Our Great Loop Adventure

On Sunday, May 11th, we celebrated Mothers' Day with a delicious breakfast at the historic Maryland Inn. We left Annapolis and took a very short run to an anchorage off the Chesapeake in Bodkin Creek. We sat on the back deck and enjoyed a warm sunny afternoon. Monday's destination was Baltimore on the Patapsco River. The Inner East Harbor Marina was right downtown. We walked to a Starbucks and Whole Foods. After cleaning Summer Recess inside and out we strolled the Harbor Walk. We passed every chain restaurant (both reasonable and gourmet) you could think of. The harbor is also home to a large coast guard ship that served at Pearl Harbor, the lightship Chesapeake, a submarine from WWII, the USS Constitution, and a lighthouse. Baltimore is also the headquarters for Domino Sugar and Under Armour. the evening began with a shower and it delayed the start of the Tigers Orioles game which was being held at Camden Field only a short walk from where we were docked. No, Karen, If Tony won't see the Tigers in Detroit do you really think he would go to a game in Baltimore. We continued our journey Tuesday to the Sassafras River and moored at Georgetown. As we were traveling past the Aberdeen Proving Grounds, we heard many loud booms. The journey down the river was pretty but the marina and mooring field left a great deal to be desired. Fog rolled in on Wednesday, May 14th. We entered the Elk River and left the Chesapeake behind. We felt it was a wise decision to spend several days cruising the Chesapeake. It was one of the highlights of our loop adventure so far. From the Elk River we entered the C&D Canal which connects the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays and docked at the Chesapeake City Docks. It is a free dock which all you have to pay for is the electricity. About an hour after our arrival our dear cruising friends, Kathy and Ken, on Meandering joined us. We have not seen them since Mobile, Alabama. To celebrate we went out to lunch and walked around the small town of Chesapeake City. Around six o'clock Steven and Gina on Island Time came in and rafted off us. We had drinks and retired for the evening. A very dense fog greeted us Thursday morning, but we carefully took the short ride to through the C&D and proceeded to the Delaware City Marina. We are in a new state, Delaware. This marina is on a very narrow creek, but the two harbor masters expertly docked all three boats including turning us around to make for an easy departure. The six of us walked into the very small town of Delaware City. We did find a bakery and we bought freshly baked chocolate chip cookies to celebrate National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day. Docktails were aboard the Summer Recess later that evening. Rain, rain, and more rain fell on Friday. Cory, the harbor master took Gina, Kathy, and Sharon to the grocery store and they all looked liked drowned rats, when they returned to the boat with their purchases. Erben Renewal came in later in the day. Steve and Julia have already crossed their wake and are traveling to the places they did not go to on their first loop. Erben Renewal was the first looper boat we met at Beaver Island in Lake Michigan. We enjoyed catching up on all their news. The captains met with the harbor master at five o'clock to look at weather conditions for Saturday. The weather forecast was grim but Tim the harbormaster said he would meet with any captains interested at five thirty the next morning. The decision to leave would be made in the morning. Saturday dawned with perfect weather for traversing Delaware Bay. Meandering, Summer Recess, and Island Time left early. The bay was fairly calm the whole way and we entered the Cape May Canal in early afternoon. We are now in New Jersey. Kathy invited us to Meandering for her famous crab dip bread bowl and we made plans to go out into the Atlantic on Sunday.