July 26-28 - Rock Hall, MD

Before leaving the Chesapeake, we made one last stop at Rock Hall Landing Marina on the east side of the Chesapeake, MD. Our first night, we were adopted by a cruising group from a little town near Chesapeake City. They invited us to join them for a fun dinner at a nearby restaurant.



The second night, we were honored to be invited out to dinner by the two couples who own and manage the marina. These people are truly nice and entertained us with funny stories about life in the marina business.

July 22-25 - St Michaels, MD

St Michaels was one of my favorite stops. True, it is a tourist attraction. True, it is expensive. However, it attracts tourists....lots of them, I must say...with quality shops, historic homes and buildings and fun events. There is a relaxed feeling to St Michaels and not that frantic tone associated with many popular places. Besides that, it is just way too cute. Click here for a web site with history and tourist information.

We stayed at the St Michaels Marina...a first class outfit that provides top quality service to boaters in day boats to megayachts. Since it was quite warm during our stay, the pool was a welcome amenity. There is a REAL grocery store within a few blocks walk.

We enjoyed hours of wandering up and down many streets, admiring the cute and historic homes.

View of Grand Fromage from the Maritime Museum, across the harbor
Team Finnegan with Grand Fromage across the harbor. St Michaels has a huge, wonderful maritime museum with exhibits covering many aspects of boating and fishing in the Chesapeake. Click here for the web site. We enjoyed wandering around. The lighthouse was a hoot...the whole thing was interactive. You could open any drawer, pot, container or door to find items a lighthouse attendant might have stored. This old fishing boat will never see water again, but it was fun to explore. Captain Robert "driving" Thor. One of the volunteers is building a log canoe the old fashion way.

July 15-22 - Cambridge, MD

We had a beautiful ride up the Choptank River, as featured in Mitchner's 'Chesapeake'. Our destintion was Cambridge, MD, where we stayed at the City Marina.

There are many positive aspects to Cambridge. The natural setting with trees, marshes and water is gorgeous. There are blocks of beautiful historic homes and ambitious projects to bring tourists. The Hyatt hotel and resort at the edge of town appears to be very busy and popular.

However, there are some definite negatives....the downtown has many empty buildings and there is a rundown feeling to much of the town. The City Marina was rebuilt a year ago, however it doesn't seem that anyone familiar with boating was involved in the project. Among other things, they put in fixed docks, when most recreational boaters far prefer floating docks. There is a very attractive visitor center, but it is not easy to find and there is no way for a boater to tie up with a dingy.

Those things said, we had some very enjoyable and busy days in Cambridge. It was ideal for dingy rides up the Choptank and scooter rides were once again a wonderful option. We visited a wildlife refuge. Twice we took a taxi to the Hyatt for golf. The course is just beautiful, extremely well maintained, immaculately manicured, with many nature areas left intact. We were very excited to see a bobwhite.

We celebrated our fifth anniversary in Cambridge. Obviously this called for a regal dingy ride to the world famous Suicide Bridge Restaurant....conveniently located next to the Suicide Bridge in Secretary, MD.
The Suicide Bridge.
You'd think a suicide bridge would be a huge, tall, massive structure over a roaring river. Team Finnegan enjoying our festive Chesapeake wedding anniversary
On the Chesapeake, they eat blue crabs. This is a cult and social bonding event, as far as I can tell. We once had lessons from a server as to the intricies of eating blue crab. For all of the work you go to for the teeniest, bittiest bit of meat, I'll take mine in crab cakes. However, a crab feed is wildly popular. I asked a couple of diners if I could photograph their feast. Note the brown paper on the table. Not shown in the photo are other essential utensils...the wooden hammers, the crab claw breakers, the little picks and of course, the mantatory crab bibs.

July 12-15 - Rock Hall, MD

After the bustle of the big city, it was wonderful to get back to Rock Hall. We were greeted warmly with "welcome home!!!". Once again the pool was a most welcome relief on a scorching day.

Mark and Brooke, our new friends from Baltimore, were also in Rock Hall at another marina. We picked them up in our dingy two nights in a row for water touring and yummy dinners. We compared cruising schedules and saw opportunities for getting together in New York.

June 13-July 12 - Baltimore, MD

Baltimore is right across the Chesapeake from Rock Hall so we had an easy ride.

Baltimore skyline We stayed a month in Baltimore. It is an interesting phenomena with many marinas that if you stay one night, the rate is "oh my gosh, you're kidding". If you stay a week, there can be a substantial reduction. If you stay a month, the rate can be half or less. We stayed at Inner Harbor East Marina and Captain Bill gave us a wonderful monthly rate.

Inner Harbor East Marina is the closest marina to all of the attractions in Baltimore. The area that has grown up around it is filled with high rise condos, restaurants and shops. The whole harbor area is amazing and extremely popular. I had never thought of Baltimore as a tourist attraction. Wrong.

There was a Whole Foods three blocks away. A few blocks more and you were in Little Italy. The museums were an easy walk. The historic Fells Point area was about 6 blocks. We walked and walked and walked. One reason we walked was that we quickly discovered that a big city is not prime scooter riding land.

Altho the area around the marina was upscale, clean and safe, we learned rapidly not to press the boundaries. There are miles of Baltimore that have a heavy economic disadvantage.

Son, Loren and daughter-in-law, Terri, happened to be in Washington DC, with plans to catch a plane for Portugal in Philadelphia. Terri was in DC as the Southwest elementary PE teacher of the year. She was hobknobbing with the great and the near great. They came to Grand Fromage in a rental car and we had a couple of fun packed days.

Loren and Terri eating ice cream cones in the Inner Harbor. Thanks, Terri, for sending me the picturesChatting with Loren on the bridge of Grand Fromage
We were able to play golf several times at Carroll Park Golf Course. This was a beautiful course that was nearly a hundred years' old. The first time we played there, we took our clubs with us in a cab. Robert then arranged to keep our clubs locked in a locker. Until the last time we played, we were able to get to the course on our scooter.

Boaters tend to be very friendly people, so much of our stay in Baltimore was greatly enhanced by the many fun, helpful, sharing people we met. An outgoing group from the Philadelphia area adopted us for the weekend and promised to organize parties and sightseeing when we visit their city. We spent a very informative afternoon and evening with loopers Tom and Sue from the trawler, Tomkat. Tom and Sue were just a couple of weeks from completing the loop. Their advise and suggestions were invaluable. Click here to read their interesting blog. We are hoping to meet up with Tom and Sue again.

We also met Mark and Brooke in Baltimore. Their beautiful sail boat, Dress White, was parked next to us. They watched the fourth of July fireworks with us on the bow of Grand Fromage. We also shared a couple of fun barbeques. To experiment in lowering the top of our boat for bridges on the loop, Robert and Mark had an exciting afternoon removing the bimini top.

Mark and Brooke The America's Great Loop Cruisers' Association has a new way for members to find each other on a Google Earth map. It is called "looper locator". Using this bit of technical wizardry, we were able to meet Larry and Sue on their trawler, Sue Sea Q4. We swapped many a story over a couple of meals. They had excellent advise and suggestions that we appreciate greatly.

June 11-13 Rock Hall, MD

Before heading for a month in Baltimore, we decided to see the eastern side of the Chesapeake with a relaxing few days in Rock Hall, MD.

An osprey nest going into Rock Hall. You can barely see the little heads popping up for tasty tidbits. These nests are very common on markers and buoys, but each one is a thrill. Rock Hall is just a wonderful town. We wouldn't want to live there, but it is a fantastic place to visit. It is a small town with extremely friendly people, quaint shops, an upbeat civic pride, historic buildings and a laid back attitude.

We stayed at the Rock Hall Landing Marina. It is owned by two brothers and their wives. You couldn't ask for nicer, more can-do people. The day we arrived, it was beastly hot. We were so excited to discover Rock Hall Landing Marina has a very nice pool. It was a wonderful experience.

Discovery number two was the Waterman's Restaurant next door to the marina....home of the world's best crab cakes. I am qualified to make this statement, as I consider myself to be an expert on crab cakes.

We launched one of our scooters for discovery number three...Rock Hall is perfect scooter land. It is just beautiful, quiet and serene with very few cars on the road. We enjoyed a trip out to a nature preserve. We then toured Chester Town....a very interesting and historic town.

May 28-June 10 - Annapolis, MD

After an overnight in the Solomons, MD, we arrived in Annapolis. This is a very, very busy harbor with boats of all sizes coming and going. Many boats are anchored right off the channel, plus there are scores of teeny sail boats bobbing about for lessons. We had reservations at The Yacht Basin marina. Robert told the marina crew we wanted to dock in such a way that we could launch our dingy. The crew instructed him to pull up to the fuel dock. We love side tie dockings and this one was the easiest ever. We were very pleased with our docking expertise and skill set. Then we learned we are only at the fuel dock long enough to lauch the dingy. Our permanent slip was going to be down a skinny fairway, in between two huge, expensive boats, with a current, with wind and with 65 people out on their boats watching. I thought "oh this is going to be good!" Captain Robert rose to the challenge and did a masterful job parking the boat. It was extremely helpful that the dock hands were knowledgable and gave him continuous feedback as to where the boat was in conjunction with all the various impediments. This also made my job easier because I could concentrate on the ropes and fenders.

Annapolis is a beautiful little city...very historic with lovely streets and buildings. Sadly, I didn't take any pictures. I have found a couple of web sites with pictures, virtual maps and history: site 1 and site 2.

Cousin Joe really wanted to visit the Washington DC area. Last summer we took Grand Fromage up the Potomac for a one month stay in DC. However, this year it made more sense to make Annapolis our home port and rent a car to visit the capital area. The first day we drove the rental car to Mt Vernon. The second day we drove the car to the last DC metro stop and took the train in for the megatour of DC. We were so exhausted that Robert hailed a cab for our last two stops.


After Joe left, we enjoyed several relaxing site seeing days in Annapolis, including a very interesting tour of the Naval Academy.


It seems natural when visiting an area to reflect on the posibility of living there some day. Although Annapolis was so pretty, clean and historic, we couldn't imagine living there. It was certainly the most yuppy, upscale place we have visited so far. The people were not as friendly and it was EXPENSIVE. On the other hand, we can both imagine ourselves spending more time in Norfolk, VA.

May 27-28 - Reedville, VA

We had an easy ride from Deltaville to Reedville. We left early to take advantage of the high tide. Robert began to teach cousin Joe how to plan navigation, to drive the boat and to put the boat on autopilot to a way point. A few hours after we arrived, we were asked by people just docking how we fared during the horrible storm. What storm? Evidently, one of those mighty Chesapeake storms had fired up behind us. An American Tug had gone through eight foot waves, lost their dingy davit on the back of their boat PLUS they lost their dingy. This is why we like to keep most of our runs under 40-50 miles so we can arrive at the next port early in the afternoon.

Reedville is not a particularly old town. It was settled in the late 1800's to develop a menhaden fishing industry. Menhaden is a kind of fish that is not eaten, but used in many commercial products. There is still a large commercial fishing operation in Reedville. This is instantly noticible if you enter town into the wind. Phew!!!!

Menhaden plant coming into Reedville
Menhaden fishing boatThe Reedville Marina is not a fancy place. It is primarily a long dock next to a popular fish restaurant. However, I really like to stay in Reedville because the town is so cute and the view from the boat is spectucular...very rural and scenic.

Robert is walking across the restaurant parking lot to Grand Fromage. The restaurant is on the left. This is the wonderful view right across the creek from the dock. A little further up the creek is this pastoral view. The historic area in Reedvile is a mile long and lined with restored, lovely homes.
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The Masonic Lodge
Evidently, life is pretty laid back in Reedville. There is a cute, interesting, very informative museum. http://www.rfmuseum.org/ Here is cousin Joe checking out one of the restored boats

May 25-26 - On the Chesapeake from Norfolk

Leaving Norfolk, you pass many military ships. This one was also headed for the Chesapeake.When you first enter the Chesapeake, you are close to shore and can easily see the little towns.As you progress north, the Chesapeake becomes vast. All you see is water. Robert prepared for a day's run the night before on our boat's navigation system. He set way points and much of the time we ran on autopilot. We would still keep a constant watch for other boats. We would also watch for buoys to stay in the channel. With all the water, you think you are in the ocean. However, unless you are in the channel, the depth can rapidly and drastically plunge to yikes. When traveling into a town or other places where the water level lowers, we look for crab pots. It is not a good thing to hit a crab pot...the line can get in the props. In some areas the crab pots are so thick that dodging them can be a challenge. Needless to say, Robert takes it off autopilot and drives the boat himself when avoiding crab pots. Here you can see the next buoy ahead. You can barely see the shore on the right side. Our first night out of Norfolk, we stayed in Deltaville at the Dozier's Regatta Point Marina. Deltaville is a little town on the Rappahannock River. It is a very nice marina with lots of rocking chairs on the front porch and a boaters' lounge. We used their loaner car to do a little provisioning.

May 18-26, 2008 - In Norfolk, VA

Norfolk is one of our very favorite ports of call. We stay at Waterside Marina, which is in the heart of the revitalized water front. There is so much to see and do in Norfolk....historic buildings, lots of restaurants, interesting museums. If that were not enough, we take the ferry to Portsmith for more historic buildings, restaurants and interesting museums. There is a huge mall a few blocks from the marina. Norfolk seems to have a lot of civic pride with many events, festivals and activities.

We played golf with John and Vivian our first day in Norfolk.
An eastern kingbird at the Bide-a-Wee golf course in Portsmith, VA.The next day our husbands treated Vivian and I to a decadent day at a spa in Virginia Beach while they played golf at Bide-a-Wee. That evening we had a yummy dinner at Ruth Chris in Virginia Beach.

We said goodby to John and Vivian and hello to Robert's cousin, Joe, from Alabama. We visited some maritime museums with Joe, before leaving Norfolk.

May 18, 2008 - traveling to Norfolk, VA

Normally it would take somewhere around 6 hours to go the distance between Coinjock and Norfolk. Having done this twice, I'd say it would be smart to allocate all day and don't make appointments in Norfolk for that afternoon. It is a scenic ride. However, you have miles of no-wake zones...5-6 knots max. Then you have bridges that have openning schedules that don't necessarily coincide with each other. Plus you have a lock.

Norfolk is an amazing, busy place with constant traffic on the Elizabeth River. There are a staggering number of military ships coming, going and undergoing repairs. There are huge barges with one or more tugs. Cruise ships make Norfolk a regular port of call. Throw in a mix of sail boats, fishing boats, go-fast boats, and motor cruisers to give you an interesting navigational challenge.

May 17 - on the Intercoastal to Coinjock, NC

John and Vivian Peterson presented us with cheese heads. Evidently cheese heads are a must-have accessory for people with a boat named Grand Fromage. While traveling up the intercoastal, we contact a boat we'd like to pass on the radio to arrange a "slow pass". This enables us to pass another boat without creating wake. John and Robert amused several sail boaters by wearing the cheese heads during the pass.

We arrived at Coinjock for the night. Coinjock consists of a super long dock and a restauant - world famous for gigantic prime rib. When you dock, you are asked by the marina attendants if you would like prime rib for dinner. This is a MUST HAVE. Needless to say, we split our dinner.

May 16, 2008 - We leave New Bern, NC

After a winter in California, we were very excited to begin our next adventure on Grand Fromage. We had kept Grand Fromage in New Bern, NC for the winter. John Peterson did a great job of looking after the boat. When we arrived in New Bern on May 15th, John had the boat ready to go!!! Thank you, John!!!

John and Vivian were able to travel with us from New Bern to Norfolk, VA. They are terrific travel companions and more than pull their weight. Here is John helping Robert leave the dock in New Bern. We wear the ear phones so we don't have to yell when docking the boat.

Vivian is ready to bring in the fenders and the ropes.
Can you tell that Captain Robert is happy to be under way?
Laughing gulls following in our wake