Cambridge, MD

Most of Monday was spent temporarily fixing the broken window.  We called Carver for replacement glass, hopefully we can have that sent to us soon. 

 Afterwards we walked around the town, the homes are old and very large.  Many of them have been turned into Bed & Breakfast Inn's.  The church's are very ornate, with large stain glass windows and well kept.  Cambridge is filled with art galleries, restaurants, shops, and is bursting with authentic timeless charm of the Chesapeake region.

Leaving Solomon's en route to Cambridge

We spent 6 days in Solomon's at the McCarley's guest dock.

They showed us around town, took us to some great restaurants and made us feel at home during our stay.

We had breakfast with Ted & Nancy  before leaving their guest dock @ Solomon's Landing.   After reviewing the charts and receiving some good info from Ted we decided to make our next stop Cambridge, MD. 

It was a beautiful travel day, although a bit humid. The bay was almost like glass, and not much wind.

Over the last 2 weeks we have been having a bit of an issue with the starboard (right) engine.  It seems we have been running at "trawler" speed for so long that the starboard engine balks at running it's regular speed. That of course, is simplifying the issue.  After many diagnostics, and a million dollars later, we thought it was fixed.  Much to Jim's dismay, the alarm is still going off at high speeds. So we continue to travel at "trawler" speed, that is "slow trawler", it's great on the gas mileage though.  However we were passed by several "fast" trawlers today, when we start getting passed by sailboats, we definitely have a problem. 

 

It was a nice day on the water, and we arrived in Cambridge about 3:00, early enough to go into town.  The wind kicked up as we were coming into the marina and gave the captain a hard time.  As we were backing into the slip, we heard a loud crash, and we both realized that we left the awning style window open and it got crushed against the piling. So as I am sitting here updating this blog I have a cardboard view to my right.  Tomorrow we will walk into the town to get a piece of plexiglass until we can have a window ordered.  Oh the joys of boating!

Solomon's Landing & Solomon's Island

The weather has been hot and very humid up until today.  A little rain last night did a good job in knocking down the humidity, making it very pleasant today.  Rich & Laura from S/V The Laura Lee left today, we all had a great dinner last night at "Jerry's" a terrific seafood restaurant.  After dinner Ted and Nancy drove us over to Solomon's Island, we saw some sting rays in the bay, and a beautiful evening sky with the sun setting.

These are the two couples that we crossed the Gulf with from Carrabelle to Clearwater, December 14th, on that very foggy day.  We will hopefully catch up with Rich & Laura along the journey home.

On another note, Sue it always good to hear from you, thanks for your comments.  Have a fun party this weekend, say hi to everyone for us, sorry we have to miss it.  We look forward to seeing everyone at Connor's graduation party in Chicago over the holiday weekend. Hi Nick, Katie, & Kristen! See you soon.

Solomon, MD

Another beautiful stop in the Chesapeake Bay is Solomon's. We arrived here on Saturday, and spent 2 days at Calvert Marina, before heading over to Solomon's Landing to visit with fellow loopers, Nancy & Ted McCarley.  Ted & Nancy live here in a condo that has a marina, they were kind enough to offer us a guest dock to use.  While here another looper came in to visit, Rich & Laura on The Laura Lee, which is a sailboat.  We crossed the gulf with both of these couples, and once arriving in Clearwater around Christmas, everyone had different plans.  So this is the first time since December that all 3 of us have been together.  Our plans are to stay until Sunday, then head about 20 miles north and cross to the east side of the Chesapeake Bay to St. Michaels for a few days.

Reedville, VA

Reedville is best known for its Menhaden fishing industry, sometimes called pogies. They are small bony fish used for bait or used in fertilizers and pet foods. In 1874 Elijah Reed transferred his Menhaden fishing operation from Maine to the Chesapeake Bay. When the wind is blowing the right way, there is a pretty stinky smell coming from the plant. Yes, the wind was blowing the right way on our visit, lucky us.

In the early 1900's the Menhaden industry success was reflected in substantial architecture and the bustling commercial activity evidenced in Reedville. A portion of the homes along Main St. north of the church were called Millionaire's Row. Reedville is one of the largest fishing ports in North America.

           Some of the houses located on Millionaire Row.

During our stay we visited the Reedville Fisherman's Museum, which was very interesting, went to a fishing tournament celebration, and spent some time exploring all the creeks with the dinghy.

Urbanna, VA

Urbanna, VA is a small town, probably the smallest we have visited, with a population of approx. 650.  One of our nations oldest seaports, it is located on the Rappahannock river which is off the ICW.  A small side trip we decided to take with George and Kathy on "Spey".   Every year in November they have an oyster festival complete with a oyster shucking contest, this festival attracts approx. 75,000 visitors.  I cannot imagine where they put everyone.

The weather has been all over the board, we had tornado warnings, which I  am happy to say, did not materialize.  It did clear out the  85% humidity , and lower the temps to around the mid 70's for a few days.  We will leave Urbanna in the morning and anchor out for a few days near Reedville. Then on to Solomon's.  

Hampton & Deltaville, VA

Our next 2 stops were Salt Ponds Marina in Hampton, VA and then on to Deltaville, VA. This is all in the Chesapeake Bay area. 

Salt Ponds Marina was a two day stop, they had a beautiful pool, and an on-site restaurant.  We took a cab in to town to do some grocery shopping, got caught up on some laundry, then just relaxed at the pool, like boaters. In the evening we went for a long walk along the beach which wasn't too far away.

The weather has been in the mid 90's and humidity is about 85%.  Seems we went from unusually cold to unusually hot.  It's safe to say we are setting temperature records all along this trip. The marinas with pools are a welcome site. :)

Dozier's Regatta Point Marina in Deltaville is only about 37 miles north of Hampton.  We are taking our time, and it still feels like we are moving up the coast quickly.  I agree with you Sue, when you say it seems like we were just in the keys.  Our time schedule is to be in our home port of Vermilion, mid Sept. 

We did some biking in Deltaville, went to Cocomo's for lunch with fellow loopers Ron & Bev from M/V  Sea Venture, and Ed & Nancy from M/V Dream Fever.  George & Kathy from M/V Spey, who we had been traveling with, were anchored out. We rode bikes to  Fishing Bay, where George picked us up by dinghy and took us back to their boat.  So we spent an afternoon with them. 

Norfolk, VA

Norfolk was a good stop, we were there with George and Kathy on "Spey"   Two other loopers were also at Waterside Marina in Norfolk, Gerry & Linda on "Monk's Vineyard" and Ron & Bev on Sea Venture" .  It was good to see them.  Gerry & Linda had  a rental car and were kind enough to give Jim a ride to the local West Marine store.

Dinner was at Hooters, it is right next to the marina.  I have never been to a Hooters, that was interesting, and the food was good.  The picture to the left is of the shopping area next to Waterside Marina.  We had an unwanted visitor at 3:00 in the morning, there were 3 teens hanging out around the docks, one of them decided to board our boat, which instantly woke us up. Needless to say, Jim had a few choice words for this young adult and he quicky got off the boat.

While in Norfolk we went to Nauticus, which is  part Navy museum and part ocean kind of info.  We toured the USS Wisconsin, the next 2 pictures show that.

These pictures were from the ocean part of the museum, top and bottom.

We left Norfolk on Tuesday and headed to Hampton, VA