Some R Lovin': Soloman’s Island to Baltimore June 15-22, 2013

Dan, Sandy, Marsha and Allen (and Tiki God)

Our trip north and west from Tangier to Soloman’s Island took 6 1/2 hours but proved to be the best yet as far a Chesapeake cruising – sunny skies and less than one foot seas. Our navigation in open water has improved and our confidence in the boat’s ability to handle more than we could increased as well. We were anxious to get to Calvert Marina, a couple miles up the Patuxent River, and reunite with Marsha and Al for a couple days. We had heard about the world famous Tiki Bar at Solomon's IS. during our stay in Oriental, NC and decided that it would be among our stops while in Soloman’s. The bar proved to be a cross between a tropical Tiki bar and biker bar. Very interesting!

The famous Tiki Bar

After an enjoyable drink, we found a nice restaurant for another seafood dinner. We bid Marsha and Al good-bye Sunday afternoon (Father’s Day) and joined our cruising friends Tony and Shirley aboard Headquarters to watch the final round of the Master’s.

Annapolis Harbor

Monday we left early on our way to Annapolis, MD. The Chesapeake turned slightly bumpy with opposing tide and wind for the first half of our run and the final hour was a little wet as we skirted the edge of a passing thundershower. Up the Severn River to Spa Creek we found the Annapolis Basin where we picked up mooring ball 17.

On the way, Dan remembered that a former Air Force colleague lived in town and managed to track Chuck and Lou down. That evening they met us at McGarvey’s Pub for dinner where we spent several hours catching up on our lives.

Maryland State Capital sunset

We also called Sheila, our Sister-In-Law who lives in Silver Springs, MD. She came for a visit on Tuesday and again on Wednesday (mostly to bring the collection of Downton Abbey and a couple books for us to read). She also helped us re-provision and do a little sight seeing while in town (Having friends with a car is particularly helpful). Annapolis is such an interesting city!

Before Crab Dinner...

After Crab Dinner

At this point in our journey we had expected to be further along than we were and hoped to meet Mark, Natalie and Claire in Cape May, NJ. We also wanted to be somewhere so Shane and Heather could cruise with us for their few days off. Connecting those dots proved nearly impossible. However, our next stop was Baltimore, MD where Shane and Heather were gracious enough to offer Sandy their car to drive to Cape May while the three of us moved the boat closer to Delaware Bay.

Claire at play in Cape May

Natalie, Sandy, Claire and Mark

While in Baltimore inner harbor we were entertained by live bands all weekend (it was the first day of summer). Baltimore also reminded us of the amazing history we have been experiencing along our trip. The USS Constellation was moored a few hundred yards from us and we passed Ft McHenry and the bridge named for the composer of our National Anthem during the inbound and outbound trip on the Patapsco River.