Chesapeake Bay and New Jersey Shore

Pictures: Kids at an "old-fashioned"authentic soda fountain in Rock Hall, MD; a mallard pair in Annapolis; we were headed to the red-roofed building, part of a maritime museum, in Solomon's Island, MD (we had to go around!); returning to our dinghy after a grocery-shopping walk in Manansquan, NJ; sunset view from our anchorage near Atlantic City (the boat on the right is a cruiser from Maine)

Usually having to see a dentist is not the highlight of your day. But in Deltaville, VA, just before we were to head north, Heidi had an issue with a orthodontic retainer and needed it re-cemented.  Very luckily a dentist was located nearby who could do this, even though it was his day off. He and his wife live on a plantation looking out over the Rappahanock River and he only works in Deltaville for one day normally, with 3 other days in Richmond. Dr. Suyes cheerfully completed the repair in a “cottage” office on his property and then he and his wife sat and talked with me for another half hour. This in a town that probably doesn’t have more than a thousand residents, on a Friday afternoon, and with transportation based on bicycles. We all found we had a lot in common and enjoyed hearing about each other’s travels.  

Since leaving Deltaville we have been putting some miles in. The weather has been mostly chilly and grey, and we’ve had our share of rain, although it has come mostly at night. We know we are a little too early in the season to fully enjoy the Chesapeake and NJ shore, but we are hoping to get home by mid May.

The route we have taken, staying inside of the bays, following canals, and behind the Jersey beach towns has put us in touch with many of the birds that are mating and nesting at this time of year. It has been interesting to watch nests being built by osprey, an excess of male mallards being shunned by female mallards that have already paired, and egrets showing off their beautiful mating feathers. We also have seen an abundance of butterflies, most likely red admirals.

There are few other cruisers. Some of the other boaters we stay in touch with are still in Florida or the Bahamas. We did get in the middle of crew practice for a high school near Atlantic City. There were about a dozen rowing shells with about 8 coaches in their own boats buzzing around one 5 mile stretch. The rowers had to stop to avoid us and we had to zig zag to avoid them. Also in this stretch were 4 bridges that we had to get opened as they were too low for us to go under.

We spent an extra day in Solomon’s Island, Maryland and two extra days in Annapolis. Both places have museums, good restaurants, and good resources for boaters. We met another cruising sailboat in Annapolis, from Texas, that is completing the Great Loop, heading next up the Hudson and to the Great Lakes.  The other towns we visited for a short time were Rock Hall, MD,  Delaware City, DE, and Manasquan NJ (a lot like Scituate, MA).

We expect to transit through New York City’s East River later today, after we fuel up in Atlantic Highlands N,J and wait to catch the favorable current through the tricky area called Hell’s Gate just after Manhattan. If all goes well the next blog post will be from Duxbury or Cohasset, MA!