And...Now (July 5th) it’s time to push off the dock, with plans to explore the Chesapeake Bay for another couple of weeks! We made some tentative slip reservations, but have decided to just follow our hearts and enjoy the beautiful Chesapeake. The only timeline we have is to fly from Baltimore to California at the end of July to visit family & friends, and take care of some business.
Our first stop after Annapolis was in Deale, Maryland, where we stayed at Shipwright Harbor. The town is rural with many marinas and boats. One night would have been enough, but with small craft warnings we stayed for two nights.
A great weather window was forecasted, so we crossed the Chesapeake Bay (again) to Oxford. Oxford is a picturesque small historic town, with a polulation of about 1,000. It is one of the oldest towns in Maryland. The town began around 1667. An early inhabitant was, Robert Morris Jr. known as “The Financier of the Revolution”. We were excited to dock at the Oxford Yacht Agency and meet John Shanahan. He is known as the United States expert on Grand Banks (Boats). Thistle is frequently mistaken or compared to a Grand Banks Europa. We met John and he was delighted to take a tour of Thistle. He was very impressed with Thistle, and invited us to visit his other Boatyard on Tarppe Creek in the next few days. He suggested a minor exhaust hose replacement for Thistle. (We planned to accomplish this replacement during storage this winter, but he had the parts available and offered an AC & AGLCA discount 😀).
The following morning we pushed off the dock and headed to Cambridge. Originally, we planned to stay at the Cambridge Municipal Yacht Basin, but instead continued a few miles further to River Marsh Marina at the Cambridge Hyatt. We were very happy with our choice. Once docked at the Hyatt, we enjoyed their infinity pool for the afternoon (a real treat 👍). Wait until you see the picture below!
It would have been nice to stay in Cambridge for another day, but John’s mechanic was ready for Thistle at the Boatyard. We made the short trip up La Tarppe Creek to Oxford Yacht at Dickerson Harbor. There we left Thistle over night for the hose replacement. John drove us to Easton where we rented a car to visit Washington DC.
As suggested by fellow Loopers (Thank you again Lab Partners), we parked our rental car at a Metro station outside of Washington DC and rode the Metro to the center of DC (very nice that we didn’t have to deal with traffic or parking)! We used the DC rental bikes (Capitol Bike Share) and toured all of the museums and monuments...very exciting 🇺🇸. We checked into the Mayflower Hotel for the night, had a wonderful dinner at Barcelona Restaurant, and then went on a night bike tour of the spectacular illuminated monuments. The next morning we rode bikes to the Capitol Yacht Club...on our bucket list as a future Thistle stop! After lunch we rode the Metro back to our rental car and drove back to Easton. We decided to spend the night in Easton and travel back to Thistle the next morning ⚓️.
Looper Tip: John was wonderful to meet! He gave us a personal tour of his home town and was happy to share some interesting local history. Thank You ...⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. His mechanic finished our project as planned and was very professional. We highly recommend.
We are happy to be back aboard Thistle 😍...on our way to Saint Michaels. Saint Michaels was one of our favorite stops on the Chesapeake. The town was incorporated in 1804 and its earliest industry was shipbuilding. The town played an important roll in the War of 1812. The British forces targeted Saint Michaels because of its ship building. On the August 10, 1813, the Battle of Saint Michaels commenced. The British bombard the town, but failed to destroy the shipyards, or cause substantial damage to the town. The towns people dimmed all of their lights and hung lanterns in the trees beyond the town so that the British cannonballs overshot the town. The town was spared and Saint Michaels became know as “the town that fooled the British”. Shipbuilding declined after the War of 1812, but the oyster industry thrived. Today it is a charming town and in 2007 the town was named as one of he top 10 Romantic Escapes in the United States ♥️ By Coastal Living Magazine.
After three wonderful days in Saint Michaels we pushed off the dock headed to Rock Hall. We snuck through Kent Narrows (Yes, it was very narrow 😱) and docked at Osprey Marina in Rock Hall. The Marina was very nice and we plannnd to stay two nights........but the weather had other plans! With small craft warnings (wind) predicted we changed our reservation to one night. Normally we would have stayed longer, but we did not want to chance missing our flight leaving Baltimore in a few days.
From Rock Hall we traversed the Chesapeake Bay again! We crossed under the Francis Scott Key Bridge to enter the Baltimore Harbor. It was a beautiful day with may ships of all sizes out on the water. We were assigned our slip for the month at Anchorage Marina. We spent a few days exploring Baltimore...very cool 😎 waterfront area with lots of revitalized buildings.
The best part of being in Baltimore was that our special Looper friends aboard Tyre-less drove from Annapolis to Baltimore to join us for a fun filled evening. Including docktails with hors d’ oeuvres aboard Thistle, then a wonderful dinner at Duck Duck Goose.
We fly back to California in the morning....❌⭕️ to ⚓️Thistle for a month 😘.
Departing Annapolis 🇺🇸.
The yellow line represents our port stops on the Chesapeake Bay the last few weeks.
Deale
Oxford
Cambridge
Trappe
Washington DC (by car)
Easton (by car)
Saint Michaels
Rock Hall
Baltimore
Bye Bye Annapolis and Hello Deale.
The Marina gave us a nice welcome gift bag.
(Not sure of the significance of a Mai Tai 🍹 in Deale, MD? Mahalo🌺.)
Not much happens in Deale... Except “ Duck Crossing “ 🤣🦆🦆🦆.
And beautiful 🌅 sunsets.
Oxford Yacht Agency.
The local market was great ... 🦀 popcorn 🍿?
Dinner at Pope’s Tavern.👍.
Oxford beach and the historic Robert Morris Inn.
The Cambridge Hyatt.
Our view of Thistle from the pool.
Thistle at the Boatyard overnight 😘.
New Carrollton Metro Station.
Washington DC and the Mayflower Hotel.
Washington DC 🇺🇸.
Nighttime view 😊 awesome!
A visit to Capital Yacht Club, Washington DC and lunch at Del Mar Restaurant.
Lots of 🦀 crabs at the waterfront seafood market.
Tidewaters Inn, Easton.
Saint Michaels Harbour Inn Marina and Spa♥️.
The British 🇬🇧 are comming !
Saint Michaels.
Kent Narrows Bridge.
Very narrow and strong currents... ⚠️
Rock Hall.
Osprey Point Marina.
Best Barn 🇺🇸 On The Great American Loop❗️
Entering Baltimore Harbor.
Ships of all sizes in Baltimore Harbor.
Anchorage Marina, Baltimore.
Baltimore.
Dinner at Duck Duck Goose.
Laguna Beach, California for the month 🌴.
