“Sailors & Dogs, keep off the grass”

That’s what the yard signs said the first time I was in Norfolk, way back in 1968 (you know, back when the dinosaurs roamed the earth!).  But we came back anyway, arriving yesterday after a 4-day trip from the Potomac River.

I was in Norfolk in the summer of 1968 for 3 weeks as part of my summer training with the Navy ROTC college program.  I spent 3 weeks at Little Creek VA with the US Marines and Navy Seals.  What I really learned is that you want all these guys on YOUR side during a war!  Anyhow, it was serendipity that the Navy destroyer which my older brother was on, got back to Norfolk after a 6-month Med cruise during those 3 weeks, and we were able to meet up in Norfolk.  All I remember about Granby Street is being the place where all the sailors got caught up on all their drinking.  And where all the yard signs were.

Our last evening at Colonial Beach, the swans
came over for dinne

We left Colonial Beach on the Potomac River under beautiful calm conditions & had a good trip the 40-some miles to the mouth of the river.  As we turned south around Smith Point, the wind picked up to 20 mph & the seas increased to 2’ trying to go to 3’, right on our bow.  The weather forecast for the next couple days showed even more increasing winds & waves, so we ran a couple extra hours that first day to reduce the trip the next day.

Departing the anchorage at zero-dark-thirty & 47 degrees!

The next day gave us the same 20 mph winds with 2-3’ seas, which made for an uncomfortable ride (I thought this was “pleasure” boating, not “walking like a drunken sailor”).  We made lots of sea spray as we hit the waves & the weather decks were crusty with salt.  We hit a couple waves when the sea spray came all the way up into the open helm window.  We stayed at our protected anchorage for 2 nights while the cold front came through & made winds 25 mph gusting to 30, with 3-4’ seas out on the Bay. 

Entering Hampton Roads, different size ships going
in all different directions.

I’ve heard people ask, “How long in the fall can you go boating on the Chesapeake?”  I’ve found the answer is “Until the cold fronts start coming every 3 to 4 days, and the seas turn snotty.”  And the butter gets too hard.

Lots of traffic past our marina



We entered Hampton Roads (where the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia fought an ironclad battle), where vessel traffic was surprisingly heavy.  We passed 5 Navy destroyers heading outbound, plus commercial ships, tows with barges, and lots of smaller boats.  We knew that Greg & LizAnn, fellow boaters aboard “Lagniappe” from New Orleans, were in the area, and we actually talked to them on the VHF radio, but they were ahead of us & continuing south past Norfolk.

 

Big grey boats everywhere!


 

We made Waterside Marina where we found some easy dockside space to tie to in these 15 mph winds.  We’re at Mile Mark 0.0 (the official end of the Chesapeake Bay and the beginning of the Atlantic Intercoastal Waterway).  We’re surrounded by grey Navy ships.  There must be more grey paint sold in this town than in any other place in the world!  After a couple days acting like tourists, we’ll continue our southbound journey.





Harbor cruise boat which ties at our marina


 

 

Looking through the 3-masted schooner, the typical
clouds of a high pressure system, just prior to the
next low pressure, just prior to the next high pressure

The Butter is Getting Hard

Our special waitress with her chief cook

We spent our 3 weeks ashore & now we’re getting antsy to get back on the water.  We took care of personal matters in Chattanooga and in New Orleans, which all turned out well.  The Executive Summary:

We owe another huge debt of gratitude to our very good friends in Chattanooga, John & Susan.  Their hospitality in sharing their home with us was definitely “above and beyond”.  They recently enjoyed their own cruise, taking their boat down the TN River and the TennTom to Mobile AL.

We enjoyed our two short visits to New Orleans, and our visits to our son & his family.  We thoroughly spoiled our granddaughter before returning her to her parents as we were leaving town.

Back in TN, we got to visit our special boating buddies, Leigh and Clint, for a couple days.  We find that they may be planning to take their big new yacht all the way south to Key West.  Yes, we’re jealous.

With our niece's two sons in front of Monticello.
I want my picture on the back of all the nickels!

When we initially left Colonial Beach, we noted that our southbound trek took us right through Charlottesville VA, so we decided to act like tourists and stop to visit Jefferson’s Monticello, as well as James Monroe’s Ashlawn-Highland (located adjacent to Monticello).  For your history trivia for today, you should know that Jefferson was the mentor for both James Madison (4^th President) and James Monroe (5^th President).  Since each of the 3 served 8 years as President, Jefferson’s Republican policies and beliefs became infused in the new country’s government and Congress.

Shenandoah Mountains, about 3300' MSL.  We'll
stay at Mean Sea Level for the next month.

As we finally drove back to our boat on the Potomac River, we saw that the tree leaves had started to change to their fall colors.  We took a small detour from the interstate highway to drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway through the Shenandoah Mountains.  The mountains all in color were impressive, especially since we’ll be right at sea level for the next couple weeks.

I heard several years ago another boater describe how he determines when to head north for the spring, or to head south for the winter.  He puts a stick of butter on a dish on his boat.  If the butter gets too soft, he heads north.  If the butter gets too hard, he heads south.  Our butter is getting too hard.

All good things come to an end

We had an excellent time cruising these past 5 weeks.  The Chesapeake Bay is just filled with nice rivers to cruise, tucked-away places to anchor, quaint towns to visit, crab traps everywhere in the water to dodge, and thousands of blue crab to eat!

Another quiet anchorage in a beautiful cove

We’re back at Colonial Beach VA at the same marina we stayed 2 months ago.  We’ll put the boat in the slip for 2-3 weeks while we become landlubbers again, driving first to Chattanooga, then to New Orleans, then back to Chattanooga, then back to New Orleans, then back again to Chattanooga, and finally back to the boat.  By mid-October, we’ll be ready to start heading south to our winter home.

A few miscellaneous thoughts and observations for the past 2 months.  Since the weather this month has finally turned cool, we can shut down the air conditioning and genset when we anchor for the night.  We’ve refined our electrical load management on the boat to extend our battery life and the use of our inverter, and found that we can go about 6-7 days on our own before we need to head to a marina.  The overall weather this summer on the Bay has been relatively cool, with only 4-5 days over 90 degrees.  Quite a difference from our past couple summers in Florida and in New Orleans.

When we were in Baltimore Harbor, the wakes from all the boats were serious.  Anchoring, as well as traveling, was uncomfortable.  Many Loopers complain about the same problem when transiting New York Harbor.  Something we can look forward to next year.  I was reminded of the song by the group Kiss, “I-I-I want to rock and roll, all night…”

Another hard day at work!

We thoroughly enjoyed learning all the history along the Chesapeake, especially that of the War of 1812.  But I found it interesting that the park ranger at Ft McHenry said that nearly every British tourist visiting the area had never heard of “The War of 1812” and did not know that Britain was fighting those pesky Americans!  Thinking it through, it makes sense that British history students don’t bother with a trivial war on the other side of the world, when Britain was fighting the Napoleonic Wars from 1803 to about 1814 in Europe (remember that short Frenchman named Mr Bonaparte?).  Remember also (as I’m sure you do) that the composer Tchaikovsky wrote the “1812 Overture” to commemorate Russia’s victory over Napoleon on the eastern European front.  So in the light of world events, our “War of 1812” in America and Canada was almost a non-event.

All in all, it was a very memorable summer.  But isn’t that what cruising is all about – “Making Memories”.

More Fireworks than you ain’t never seen!

Just outside our marina, at the cruise ship terminal

The last day and a half have been even better than we could have hoped for.  It started with the marina holding an already-scheduled picnic/cookout for the boat owners.  Who ever said that there ain’t no free lunch?

Baltimore’s Celebration this entire week commemorates two major events.  One, the Battle of Baltimore (British attacks by both land and sea) on September 13, 1814, and two, the creation of the Star Spangled Banner by Key, who watched the assault on Ft McHenry.  So a lot of the events were “over the top” to make them special.

The rain and low ceilings started lifting Saturday afternoon about the time for the air show, and wouldn’t you know it, the NAVY Blue Angels showed up right on schedule to put on their low-level show (those NAVY guys always come through when needed!).  Again, our location at the marina was perfect to hear the scream of the jet engines, only 1000 feet above our heads!

Looking down the harbor, each red burst was from
a separate fireworks barge!

The cold front came through, the winds shifted north, and the skies cleared for the evening fireworks.  We decided to walk about 2 miles to the Inner Harbor to a spot we found when we were in town a week or two ago.  We had read from the USCG Notice to Mariners that there were to be SIX fireworks barges within the 2-1/2 mile long Inner Harbor, plus 4 barges right next to Ft McHenry.  We got our position right next to one barge, and could see 4 others from our vantage point.  They started at 9:30 and went continuously for 20 minutes from all 6+ barges SIMULTANEOUSLY.  Each barge was shooting the same fireworks at the same time, all coordinated to music.  I was able to take videos looking down the harbor & it was impressive to see the harbor just filled with fireworks, and having them reflected off the windows of the tall city buildings.  There were so many fireworks that I ain’t never seen so many!

 

The cream on the cake was Sunday morning as we were leaving our marina, passing Ft McHenry.  All the visiting tall sailing ships, some at full sail, were outside the harbor, re-enacting the British fleet in 1814, and the Fort was shooting cannon at the ships.  It was a fantastic photo-op that we just happened to find.  It really completed a special two days in Baltimore to enjoy their celebration.

 

 

 

So now we’re headed south, eventually ending up in Myrtle Beach SC for the winter.  The cold fronts up here are now coming every 3 days, and the temp tonight will go down to 49F.   We’re finding our jackets buried in the closets, and it looks like we can put away our shorts & sandals.  We’ll anchor all week on our way back to the Potomac River, and enjoy the cool weather.

September 13, 1812

The parade of ships into Baltimore Harbor.  This is
a NOAA research vessel.

That’s the date of the Battle of Baltimore near the end of the War of 1812, when some Washington DC attorney and part-time poet was kept on a ship in Baltimore Harbor, watching “the bombs bursting in air”.  And now, Baltimore is holding a week-long Celebration, exactly 200 years later, and we’re in the middle of it!



A Marine landing ship.  Note Harbor Pilot boat alongside.
Note huge H-53 and USMC uniforms "manning the rails"

As we were leaving Rock Hall MD a couple days ago, I get a phone call from a Baltimore marina where my name was on a waiting list, offering us a space to tie up for the weekend.  All the marinas in the area had filled their reservations way back in March for this Celebration week.  We had planned to just anchor in the outer harbor (and rock and roll all day and night in the waves and boat wake), but this was much mo’ betta.



A huge aluminum catamaran.  Have to look this one up.

So on Wednesday the 10^th, we head west to anchor for the day just outside the Baltimore Harbor, to watch the tall sailing ships and the military ships entering the harbor as part of the Celebration.  We were real close to the painted buoy where Key saw “by the dawn’s early light”.  We were just outside the shipping channel, so we got some excellent pictures as the ships paraded by.  But alas, no tall ships.  They had either come earlier or were scheduled for tomorrow arrival.  So we headed to the nearby Maryland Yacht Club marina to stay for 2 days until our space was available in Baltimore.

Foreign Navy frigate with 2 harbor pilot boats.
Helicopter on aft deck resembles what I did in Navy
when I "defied death" for a couple years. (You can
click on the photo to enlarge it)

As part of the Celebration, the Blue Angels were scheduled to practice and perform in the outer harbor.  The Coast Guard had set up a safety zone under the airspace, and stopped all boating traffic from 10 AM until 4 PM when the airspace could be active.  This safety zone was so extensive that it prohibited all boats from transiting to their marinas or just wandering about.  We heard one boat call the USCG at 10:30 requesting passage through the zone, and being told to sit still until 4 PM.  This safety zone restriction meant that we had to get to our marina prior to 10 AM on Friday morning.

Passing yet another ship on our way to our marina.

Friday was a beautiful clear day, though windy, as we joined the flotilla of boats entering the harbor prior to the time restriction.  We made our marina, just west of Ft McHenry, in the outer harbor.  We’re in the shadows of two huge Roll-on/Roll-off Military Sealift Command ships and just past the cruise ship terminal.  But we have a clear straight view of the outer harbor for 5 miles, all the way to the Key Bridge.  So when the Blue Angels showed up for their practice time Friday afternoon, we had one of the best seats in the house as we climbed up our boat to the dinghy deck & took all the pictures we could.

One of the MSC RO-RO ships next to our marina.
Their survival capsule really stands out (reminds me
of the "Captain Phillips" movie

Afterwards, we walked a mile or so to find the nearest brew pub, so the Admiral could sample some more beers.  We also started scouting out our position to watch the fireworks show Saturday night, if it doesn’t rain.  The rain forecast for Saturday will probably cut the Blue Angels show to their low-level show, so we’re glad we saw the complete show on Friday.  Then on Sunday, we’ll have an early departure to pass through the safety zone prior to 10 AM.  At that point, we’ll be heading south back to the Potomac River to store the boat again as we become land-lubbers for a couple weeks.  Our crab-eating days in the Bay are coming to a close.

The Quiet Eastern Shore

Sandy Point Lighthouse, just north of Annapolis. The
Bay is full of these abandoned lighthouses.

We departed Maryland Yacht Club on Tuesday September 2 for a week of quiet anchoring along the Eastern Shore.  We’ve found that we can anchor out for about 6-7 nights before we need to get to a marina for a pumpout and fresh water.

One of our sunsets at anchor on the Wye River

We headed over to the Wye River, which we had heard so much about.  The sea stories turned out to be true (which doesn’t happen often) that the river was filled with small quiet coves to spend a night or to ride out a storm.  Sue found a cove nearly at the end of the river, where we spent three nights watching a gorgeous sunset followed by a huge lightening show as the cold front approached.  The next day, with a cool northerly breeze, we opened up the boat to enjoy the weather.  Having been in Florida and New Orleans the past few years, we never had the chance to turn off the air conditioning and open up the boat to the breeze.

After a couple days here, watching the fish jump, watching the sea nettles (jellyfish) float by, and observing the watermen setting their crab trot lines, we moved north to the next river, the Chester River.  To get there, we had to “run the gauntlet” through Kent Island Narrows.  We tried to time our passage for high slack tide, but still found that narrows to be the trickiest, most hazardous path that we’ve ever encountered.  With the high current reversing every 6 hours, and the narrow single-lane waterway under the draw bridge (which you have to wait to open), I just cringe to think about passing here on a holiday weekend with hundreds of boaters (half of them drunk and the other half stupid) trying to make some order out of the mayhem.

Once on the Chester River, the afternoon temps went to about 94F, and the temps in my engine room went to 125F.  My poor little Caterpillars down there had a hard time breathing!  We found our anchorage on the Corsica River, got the hook to set the first try, shut down the engines & jumped into the water to cool off.

We stayed at this anchorage for two nights, so we went swimming the next day with a scrub brush to clean the waterline of the boat.  We found a nice ¼” thick rug of algae all along the transom and on the trim tabs.  Surprised me that so much algae would grow in this salt water, only 6 weeks since I had the bottom cleaned by a diver.

"Winning Drive" at anchor

We were greeted the second day by one of the “big boys” of motor yachts – a 130’ Westport “Winning Drive” owned by the owner of the Baltimore Ravens NFL team, with a net worth of $2.0+ billion (with a "B").  We did an internet search to find this out, using the yacht name, and also found that he was here because his son was getting married that evening (it’s amazing what information you can find on the internet!)  After the wedding, the yacht anchored for the night close to us, showing a couple purple night lights (the Ravens color).

 

At Rock Hall, this is what we found as we walked back
from eating more crab

So now we’re spending 3 nights at a marina in Rock Hall MD, a quiet waterman community due east of Baltimore.  Sue was having withdrawal symptoms & needed to eat some more crab. Rock Hall is the type of place where the church bells sound every 15 minutes.  It has no taxi service, so we took a tram to the grocery store.   We’ll leave tomorrow to go back to the Baltimore area.  If the weather holds for us, we’re planning to stick our noses right into the thick of things this weekend as Baltimore holds a huge celebration of the end of the War of 1812.

 

Rock Hall, looking across the Bay towards Baltimore

In downtown Rock Hall, the library puts out little boxes
along the street with free book exchange

A shop in downtown Rock Hall MD

This is why we came to the Chesapeake Bay!

Yet another glorious sunset at Rock Hall

Browsing around Baltimore

Baltimore Inner Harbor with aquarium in background

We spent an excellent 5 days in Baltimore, at a marina in the inner harbor surrounded by the tall buildings of downtown Baltimore.  The change from a week of staying at remote anchorages to a week of being right in the middle of the city, was really experiencing the two extremes

Boats anchored off Pier 6 to hear the concert free

Our visit this summer was timely in that the city & surrounding area were celebrating the 200^th Anniversary of the Battle of Baltimore during the War of 1812.  Nearly every point of interest had something extra about the war, Fort McHenry, or the flag.  We learned quite a bit of history of the War of 1812 and the British successes on the Chesapeake Bay.

The view as we entered the harbor.  This was the size of
flag which flew in Sept 1814

To start off our visit, we found our marina amidst the multitude of marinas and the plethora of boats that make up Baltimore harbor.  Water taxis, pleasure boats, tourist boats, sail boats, kayaks, and anything else that floated, passed by our marina slip continually all day & most the night.  We were right next to the Pier 6 concert pavilion, where the band “Boston” gave a performance Tuesday night.  We simply fixed our drinks and walked down our dock to enjoy our free concert, with the lights of the city as a backdrop.

Of course, we made our pilgrimage to Fort McHenry where the National Park Service presented a very impressive introductory video with a reenactment of Francis Scott Key aboard his “truce ship” during the British bombardment of the Fort.  At the end of the video, as the music of our National Anthem began, the movie screen rolled up to allow us to see out the big window that the huge American flag was still flying over the fort at the top of the hill.

In 1814, you'd be looking at the British fleet in front of you,
and Key's ship would be just before the bridge, about
4 miles distance

 

"Francis Scott Key Buoy", where his ship was on 9/13/1814
and, yes, if you use your "spy glass", you can see the
huge flag flying over the fort at the middle of photo

The Park Rangers gave numerous presentations about the battles, the strategy of both the British and the Americans, why the flag was so big (30’ x 42’), and why some young lawyer from Washington (and part-time poet) had sailed out to meet the British two days prior & was held on his ship during the British bombardment of the fort (for your history lesson today, I’ll give you a hint that Key was trying to set free another American, who was taken captive as the British retreated from burning the White House & Capitol building in Washington DC just three weeks prior.  Additional trivia for you:  In mid-1814, British forces were increased with several thousand experienced troops who had fought against Napoleon in the European war, and these were the formidable troops which staged the land assault against Baltimore while the British rocket and mortar ships fired on Ft. McHenry.  Ya didn’t read about that in your history books, did you, kids?!).  After Key finished his poem about his observations and emotions during the bombardment, it was published a couple days later, and within 60 days the poem had spread across the young country.  That’s kind of like the 1814 version of “going viral”.  And a short time later, it was put to the tune of a British drinking song!

Two historic relics!

We also toured a couple of Baltimore’s historic ships, including the USS Constellation, built in 1854 as the last Navy sailing ship, before this new thing called “steam power” became prevalent.  I always get a kick out of seeing these old square-rigged sailing ships & am still amazed at all the ropes & rigging it took to make them move.

Work of a Visionary Artist who was diagnosed with
OCD.  No telling how many pencils he used.

Back ashore, we visited the American Visionary Art Museum, with works of artists who never had formal training or were self-taught.  It had some very interesting and unique art work, some of it created by people who were diagnosed with psychiatric disorders, yet found their place as an artist.

And finally, we ate our way around Baltimore, most notably at the Blue Moon Café, where breakfast consisted of a huge pecan-cinnamon roll, battered and fried like French toast, served with fruit and real whipped crème.  Sue tried to eat 3 eggs with crab and Hollandaise sauce, over a mound of hash brown potatoes.  Guess what we had for dinner that night?!?



Around the Chesapeake, there's Old Bay seasoning,
not Zatarain's, although both are owned
by McCormicks

 

Row houses in Federal Hill section of town, all British
Colonial design. Some of these homes are
only 11 feet wide!

So now we’re back at Maryland Yacht Club, where they charge us only $15 per night.  I wanted to stay off the waters during Labor Day weekend, when half the boaters out there are drunk, and the other half just dumb and crazy.  This week, we’ll head back to the Eastern Shore to anchor in the coves, and if there are no sea nettles, we’ll go swimming before summer fades away from us.