Home Again, Home Again

Well, we are back in Maryland...our home State!  Our trip up the Bay was uneventful, and our first MD anchorage filled us with nostalgia.

Southern Maryland is a special place, where people are happy, welcoming, and southern😁

A beautiful Chesapeake Bay Oyster Buyboat cruised past our anchorage.  My childhood memories are abound with images of Skipjacks and Buyboats on the Chesapeake Bay.  Skipjacks are sailing vessels that harvest oysters, and Buyboats were the boats that transported the oysters from the harvest boats to the shucking houses. Both boat designs incorporated large catch storage areas on shallow draft vessels to support the booming oyster industry in the shallow waters of the Chesapeake.  While the Buyboat has become obsolete with less expensive trucking options, there are still several Skipjacks operating on the Bay today. 

Working Buyboat (with a pile of oysters on deck) dated 1968.

As we leave Solomons, Maryland we say goodbye to our dolphin friends.  It is rare to see them in the northern part of the Bay.

You will notice that several pictures in this post have a dirty lens issue.  In an attempt to clean the lens, we clearly made the problem much worse...so for this post you are stuck with bad pictures...sorry!

Lighthouses are the nostalgic structures I love seeing on the Chesapeake.  Can you guess the purpose of the tiny structure hanging off the edge of the base?  If you said ‘outhouse’you are correct!

Point No Point Light, located at the mouth of the Potomac River. First lit in 1905, automated in 1938, and manned until 1962. Could you imagine living here year-round?

Sandy Point Shoal Lighthouse was built in 1883.  I am happy to see some repairs are underway!

Thomas Point Light, built and first lit in 1875.  This screw pile design was relatively inexpensive, easy to construct in muddy environments, and quick to assemble.  This was the last manned lighthouse on Chesapeake Bay, and was not automated until 1986.  It’s also clear to see that this lighthouse gets a LOT more love than the others!

This diagram (from Wikipedia) makes it easy to see how screw-pile lighthouses get their strength and stability by screwing the long piling into the muddy bottom.


We are now anchored in our ‘home port’ anchorage in Eagle Cove on the Magothy River.

We have hosted several peaceful sunset dinners!  It was a beautiful night when Kyanna and Malik visited!

As well as several ‘fun in the sun’ afternoons.  I apologize to friends and family who aren’t pictured in this post, but I often get caught up in the moment, and don’t get any/decent pictures.

Our most exciting excursion has been to see the Blue Angels practice.

I’m super happy my dad could join us!  We had a total of 5 guests for this event, and a great time was had by all.

Again, our pictures aren’t great, but the show was fantastic!  The planes passed directly overhead, and flew for hours on the practice day!

An amazing sight to see, and hear, and feel!

We have decided to hang around the Chesapeake for a few more weeks, before heading to Maine for the summer.  Our house will be going on the market in a few weeks, and we want to be here to facilitate the transition.  This also gives us more time to hang out with friends and family👍


These pictures were posted on ‘Nextdoor’ and were clearly taken by someone who had a much better camera😁

It’s All About The Toys

We have been working our way north for the past two weeks, and are currently in the Chesapeake Bay.  The first day out of Charleston we took the ‘outside’ route, which means we went into the ocean instead of the ICW.  If weather conditions permit, the ‘outside’ route can be much more relaxing than the ICW.  In the ocean we set the auto helm and sit back and enjoy the ride.  The biggest concern is watching for crab pot floats that could foul our props/shafts.  We saw more sea turtles than boats that day, and we covered an easy 75 miles.

Since that day we have stayed on the inside route, which means traveling along the Intracoastal Waterway (also known as ‘the ditch’). This route requires much more attention and steering.  The ICW meanders through marshes and behind barrier islands, but provides excellent protection from wind and waves.  We have happened upon some interesting toys in the past week.

The jet pack hoverboard wins the award!  I think I would like to try this one day...we’ll be sure to get pictures if I do!

This new type of wind surfer also looks fun, but seems like a lot of work!  I can’t imagine myself getting up on that tiny board. I watched this guy for a long time (he was practicing where we were anchored), and each time he fell it took a significant effort to get up again.  I just think it would be easier with a bigger board.

Wrightsville Beach is a wonderful place to anchor, with plenty of room and beautiful beaches nearby.  There is also a lot of free entertainment in the ‘people watching’ category. Wrightsville beach had the youngest boating population I have ever seen, which isn’t necessarily a good thing...

There were a lot of kids behaving very dangerously, and this wasn’t even Spring break!

The ICW does offer a lot of interesting sights.

Clearly, Miss Melissa will never float again.

This deer changed her mind half way across the channel and turned around to return to the western shore.  We ended up putting the boat in neutral while she swam back and forth in front of us.  

Always blessed when an eagle visits.

Love those swing bridges! This pic lets you appreciate why the ICW is called the ditch.

I know it seems as though I have a thing for osprey nests...that’s because I do!  I have often wondered how the species survived before ATONS (aids to navigation) existed.  Anyone who spends any time on the water is familiar with osprey nests built on channel markers, boats, bridges, or people will even erect nest stands for these birds. WHY?  Why do the majority of ospreys refuse to nest in trees?  Well, I found an old fashioned osprey nest, with and old fashioned osprey in it...probably sitting on eggs.

Not sure how this happened, but I hope they can recover during the next high tide.

I have never seen a town that built a huge breakwater system to protect the harbor from strong winds and large waves, until we visited Belhaven, NC.  We planned a visit to Belhaven, because they had a Walgreens a few blocks from the water and I needed my second Covid vaccine.  In the end that plan didn’t work, as the pharmacist said, “sorry for the confusion, but only big towns carry Pfizer...that’s the one that needs special freezers.”

Belhaven is definitely a small town, but they really take care of boaters.  In addition to a protected harbor...they have a free dock...

We were the only boat tied up to the free dock, where you are allowed to stay for 72 hours...NICE!

Time to find a big town...oh, we are almost to Norfolk, VA

I love passing through Norfolk!  The ships are amazing! As we were cruising along in the Whaler I asked Keith, “do you think it is alright to take pictures”...his response, “it’s fine, you could get a room in the Hilton and get pictures of every rivet on those ships if you wanted.”

Do you see the man standing to the left of the flag?  He was holding a very large gun, and he made it very clear that he did not want me taking any more pictures of his ship. He gave me the ‘sweeping finger to the side of the neck’ gesture. YIKES...I hope I’m not on the ‘no fly list’ now.

What is Groating?

On April 6 we drove to Maryland for a whirlwind tour of doctors appointments.  It was actually quite nice to get all of those annual checkups done at one time.  The wonderful part of the trip was that I got to see my family (original nuclear family) for the first time in 18 months.  Staying with my dad for a whole week was awesome!  I also enjoyed the opportunity to spend time with my brother and sister.  My nephew has grown about a foot since I saw him last.  I will definitely confess that the worst part of cruising is being so far away from the people you love.

That includes friends...

Our wonderful friends Sherry and Wray hosted a spectacular dinner in our honor.  It was so nice to see our dear friends from the neighborhood!  And look at the size of those steaks...delicious!  

Everyone is thriving in this new realm of vaccination!

We returned to Fernandina Beach on April 13, and prepared for the next leg of our journey north.  We stayed in the marina, and kept the rental car, for two extra days to make our errands and re-provisioning easier.  Fernandina Beach is a lovely town to visit, and if you are coming by boat the new marina is fabulous.  However, if you like to anchor out, which is our preference, there are a few negative aspects to this town.  Anchoring can be a challenge due to the strong currents and deep water.  Only boats with adequate anchor chain should attempt to anchor here.  

Additionally...

Depending on the direction of the wind, you could be in for a stinky stay.  There are two paper plants, located on either side of the town.  I frequently found myself watching the smoke direction and mentally willing the wind to keep the smoke away.  If the wind changed for the worse I would run through the boat yelling, “close the windows the stink is coming!”

Always plenty of interesting sights to see, and things to learn.

This vessel caught my eye, while anchored at Fernandina, and I had to investigate the web address on the side.  As it turns out these guys are preparing for a 3,000 mile race (in open ocean)...seems crazy, but for a good cause.  

Visit their website to learn more foarfromhome.com

We will miss Matt, Beth, and Anna terribly, but it is time to head north.  

As it turns out, we had a stowaway who decided to bring her schoolwork along and join us for the next leg to Charleston.  

Do you remember the ship that overturned in St. Simon inlet nearly two years ago?  This was the picture we took on Dec. 5, 2019 during our trip south.

And here it is now.  They have removed the bow and stern, and are cutting what you see here into five cross-section pieces to be removed by barge.  Each section will be transported to a scrap yard in Louisiana.  The apparatus constructed for this job is impressive...smart people are amazing!

Sharing my love for dead swamp trees!

If you are ever near Beaufort, SC, please visit!  This was a beautiful waterfront town!  We thoroughly enjoyed the wood fire pizza, ice cream and chocolate shop, and the beautiful waterfront playground, before returning to the boat.

Next stop...Wadmalaw Island (just south of Charleston), where Anna is super excited to be reunited with her cousins, and I am super excited to have my grand babies together on the boat!

Everyone has heard of glamping (glamour camping), and I recently read an article describing gramping (grandparents taking grandchildren on vacations) so I would like to coin the new term ‘groating’ (grandparent/grandchild boating).  We have been doing a lot of groating, and I must say groating is a wonderful experience for all!

Yippee...this beach has a mud hole!

This beach also has an abundance of hermit crabs.  Every shell we found was occupied!  Perfect environment for hermit crab races!  Believe it or not, hermit crab races are surprisingly boring😉

Kayaking is always on the agenda when groating!  This isn’t the best picture, but it clearly shows how proud we both are, of Maggie’s paddle skills!

And for the first time Lucy was not tied to my kayak, and handled her boat like a pro...even in a very strong current!  She might become my Olympic kayak competitor.

Ugh...that water is cold, but my girls are tough and brave (and maybe a little crazy)!

Pop and the girls just finished their dance party...everyone is happy, sweaty, and tired.

Do you see a theme here...tire them out!

A snorkel lesson was the last agenda item that needed to be done before we could leave.  We gave all of the girls snorkel gear for Christmas and they were anxious to learn how to use it. Unfortunately, Anna left us on Monday to return to Fernandina Beach, so the snorkel lessons just included Lucy and Maggie.  They quickly caught on and were ready for me to stand back and let them snorkel!

Maggie did a great job...too bad there were no fish to see!

Lucy was eager to impress with her diving skills.  Her first time using a snorkel and she could purge the water like an expert.  I can’t wait to get these girls into the clear waters of the Caribbean!

We have loved our time groating, but it is time for us to continue our northward migration.  Plus, we are exhausted!!!  Groating with three small children can be a taxing endeavor.

On Wednesday, April 28 we left the Edisto River inlet for a 75 mile ocean leg to the Waccamaw River.

Conditions were calm, and the shrimp must have been running, because within three miles of land we were surrounded by 15 shrimp boats all dragging nets on this glorious morning!