Retracing our steps, we travel down the Tred Avon River to the Choptank River and out to the bay. We will travel mostly north up the bay to get to Annapolis. Weather is quite favorable for the crossing and as it is Sunday there will be less shipping traffic.
As we reach the bay and head north we pass Tilghman Island which is also a fishing/crabbing area, but less developed than St Michael’s and Oxford. We the passed the Sharp Island Lighthouse in the bay. This lighthouse was damaged in a severe ice storm in the 1979’s so it tilts about 20 degrees from center. We learned that these mid channel lighthouses were built on screw piles that were actually screwed into the bay floor to anchor the lighthouse down. Over the years ice storms have caused these mid channel Chesapeake lighthouses bases to shift and move. One lighthouse shifted so much it actually toppled over.
We also passed the Bloody Point and Thomas Point Lighthouses on our trip today. A three lighthouse day! Of note, the Thomas Point Lighthouse is the only screw pile lighthouse in the Chesapeake that is still in its original location.
On the western shores, we can see the bluffs similar to Calvert Cliffs followed by the towns of Chesapeake Beach and North Beach. Here is a chart of the bay around Annapolis.
By 10:00 lots of small sailboats are out and so are the crab traps! We had quite an obstacle course avoiding them for awhile.
On the Eastern shore we cruised past Eastern Bay and Kent Island. Off Kent Island we saw 18 freighters anchored in the bay, staged for Baltimore Harbor. Bill had great fun using the AIS system to find the ships names, lengths and widths. He took lots of pictures!
Further north, the western shoreline is mostly developed with homes as we pass the West River and Rhode River and then the South River, just south of Annapolis.
We entered the Severn River and headed into Annapolis Harbor. The harbor was filled with motor boats, ferries, and sailing vessels. We turned into Spa Creek and made the 12:00 opening of the Spa Creek bridge. Went up the creek a bit further to take a mooring.
After we got settled, we launched the dinghy and headed to one of the many dinghy docks in town. Annapolis which already was an important port, became the capitol of Maryland in 1695 when the capitol was moved from St Mary’s. The city was laid out with streets radiating out from two circles and has more 18th century structures than any other town in the country. The town became a social and political center for our young country’s government, as the Continental Congress met in Annapolis from 1783-84 and the Treaty of Paris was signed here. Of note, the Maryland Legislature building is the oldest continuous used State Legislature building in the US. Also, the US Naval Academy was established here in 1845 on the former Army site of Fort Severn.
Today, Annapolis is considered the sailing capitol of the world with world class racing events scheduled throughout the year. It is not unusual to find sailing boats of all sizes and shapes in the bay and outer harbor. The harbor is a grand mix of boats- power boats, dinghies, standup paddle boards, ferries and water taxis, along with the sailing vessels. Annapolis even has some fishing tournaments and power boat races, along with the famous Annapolis Boat Show. The famous Ego Alley is a thin canal where boaters come to parade their vessels. It is considered good sport to steam up the alley, make a U-turn and go back out again. We did not try and do that. Well, we did do this in our dinghy!
We walked into town and took the tour of the Naval Academy. It is a beautiful campus with architecture in the Beaux-Arts style ( similar to Roman style buildings with more heavily decorated exteriors.). The docent told us all about the campus life as well as the history of the buildings and monuments on the campus.
After completing the tour, we got a call from a Looper couple who invited us to their boat for docktails. We walked back to the dinghy and took it to their boat. We enjoyed planning our next cruise stops together and sharing stories of our adventures.
May 30. In Annapolis
We spent the morning firming up our plans for the rest of the Chesapeake Bay, Chesapeake and Delaware Canal and Delaware Bay. We have to really pay attention to tides and weather through this section.
Took the dinghy into town and walked around the beautiful old homes and buildings, learned more about Annapolis history at the Annapolis Museum, ate lunch and enjoyed ice cream, and walked through some art Co-op shops. We had the privilege of talking with two females who just completed their plebe year at the academy. Was fun to hear a blow by blow account of the plebe class’ attempts to get the sailor cap off the greased flag pole. A yearly tradition for the graduating freshmen class at the academy. Enjoyed also listening to their dreams and plans for the future.
Have been remiss and not mentioning the brick sidewalks and streets in Annapolis, some streets even have cobblestone. Theses streets have been paved with bricks since the the early 1800’s.
The towns of Oxford and St Michael’s also had brick sidewalks Part of the charm of these towns. So glad they have been able to preserve so many buildings in all of these towns, so we can appreciate the character of the community years ago.
Here are some shots of our anchorage here in Annapolis.
Here are some drone shots of our anchorage at Spa Creek Annapolis.
