Triangle Loop – Week 9 (Traveling The Chesapeake)

June 22nd to June 28th

Day 56 – Sunday, June 22nd, 2025 – In: Solomons, MD

Brenda was feeling much better, so we went to Boomerangs Original Ribs & Seafood for their “Best Breakfast In Maryland”. It was as advertised! The portions were huge and the food was excellent. If you stay in Solomons, be sure to check it out, but go early or expect a wait, as they are VERY busy!

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After breakfast, we did some boat maintenance. I pumped out our waste tanks, then Brenda went to do a couple of loads of laundry while I filled up the water tanks and rinsed down the boat. It was another hot day, 87° by 11:00. We spent the rest of the morning on the boat in the air conditioning, working on the blog, loading our routes for the week into the navigation system, and in general getting the boat ready for the next leg of our trip.

In the evening, we put the bikes back on the boat and had leftovers for dinner.

Day 57 – Monday, June 23rd, 2025 – To: Oxford, MD
Safeharbor Oxford Marina

• From: Solomons, MD
• To: Oxford, MD – Safeharbor Oxford
• Start Time: 8:45 am
• Dock Time: 12:35 pm
• Time Underway: 3 h 50 m
• Miles Traveled: 33.4 NM (38.4 statute miles)
• Average Speed: 8.7 knots (10.0 mph)
• Draw Bridges Opened: 0 Locks: 0
• Weather: 85°-95° – Clear Sunny
• Winds: 0-12 mph – Waves: 0-Chop

It was a hot day. At dawn, it was already 85°. We had a short day, just 38 miles across the Chesapeake Bay to Oxford, MD. We are trying to visit towns that we have never been to, and Oxford is one of those. We cast off from Solomons just before 9:00 and headed out through Solomons Harbor. Check-in at Oxford was after 12:00, so we kept to about 10 mph for most of the way.

As we left Solomons Harbor and entered the Patuxent River, we passed the Patuxent Naval Air Station, where Navy test pilots are trained and where the Navy develops its new aircraft technology. During our stay, we saw some pretty interesting aircraft flying around. Exiting the Patuxent River and entering Chesapeake Bay, we passed the Calvert Cliffs. These are sand cliffs that line the western shore. We learned that the sand is filled with fossils. There is a state park where you can explore the cliffs, but it’s too far to visit by bike. Maybe on our next trip, we’ll Uber there to explore.

Next, we passed Cove Point and the Cove Point Lighthouse. Unlike most of the lighthouses on the Chesapeake, this one is on land and is more like the traditional lighthouse with the light keeper’s cottage attached. Just offshore from the lighthouse is a huge liquefied natural gas loading terminal. This is where huge LNG carrier ships pick up LNG for export to other parts of the world. There wasn’t a ship being loaded, so we were able to pass relatively close.

As we crossed the Chesapeake, we kept seeing disturbances in the water. At first we thought it was either a dolphin or schools of fish. We kept watch, and saw some small fins sticking above the surface; it was Skates! (Stingrays) We saw a bunch of them. Normally, they stay near the bottom, but it must be mating season as we saw them in pairs and, err…., very close!

We pulled into Oxford around 12:30. It was over 97° when we docked the boat. Once we were tied up, we retreated into the cool inside. It’s just too hot! Brenda wrote some postcards, and I worked on the blog. We walked up to the marina office to inquire about mailing the postcards, and they advised us to go to the post office in town. It was too hot to walk in, so we just went back to the boat. Around 3:00, we started hearing what sounded like air raid sirens! With the NLG facility, a nuclear power plant, and several military installations nearby, we stuck our heads out of the boat to see what was going on. It turns out to be the signal for the local volunteer fire department.

At 5:00, we walked about 1/2 a mile into town to the Robert Morris Inn for dinner. It was 98° with a feels like of 108°, fortunately, the streets are lined with old trees and we were in the shade for most of the way.

This is an Inn that was originally the home of Robert Morris, a financier during the Revolutionary War. The building has been in existence since 1710 and has served as Robert Morris’ home, the town hall, a general store, a soldiers’ convalescent home, and, in 1940, was converted into an Inn.

We had dinner in the tavern, which feels like it was built around 1710! Very rustic. Brenda had the fish and chips, and I had the steak frites; both were very good. Our friends on Legacy who live in the area said that no visit to Oxford would be complete without a visit to the Scottish Highlands Creamery for ice cream. The Creamery was just down the street from the Inn, so after dinner we walked down. On the way, we wanted to mail Brenda’s postcards, so we walked a block to the post office. As we got close, we noticed that there was a lot of yellow tape all around the building and the mailbox. I checked it out, and the fire signal that we heard was for the post office, which had caught fire that day! So, I’m glad we didn’t go earlier. The inside of the building looked pretty charred and our postcards might have burned up! We’ll have to mail them at our next stop. (The news the next day said that it was an electrical fire in the eves of the building)

We continued to the Scottish Highlands Creamery and had some dessert. The ice cream was as good as advertised and a welcome cool down! After we ate our ice cream, we walked across the street to a park and were able to find a Geocache, #523! We walked back to the boat, pausing to watch a couple of wild rabbits rolling in the dust to cool off. By the time we got back to the boat, we were both soaked with sweat. The sun was setting, and there wasn’t a lot of shade, so it was pretty hot. When we got back to the boat, we both took showers to cool down before bed.

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Day 58 – Tuesday, June 24th, 2025 – To: Havre de Grace, MD (HAV-er-dee-grace)
Tidewater Marina

• From: Oxford, MD
• To: Havre de Grace,MD – Tidewater Marina
• Start Time: 8:20 am
• Dock Time: 1:35 pm
• Time Underway: 5 h 17 m
• Miles Traveled: 72.6 NM (83.6 statute miles)
• Average Speed: 13.7 knots (18.7 mph)
• Draw Bridges Opened: 0 Locks: 0
• Weather: 85°-95° – Sunny
• Winds: 0-8 mph – Waves: 0-1 ft

I woke up just after 5:00 when a fishing boat left in a hurry and rocked the boat. The sun still hadn’t come up, but it was already 85° and very sticky. Today we are going about 84 miles to Havre de Grace, MD, at the top end of the Chesapeake Bay. This is another town that we’ve never visited. We considered going to Baltimore, but we’ve been there several times already, and with the heat, being in a city isn’t very desirable. We will be coming back down the bay on our trip home in the fall, so we might stop then.

We left Oxford at 8:30 and headed up the bay. Aside from hot, there was not much excitement except for going past the anchorage for Baltimore Harbor, and passing under the Bay Bridge. We ran at 2600 rpm, which gives us about 16 knots (18.5 mph), so that we had some breeze to keep us cool. We got to Havre de Grace and Tidewater Marina. We stopped at the fuel dock first to fill up. While we were fueling, the mayflies (no one had told them it was almost July) covered the boat! After fueling, we backed into our slip (right across from the fuel dock) and settled in for the two nights.

In the afternoon, we rode the bikes into town. It was hot, 95°. We stopped at MacGregor’s, an old bank that has been converted into a bar and restaurant. We had our docking beer and a snack, then went to Abbey Burgers for dinner, followed by Bomboy’s Homemade Ice Cream for dessert, before returning to the boat to cool off. When we got to the marina, the security gate was closed. We had forgotten to take a picture of the marina codes. While I went to see if I could somehow climb over the gate, Brenda went to the keypad and noticed that three of the numbers had the paint worn off. She pushed them in order, 1-3-5, and the gate opened! High security!

Day 59 – Wednesday, June 25th, 2025 – In: Havre de Grace, MD

I woke up at 5:00 am on Wednesday and got up to work on some Clever Boater stuff. Just after 6:00, I started hearing a beep, which quickly spread through the boat. Our Fire Alarm system went off! Brenda was still sleeping, but quickly came rushing out of the bedroom. The alarm was reporting a fire in the master bedroom (our front bedroom). When one of our detectors goes off, they all (6 of them) go off. It was quickly apparent that there was no smoke or fire in the bedroom, so I tried to reset the detector; however, the reset function didn’t work! “Beep, Beep, Beep, FIRE! FIRE! Evacuate! Fire Detected in Master Bedroom” echoed throughout the boat and outside. It was lucky that we didn’t have anyone staying on boats next door!

I finally ran around the boat, removing the batteries from the detectors. Finally, they stopped alarming. We have detectors installed in the engine room, the lazarette (where our generator is located), and upstairs on the flybridge, as well as in the salon and both bedrooms. Once it quieted down, I looked up the instruction manual and found that I was holding the reset button too long. It’s a quick press to silence, a long press is the test function. I need to put a label on the detectors so I remember for next time. It did show that the system works! Brenda figured out what set it off. We have one of those Glade automatic air fresheners that sprays every 20 minutes or so. Because of the heat, I had adjusted one of our bedroom fans when I got up, and it was blowing the mist from the air freshener right into the smoke detector.

After breakfast, we rode the bikes to the south end of town to the Friends-Concord Point Lighthouse. We passed it on the way in, so we wanted to visit it from shore. It’s a pretty lighthouse in a town park. Across from the lighthouse is the lightkeeper’s cottage, which was also very quaint. They are only open for tours on weekends, so we were not able to go inside.

Next to the park is the Harve de Grace Maritime Museum. A small but interesting museum featuring exhibits on the maritime history of Havre de Grace and the surrounding Susquehanna River area. On the lower level of the museum is a boat shop where they build and repair wooden boats. In the parking lot, they have an Osprey nest box with a live camera feed. The Ospreys have two chicks in the nest. You can watch them here.

After the Maritime Museum, we rode next door to the Havre de Grace Decoy Museum. Havre de Grace calls itself the hub of the waterfowl hunting decoy craft. At one time, there were nine companies producing duck and other waterfowl decoys. The museum is a beautiful building overlooking the river with nicely manicured grounds. Inside are 1000’s of decoys of all types. The museum features displays of decoys, including a wax figure of significant figures in the development of decoys in Havre de Grace. They are fascinating and a little creepy!

After the Decoy Museum, we rode back into town, stopping at Bomboy’s Homemade Candy (across the street from their Ice Cream shop). I think we put on a pound just smelling the chocolate! We bought two pieces of their signature fudge, then stopped back at the boat to put it in the refrigerator before it melted.

From there, we rode into town to the Washington Street business district. Like in Hampton, they are redoing the street with paving bricks. We stopped into a few shops to look around. Most of the shops in town are antique and vintage themed, or art galleries. It was approaching noon, and the temperature was at 93°, so popping in and out of the air-conditioned stores kept us cool.

When we visited the Maritime Museum, they recommended that we also visit the Old Lock House Museum. Havre de Grace was the end of the Susquehanna River Canal system that brought goods from Pennsylvania to the port for onward shipping. The canals have been closed and mostly filled in, but the lock house and the first lock are still visible. Again, we could not go inside as it is only open on the weekends. We were able to do a Geocache while we were there. We were pretty hot, so we stopped back at MacGregor’s for something cool to drink, before stopping at one more art gallery we had seen.

Just outside the marina gate, there are a number of old warehouses. The walls of the warehouses, some two and three stories tall, are covered with murals. It is called Graw Alley at Harmer’s Town Art Center. The Murals are very well done and depict scenes from the area’s history. We walked around looking at the murals and taking photos before heading back to the boat to cool down.

Our friend Captain Chris is building a YouTube channel, “Captain Chris And His Trains,” with videos that show both working and model railroads. He asked us to capture videos of the railroad bridges we pass as we travel. With the very busy Amtrak Susquehanna Railroad Bridge right behind the boat, it was a perfect opportunity! I rode to the end of the parking lot and got some great videos of the Amtrak trains, which pass about every 15 minutes.

In the evening, we went to the Market Street Brewery, next to the marina, for a beer. They were shoveling out the mash hoppers, and baging it up for the local pigs. The place smelled amazing! Then we rode to the Tidewater Grille, a restaurant situated on the waterfront that overlooks the river, marinas, and the railroad bridge, and enjoyed a lovely dinner while taking in the surrounding activity. After dinner, we rode back to the boat and stowed the bikes aboard in preparation for an early departure in the morning.

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Day 60 – Thursday, June 26th, 2025 – To: Cape May, NJ
South Jersey Marina

• From: Havre de Grace, MD
• To: Cape May, NJ – South Jersey Marina
• Start Time: 7:20 am
• Dock Time: 1:30 pm
• Time Underway: 6 h 07 m
• Miles Traveled: 84.1 NM (96.8 statute miles)
• Average Speed: 13.7 knots (15.8 mph)
• Draw Bridges Opened: 0 Locks: 0
• Weather: 78°-92°-73° – Clear
• Winds: 1-8 mph – Waves: 0-1 ft

Thursday, we got an early start as we had a long day, 97 miles, with part of it through the 14-mile-long Chesapeake and Delaware Canal (C&D Canal), which is a no-wake zone for most of its length. Brenda found a geocache related to the murals. To log the cache, you need to answer questions about some of the murals. She could find most of the answers in our photos, but was missing a few, and walked up to get them before we cast off. Just as the sun was rising, we dropped our lines. The entrance to the marina is very narrow, and we had to jockey to get out of our slip and out into the river.

We cruised back down the Susquehanna River and back to Chesapeake Bay, and the entrance to the C&D Canal. We went past the Turkey Point Lighthouse, perched high on a bluff above the water. It was warm, already almost 80°, but there was no wind, which made for a very smooth ride. The only issue we encountered was dodging lots of debris, sticks, logs, and dead fish floating in the river. We had the current behind us and got an extra three mph push!

We entered the C&D canal and slowed down. We were still going with the tide, so even though the engines were just over idle, we were still traveling over 10 mph. Great for fuel economy. As we passed Chesapeake City, another boat joined us in the canal. Our Friends on Breakaway had spent the night in Chesapeake City and had left around 7:00 am. They travel about half our speed, so they wanted to get a head start. As we were traveling down the canal, we heard a large ship call out to them and ask them to pull over so that it could pass.

The Canal is lined with trees and features a few bridges, but nothing particularly special. We watched bikers on the canal path whizzing past us. At 10:00, we exited the canal into Delaware Bay. The Bay is the primary route from the Atlantic to the ports of Philadelphia and Trenton, New Jersey. This is our third transit of the Bay, and we always pass large ships. The distance from the C&D Canal to the Cape May Canal is just over 50 miles. Along the way, there are several lighthouses, and we saw some more skates and a sea turtle.

Halfway down the Bay, we saw our friends on Breakaway in the distance; they were dodging another pair of large inbound ships. As we caught up with them, we snapped a few pictures and chatted on the radio, giving them some hints on a shorter route to Cape May.

At 1:00, we reached the Cape May Canal, a shortcut across the bottom of the cape. At the entrance is the Cape May Lewes ferry that brings vehicles and passengers across the end of Delaware Bay between New Jersey and Delaware. Just as we entered the canal, we heard a radio call that the ferry was dropping lines and backing out. The channel is not that wide, so we kept up our speed to get past them quickly. As soon as we were clear, they backed out.

The marina we are staying at is the South Jersey Marina, tucked into a corner of Cape May Harbor. It’s very protected and is close to town. We went past the fishing fleet and called into the marina. We had to back into our slip. The wind had picked up, and while we got into the slip easily, we had to get help from the dock crew to get tied up as the wind kept blowing the boat off the dock. By 1:30, we were in and tied up. Next to us on the dock was the boat Peregrine with Steve and Victoria. They had spent the night in Chesapeake City with Breakaway and had become friends. We introduced ourselves and arranged for the crews of the three boats to go to dinner together.

As we were settling in, we heard VERY loud thrusters, and looked up to see a 200 ft super yacht, “Sun Chaser”, squeezing in between the buildings to dock at the marina. It barely fit! They had a crew on all sides and had even sent their tender ahead with two crew to catch lines and watch from the dock. As they were getting settled, the harbor Pilot Boat came zooming in, rocking all of the boats in the marina. They were collecting their fee from the Sun Chaser. It was quite the show!

About 15 minutes later, another large yacht, Sea Clef, pulled in and docked next to Sun Chaser. Everyone was out on the docks watching the excitement. There were high winds and heavy thunderstorms forecast for overnight, so even the big boats were coming in for the night.

When we docked the boat at 1:30, it was 93°. The wind shifted, and by 5:00, when we went to dinner, the temperature had dropped to 73°! What a change in just a few hours. After two weeks of 90° days, it felt downright chilly!

We all met at a pizza shop across from the marina and had a great time talking boating and sharing stories. When we got back to the boat at 7:30, the temps had dropped into the upper 60s.

As predicted, the rain started after dark, and around midnight, we got heavy rain and lightning. We were just dropping off when there was a crack and a bang, close enough to shake the boat and startle us awake. We don’t know what it hit, but there are lots of large sailboats with tall masts around us, so it may have been one of them.

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Day 61 – Friday, June 27th, 2025 – In: Cape May, NJ

We had more heavy rain overnight, and it continued through the morning. The temperature was 65° when we got up, and never got over 68° all day. We stayed on the boat, working on blogs and writing postcards until about 12:30. The rain had stopped, and there was no more rain on radar or in the forecast until evening, so we took the marina shuttle into Cape May. Downtown Cape May has a pedestrian mall with lots of shops and restaurants. It was very crowded, with the cooler weather, few people went to the beach, so everyone was downtown shopping. We wandered around for a couple of hours looking into shops, and then stopped at the “Ugly Mug” for a snack.

When we came back out, a fog and mist were rolling in, and it felt like it was raining lightly. We plan to return to town tomorrow, and the weather is expected to improve, so we called the shuttle, headed back to the marina, and spent the rest of the day on the boat.

Around 5:00, three Fleming Yachts arrived, one of each size: 55, 65, and 85 feet. They had run over 150 miles today from Herrington Harbor in Deal, Maryland. One was called Dress Gray, one was named Revellie, and the third was Adagio. Checking their port calls, it looks like they travel together frequently.

For dinner, we had the leftover pizza from last night. We are monitoring the weather closely, as our next leg is approximately 125 miles offshore—first 40 miles to Atlantic City, NJ, then 85 miles to Sandy Hook, NJ. Our new friends on Peregrine are taking the same route. They cruise at a similar speed to us, and we are planning to travel together. It’s always nice to have a buddy boat when offshore.

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Day 62 – Saturday, June 28th, 2025 – In: Cape May, NJ

Saturday morning started foggy, but it quickly burned off to become a beautiful day. Sunny and in the mid-80s. Around 11:00, we met up with Deb & Greg from Breakaway and rode our bikes into town. Brenda wanted to take the History Tour Trolley Ride, so we bought tickets and then walked around until 1:00, when our tour began. The tour took us around the historic district to see all of the Victorian homes. Since 1976, it has not been permitted to alter the façade of any historic homes, and any new homes built must adhere to the Victorian style. The only exterior change allowed is the paint color, so you’ll see lots of unique paint schemes. Take a look at the Trolley Tour photos. The tour guide said that homes in the historic district start at around $ 4 million, and waterfront homes, around $ 12 million.

The tour returned at 2:30, and we met up with Deb and Greg to go for a drink and a snack. Then we rode back to the boat and put the bikes back on board, preparing for departure the following morning.

In the evening, we walked next door to The Lobster House, a huge restaurant on the Fishing Pier. Our slip is only about 500 feet from them across the channel. In the evenings, we’ve been hearing the music from their Schooner Bar, a two-masted schooner that they have converted into a floating bar. We had an excellent dinner. I had pan-seared scallops, and Brenda had baked stuffed shrimp.

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Recap of the week

We traveled 218 miles this week, bringing our total to 1,206 miles so far. We made our way up the Chesapeake Bay, through the C&D Canal, and down the Delaware Bay to Cape May, New Jersey, where we will travel outside in the Atlantic for two days next week on our way to New York City and the Hudson River.

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Thanks For Visiting! – Tom & Brenda