Delaware

Delaware City Marina

May 29
      We traveled about 65 miles to Delaware City and stayed at the marina.  Part of the trip took us through the C & D Canal, which connects the Chesapeake Bay with the Delaware River.  It is 14 miles long and is owned and operated by the US Army Corp of Engineers.  We had been warned of the many logs and debris in this stretch.  One unlucky Looper hit a log and damaged his props.  We saw a lot of logs and debris in the water as we carefully went through this canal.  We made it safely to the marina.  This town is small!  Karl found a great recreational running/bike path that took him along the canal.  The path is where the teams of mules and horses would tow the barges on the canal when it first opened.  The canal is much deeper and wider now, of course!
     The dock master hosted a weather talk on what to expect while continuing in the Delaware Bay to Cape May.  It was very helpful.  The weather looked perfect for the next day!

Part of the original C & D Canal

Memorial Day Weekend

The Best Crab Cakes in the World

April 24-27      Fun in Annapolis

     Karl's brother, Rick and his wife, Sarah came from Danville, Kentucky to spend the long holiday weekend with us.  We enjoyed spending time with them and exploring the city together.  We took tours of the US Naval Academy and Maryland's Capital building.  It is great that the Naval Academy lets civilians on the Yard (campus), after being admitted through the gates with ID.  We actually went there everyday to walk and run.  There are around 4500 midshipmen (students) attending the Academy and the interesting thing is, they all live in one huge dorm!

Memorial Day Parade

Naval Academy Chapel

The Chapel was very busy the weekend after graduation.  Couples got married every hour!  They even used the same flowers in the chapel because there was not enough time to switch them out.  

The Chapel, Tiffany Stained Glass Windows

Gardens at the William Paca House

Paca House

Relaxing Dinghy Ride of the Harbor

Never Give Up

Hanging out with George Washington!

Annapolis Yacht Club

Part of the Naval Academy Dorm-All 4500 students live in this dorm.  It is huge!

   

US Navy Blue Angels Airshow in Annapolis

Blue Angels in Formation!

May 22-23

     Scott, the mechanic from Cummins came over to check the engines.  He hooked up a computer to the engines to run some diagnostic tests.  He said the engine oil looked "thin" and "old."  After several hours of ruling things out, he wanted to take it out for a blow-by test.  We would have to take the boat out in the bay because he wanted to run it full throttle.  It was about 1:30 in the afternoon and the Blue Angels were scheduled to perform at 2:00.  There were thousands of boats in the bay, anchored and anticipating the air show.  We had to maneuver around them to get to an open area to go fast.  The coast guard was directing boat traffic and many areas were blocked because of security and safety of the F/A-18 Hornets that would be performing over the bay.  We  accomplished our task.  We ran the boat full throttle while Scott hooked up a gage to each engine to see if the rings and valves needed to be replaced.  Fortunately, the engines passed the tests!  He concluded that we just had bad oil, and recommended an oil change.

Blue Angels

Contrails

Contrails

Close Encounter

So now, the real fun began!  The Blue Angels began the show, flying with perfect precision.  They are so impressive,  fast and loud!  They fly at about 700 miles per hour but they can go up to 1400 miles per hour!   They also flew 50 feet above the water.The closest distance they get to each other is 18 inches during the diamond 360 maneuver!  It is amazing to watch and we watched it from our boat out in  the bay as well as in our slip the day before.  I know Scott really enjoyed it!  He was working and got the best seat to watch the show!  And we were paying him!

Commissioning Week for the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland!

Main Street in Annapolis

May 19-21
     We traveled about 45 miles in the Chesapeake Bay to Annapolis to stay at the Yacht Basin Marina.    Our intentions were to visit Cambridge and St. Michaels Island, but we noticed that the engines seemed to putting out more smoke than usual.  Karl was concerned because the engines had been gradually losing oil over the last few months.  We decided it would be best to get to Annapolis where we knew there would be mechanics to look at the engines.  We got in touch with the Cummins dealer, and they are sending a mechanic out in a few days.

      Our marina is right in the center of the historic district of Annapolis, the capital, and within walking distance of the US Naval Academy.  The entire campus is a National Historic Landmark, with several old buildings and monuments.  It is fun to see the students walking around in their white uniforms and hats.  Family members and friends are here this week for graduation. The first year student are called "plebes" and are subject to all kinds of special rules to help shape them to be Midshipmen.   After they finish their freshman year, they are all called Midshipmen, there are no midshipwomen, but there are women midshipmen!  There is a big agenda of activities and events taking place this week to honor the graduates, including parades, musical performances, award ceremonies and the Blue Angels Flight Demonstration.  Today we watched the Blue Angels soar in perfect formation over the city and Chesapeake Bay.  This was a practice session, tomorrow is the big show.   We had a great seat to watch them perform, from our own boat!  We have seen them before, and it is always a magnificent display of precision.  Graduation is this coming Friday.

                                                                         St Anne's Parish

     Yesterday, we took an enjoyable tour of the city in an electric car with new Looper friends, Susan and Greg. It was only the four of us and our tour guide, so we got a more intimate tour and certainly learned a lot about the city.  We later had cocktails and dinner aboard their boat with some other Loopers.

   

Solomons, MD

Solomons, MD

May 17-18

     We traveled in the Chesapeake Bay about 46 miles to Solomons, Maryland.  We stayed at Zahniser's Yachting Center.  The dock master went out of her way to make us feel welcome!  She even provided a ride to the grocery store.  We also used their complimentary bikes to get around town.  We met several Loopers who were in the area.
      The next morning, there happened to be several races around town and Karl was able to enter one, rather late, but he ended up doing quite well!  I walked all over the small town.  That afternoon, the marina hosted a party celebrating the opening of the swimming pool and the start of the season.  Food, drinks and music!  It was a nice sunny day.

Pretty Sunset

                                                                           Dinner

The Chesapeake, Crabs and Cake!

Crisfield,  Home of the famous Maryland Bluecrab  

5/15  Chesapeake Bay

Tangiers Island

     We traveled 35 miles to Crisfield, which is in southern Maryland on the eastern side of the Chesapeake Bay.  On the way to Crisfield, we drove through Tangiers Island.  This island is in the middle of the bay and is slowly sinking.  We could actually drive through the middle of it!  People still live here, but I don't think it will last too much longer.  It is only accessible by boat and there is a ferry that transport visitors.  I don't know if this is caused by global warming, soil erosion or whatever reason, but it seems sad that the islanders are losing their homes and way of life. 

Smith Island Cake

Local Catch, these are in the soft shell stage

Male crab!  

     Crisfield is famous for their seafood, especially Maryland blue crab.  They ship these crabs all over the world.  When we checked into the marina, we were given two pieces of Smith Island Cake, which is another regional favorite!  It is an eight layer yellow cake with chocolate icing.  Crabs and cake, yum!  We tried the crab at a restaurant and it was delicious, as was the cake.

     Karl had to dodge all the crab pots on the way here.  I have never seen so many crab traps!  This is a mixed blessing, because I appreciate the hard work that goes into catching crabs, but the traps do present a boating hazard.  Crab traps are marked with a small colored buoy floating on top of the water.  It is attached by a line to the crab trap that sits on the bottom of the water.  The propellers on a boat can really get tangled up if it hits the line.  Our props have what are called "spurs" attached to them, to cut the line if we accidentally go over the line to a crab pot.   Luckily, we avoided the traps, but Karl had to practically zigzag his way through the many miles of  floating buoys.  I don't know why the fisherman put the traps through the channels. The bay is huge, with plenty of room for traps and boaters. 

 

Tangiers Island

The calm  before the storm