The Chesapeake Bay, Virginia
June 9, 2024
Eleven states! Add Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey to our list. We are nearly halfway through our Great Loop adventure.
We are currently on the NJ Intracoastal Waterway, planning our hop into the Atlantic to NYC. Our apologies for the delayed update as work and life events have kept us occupied.
The Chesapeake Bay was a true test of our sailing skills and we definitely learned some things while enjoying some excellent days using wind alone to cross the bay. We had a mix of beautiful, serene summer days mixed with plenty of times when the conditions required our full attention.
We hopped from tiny town to tiny town, walking often, and scouting new ice cream shops and museums. In Deltaville, we sampled local oysters at affordable prices. We attempted to leave the next day on a downwind sail in 25 knots with our largest genoa and were quickly overpowered (duh!). The captain pulled his shoulder in the recovery so we sheepishly limped back in and found a marina at only $1 a foot.
The next day we crossed the bay to Tangier Island, a fascinating and incredibly isolated community rich with history and literally being washed away by the day. The island is so detached from the rest of the US that they have their own dialect developed over the centuries. We were able to overhear some local fishermen chatting and it may as well have been a foreign language. We couldn’t make out a single word between these gentlemen. Tangier is so small we could walk the entire island in 45 minutes. No businesses were open during our visit so our attempts to dine out or see their museum were denied, and it gave the island an eerie, deserted aura. Even the “marina” was devoid of humanity. At $25 a night, it was a steal, with surprisingly nice bathrooms stilted above the channel. We never saw a soul there. Out of cash and with the island’s only ATM out of service, we wrote a check and dropped it in the mailbox.
The next morning we saw a tiny weather window and rode 3’ waves into Crisfield under dark clouds. Arriving on a Monday, this town was nearly as vacant as Tangier and we found little to keep us occupied on shore. The weather turned nasty and we were rained in on our tiny boat for nearly the whole week. Bored to tears, the weather finally improved enough for us to attempt a crossing to Solomons Island. We were crashing into oncoming waves for the first half of the day, but the afternoon improved and we celebrated our arrival at the local tiki bar.
Solomons is a tourist hotspot and its amenities provided a welcome stop after where we had just been. A rental car was about the same price as a Lyft to and from the grocery store and once we realized we were only 1.5 hours from D.C., our minds were set. In the capital, we toured two museums we missed on our last visit and had some Michelin Star Ethiopian cuisine with a friend from Iowa. Back in Solomons, we used the car to complete some extreme restocking of the boat and then enjoyed a membership perk of the Looper Association to stay at a local yacht club for cheap. We were probably the grungiest visitors they’ve ever seen, but we cleaned up the boat and ourselves before donning our best attire (which isn’t saying much) and joined their seasonal kickoff festivities. Tildy was like a celebrity, the people were so kind to us, and we made some new Looper friends in the process.
Next, we made our way to St. Michaels, a lovely historic town with shops that could quickly consume our entire trip budget. Annapolis was a perfect place to stop and explore for the captain’s birthday and showed that the water belongs to everyone. Whether you have $1,000 or $10,000,000 to spend on your vessel, they both get you on the water.
Before long we had left the Chesapeake and traversed the C&D Canal. The marina in Delaware City offers a weather briefing every night for those attempting to cross the Delaware Bay, which has been called an “unholy body of water”. With strong currents, few hiding spots, and a wide opening to the Atlantic, it is imperative to leave under the right circumstances. The many shipwrecks here are a testament to such.
Safely tucked behind New Jersey, we are now navigating the toughest part of the Atlantic ICW, where our mast barely clears a number of bridges at low tide and swift currents rip through the shallows we must cross.
We are behind schedule for an optimal crossing into Canada, so we hope to make up some time after a brief stop in NYC.
Daily Travel Log | The Great Loop
Day 160 • one of us has not been off the boat in three days and was excited to row and run around - we ate oysters and walked until the rain made us go back home
Deltaville, Virginia
Day 161 • the water never photographs as rough as it feels, seated sail raises and plans cut short due to weather
Deltaville to Ashley Cove anchorage, Virginia
Day 162 • family sail time, stretched our legs in Reedville, first time in a big chair
Ashley Cove to Reedville, Virginia
Day 163 • we tried to leave but turned back due to wind, a lazy sunday instead
Reedville to Reedville, Virginia
Day 164 • walked the entire town and still didn’t hit 10,000 steps
Reedville to Tangier, Virginia
Day 165 • a tiny weather window was our only chance off Tangier, another gloomy and wavy day on the Chesapeake
Tangier, Virginia to Crisfield, Maryland
Day 166 • nothing to do and nowhere to go, somehow made easier with an overload of work and a late night in the office
Crisfield, Maryland
Day 167 • boredom is setting in and the spiderwebs are getting bigger
Crisfield, Maryland
Day 168 • a long day on the bay, strolled the boardwalk, treated ourselves to a tiki bar
Crisfield to Solomons, Maryland
Day 169 • spur of the moment trip to DC, a day of museums and rain, met up with a friend from Iowa
Solomons, Maryland
Day 170 • our food bins and fridge hit an all time low this week - we spent the day running errands and provisioning, also attended a party at the yacht club
Solomons, Maryland
Day 171 • nice weather for traveling, anchored by a bunch of noisy gulls, docked the dinghy and went for a walk
Solomons to Deale, Maryland
Day 172 • an absolutely gorgeous day for a sail, 25 free miles, some of them hands-free as well
Deale to St. Michaels, Maryland
Day 173 • a morning walk among historic buildings, flowers and baby ducks
St. Michaels, Maryland
Day 174 • boats everywhere, big boats, little boats, dinghy boats and drum boats
St. Michaels to Annapolis, Maryland
Day 175 • day-long birthday celebrations for the captain - coffee and pastries, fresh juice and a new book, brewery with snacks, lots of hammock time, dinner out and to bed by 9:30 pm
St. Michaels, Maryland
Day 176 • a hot and sunny day - paddle boarded and floated in the tube, Tildy found a new resting place
Annapolis to Still Pond Creek Anchorage near Worton, Maryland
Day 177 • blazing hot, a painful wake, overall a lazy Sunday
Still Pond Creek to Chesapeake City, Maryland
Day 178 • a rainy morning on the water, tied Novi up nice and tight, taking a little time away from the boat
Novella: Chesapeake City, Maryland to Delaware City, Delaware
Crew: Delaware City, Delaware to Verona, Virginia
Day 179 • family roadtrip, car office, cat pictures
Crew: Verona, Virginia to Millington, Tennessee
Novella: Delaware City, Delaware
Day 180 • for the first time ever we saw all of our nieces and nephews in the same day
Crew: Millington, Arlington, and Bartlett, Tennessee
Day 181 • a funeral, some BBQ, a game of I Spy With My Little Eye
Crew: Millington and Bartlett, Tennessee to Corinth, Mississippi and then repeat in reverse
Day 182 • a trip out to the country for a visit, a good meal, and a look at our next possible adventure vessel
Crew: Millington and Arlington to Olive Hill, Tennessee
Day 183 • the kitty on the bus goes mew, mew, mew… sleeping in a bus tonight and hopefully a boat tomorrow
Crew: Olive Hill, Tennessee to Wytheville, Virginia
Day 184 • home sweet home - the loopies are back
Crew: Wytheville, Virginia to Delaware City, Delaware
Day 185 • super busy day spent catching up on work, prepping to leave, and getting to know the round friend we received as a gift
Delaware City, Delaware
Day 186 • the conditions were favorable for crossing some dangerous water - lots of splashing, boats and birds
Delaware City, Delaware to Sunset Lake near Wildwood, New Jersey
Day 187 • rarely does a Wednesday produce very interesting content… today was no exception
Wildwood, New Jersey
Day 188 • while New Jersey wasn’t the ideal location for our 10th anniversary (NYC was the plan…) being on this boat and living this adventure together is unbelievably good
Wildwood, New Jersey
Day 189 • we crawled out of our bouncing office cave to find that we were in the middle of a circular jet ski course, we pulled anchor and spent the rest of the day with a bunch of birds instead
Wildwood to a Dung Thorofare anchorage somewhere in New Jersey
Day 190 • we are beat after a day of dealing with weekend wakes, narrow channels, low tides and barely squeaking under three bridges with only a foot of wiggle room
Dung Thorofare to Ventnor City, New Jersey
Day 191 • a late start, a low tide and the closest close call bridge yet
Ventnor to Atlantic City, New Jersey