Chesapeake Bay - Eastern Shore

We departed Baltimore a week ago, with a stop in Annapolis to have our Australian friends Ian and Leslie Kilgour join us. Annapolis is a great stop. Together, we all toured the State capital building and then Ian and Greg visited the Naval Academy, including the museum, which has an amazing collection of ship construction models from the 1600's thru 1800's.

Judy and Leslie shopped, and we met at the end of the afternoon for a gin tasting at a local spirits shop. Judy and Greg had stopped in this fabulous liquor store the previous afternoon to check out their gin selection in preparation for Ian and Leslie's arrival, and the owner suggested bringing them for a gin tasting, which we did! He had us try 4 different types and I was surprised at how different they all tasted. Ian bought one that was a golden colour! We went out for an early dinner that night on the waterfront and just as the sun was setting 2 big clipper sailing ships sailed into the harbour and docked in front of the restaurant.

We departed Annapolis under glorious sunny skies and light winds and made the best of it for a 70 mile run down the Bay as the weather was forecast to be snotty the next day. We picked a little place called Crisfield, on the Eastern shore, and what a fortuitous pick that was. A great marina, with a pool, as it was hot and humid. Also, next door was a festival with gospel singers and a hot air balloon.

We stayed put the next day as the minor storm blew through, and toured the town both by foot and borrowed bicycles from the marina. It's a dying town. Used to be oystering, crabbing and a carving knife factory but now mainly dependent on tourism. Lots of restaurants and storefronts closed but we did find 3 or 4 great little shops and a great museum.

Judy and Leslie even found a gift shop with the most fabulous cat. 100 years ago, an Asian leopard was crossed with a domestic cat and a new breed developed with the spots of a leopard.

Everyone told us that a travelling Shakespeare company was performing that night outside behind the museum, so we had an early dinner and took our wine and beer over to see Measure for Measure. Can you imagine watching a Shakespeare play under the full moon in a tiny town of 2500 people?!


Saturday morning brought calm winds so we set off to cross the bay to Hampton. We traveled through the island of Tangier which is a water-man's village where people live like they did 100 years ago, fishing and crabbing. It was one of the most unique places we have seen on this trip.


Hampton was hot and we had to switch marinas as we couldn't get the power to work at the first one. We had a riotous game of four handed crib after dinner and too much wine!

Sunday we toured Fort Monroe where Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederate states during the Civil War, was imprisoned after the war. Then we anchored just off the fort so we could go for a swim. We cruised past all the huge warships in Norfolk harbour and docked at Atlantic yacht basin where we kept the boat for the summer. When we went thru the lock yesterday the distance sign said 210 miles to Baltimore, so we've done 420 miles in the last couple of weeks.

We walked to Big Woody' s bar (the Average American Bar, from a previous post) for beer and chicken wings (and G&T's) and let Ian and Leslie experience football Sunday!

I think the humidity is 91 % today! Our friends left this morning and we took advantage of them picking up a rental car to re-provision the boat. There is a decent Kroger within walking distance, but it was nice to have a car for all the heavy stuff like bottles and jugs of water.

Tomorrow Greg's brother Doug arrives and we will continue our journey south.