go around five knots in speed. There are a few concerns for taking the Dismal Swamp route: One is the shallowness of the canal, we saw five feet of depth ar some points, and we draw four and a half feet- that doesn’t leave much wiggle room. There is also submerged logs, which you cannot see and can ‘bump’ into, or if you are following someone, their propellers can dislodge them so they start to float and the following boat hits them. There is also an issue with ‘duckweed’ at certain times of the year. These plants grow floating in still or slow-moving fresh water around the globe, except in the coldest regions. The growth of these high-protein plants can be extremely rapid and they can clog a boats cooling system quickly, causing overheating. Since we were the lead boat, we took our time. We didn’t have any issue with the duckweed, but we did bump a couple of logs. Our intention was to stop at the free dock at the halfway point where there is a visitor’s center. As we approached the dock, we could see that it was full. The guide books do say you should raft off if it is full, but we didn’t want to do that with the whole COVID thing, and we didn’t know anyone there. I consulted with Lauren and we decided to continue on to the next dock we saw on the charts. I also saw the boat that kept going when we stopped at Elizabeth City, was still docked there. It is only supposed to be a one day stop, but with the weather we’ve had, nobody seemed to want to be moving. We were getting close to the next dock and I could see there were more boats docked here too. Shit. I again consulted with Lauren and the charts and saw there was still one more free dock at the end of the canal, before going through the lock. That is going to be our last hope. We continued on and actually was catching up to a sailboat in front of us. I heard him call on the radio to the lock master, who also doubles a the bridge tender. I too got on the radio to let them know I was coming right behind. I also asked the lock master about docking at the docks by the lock. He said there was a few boats there, but there was room. The sailboat we were now following also said he was going to stop there. Great. The lock master told us there was room for one boat at the fixed dock, and room for one boat on a floating dock next to it. The sailboat and I communicated and I told him I would stay back and take whichever one he doesn’t. I told him we weren’t planning on coming this far today and he said the same! The skies were getting darker now and rain was imminent. We made our way through the bridge and I fell back a bit to see where he was going. He went for the fixed dock, so we went for the floating one. As we approached, a fellow from one of the boats already docked came over to assist. I noticed there were no cleats to tie off to, so we used the pylons holding the dock. Once we were secure, Lauren took Frank and I went about double checking and setting up our bumpers. The rain started soon after we were settled in. I chatted a bit with the other captains as I was going about my business and most had been here for a couple of days due to weather. It was looking like tomorrow will not be a good travel day, so we will stay at least two nights here.

Day 2- there wasn’t anything really around where we are docked except a park. There is a grocery store a little ways away, but we didn’t feel like getting the bikes off and it was cold and rainy all day. We pretty much stayed in the boat and walked Frank between downpours. We planned our next stop, which we located another free dock across from Norfolk, in the town of Portsmouth. The reviews are mixed- it’s free and it is right downtown, but that brings another element to leaving your boat to explore and safety in a ‘big city’. We will just have to see for ourselves…