Venture Bound to DC Part 1. One Year On Our Boat Day 1 and 2
Day 1 and 2
Well, here we are.! 25 years of dreaming. Keith is retired now and off we go.
What? Where?
What? To live on our boat, Venture, for a year
Where? Exploring the northeast coast of the U.S. We will then take a one month break to then take off to explore the southeast coast of the U.S and hopefully continuing as far south as the Bahamas.
This is a dream my husband has had, again, for 25 years. Which now has become mine. We purchase our boat about 7 years ago. We wanted to get it early so we could get used to it. The opportunity arrived a bit sooner than anticipated so we bought the boat in 2017. Our original plan was to do the Great Loop. The GL is approx. 6000 miles that loops around from the northeast into the Great Lakes, Canada, down the Mississippi, down the Gulf of Mexico, around Florida and back up to Annapolis, MD. Annapolis is home for us. Our start is here. But we discovered two bridges that are fixed. Which means they do not open. Both bridges are both about 19’ high. Our air draft is 23’. Oops!!! Something to consider if you plan on trying to do the Great Loop yourself.
Instead, we are altering our plan. Doing the East Coast within a year. Keith’s second year of retirement (I have a dream too), we will live if France if all goes well. If our plans go as we hope, the third year we may buy a different boat and finish the rest of the Loop. As for now, we will be living on our dream boat and living the dream. Our dream.
Before we head north, we decided to do a shakedown cruise to make sure all is working as it should. We decided to spend ten days on the Chesapeake Bay. Including these stops in Maryland; Oxford, Solomon’s Island, go up the Potomac River to spend time in DC and anchor a few times in unfamiliar rivers.
Fuel up the tank, fill the water tank, provision the boat and off we go!
Day 1….April 29. 2024
After a pretty wet spring, we could not have asked for better weather on departure day. No winds! No clouds! 80 degrees! Venture ran well! We ran about 4 hours. The Bay was calm and beautiful. We arrived and docked with no hiccups. We did have one small thing along the way. The spotlight switch broke and fell in the dashboard. Uh oh! Not a major thing. We only need it at night, and I don’t like to run Venture at night anyway. We will have time get it fixed before we start heading North. No worries.
Oh, and I forgot to mention my son provided us with his incredible sourdough bread and cinnamon rolls for the trip. If you are in the Annapolis area you can place an order. SO SO SO GOOD!!! www.eatgratefull.com
What a charming town. Friendly and welcoming. The streets are quiet and pretty. It is Spring time so many flowers and trees were blooming. Get the antihistamine!!! ;)
We arrived in the afternoon and by the time we docked, settled and got our bikes out we had just enough time to take the Ferry from Oxford to St Michael’s and back to the Ferry by 5:45 to catch the last ride back to Oxford. Thank goodness we were able to use the E-bikes. If we had to peddle the whole way, we would have missed the last ferry ride. We know St Michael’s well and knew exactly where to go for a quick drink. Carpenter’s Saloon. Dive bar at its finest. It has good food, good drinks, live music and great bartenders. We were happy that Mary Ann was working that day. What a hoot!!! In such a good way. The ferry ride is not a must. St Michael’s is only about 10 miles away. You can ride a bike all the way, walk if you feel fit enough or catch an Uber (If you can find one). But the Ferry is a nice ride. It costs $7.00 each way. It holds 9 cars, motorcycles, bikes and pedestrians. The ride is only about 10-15 mins long. Just check the schedule before you head over.
After freshening up we walked to Pope’s Tavern’s Italian restaurant. The food was wonderful. Many locals were there and some were quite funny. We even made a friend, Connie. Another hoot!!! Made it back to Venture ready to call it a night. It was a terrific first day.
Day 2…..April 30, 2024
Oxford:
We woke up and took things slow. Had our coffees, read, caught up on a series on Netflix. While I was doing that Keith was playing around on the boat. He found some water in the engine room. You know, that is always questionable…water in the boat not around the boat?? Keith wasn’t too worried but decided to go buy a small shopvac to suck the water up. That way he could then watch to see where the water might be leaking from. If it was leaking?!?! He could not find one to buy but Safe Harbor was nice enough to give him one. They happened to have one that was just hanging around. They were not even sure if it would work but it did. Kind of. Enough. After that I took about a lovely 3 mile walk. We put the Mini Venture, the rib (dingy), in the water and took a small tour of the Tred Avon River followed with lunch at the Capsized waterfront restaurant. Lunch was delicious.
We met a couple who is doing the Great Loop, Patti and Corbin. It’s their second attempt. We chatted for a while and got some info on a person who knows Grand Banks yachts very well. It’s a good thing to know if ever we are in search of anything for Venture. We put Mini Venture away and chilled a bit. We had to check in at the yacht club, TAYC. We had a drink there outside looking at the river. I must mention the fake wolves on the docks. They keep the birds away. Birds can be quite messy on docks. The fake wolves seemed to work. We wanted to check out a few more things in Oxford so we went to Doc’s Sunset Grill and Robert Morris Inn & Tavern. This is the oldest Tavern/Inn in the country.
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