C-Pearl (aka SeaJamm): Chesapeake to Delaware to Cape May NJ (3 states in 2 days)

St. Michaels, MD

May 9-11

St Michaels marina is one of the prettiest I've seen. Still not quite the season, we were the only boat there Wednesday night. There was a beautiful pool, but the water is still to cold for us to swim.

The small town is only a block away, and we managed to stroll the entire area. Alan toured the Chesapeake Bay Maritime museum while Sherry perused the shops in town.

Talbot Street, the main street in St. Michaels.

Friday morning we say goodbye to our Canadian friends who had joined us Thursday night and head to Annapolis, hoping to get there before the weekend crowd so we can catch a mooring ball. Cruising is getting shorter because the further north you get, the bay is getting more narrow.

Leaving St Michaels.

Mother's Day weekend at Annapolis MD

May 11-13

We caught our mooring ball, and as expected, the mooring field filled up by Saturday afternoon. Many boats and a weekend sailing regatta. We were also joined by our friends John and Sheena on Next Act.

Shopping district.

A view from the water of Annapolis. See the mooring balls.

Another view from the water.

Two visitors.

One that did not want to leave.

Fun activities all day on Saturday. A perfect day to be in the water.

Sailing regatta.

We finally found a great breakfast place with a huge varied menu, the Iron Rooster. They served potatoes latkes and homemade pop tarts. We had the brown sugar ones Saturday and the mixed fruit on Sunday.

Saturday morning, Alan gave me a tour of the Naval Academy. Having lived in the area, and since his sister, Ingrid and her husband were teachers there, he was familiar with the campus. What an astonishing place!

That afternoon, the Captain aka SEA JAMM's boat mechanic replaced the port alternator. He ordered the part from Seattle Friday and they overnighted to Annapolis and it arrived around Saturday around noon. It took him less than 2 hours to complete his task.

A fine ending to a beautiful Saturday,

Ingrid, his sister visited us Sunday. She drove over from Reston and brought the mail she had been collecting for us. There are mail services that collect you mail and will forward items to the nearest marina. Ingrid agreed to do this service for her. She will be joining us a couple of times on our trip.

Monday, May 14^th

Saying “goodbye” to Chesapeake

Monday we left early in the fog. Most boats are equipped with a fog horn and our blows every 2 minutes automatically. Chesapeake Bay Bridge fright outside of Annapolis has great fog horn that blows about every 2 minutes as well. Most of the day was gray. We arrived at Chesapeake City, the beginning of the C & D (Chesapeake & Delaware) Canal.

Dashboard of SEA JAMM's pilot house.

Radar. The thick line in the center is the Chesapeake Bridge.

Chesapeake Bridge.

We hooked up to the electric power and filled our water tanks. When you are on a mooring ball, you have no electricity, which has been our case for the past 3 days! You use the generator or the inverter to charge our phones. The refrigerator runs on its own battery.

However, the first thing we did was have celebratory drinks! The Captain actually let his first mate dock SEA JAMM! All by herself!