After
doing some major provisioning we departed Colonial Beach on July 6 moving on to
St. Michaels, MD with an intermediate over night anchorage in Solomons. St. Michaels on the Eastern shore of the
Chesapeake is a very picturesque colonial town.
Once a waterman’s haven it now thrives on tourism with the Chesapeake
Bay Maritime Museum being a major draw. Founded
in 1778, the town avoided destruction by the British during the War of 1812 by
hanging lanterns high in trees so that the night bombardment missed its mark.
We
anchored in the basin for 3 days and enjoyed walking the village and visiting
the museum which traces the history of the waterman trade in the
Chesapeake. They restore old ships on
site and have interesting displays of how the bounty of the Bay was harvested
over the years. Of particular interest
was the construction technique of boats fashioned from logs.
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| Log Sailing Canoe beside a Skipjack Oyster Boat |
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| "Buy" Boat with "Screw Pile" Lighthouse in background |
A "Buy" boat would circulate among the fishermen in the Bay to collect their catch then take it to market thus allowing the fishermen to stay on station for longer periods of time.
From
St. Michaels we moved on to Annapolis.
Having stopped there twice last year we were familiar with the town, but
wanted to see what progress had been made in rebuilding the yacht club which
suffered a major fire last Christmas.
Unfortunately, no progress has been made. New building codes have made for a major
debate about repair vs. new construction.
It looks like renovation will not start until next fall. In the meantime the club was fortunate to be
able to find a temporary location on the waterfront on Ego Alley. A former restaurant complex on 3 levels, it
is well suited for the club. They
provide a shuttle from the parking lot of the burned out club house which was
very convenient to our marina.
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| Burned out shell of AYC |
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| AYC electric car shuttle |
After
two nights in Annapolis we moved on to Georgetown, MD which is located 8 miles
up the beautiful Sassafras River.
Although there is little to see in the tiny town the Sassafras Harbor
Marina was pleasant and very well run.
The scenery alone was worth the diversion.
From
there we pressed on to Deltaville, DE; Cape May, NJ; and Staten island,
NY. The weather has been extremely HOT,
but thankfully the seas were calm for the 125nm run up the coast of NJ.
On Sunday the 17th we had the
opportunity to renew acquaintances with members of the Great Kills Yacht Club.
