Great Loop Overall Statistics to date:
Statute Miles: 1409.1
Average Miles/Day: 52.2
Total Hours Underway: 197.5
Average speed (mph): 7.5
States Transited: 6
Total Days: 68
Travel Days: 27
Locks: 7
Fuel Purchased: 241.4
Miles / Gallon: 3.2
Nights at Extra Days
Marinas: 13 39
Anchor: 11 2
City dock: 2 0
Free Wall: 1 0
Mooring: 0 0
We left Solomons Island early in very calm conditions. We made good time on a calm Chesapeake, even though the tides weren’t perfectly timed on the bay. Uneventful travel and little commercial traffic gave us plenty of time for photos along the way. The harbor at St. Michaels provided good protection and the marina was comfortable with easy walking to local sightseeing options.
Not much to report on the route from St. Michaels to Annapolis, either. A short day, distance-wise, so we decided to take it slow and conserve fuel. We had to open the Spa Creek bridge to get to the marina we reserved in Annapolis, so we needed to arrive there on either the hour or half-hour. This made our attempt at getting some drone footage along the way interesting – trying to calculate having enough time to make a certain bridge opening starting from the Thomas Point lighthouse. We needed to run a bit faster over this last distance of about an hour and ended up at the bridge with 5 minutes to spare – perfect.
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Great Loop Travel Days (GLTD):
026: St. Michaels MD from Solomons MD
027: Annapolis from St. Michaels MD
Overall Map of our Great Loop travel:
GLTD026 St. Michaels MD (from Solomons MD): We set our clocks for a pre-sunrise departure. Ray flew the drone around SCOUT and the Calvert Cliffs – about 45 minutes from the marina. Look for the video clip in a future post.
As the sun rose, I saw the largest sundog yet. Unfortunately, it was difficult to capture with the camera at that position. I’m beginning to think we should have named SCOUT Sundog. 😊
The weather must have been just right for luxury yacht cruising - we saw several today. Of course, I “sleuthed” them.
The 150-foot Impromptu was travelling at 16 knots! It was previously owned by Terry Taylor (automotive giant) as Mia Elise. It seems he may have upgraded to MIA ELISE II (a 198-foot yacht). The smaller 😉 150-foot Impromptu now charters for $304,000 per week.
167-foot yacht Emelina appears to be owned by Franklin Haney from Chattanooga TN. His daughter Mary Alice is the fashion designed behind HANEY fashions.
We saw several lighthouses. Cove Point Light is near the Calvert Cliffs.
Sharps Islands Lighthouse, near the entrance to the Choptank River, is the third lighthouse, installed in 1882. While this “caisson withstood the ice pressure far better than its screwpile predecessor, in the 1970s especially heavy winter ice gave Sharps Island Lighthouse its characteristic [20-degree] tilt.” To date the structure is sound.
Bloody Point Bar Lighthouse, lit in 1882, marks the entrance to Eastern Bay. In 2006, it was purchased at auction by Michael Gabriel for $100,000. In August 2009, Gabriel planned to dedicate a room in each of his offshore lighthouses -- Bloody Point, Fourteen Foot, and Borden Flats -- to a brewery. He wanted to create the only beer made from seawater (desalinated) to offset expenses. To date, these plans have not been realized. So sad for Ray. 😢
As we entered Eastern Bay, it was surprising how many anchorages (green icons) are near St. Michaels!
We arrived in St. Michaels early afternoon and docked at Harbour Inn Marina. We walked to the end of the dock to have a late lunch at Harrison’s Harbour Lights. The seafood nachos were excellent!
We walked to the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, about a mile away.
Along the way, we stopped to photograph the church, after which the town was named. Christ Church St. Michael’s Parish was founded in 1672 for the Church of England.
It began as a simple frame structure and was replaced by a red brick building in 1814, and then the stone and brick building pictured in 1878.
The church is full of historic treasures; the baptismal font and communion silver were gifts from Queen Anne shortly after she ascended the throne.
Ref: https://christstmichaels.org/parish-history
The bells ring prominently throughout town, and sometimes hymns are chimed. (We could not determine the schedule for the hymns.) The pedestrian bridge (below) toward the museum, adorned with “window” planters, invited us to slow our pace.
Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum: We purchased tickets, which are good for 2 days. (We found out that 2 days are actually needed to see everything on the sprawling museum grounds!)
The first day, we toured the Hooper Strait Lighthouse.
The first lighthouse was installed in 1867 but was destroyed by ice in 1877. The 2 lightkeepers escaped the sunken lighthouse using one of the station’s boats, where they were stranded for about 24 hours until rescued.
This cottage-style replacement was installed in 1879.
In 1918, a lightkeeper was found dead, having fallen off a storage platform and drowned.
The lighthouse was automated in 1954. In 1966, the Coast Guard had planned to burn or demolish Hooper Strait Lighthouse to eliminate maintenance expenses, but Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum saved the structure.
After our partial tour of the maritime museum, we stopped in at Eastern Shore Brewing, the oldest brewery on Maryland’s eastern shore, on our way back to the marina.
The next day, we shopped a few stores and had ice cream for lunch before finishing our tour of the maritime museum. 😉 The shop is located just a block from the foot bridge to the museum and has “farm-to-cup” handmade local ice cream.
The museum’s 18-acre waterfront campus was founded in 1965. “The Museum’s collection of Chesapeake Bay watercraft is the largest in existence numbering about 85 boats. Eleven of the collection’s largest vessels are on floating display at the Museum’s docks. The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum is the only museum devoted to interpreting the entire maritime region of the Bay.”
Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum has a working shipyard on-site, where wooden boats are built. Ref: https://cbmm.org
Beyond restoration and public programming, CBMM’s four-year Shipwright Apprentice Program is working to pass on fading maritime skills to a new generation of wooden boatbuilders.
In addition, Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum was selected to build a new reproduction of the tall ship Maryland Dove - “the 17th century trading ship that accompanied the first settlers to what is now Maryland in 1634.” Ref: https://www.cbmmshipyard.com/maryland-dove
Today, “Maryland Dove, a tall ship built in 1978, is Historic St. Mary’s City’s floating ambassador and one of its most popular exhibits. The ship design is based on the small merchant vessel that sailed to the Maryland colony in the 1600s.” Ref: https://www.marylanddove.org/marylanddove
The smells emanating from the boat building tents vary depending on which building activities are going on – bottom painting, plank steaming (curving), etc.
This beautiful mosaic in the Bay History exhibit was created with little wood chips -- presumably scraps from the boat building areas.
The exhibit “Oystering on the Chesapeake” was neat – featuring a real skipjack vessel and a recorded “surround sound” of the activities of the watermen working on board.
I was impressed with the number of antique waterfowl decoys in the “Waterfowling” exhibit. One of the oldest I saw was c. 1885.
We enjoyed browsing the various hull shapes in the “Small Boat Shed”, ...
… and the “Floating Fleet”.
This gorgeous gaff topsail cutter is Elf c.1888, the oldest active racing yacht in America. Like most other boats at the museum, it is currently being worked on.
Martha is a 1934 Hoopers Island Dovetail. Dovetail boats have gasoline engines and a stern that looks like a motor racer. Martha was named after the owner’s daughter. As the sign stated, “While wives may change, daughters and mothers are said to be safe namesakes.”
Ref: https://cbmm.org/exhibitions/floating-fleet/martha/
Ray was impressed with the simplicity of the tiller & line steering mechanism, that appears to be run to the pilot house, allowing steering from aft or forward – all with a single control line.
Interesting fact: We are still finding jasmine in bloom as we travel north.
Not to Miss: For dinner, we thoroughly enjoyed Ava’s Pizzeria and Wine Bar. The first tough decision was where to sit – cozy bar, window seat, or backyard patio. After being outside all day, we opted for a cozy high-top in the bar.
There was no doubt about the appetizer – Shrimp in BBQ Creole Sauce! We each got our own meals tonight (bringing home leftovers), and beignets for dessert were awesome! Yes, they were worth the gluten splurge! 😉
Be sure to take a walk to the patio out back to see the creative water fountain made with beer taps.
GLTD027 Annapolis MD (from St. Michaels MD): After a short but pleasant stay in St. Michaels, we departed early – before sunrise – in a light mist. Cruising is not always sun and sundogs. 😊
On the way to Annapolis, we got a better photo of Bloody Point, before passing Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse.
🚩 Engine Room Inspection: We have a problem!
During one of the engine room checks, Ray spotted a problem. See anything wrong with this picture?
Bad but not disastrous: This could have been quite the disaster since this hose is feeding the engine from an open seacock. (A touch with a finger showed very little "wall" thickness left.) Instead, now it’s a fairly simple preventative task at a (relatively) minor cost.
🔷 Boater Tip: Do regular engine (or engine room) inspections.
Regular engine room checks both prior-to and underway (frequently) are part of every day on SCOUT. We use our nose and eyes more than anything else - unusual smells, things looking out of place, important things rubbing on sharp "other things", etc.
Had the hose failed (burst open) while underway, it is likely our water alarm (in the engine room bilge) would have been triggered. Our first actions probably would have been to shut down the engine and close the sea cock for that engine. Then, Ray would have made an emergency repair in one of 2 ways:
1. Wrap the breached hose with Speed Tape, or
2. Splice the hose, removing the breached portion, and rejoin with a barb connection.
As we entered Annapolis, we passed a sailing regatta. This was a Thursday morning. Now that I can zoom in on my photo, I see a couple of the sails are branded with “NAVY”.
A few days later, at the marina where we docked, we met a young man who had just graduated from Naval Academy and lives happily on his boat. He now teaches sailing at the Academy, so I am guessing he was out in the middle of the regatta.
Feel Good Moment: The young man told us how grateful he is to own a boat at his young age -- and be living on it! His attitude strengthens my confidence in the “next generation”. 😊
About a half-hour later, we were safely docked at South Annapolis Yacht Centre - a quiet marina just across Spa Creek – and a short walk across the drawbridge -- from downtown Annapolis. In this photo, SCOUT is fully hidden by the 50-foot power cat across the dock from us.
Finding Marine Parts: After checking in, and walking to lunch nearby, we walked another 4 miles (round-trip) to secure hose to replace the bad raw water hose Ray found earlier in the day. (Find more on that repair in the Projects section below).
While Ray and I were waiting for the clerk to locate the hose Ray needed, I noticed a framed shopping bag on the wall and had to check it out. Bill Homewood, former CEO of British Airways, sent a cute letter to Fawcett Boat Supplies in 1980.
When he sent this letter, Homewood had just completed, for the first time, OSTAR [Observer Singlehanded Trans-Atlantic Race] in his 31-foot trimaran Third Turtle. Four years later he raced again in the Third Turtle, which he had renamed British Airways II, and made the crossing in 21 days and 51/2 hours – “the fastest recorded westbound crossing for a 31-foot boat at the time.” This short article is an interesting read.
Freak of Nature: During the walk to and from the marine store, we heard strange sounds in a particular neighborhood; it sounded like construction equipment or lawn maintenance equipment, but we didn’t see anything like that. When we heard the noise further up the road, we realized these were “the cicadas”.
We also heard “the noise” from the somewhat distant hillside behind the marina. I was amazed how far away we could hear the “humming” sound of the swarm.
This map shows the predicted areas where various cicada “broods” will emerge.
Annapolis Walking Tour: As the temperatures and humidity were beginning to rise in Maryland, we decided to take our walking tour of Annapolis early in the morning. We started with coffee and a muffin (mine from Gluten Free Gal Bakery) at Brown Mustache Coffee (and bookstore).
We enjoyed the lush backyard garden.
Bad news for “Naptown” sightseeing: The US Naval Academy and Chapel were still closed (due to Covid). Frustrating! 😒 So, we decided to walk through the St. Anne’s Episcopal Cemetery.
Ray (unintentionally) got a photo of what is likely one of the oldest legible tombstones (as I determined from a search on findagrave.com). Elizabeth Shaw died 1793.
The cemetery was huge, covering many acres.
Some graves were crypts, like the one on the left for Alex Randall (US Congressman 1841-1843). Others were stately monuments.
Some memorials were intricately carved tombstones, like Caroline Laurens Swann.
Some families, like the Jicklings, were grouped together with matching tombstones.
Some stones have been displaced over the years.
OK, I could go on and on.
Obviously, we spent a little bit of time walking through the cemetery. If only these stones could talk.
History: The streets of Annapolis are not traditional blocks (grids). Royal Governor, Sir Francis Nicholson, designed the streets in a baroque plan like the capitals of Europe. “He drew circles with radiating streets to create focal points and give importance to certain structures. In one circle is St Anne's, the Episcopal Church, regarded as the spiritual center of the city. […] In the other circle, rising over the harbor, is the State House, the seat of government.
This urban design was admired by frequent visitor George Washington, who later had Pierre L'Enfant incorporate it into the nation's capital.”
Below is the Maryland State House. “The capital of Maryland was the country's capital when the Treaty of Paris, ending the Revolutionary War, was signed here.”
This one-way street – with no curbside parking allowed – “transports” you back a few centuries.
History in the Making: A Guardians of the First Amendment Memorial is under construction near the waterfront in memory of 5 journalists & staff of the Capital Gazette who were killed by a mass shooter on June 28, 2018. “The memorial is dedicated to honoring the free press in America.”
By the time we got back to the marina, we had walked 4.5 miles!
Projects: Ray spent the afternoon (and the next couple of days) with repairs and maintenance:
1. Replace port engine raw water hose and pump: See “Geek Alert” below.
2. Replace overboard discharge pump. When we tried to pump-out the holding tank during our recent off-shore cruise around Georgia, the pump did not work. During a recent stop, Ray pulled the pump to troubleshoot and determined we needed a new discharge pump “bellows”. He ordered the part while we were in St. Michaels to be delivered to Annapolis.
Bad news: The part did not arrive on time (nor 1 or 2 days later – before we were planning to depart), so we extended our marina stay. Thankfully, the part arrived “only” 3 days late.
3. Provision parts for raw water replacement on the starboard engine. Since we were “stuck” here for 2 extra days, Ray decided to go ahead and procure parts to overhaul the raw water system on the second engine. He made one more trip to Fawcett marine supply to get the hose – this time scootering the 4 miles (round-trip) - solo. Then, when the delayed discharge pump bellows finally arrived in the mail and we could leave, he ordered the replacement raw water pumps to be delivered overnight to our next stop in Chestertown.
🔷 Boater Tip: Plan for the worst and hope for the best.
Prioritizing repairs, coordinating shipments to your destinations, shipping delays, finding parts locally (and getting to them without a car) can be frustrating.
These things can also impact your travel timeline. That is why you may hear cruisers “preach” it’s ok to have a plan, but not a schedule. Sometimes the plans are not achievable.
Revising the plans may involve shortening stays, omitting stops, or lengthening the overall travel timeline.
Maintenance: While Ray was busy with repairs, I washed several loads of laundry (free) in the 1 Washer/Dryer set at the marina, while spot-cleaning and waxing the gunwale – a modified form of yoga. 😉
📞 Future stay marina planning: I also called to reserve a slip at our next stop – Chestertown MD.
[Geek Alert] Replacing Raw Water Engine Cooling Hose
During a routine engine room check while underway, I noticed a very thin, soft-feeling “bulge” in the port engine hose feeding raw water from the through hull to the raw water pump on the engine. As usual, once you start peeling the onion………
Replacing something like this before it has a chance to cause problems can save a lot of money and headaches compared to waiting for the result. This particular hose is a direct line to water outside the boat. If it burst, water would flood into the boat at a potentially high rate until our “high water” alarms went off. At this point, a lot of damage could be done.
While in port at Annapolis, we walked to the marine parts store for a new hose of the correct length to reach the engine pump.
I replaced the hose, which was straightforward once the seacock was closed, except for containing the remaining seawater from the old hose. Part of this process was to open the pump and inspect the impeller ------ everything in there ‘looked’ fine.
Stiff Old Hose
The raw water pump is one of the critical parts of a marine diesel engine. It keeps seawater flowing through a cooler to keep the engine cool when running. A small rubber impeller with fin blades spins inside of a housing to move water from the intake hose to (and through) the engine cooler. The rubber impeller is replaced every one or two years as a preventative measure as they can wear out over time. Damaged impellers with missing or cracked fins can limit the amount of water flow and cause the engine to overheat. The water is pumped through the engine exits as part of the exhaust port, outside the boat.
Source: http://www.passagemaker.com
If you’re really geeky and want to know more about pumps and impellers, you can watch this:
With the new hose on, impeller and pump closed back up, I started the engine to test. There was no water coming out of the exhaust port! I shut the engine down and went back in to replace the impeller, thinking something happened when I checked it earlier. I retrieved a new impeller from the spares bin and got it installed easily.
With the new impeller in place, I restarted the engine, and saw the same thing – just a tiny bit of water spitting out at idle. I increased the RPM of the engine to 1500 momentarily, and more water came out, but not nearly enough – or even close to what was normal, so l shut the engine down again.
Back to the engine room and a closer inspection was in order. I opened the pump back up and took out the new impeller. Everything looked fine with it – front cover, rear wear plate, impeller blades. Then I looked at the inside of the pump housing more closely. The high wear areas of the inlet and outlet ports of the pump were quite worn down and pitted. The sidewall where there is increased pressure from the impeller fins was thinner than the rest of the sidewall. This had to be the cause.
Impeller contact worn areas
Some raw water pumps on some engines are constructed with replaceable sleeves or other internal “wear plates” that can be replaced without needing to replace the entire pump itself. Unfortunately, our pumps are not this style.
Old pump removed
I don’t know for sure, but based on the paint, this pump may be original to the engine which makes it about 16 years old. The engines have 5000+ hours on them! If this is the case, I think the pump has lived a long life! Luckily, I had a spare pump in the “parts inventory” and put the new one on with the new impeller. While a had spare pump in the spares bin, I didn’t have a paper gasket to use when mounting it! The old pump’s gasket was not in the least bit useable, nor did it want to separate itself from the pump flange. A $35 round-trip Uber ride to a nearby boatyard engine service center to pick up (two) $3 gaskets seemed a bit excessive, but necessary.
The new pump was installed (don’t forget the gasket!) and began pumping large amounts of water immediately when started.
I ordered another pump to replace the one on the starboard engine as a preventative measure well. It appears to be original also. I also purchased another length of raw water hose to replace the starboard-side as well --- the current hose on that side is looking quite old at this point also. I will replace the starboard pump and hose the next time we are in port for a few consecutive days.
Lastly, I included a replacement spare pump and new gaskets in the order also, to put back into the spare parts bin as a backup, which we now will likely never need.
[END Geek Alert]
Good Food: After our work at the marina, we treated ourselves to dinner out most evenings. Several restaurants were on the Eastport side of town, where SCOUT was berthed, saving the walk across the bridge.
Blackwall Hitch was the closest Eastport restaurant. There were only a few gluten-free options, but those I had were very good.
Favorite Eastport restaurant: Our favorite Eastport restaurant was Boatyard Bar & Grill, where we had an awesome GF cauliflower crust pizza with Mediterranean toppings.
Forward Brewing is also located in Eastport.
Bad luck with Restaurants: Across the bridge, in downtown Annapolis, we were dissatisfied with 2 places we tried:
- Ram’s Head Tavern, which we had enjoyed on previous visits, and
- Reynolds Tavern, where we had hoped to sit at the historic 1747 Pub but learned it is “essentially” closed.
🍀Traveller Tip: If you (like I) suffer from “FOMO”, Fear of Missing Out, don’t believe everything you read in the travel brochures/websites; they may be old and outdated. And COVID may have (probably has) had a bad impact on services and quality. For the best “luck”, call ahead to confirm that what you’re expecting is what you will get.
Not to Miss (like we did): We stopped at Fox’s Den for a drink on our way back from dinner. This basement pub is what we had been looking for. It was also pizza night, and the pizza looked amazing! But we were full.
This sunset was artistic. There appear to be brush strokes of color across the sky.
What’s next? We will stop at a small Maryland town before heading north out of Chesapeake Bay – a little delayed, but still according to “plan”.
Click here to view our previous blog posts: https://n37scout.wixsite.com/travels/blog
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