The last week of August we took a week vacation on the boat in the Chesapeake. My leg is healing and I can hobble around a bit more, so we thought we’d give it a go. Aside from getting on and off of the boat, there’s not actually a lot of walking around needed, so that was a plus.
We met up with the Townsends for the first part of the week and rafted up for two nights.
This was also the first time we’ve taken Petunia on the boat for more than a few hours. I was a little nervous about it, but she was great. She may actually be a better boat dog than land dog to be honest.
Boat dog
She actually got out on the kayaks with us a few times. I don’t think that she absolutely loved it, but she was game.
The week mostly consisted of kayaking, paddle boarding, and relaxing.
Unfortunately, the sea nettles had invaded the area, so swimming wasn’t a great option. Instead of swimming, the girls did a lot of swinging off the side of the boat with the bosuns chair. Fortunately they can entertain themselves for hours with that chair!
Lauren off the side of the boat in the bosuns chair
Along the Wye River we found a swing that someone had made with some rope and a big stick. The kids had hours of fun on it, while Dave and I kept an eye out for sea nettles.
Here are a few more shots from the week. It was a fabulous, low key time with the family and what we needed before diving back into the new school year!
Our planned August vacation this year was supposed to be Alaska, but since that couldn’t happen, we decided to do another week on the boat on the Chesapeake. We didn’t travel quite as far as we did the first go round, but did stay in a new spot each night. This time we also met up with our friends the Townsends, who were supposed to be in St. Maarten the same week, but obviously couldn’t go. They chartered a boat out of Rock Hall and we met up 4 of our 7 nights out. At one point we also met up with a family we had met down in Tangier the last time we were on the boat. A dad and twin 7 year olds who have been on their boat nonstop since the spring.
We spent a few days with the Sharps in Rock Hall before heading out.
The girls with Mom Mom and Pop Pop on a beautiful night in Rock Hall
We always travel with sea kayaks, which are the best way to get around into little coves and shallow rivers. The Townsends up the game with inflatable standing paddle boards, which were pretty cool. Sophie in particular loved them and was really good getting around on it.
Sophie & Crystal
Bella paddle board dancing
A boat of 7 year olds
Sophie taking one of the twins out for a ride
The Townsends also brought along a huge pink blowup unicorn, which was of course a hit with all the girls.
5 girls getting ready to set sail on their pink flying unicorn Dave and the girls using the seine. Dinner with a view Bella with an ice cream face in Havre de Grace. Ice cream was a destination in each place we stopped and this place was by far the best.
The summer that we planned for in the beginning of the year is turning out a lot different than the summer we’re experiencing. Two of the three summer camps the kids were planning on attending have been cancelled and our August trip to Alaska has been cancelled. We did however plan to spend a week on the boat and decided that since we’re already working from home, why not extend time on the boat and work from there. So we spend the last three weeks on the Chesapeake. The first week we were at my in-laws house in Rock Hall, and then we hopped on the boat. The kids spent two straight weeks on the boat and then Dave and I and his parents traded on and off traveling with them.
We took the first leg from Rock Hall to Broad Creek, the Wye River and then to St. Michaels. The Sharps met us in St. Michaels and spent the next five days traveling down to Smith Island, Solomon Island and then to Crisfield, MD, where we met them for another switch.
The weather on our first day out was not ideal – rain and chilly – but fortunately that was the only day of bad weather we had.
Lauren and I kayaking on Broad Creek
Sunset on the Wye River
Smith Island is known for their cake, which has multiple layers of cake and icing. It was a hit.
Over the next seven days we traveled a little further south to Tangier, Va., which is a small island off the coast of Virginia.
Tangier, Va.
It’s been a destination on Dave’s list for a while, and I’d actually never even heard of it, even though I grew up in Virginia! It was like no other place I’ve been in the US, and felt a lot like coming into a small Caribbean island. The marina hasn’t been well maintained, mostly because it’s run by a man named Mr. Parks, who has been running it for decades and is now 89. It’s unclear if there is a succession plan in place, but based on our experience, when Mr. Parks is no longer with us, I think the marina won’t be long for the island. But that might not make a difference because it’s projected that the island won’t be there for much longer anyway. It’s slowly sinking into the Chesapeake. It’s also beautiful.
There are about 450 people that live there full time, most of them professional crabbers. We were able to walk the full island and we saw 2 ice creams shops, 1 restaurant called Lorraine’s that had the best soft shell crab I’ve ever had, 2 churches, 1 K-12 school, 1 island history museum, and a heck of a lot of Trump supporters. Most everyone drives around in golf carts on the roads that still exist, and parts of the island that are no longer accessible via golf cart are accessible via boat. We brought our sea kayaks along with us and explored the island that way as well.
Sophie with her catch
above ground graves
crab shacks on the water
golf cart in the driveway
view from the middle of the island
our view from the marina
Dave and Sophie exploring an area that used to be a road
Lauren sitting on the front of the kayak I was paddling. It was so shallow here she could have just stood up and talked next to the boat.
A fellow sailor told us about a beach that we could walk to, which was about 1.5 miles from the marina. One day we walked there and fortunately on the next day we brought the girls razor scooters so they rode there – much less complaining 😉
the walk to the beach
Sophie caught a puffer fish in my hat
After two days in Tangier we headed back north and over the next five days hit Lookout Point, Solomon’s Island, North Beach and Flat Island.
Sunset at Lookout Point
We anchored out the last night at Flat Island, but the other spots we docked at marinas. Most had pools which was nice because it was pretty hot and unfortunately in a few of the places there were sea nettles, which hurt terribly when they sting, so the kids couldn’t jump off the boat and swim.
kayaking at Flat Island
The girls did a lot of fishing off the back of the boat, but only made one catch all week, which was unfortunately too small to eat. They were not deterred though.
Over the two weeks Sophie learned to crab from a fellow boater we met. She caught over a dozen crabs, but we didn’t end up keeping any. Lauren learned to dive and by the end of the week had almost perfect form. And I worked on my boat handling skills. The bar was pretty low there, but still, there was good improvement.
We made it back to Rock Hall for the 4th of July and the weather was just too nice, so we hopped back on the boat for a day of anchoring and swimming at our favorite spot, Swan Creek. The Sharps joined us and Dave brought his sunfish to sail around on.
Dave and Soph on the Sunfish
swimming with PopPop
sparklers for the 4th
It was just the long break we needed! At the end of the two week the girls 2 hit 10 ports of call and 273 nautical miles. Not too shabby!
