Chesapeake Bay for the summer

[jleonard]

We are planning to spend the summer or at least most of the summer cruising the Chesapeake Bay.
We have been there in the past fo 2 week stretches, spending most of our time in the upper Bay.
We like to gunkhole (the more secluded the better) and have enjoyed Worton Creek, Sassafrass River, Wye Rivers, Tighlman Creek, Langford Creek, and some others I can't think of right now without a chart in front of me.
We've been to Cambridge and Crisfield, St Michaels, and a few other places in those areas.
We plan to stop in Baltimore, Annapolis.
But we've never been to the southern part of the Bay or up any of the Virginia rivers or to Washington.

So I am looking for a few recommendations/suggestions of great places to gunkhole, or must stop marinas, resturants (especially pubs), etc.
We'll also need some suggestions for places to restock groceries, beer, water, fuel etc.
Thanks in advance.

[Mark Deeser]

Sorry can not help with useful info, but wanted to commend you on a most execellent plan. What a Summer to look forward to. Must be a cruising guide or two for that area to help with the possiblitiies list. Enjoy.

[rcor]

Make sure you visit Annapolis. Another interesting side trip in the lower bay is the Nanticoke River. It is quite long, but with a fine channel.There is a great little marina at its head, the Nanticoke River Marina. We spentseveral months there when fitting out our Albin.

[Jay Knoll]

It has been years but we fondly recall Solomon's Island, St Leonard Creek, St Mary's River and the Wicomico River. Check out the Tides Inn for an upscale experience.

[DesertAlbin736]

Jay,

If you went up St. Leonard's Creek, you had to have had stopped for dinner at Vera's.

Pictures from last cruise on the Chesapeake in 2002 with my Montgomery 15 pocket cruiser sailboat "Scamp" with the Montgomery Owner's group rendezvous

Docked at Spring Cove marina, motored up St Leonards to Vera, sailed on up the Patuxent to Battle Creek, then back to Solomons and a 22 beam reach to Little Choptank River

http://msog.org/trippics/cb2002/cb2002.cfm

[crowra]

Jay,

I could spend all day writing about cruising the Chesapeake. Three great resources we use are:

activecaptain.com
Gunkholer Guide - Crusing the Chesapeake (there's a 4th ed. out but the original for $2.67 is great)
Chesapeake Bay Magazine's Guide to Cruising the Chesapeake Bay (if you can find the 2014 (or older) book, it'll be considerably cheaper. Marinas and restaurants don't move around much.)

Baltimore - Henderson's Wharf is right at the end of Fells Point. Staff is excellent. We have also stayed at BMC at Harborview. They have the 'tiki barge' (pool/2 bars) and floating docks. Not a bad walk to Inner Harbor.

Magathy River - Two nice anchorages - Dobbins Is. and north side of Gibson Is.

Annapolis - If you want a more relaxing experience, grab a mooring buoy on Spa Creek. The bridge opens every 30 minutes (hour and half hour). The first mooring field to starboard is for under 36' boats but there are more further back for your 40. Or grab a mooring buoy 'out front'. We have also stayed at Eastport Yacht Club. The restrooms are brand new and really nice. It's a bit of a walk into town and the slip we were in wasn't very protected.

South River - Harness Creek is popular and next to Quiet Waters Park. Three restaurants further up: Yellowfin, Coconut Joes and Mike's Crab House. Yellowfin has a reciprocal agreement with Liberty Yacht Club & Marina. Coconut Joes is tricky. They seem to be in some dispute with the adjacent marina. Never tried Mike's by boat but I'm sure it's doable or just drop the hook out front.

Rhode River - Very popular off the West River. We anchor here at least once a season.

Herrington Harbour South - our home port. It is like a resort and honestly one of the top three marinas on the Bay (IMO). We live on our boat all summer so stop by C-5 for a cold one. You can also borrow our car if you need provisions, or a trip into town or West Marine.

Not much south on the Western Shore until Solomons. It sounds like you've done most of the Eastern Shore. Rock Hall, Kent Is., Chestertown, and Fairlee Creek are all nice.

Choptank River has lots of great anchorages. There's Water Hole Cove which we use as the 'back door' to Lowes Wharf Marina (too shallow at Lowes Wharf for our comfort level.) There's also the 'back door' to St. Michaels on San Domingo Creek - anchor and take your dinghy to the dock - there's a grocery store that's a reasonable walk to buy groceries.

Tangier Island is a must! Parks Marina is the only marina (I believe). Mr. Parks is a 'national treasure'. It's a dry island so BYOB. There's a beautiful white sand crescent beach you can dinghy or walk/bike to. Great restaurants.

Smith Island is dry too and seems to have more annoying flies than Tangier. If you've never been to Smith, it's worth the visit even if you're only stopping for lunch.

An anchorage we like is Smith Creek. It's the first creek on the right (Potomac Ri) when you round Pt. Lookout. There's a dive restaurant/bar at Pt. Lookout Marina (even the marina is a dive!) but the locals are friendly.

The Rappahannock has Tides Inn on Carter Creek (someone else mentioned Tides) - very upscale. We anchored on the Corrotoman (nice).

York River - River Walk Landing in Yorktown is nice to stay for a couple of days. Getting ice was the only slight challenge at Ben 'n Jerrys. Great place especially if you are a history buff.

Hampton - stayed at Bluewater Yachting Center and visited the town and Ft. Monroe.

Norfolk/Portsmouth - stayed at Ocean Marine Yacht Center. Wasn't impressed but the price is right! Will stay at Tidewater Yacht Marina this year. There are two 'free' walls on the Portsmouth side but I would be nervous about staying there (not the best part of town). We went for Harborfest last year and plan on going again this year.

Cape Charles - recommend Cape Charles Town Harbor vs. Kings Creek Marina. Kings Creek is in the top three as far as 'luxurious' marinas but is away from any action/provisions and the channel is so shallow in spots I thought we were going to run aground several times. Any channel that needs a marker every three feet is too much of a challenge for us. Cape Charles Town Harbor is pretty nice with new docks and a restaurant/bar and a short walk to the action.

Sooo... there's a few recommendations.

Hope to meet you this summer.

[DesertAlbin736]

RCOR says, " Another interesting side trip in the lower bay is the Nanticoke River. It is quite long, but with a fine channel.There is a great little marina at its head, the Nanticoke River Marina. We spentseveral months there when fitting out our Albin."

That's where we plan to trailer to and launch our Albin 25 "La Dolce Vita" sometime in late June or early July after a 3,000 mile road trip from Arizona to Erie Canal in NY and Block Island Sound in Rhode Island. My late stepfather Mr Lee Simonds, who also happened to be a WWII Navy vet, was active in the NRYC at the marina in Blades right up until shortly before he passed away from cancer in 2011 at age 90. He did not have a boat of his own, but was the life of the party at club events and always willing to lend a hand. He served as Vice Commodore at one point, and was so well liked they nominated him as honorary commodore a month to the day before he died. His picture and certificate hangs on the clubhouse wall to this day.

[DesertAlbin736]

Cowra recommends, Gunkholer Guide - Crusing the Chesapeake (there's a 4th ed. out but the original for $2.67 is great)

I have a 3rd edition copy from 2003 that my stepdad gave me (see post above).

[DesertAlbin736]

cowra,

Chesapeake Beach... isn't that near Herring Bay where the Chesapeake Bay schooner Ram "Levin J. Marvel" went down in Hurricane Connin in 1955?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyvmIduvZsk

[crowra]

Chesapeake Beach is south of Herring Bay (just a few miles). According to a Baltimore Sun article, the schooner Ram "Levin J. Marvel" went down off Holland Point (south end of Herring Bay).

[Sprig1]

How about Suicde bridge restaurant just up the river from Cambridge on the south side.

[DesertAlbin736]

Suicide Bridge restaurant used to be one of my parent's favorites when they lived in Laurel, DE (both since passed away). In fact I was there in 2002 and my last dinner out with my mother was at Suicide Bridge in June that year and she passed away six months later in January, 2003. The town it's located in is Secretary.

[DesertAlbin736]

Belated update on our Chesapeake cruise from June 19th to July 8th