Whenever we talked about cruising around the Chesapeake,”Saint Michaels” popped up now and again by many fellow boaters. Everyone told us that we needed to visit this place before we left because it is supposed to be very cool town. And it just happens to be the direction we need to be heading…SOUTH.

After our week of fun on Davis Creek we were cut off a bit short because of the weather that was in front of us. We were planning to stay until Tuesday morning, but the only window of weather we had was Sunday OR Friday.

So we pulled the plug on our trip and Sunday morning to hit the water for Saint Michaels. However we still hadn’t prepped the boat AT ALL. That means we had to spend a good 3 hours getting things ready to go after breakfast, provisioning the last bit of water, cleaning everything up and getting all things geared up for the 25-mile trek. We left anchor at 11AM and hoped that crowds wouldn’t be terrible (wishful thinking).

Wind was OK but since we had a late start, we decided to motor the first half of the journey. It was great and uneventful until we neared the Kent Narrows bridge.

Kent Narrows is a VERY BUSY area. It happens to be one of the most popular boating areas on the Bay, and has tons of restaurants, shopping, marinas, etc. It is also a shortcut for people on the east side of the Chester River, because you can cross under a bridge and shave about 4 hours off of the southbound journey. The bridge is only 18-feet high, so any sailboat has to wait until it raises (every 30 minutes). Before the bridge, there is a very winding and extremely narrow channel that you have to trek, with extremely shallow drafts on both sides. This means that in a sailboat with a draft of 4 feet (like ours), you have to pretty much stay directly in the middle of the tight channel. On a calm midweek day, this may be no problem. But on one of the busiest boating holidays on the planet, its a totally different ballgame.

There were huge powerboats and sailboats and jet skiers and fishing boats ALL OVER the place. As we neared the channel, we had about 30 minutes until the next bridge opening (1pm), so I slowed down to hopefully buy some time. However I really had no idea how long it would take to get through it, so planning was challenging. The other problem with the slow down is that other boats (huge powerboats mostly) would kick up huge wakes throwing Bosco out of whack. I’d either almost hit a boat coming from the other direction or almost get thrown out of the channel…not good!

It was really stressful navigating through the channel, but we managed to do so unscathed. However when we neared the bridge, we were still about 15 minutes early before the next opening. So we had to circle the small open area until it opened…minding the other boaters coming and going. It wasn’t terrible until about 30 seconds before the opening. I lined us up perfectly, and was about to pass under the opening when 2 HUGE powerboats come storming through from the other side. I had to stop as quickly as possible (impossible in our boat) to let them through. The second of the two boats actually crashed into the side of the bridge because of the wakes kicked up. I was afraid the same would happen to us, but luckily the third boat in line (from the other side) noticed this and waited until I passed.

What a nightmare that was! The bridge tender (person who operates the opening/closings) is supposed to direct traffic so boaters know who is going when, etc. But no. Nothing. Even after we got to the other side, it was pretty sketchy getting back out of the channel on the other side.

Whew. That was something. I was so mentally exhausted after that I had Jake take over so I could take a break. I actually fell asleep for the next few hours until we were about 20 minutes from our anchorage, where I took over again. By this point both of us were at our end; completely fatigued, starving and ready to be done with this hot journey. Unfortunately we still had more fun in store for us.

Saint Michaels was packed with boats – mostly power boaters. It was insane. I guess I didn’t think or realize that it is still the holiday weekend here too, and this is a VERY popular destination for boaters. So the anchorage we chose was packed as were the other two near town. So we decided to drop anchor right outside the busy channel to figure out our next move, and to take a break.

We were in such foul moods by now and hated where we were. We were hot, hungry and miserable with all the wakes and waves being put out by the many power boaters around us. Jake fixed us a snack of sausage, rye bread and cheese which was super revitalizing. It also gave us just the kick we needed to figure out our next move. We spent some time on Active Captain and discovered an anchorage about a mile up the way, (called Long Cove) right behind a small yacht club. We decided to check it out and sure enough it was totally empty. So we pulled in and dropped anchor. The anchorage was pretty tiny, I can’t imagine more than 2 or 3 boats TOPS being able to fit in the area. But we were just glad to be out of the main channel and to not do anything else the rest of the day.

The anchorage was pretty cute little area. Surrounded by some homes and docks and the yacht club, along with a bunch of nesting Osprey.

We sat outside and watched the birds for HOURS. Our minds were pretty much done by this point, so that was all we had energy to do. As night rolled in, we were still wiped out, but at least the hot air started to cool off and the wakes chilled out. There was a lot of commotion around the yacht club around 830pm. Boats would fire up and motor out right passed the opening of the yacht club, go out about 100 yards, and then stop and drop anchor. WEIRD.

We discovered why about 10 minutes later. Fireworks started blasting off right in front of us. They were amazing! The show lasted for about 30 minutes and it was spectacular. Probably one of the best I have ever seen in life (and believe me I have seen my fair share of amazing fireworks). There was no music or anything, which actually made it kind of nice. And we had front-row seats (so to speak). There was no one else around us either, so it felt like our own private show.

That night we slept so-so. It was the first anchorage that wasn’t super calm, so the boat was pretty rocky and rolly all night long, but we are so used to that by now (good thing otherwise we probably would have gotten sea sick), so it wasn’t a big deal. It was still really hot in the boat so that actually is what kept us awake.

The next morning we planned to go into town to visit the infamous Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. It boasted a lot of great reviews, covering almost 18 acres tracing the heritage of the Bay. Since the weather was going to be EXTREMELY hot today, we hoped there would be some air conditioning! 🙂

The dinghy ride to shore was a bit of an adventure. It was over a mile away (furthest we’ve gone in our dinghy) and we hoped the engine would make it. It was also the roughest ride because we had to motor out into the Bay for part of it, so the waves and wind were higher. But our little engine that could puttered its way through the current and wind and waves, and before long we pulled into the dinghy dock.

The Museum was just a few minutes away from the dock, and since it was a Monday, it was practically deserted; just how we like it. We spent a good 4 hours walking through all of the different buildings and exhibits (both indoor and outdoor). We definitely spent more time relishing the indoor exhibits because the A/C was glorious. But it was actually a VERY cool and interesting visit. We learned a lot about the heritage of Chesapeake Bay, the boating history that built the towns around it and how much it has changed. Even modern-day boating exhibits were displayed which was kind of cool. Lots of history and culture and cool wooden boats.

By the time we were finished with the exhibit…we were FINISHED. Literally. Our bodies were a wreck. I was kind of sick this morning and the heat of the sun didn’t help at all. So by lunchtime we decided to grab a meal at The Crab Claw (right next to the dinghy dock) to enjoy some icy cold water and yummy New England seafood. It was pretty good…not amazing (at least not for the price), but beggars can’t be choosers! We were just happy for the reprieve and for hot cooked food we didn’t have to do anything to prepare.

The rest of the day passed slowly in the sweltering heat. I actually managed to do our laundry (which was piling up after a week). It was really nice because I got all wet and cool from the water. Jake attempted to fix a small fuel leak in our dinghy’s outboard engine, but turned out he ended up breaking the fuel line. There goes our outboard engine! And being that we are still weeks away from landing anywhere to get it repaired (or get materials to repair it ourselves), now we are stuck with rowing everywhere. Not a huge deal except when we have our heavy bikes and tons of gear to tow back and forth. Go figure…

The rest of our night passed in a haze. We were so tired from the trek the day before and still not over it by the end of the next day. We weren’t terribly impressed with Saint Michaels though. Probably because it was so crowded and touristy and nothing really special. Everything seemed way overpriced too. Perhaps it was just because we were tired and hot and uncomfortable for so long.

Its really tough living on a boat sometimes, during the hottest part of the year in a hot and humid area. Its like, there’s only so much our minds and bodies can suffer before we want to call it quits. I guess Jake and I still have a lot of toughening up to do.