If I learned anything about the 2015 Great Loop cruise, it’s this: peaceful and rewarding can instantly turn into a rolling nightmare and sometimes you don’t see it coming. But let’s explore peaceful and rewarding first.
We left Deltaville and anchored out near Oxford, Maryland on a calm day. The anchorage was surrounded by mansions. It felt like we were camping in people’s back yards, but it was only for a night and no one came out and scowled at us, so I counted it a win.
We cruised across Chesapeake Bay into the Severn River adjacent to Annapolis and picked up a mooring ball. No trouble. Our dinghy with its electric motor took us to a nearby dock where we tied up and headed for the U.S. Naval Academy. It was graduation week so there was lots of activity and plenty of guided tours. Had lunch at the Officers Club and even caught the Blue Angels air show. Can’t believe I’d never seen them before.
The next day we toured several historic sites in Annapolis, and had lunch at a rather seedy looking diner that called itself a bakery. I recalled it was recommended so we found a table and ordered crab cakes, their specialty. I have to admit I never saw crab cakes that large. We couldn’t even finish them and had a snack to take back to the boat.
When we left Annapolis we headed back across the bay to St. Michaels where we got the last slip in a rather posh marina that bit into our budget, but heck, it was worth it. We did tons of laundry, had a great view, and it was an easy walk into town. I don’t know why, but St. Michaels calls to me. It did when we visited there years before and nothing had changed.
A town in Talbot County, Maryland, St. Michaels was named after an Episcopal parish that was established there in 1677. The town attracted tobacco growers and ship builders, but a formal township wasn’t laid out until the 1770s. It was incorporated around 1804. It was bombarded by the British during the War of 1812 and the Cannonball House, a building that still stands, shows where a cannonball pierced it. It is said the town avoided annihilation by hanging lanterns in nearby trees to fool the British into firing away from it. Must have worked.
Reluctantly, we left after the weekend and continued north. Stopped to anchor out near a fish trap (must always look out for those—they have spikes sticking up), then entered the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal that spit us out in Delaware Bay. We looked at the beautiful weather, decided to go all the way to Cape May and made a huge a mistake.
But that’s where we will begin next week.
If you need to catch up on these memory blogs, go to www.pamelagibsonwrites.com and click on Blog. They’re numbered. And thank you for reading.