The Chesapeake -- Annapolis to Norfolk

We've been terribly delinquent in our blogging ... we worked at the US Boat Shows in Annapolis during most of the month of October, a great experience, but we were just too pooped working so hard to write after work.  Also, it is a big topic, but we will post it soon.  Meanwhile, this blog entry covers our lovely Chesapeake Bay sailing, from Annapolis to Norfolk.

Thursday, October 24 -- We left Annapolis Thursday morning, October 24, after fill-up and disposal, as applicable, of all our boat fluids (diesel, gas, water, pump-out!) -- destination St. Michaels, on the east side of Chesapeake Bay, deep inside Eastern Bay.  The weather had been getting chilly (I know, I can't really talk about "chilly" when some of you have already had temperatures in the teens ... by "chilly" I mean 40's in the early morning, but with no heat that qualifies as chilly, doesn't it?).  Anyway, we thought so, and below is how Dorothy was bundled up for sailing:

Sailing from Annapolis to St. Michaels

In Chesapeake Bay, you often hear warnings on the VHF radio from Navy ships -- conducting exercises with live fire, or requesting a certain perimeter -- not surprisingly, naval ships are quite common.  Still, we were taken by surprise when the "object" below caught our eye.  At first we thought it was a strange buoy (of which there are plenty):

A strange buoy?

Then we got a closer look ... see what it is?

A submarine!

Here is Fred's double-take as he realized what it was:

"Holy S**T!!"

With wind in the high teens -- gusting to 26 -- from behind us, we flew, with reefed jib only, all the way to St Michael's, getting in around 4 pm.  After anchoring, we took the dinghy in to see St. Michael's.  It's a cute little town ... we enjoyed walking around, and photographed a few interesting sights, for example:

Figurehead (with Barbie figure)

Fred has said more than once that "Fred" is what people name their basset hounds, and I adamantly disagree.  And as you can see below, I am not alone in my dissent -- definitely not basset hound.  (Seriously ... Fred is a great name for a loving partner, and "Captain Fred" has a nice ring to it as well, don't you think?)  What this photo is also meant to illustrate is that St. Michael's has so many novel shops for visitors that they even have gift shops for your pets -- which, incidentally, a fair number of cruisers actually have! 

One of many interesting shops in St. Michael's

The next picture is for Anneke -- 'nuf said:

Lamb Chop!!!

And here, in case you wanted to open your own shop, is a storefront building, about 10x13', offered for sale, for just under $200k!  The real estate ad says the lot has potential -- we suppose you could add on, upper levels, or go back!

Storefront for sale

Not pictured -- dinner at Big Al's -- a crabcake comparison, mustard-based/backfin versus mayonnaise-based/lump crab meat.  And the verdict was ...  a tie - YUM!

Friday, October 25 -- Don't ask me why, but when crossing big bodies of water like Chesapeake Bay and Long Island Sound, our MO is to crisscross to see the sights, like a shoelace.  True to that pattern, our destination today was Solomon's -- yes -- on the west side of Chesapeake Bay.  We had another very windy day, winds in the high teens and low 20's knots (Force 5 on the Beaufort scale, or a "fresh breeze"), gusting to 27 knots (Force 6, "strong breeze").  (Note -- "strong breeze" may not sound like much, but one more knot is Force 7, "near gale.")

We were even colder today than yesterday, and decided to bundle up in our foulies, even though there was no precipitation in sight.  Fred has new gloves, purchased in St Michael's (funny, he didn't think to bring gloves on our tropical adventure) -- camo!

Brrrrrr!

Dorothy has one nice warm glove of her Mother's, and one not-so-warm other glove (couldn't find the other Mom-glove ... how can stuff get lost on a boat???).  To keep both parents close at hand in the almost-near-gale, she also had a hankerchief of her Dad's in her pocket!

Brrrrrr!

Another sign of military presence as we got close to Solomon's ...

Name this airline?

In Annapolis we set some skill development goals for ourselves, and one of Dorothy's is to take the helm role more in anchoring.  The helmsperson "drives" the anchoring process -- deciding exactly where to drop the anchor, letting the bowperson know when to drop it and snub it, backing down, and deciding when/whether the anchor is dug (or if it needs to be pulled up and done over).  The bowperson communicates information to the helmsperson such as "ready on the anchor," the direction of the anchor chain in the water, the tautness of the anchor chain, and when the snubber has been put on.  Although we have alternated as "Captain of the day", as it has turned out we  have more often anchored with Fred as helmsperson and Dorothy as bowperson, and we both want to balance the roles and strengthen our communication skills all-around. Anchoring at Solomon's was one of the times with Dorothy at the helm and Fred at the bow, and while there was ample space, there were other boats, and the wind was to come up strong from the opposite direction overnight.  Anchoring went well, and the anchor held ... what a team!

We stayed two nights anchored at Solomon's and didn't even take any pictures (oops -- we made up for that at our next stop).  But -- there was a cool antique shop,  a nice boardwalk, and of course we found the shop that specialized in key lime pie!!

Sunday, October 27 -- You will never guess our plan for today.  Yes, we crossed Chesapeake Bay to our next destination, Tangier Island.  Everything about the day and the destination could not have been more different than the two prior days.  Unlike the wind the prior two days, the wind was nearly flat, and we motored the entire way.  Unlike the weather the prior two days, the day warmed up into the mid-60's (which felt like a heat wave!).  Unlike our destinations the prior two days, tiny Tangier Island is a small fishing village with very little tourist build-up and a lot of natural marsh and shoreline.  But like the prior two days, we saw US military activity, or at least evidence thereof, namely this target practice ship hull in a very bombed-out state:

Practice target

Tangier's primary activity of crabbing is evident as you motor in -- you see pilings and waterman's huts, in various states of repair:

Crab huts

Our host at Parks Marina, Milton Parks, is shown below.  Milton is in his early 80's and a nice guy, although some of his comments (like that Abraham Lincoln should be dug up and shot again because he was responsible for so many deaths in the civil war) suggested that his politics were a little different from ours.

Dorothy and Milton

The most common form of transportation on the island was golf buggies such as this one next to the post office, many with full enclosures:

Tangier Island Post Office

Also somewhat common were scooters -- here is Milton's scooter -- commonly ridden on the docks as well as on the roads:

Milton's scooter

 And also the bicycle:

Baby pick-up by bicycle

A bicycle that appeared to have been ridden OFF a dock:

Bicycle in watery grave

The island had regular size roads that cars and trucks could drive on, and we did see a few of those vehicles, but very few.  It also had smaller roads that the buggies could travel, too narrow for cars:

Historic site of first mobile home on Tangier Island

We tied up right on Milton's dock, on the pilings.  We were the only boat the first night, and two additional boats joined us the second night.  There is an amazing feral cat population on Tangier Island, and one set up camp on the dock right next to the boat.  Every time we got on and off the boat, there was the cat.  We were careful to keep the boat closed up, but for all I know, that cat may be stowed away on the boat now. 

Aviva on the dock

This was our view from the dock -- the crab huts.  We do not quite understand the process and what exactly happens in the huts, but there are a lot of them, and they all have electricity.

Tangier Island Crab Huts with sun setting

Tangier Island Crab Huts reflecting on the calm water

Tangier Island boats at sunset

Crab pots on Tangier Island

Tangier Island crab hut

One thing we did not capture was the graveyards in the front yard of many homes.  We read that this is common for Maryland, not just on Tangier Island, but we had not seen it elsewhere.  Reasons -- ease of tending and visiting; increased security in an age when graves were all too often robbed; affordability of burial plot.  

A few more village shots showing the smaller roads and giving a sense of the place: 

Typical Tangier Island village street

Striking historic home, Tangier Island

Fascinating Tangier Island historical story

Amusing signage on a loop road (Dorothy assumes the E911 signage is correct and that this is a loop road. Fred's look at aerial photos shows no loop... )

Dorothy checking out the Lee Child collection at Tangier Island leave-a-book-take-a-book library

Boardwalk to library and marsh 

Marsh and bay with crab huts

Dorothy rode one of our folding bikes out to the beach, and walked to the southern tip of the island.  En route there were a couple of these -- we have no idea what this is.  It is semi-soft and gelatinous, rather like gummy bears, and pretty big, maybe about 8" across.  There is a big glob of it, then a thinner bit partially covered with sand.  Help??

What is this??

The beach faced to the west, and would be a beautiful place to watch the sun set.  Here is a bit of rock along the beach, with good pickings for the sanderlings that were busy foraging there.  In the marsh inland from this, I saw a ruddy turnstone and palm warblers.

Tangier Island Beach

At the very southern tip of the island was a big colony of brown pelicans, great black-backed gulls, herring gulls, with Forster's terns flying around as well.

Bird colony at Tangier Island southern spit takes flight

Tuesday, October 29 -- We generally alternate captain of the day, and today Dorothy was captain.  The wind was just about on our bum and so light that I thought we would have to motor all day again.  But Fred pipes up with, "maybe we should try the spinnaker today!"  And what a great idea!  With the spinnaker sock we bought from Fred's friend and sailmaker, Bill Fastiggi, in Winooski, Vermont, raising the spinnaker was a cinch.  Here it is:

Spinnaker!

The spinnaker is raised like a big tubeworm, with the sail inside a long tubesock.  A continuous line is then pulled to raise the sock, liberating the spinnaker to open.  You can see the sock at the top of the spinnaker.  To close the spinnaker, you pull the line the other way, which pulls the sock down, snuffing the sail.

Spinnaker and sock

The sail deployed without a hitch, thanks to Fred's excellent rigging.  Below, Fred expresses great joy for both of us at the smooth deployment!

Thumbs up on the spinnaker deployment!

Aviva sailed beautifully with the spinnaker!  As the wind varied between 4.5 and 8 knots, boat speed varied between 4 and 6.5 knots.  It was truly glorious sailing.  So of course we had to have a picture!  Below is Fred, launched in the dinghy, on photo assignment:

Fred launched in the dinghy

Fred running circles around Aviva

Aviva sailing under spinnaker power

A couple of times we made minor tweaks as we changed course slightly.  All in all the sailing was incredibly smooth.  Not long after passing Wolf Trap Lighthouse, below, we snuffed the spinnaker and motored into our anchorage.

Wolf Trap Lighthouse

We anchored in Chisman Creek, Poquonson River -- the second of the goal of three anchorings with Dorothy at helm and Fred at bow.  There was plenty of room with only one other boat in the area.  With two tries to get good holding in the mud, we were set.  The area was very pretty, woodland and nice homes.

Wednesday, October 30 -- With wind in the 11-13 knot range (Force 4, Moderate Breeze) from the SSW, we "tacked downwind" from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., until we were approaching Hampton Roads, at which time we rolled up the sails and motored into Norfolk and Portsmouth.  Norfolk is one of the busiest ports in the world, and there is certainly a lot to see.  But all is well-marked and orderly, and traversing the Elizabeth River, even in the company of enormous ships, is a lot less scary than going past the Statue of Liberty.  And so many interesting sights!

Below is a Coast Guard ship whose mission is fixing buoys.  See the green buoy on the ship?

Coast Guard buoy-fixing ship

The navy ships in Norfolk are numerous and enormous.  Below is an aircraft carrier.  It is hard to convey the magnitude of the ship with a photo!

Aircraft carrier

Many freighters are loaded and unloaded here as well.  Below is a freighter that passed us going out as we were going in, loaded with containers.  We think the containers were empty, and the boat was going back for more imported goods, since the ship is riding so high.

Cargo freighter loaded with containers

Each of those is a tractor trailer container!!!

How on earth do they load and unload those?  Below is how!  The cranes below pick up the containers and put them on or off, as appropriate.  One of the cranes has a suspended container.  Container-carrying cars run back and forth on the ground bringing containers over to the cranes or taking them away from the loading area.

Container-loading and unloading cranes

About two hours in from Hampton Roads, we got to Tidewater Marina in Portsmouth, where new friends, Steve and Luanne Ormsby, had generously invited us to use their slip while their boat is in Annapolis.  Below is Aviva in our new digs, where we stayed for just over a week.  Next to us is a Navy dive boat, fitted up from an empty hull, that was in final review for delivery.

Aviva in slip at Tidewater Marina, Portsmouth, VA

Aviva in slip at Tidewater Marina, Portsmouth, VA

Looking across to Norfolk and the Nauticus Museum

Thus ends our Chesapeake criss-crossing trip.  Our wonderful visit in Norfolk will be the subject of another blog entry!