Cruising the Chesapeake Bay

We enjoyed our couple of days in the Norfolk area. We walked around Portsmouth, visited the Battleship Wisconsin, and attended a movie dinner theatre to watch Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 – it was actually a very fun experience. We then started heading up the Chesapeake Bay. Our first stop was Yorktown, VA for a couple of nights. On Mother’s Day, we dingy’d across the York River to downtown Yorktown, scootered to church (which was one of best catholic masses we’ve ever attended), and scootered around town to learn about its history. It was amazing. We saw Surrender Field and the Victory Monument – see more info below. Our next stop was Crisfield, Maryland – on the eastern side of the bay. We were there for 3 nights waiting for a good weather window to head north. The southern part of the Chesapeake can get very rough, so loopers often have to wait extra days for calmer seas. There wasn’t much to do in Crisfield, but we did have their infamous “Scrapple Sandwich” at Gordon’s Restaurant where all the watermen go at 4am for breakfast and share stories. Crisfield is known for its seafood and especially Atlantic Blue Crab. One of the highlights in Crisfield was meeting the crew from Genna Lou II and teaching them to play Wizard. We sure had a lot of laughs!!!! We then headed to St. Michaels, Maryland for a couple of nights. It was one of our favorite stops. Cute town with lots of shops and restaurants. We were actually there when they hosted a charity ½ marathon, so the town was full of runners. It was then on to Annapolis, Maryland – on the western side of the bay. We toured the Naval Academy (USNA), listened to the U.S Navy Band concert on the evening of the USNA Ring Dance, and walked around Annapolis. The town was loaded with people as it was the beginning of Commissioning Week for midshipmen (Naval Academy graduation), and it was a weekend! Another very fun town with lots of boats, shops and restaurants. It was then on to an anchorage in Bohemia River, just before the Chesapeake & Delaware (C&D) Canal. It was a beautiful and quiet spot and now we can say we have anchored heading up the Chesapeake…..which was on my bucket list for the trip. We then headed through the C&D Canal to Delaware City to prepare for the Delaware Bay crossing. There were many loopers there preparing for the crossing as the weather was very favorable…..which proved to be correct. Our trip from Delaware City to Cape May, NJ was mostly calm and we felt very lucky we went the day we did. Not much to see on Delaware Bay……as a boater you just want to get through it as it can get nasty. We enjoyed our time in Cape May and will share that with you in the next post. We continue to feel blessed with the great weather we have had on this whole trip!

Wisconsin Battleship in Norfolk

Yours truly on the ship!

As we were cruising the river through Norfolk we saw many ships being built or stationed there.

Commodore Dinner Theatre - we picked up a phone to place our food and beverage order. They delivered it just before the movie started.

Surrender Field, Yorktown -Cornwallis' surrender at Yorktown effectively ended the Revolutionary War. Lacking the financial resources to raise a new army, the British government appealed to the Americans for peace. Almost two years later, on September 3, 1783, the signing of the Treaty of Paris brought the war to an end.

Victory Monument - stands as a fitting symbol to the French and American victory at Yorktown on October 19, 1781 - a victory that resulted in American Independence.

Scootering around Yorktown on Mother's Day - notice the beautiful rose in the backpack I received at church that morning....it lasted a whole week!

Eating a scrapple sandwich at Gordons.....consists of scrapple, egg, and cheese on toast. It tasted okay....very hot.....I'll let you google how scrapple is made!!!

Beautiful sunset at Crisfield, Maryland at Somers Cove Marina

Display at the Crisfield Maritime Museum - also well know for decoy carving

Lunch at Gordan's with Genna Lou II - Scott, Genna Lou and Cindy - they are from the Duluth area.

Blue crab monument in Crisfield

Buckets of blue crab ready to be loaded in trucks

Lighthouse in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay

Hooper Strait Lighthouse built in 1879 in St. Michaels

The watermen wear big boots!!!!

Tools used to harvest oysters

St. Michaels Town

We saw all these ships anchored outside of Annapolis on the bay

waiting to get into Baltimore, Maryland

We had to maneuver through all of these sailboats to get into our Annapolis harbor -

it was crazy!

Entering Annapolis Harbor - this area apparently has the most boats on the Chesapeake Bay

The Chapel at the United States Naval Academy ("USNA") - its first graduating class of 50 midshipmen was in 1845.

US Navy Band at the USNA

Navy Mascot - "The Goat" - since 1890

USNA dormitory houses around 4,000 midshipman - of which approximately 30% are females. All midshipmen are required to wear their uniforms on campus.

Inside the USNA dormitory - called the Bancroft Hall - is said to be the largest contineous set of academic dormitories in the US

Inside the USNA Chapel

Downtown Annapolis - a lot of shops and restaurants

Maryland State House

Awesome history of the Maryland State House

Annapolis skyline as we were leaving

Chesapeake Bay Bridge - 3.7 miles long with a height of 186 feet

Dinghy ride at the Bohemia River anchorage

Osprey nest at Bohemia River

View into the Chesapeake from the Bohemia River Anchorage - it was very pretty!

Roth Bridge over the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal

Boats in Delaware City getting ready to cross the Delaware Bay!

Moonshadow II and No Rush - buddy boats down the Delaware Bay and

up the New Jersey ICW

John and Joe ("No Rush") - I think they sat in the "right" chairs to plan our trip!

Captains and admirals meeting to discuss the Delaware Bay crossing