Through the light veil of mist that June morning on the Chesapeake Bay, I could clearly see the small motorcraft bearing right down on us like a deranged chain saw. It was perfectly obvious to me that, all things being equal, the little menace would be neatly scissoring off our bow in less than 60 seconds. Yet Capt. Mike Richards, standing sturdily beside me, was not changing course.
"Uh hum," I ventured. "That boat sure looks close."
Brad Schofield of Westport, Conn., right, steers the Schooner Sultana with help from Spencer Hickman, left, and Reid Hickman, both of Yardley, Pa.
(Photo by Art Baltrotsky)
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A chuckle. "Don't worry," he advised. Then, with impressive politeness, our captain pointed to a securely mounted electronic chart display of our position in the water. Here everything looked clear as day: the water safely still, bright blue, contained; the land solid, in its proper place. "Now here we are and this is our trajectory. As long as that boat is bearing off from our path, he's gonna pass behind us or in front of us. This one's gonna pass behind us." And so he did.
This was my first voyage out on "big water," cruising around the bay for three or four hours with an officially certified captain. For years I had stood timidly by the water's edge like a wallflower, watching the boating party go by. Finally, I accepted the fact that some people just aren't meant to negotiate buoys, read navigational charts or shimmy their own 42-foot sailboat into a slip. But I still badly wanted to get the feel of open water and see the whole sweep of the shoreline behind me. The solution was simpler than expected: Take a commercial boat tour.
Right from the start, I was thrilled to learn that our captain was a naval officer and had served on a destroyer for four years. And that our boat was a good 36 feet long. I knew the odds: Eighty-five percent of motorboat accidents occur in crafts under 25 feet in length. Now I could just relax and indulge my curiosity about the bay, with its convoluted 11,600-mile shoreline, including tidal wetlands and islands. According to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, this shore is longer than the entire West Coast of the United States. However, it is almost entirely privately owned: Only 2 percent of the waterfront is accessible by land to the general public. Anyone with a hankering to see the remaining 98 percent of the bay's intricate edgewater life had better head for the water.
What's out there? There are a whole lot of skippers who'd love to show you. Take your pick from schooners to skipjacks, speedboats to fat, sassy tour boats -- whatever your stomach and pocketbook can bear. I sampled the boating excursions below, but there are many more water experiences listed at the end of this story. All are within an easy 90-minute drive of Washington. Grab your hats and sunscreen -- a unique tango of land and water awaits.
The M/V Sharps Island Lighthouse Tour
So we're tearing up the bay at 18 knots per hour, angel wings of sparkling foam flying from our flanks, a rich, loamy swath of wake behind. Richards is at the helm of his lovingly restored 1950s Navy landing craft. We are on a mission out of Tilghman Island, about 30 miles south of St. Michaels, to see five 19th-century lighthouses still active in the bay.
Why lighthouses? Well, first, they serve a practical purpose for seafarers, guiding ships through treacherous waters. But these points of light also inspire a quiet poetry for many landlubbers. On the outside, they appear lonely beacons of truth, guideposts in life's storm; from within, we imagine their monkish keepers upholding the forces of good, there to extend a helping hand amid a vast unknown.
Our first lighthouse reminded me of yet another metaphor -- blind endurance. Bloody Point juts out of the water like a huge, off-kilter, rusty nail. Since 1882 its iron caisson has been beaten by the tides and crushed by ice floes, but it still valiantly stands to perform its duty. In 1960 Bloody Point's equipment house blew up in a fiery conflagration that threatened to consume two young Coast Guard keepers. At that time, the interior was swept out and its systems automated with solar panels. Like all active lighthouses in the bay today, Bloody Point throws its coded light signals and fog warnings but remains unmanned.
With much water to cover, we didn't tarry. We roared on toward the most picturesque lighthouse in the bay, Thomas Point Shoal. This brilliantly white hexagonal house, rising from the water on spidery legs, is probably the most photographed beacon in the Chesapeake. Thomas Point rightfully belongs to the pantheon of great historical lighthouses, grandstanding on T-shirts, mugs and ankle socks in every tourist shop ashore.
Romance aside, Thomas Point also has a vital role to play in navigation. This beacon guards the hazard-filled edge of the bay's main shipping channel, warning little knockabouts and large ships alike to watch their bearings -- or else. Crossing the shipping lane, we saw a spectacular menagerie of vessels: tugboats, ketches, schooners, capacious yachts, little bugeyes bobbing against their anchors like rocking horses. But most amazing were the massive cargo ships plying their way up to Baltimore Harbor: Sinister, brooding, inexorable, they skulked through the water like alien empires.
More than two hours of our 36-mile half-day tour was up, and we scooted quickly under the Bay Bridge to Sandy Point Lighthouse, a droll, red brick Victorian folly that looked as if it had accidentally washed out to sea. Our cheeks numb with salt spray and wind, we visited two more lighthouses on the way back to port, each winsomely eccentric. The trip was truly exhilarating, but I must confess that the first step onto the hot, splintered wood of the Knapp's Narrows Marine dock felt sweet, as did the cool beer and Key lime pie waiting at the marina's dockside crab house.
The Rebecca T. Ruark Skipjack
The Rebecca T. Ruark is one of the last of a dwindling fleet of oyster-dredging skipjacks to sail the bay. The Chesapeake once swarmed with these romantic vessels, which hauled in 15 million bushels of oysters in the glory days of the 19th century. Today those legendary catches have all but disappeared and with them a certain in-your-bones knowledge of the bay, the kind you acquire as a waterman when the only depth-finder is your memory and the only barometer a changing cast of sky.
Third-generation waterman Capt. Wade Murphy shares some of this lore on his two-hour sails out of Dogwood Harbor off Tilghman Island. Murphy is a wiry, energetic, sun-burnished old salt -- a bay "treasure," as the historians like to say -- and he's adroitly shifted his sails to new economic winds. He dredges up more tales these days than oysters, regaling his passengers with harrowing adventures at sea, including the Rebecca Ruark's much-ballyhooed sinking in a sudden 50 mph squall in 1999. With "44 years of drudging behind him," the skipper also deftly portrays the life cycles of crabs and oysters and the numerous forces, natural and artificial, that have reduced their numbers to such appalling lows -- the entire catch of oysters for bay watermen last season was a paltry 400,000 bushels down from 17 million bushels at the turn of the century.
Weather permitting, Murphy lets his freshman crew sail this historic skipjack. You can hoist its huge 200-pound mainsail, work the tiller and drop the dredge net for a demonstration haul of oysters. With its bowsprit as sharp as a swordfish and its racy, sinuous curves, the Rebecca Ruark offers a unique, and possibly vanishing, opportunity to sail a piece of Chesapeake history.
The Cambridge Lady's
James A. Michener Tour
What do you get when you cross an ex-merchant marine officer with a retired history teacher? Frank and Sheri Herbert's tour of James Michener's historic novel "Chesapeake," of course. Michener lived on the Choptank River, which divides Maryland's Talbot and Dorchester counties, for a few years in the early 1970s. He chose the area for the same reason we might wish to see it today: The shoreline hasn't really changed much in 300 years.
Michener's bestselling epic "Chesapeake" has the author's usual cast of unsung heroes and hopeless villains, most of whom he found along the north shore of the Choptank. Frank and Sheri Herbert, the Cambridge Lady's owners and tour guides, provide a fascinating account of the development of Michener's ideas on the bay's history as well as a map guide to many of his fabled locales. Turlock Marsh, land of the nearly savage Turlock watermen; Devon Island, homestead of the plantation-owning Steeds; and the Quaker Paxmore's family landing at Peace Cliff are all part of the mythical geography of this riverboat tour from Cambridge to the 17th-century town of Oxford.
The Cambridge Lady is a small, festive, tugboat-style tourer with brightly varnished beamed ceilings and an open foredeck lined with bench seating. A river cruise is quite different from crossing the open bay; assuming the weather is calm, the ride is a pleasant, meditative amble with little of the determined charge necessitated by large distance. We quietly hummed up the Choptank and glided into the Tred Avon River to Oxford. We lunched by the harbor at the 18th-century Robert Morris Inn, still safely within our Michener theme -- the author thought the award-winning inn had the best crab cakes on the Eastern Shore -- and then, under the tutelage of a local historian, strolled through the lovely residential streets of a town that time has gracefully left behind.
For shore-huggers curious about waterfront life, river cruises are a great way to go. The pace is perfect for ogling those waterfront homes -- both for people and birds. And your binoculars stay nice and dry.
The Annapolitan II Day Trip: Annapolis to Rock Hall
Allow yourself to believe, as you embark on the Annapolitan II, that you are going on a long, adventurous sea voyage. All the signs are there: captain and deck mates properly attired in nautical caps with gold insignia; a tan, brawny arm to help you up the gangplank; and the boat itself a perfect 65-foot miniature of a seafaring cruise ship. Doughnuts and fresh coffee await, and a snack bar with food and spirits invites you to sidle into the richly varnished booths lining the picture windows encasing the lower deck. With the first subtle rock of this cheerful, shipshape vessel, you know you're on holiday. Park your brain at the dock -- it won't be any better than a fried oyster in an hour anyway -- and then just lie back and let the sun, wind and water work their magic.
Our nominal excuse for the day's journey was a visit to Rock Hall, a fishing and crabbing village on Maryland's Eastern Shore dating from the 1700s. This was a first voyage to Rock Hall for Watermark Cruises, which runs a fleet of nine ships out of Annapolis to various points, and they took the occasion (I suspect they take all occasions) to celebrate. After a short history of the Annapolis harbor, a banjo player sang tall tales of wily watermen and legendary oyster hauls on the bay. A waterman of the old breed was also on hand to describe the peculiar tricks to capturing the exotic creatures of the Chesapeake. On the lower deck, nature photographer and Rock Hall resident Heather Davidson shared stories and evocative images culled from a different kind of hunting and shooting.
A trolley car met us at the dock in Rock Hall and its driver narrated an amusingly self-deprecating history of the town. Accurately reflecting its commercial center, the village has an extensive waterfront and a very small main street -- two blocks to be exact. But the galleries, boat rental shops, restaurants and bed-and-breakfasts off the water bespeak a quiet sophistication. Many artists and exurb retirees have settled in the area, and Rock Hall exudes a serene appreciation of its natural beauties.
Homeward bound. Now the return trip is where the real therapy takes place -- by this time you're as basted and stuffed as a Christmas goose. Thought is impossible. You're just a rudderless piece of plankton pushed and pulled by the tides. About 45 minutes out of Annapolis I vaguely recall rumors of severe thunderstorm warnings ahead. In the distance the sky crackled darkly with a fusillade of thunder. I looked up and, sure enough, there was our trusty skipper, 30 years in the Coast Guard Reserve. I duly noted this and rolled over on the deck bench to roast my other side.
The Schooner Sultana, Chestertown
The Sultana is a marvel to behold. An apparition from 1768, this square-sailed, double-masted schooner is the closest most of us will ever come to the swashbuckling days of spyglass-wielding captains and their nemeses, freebooting pirates and smugglers. The Sultana is a replica of a British Royal Navy patrol boat that once scoured the waters of Colonial America looking for customs tax evaders. Manned with swivel guns to port and starboard, the Sultana was effective in this capacity for almost four years, until our enterprising forebears countered with even bigger guns. The British responded by summarily retiring the Sultana and selling it on the open market in London for a measly 85 pounds sterling. Colonial Americans later celebrated their brash new power by taunting the English with "tea parties" in Boston and Chestertown. (Historic Chestertown reenacts their tea party every Memorial Day weekend. The Sultana plays the role of the villainous tax collector.)
A sail on this schooner, which actually qualifies as a tall ship, is not a passive experience. With up to six sails to set, Capt. Jamie Trost (erstwhile skipper of the reproduction illicit slave ship Amistad) loses little time conscripting passengers to heave to and hoist those halyards. The enormous mainsail took two lines of us on either side, tug-of-war style, to fully raise. We cruised a short distance to Devil's Reach on the bucolic Chester River and then sailed for home. On the way back, we clambered below deck for a very visceral sense of life on board for the 22 unfortunate sailors who called this home. With cramped little bunks for rest, hardtack for victuals and a surgeon's saw ready for any problems along the way.
Resources
Many of the skippers here offer a range of destinations and trip lengths. Call or check the Web sites for specifics:
Maryland Boat Tours
Blue Crab Chesapeake Charters -- Custom-built Swedish sloop sails three times per day; 1.5 hour tours; maximum six passengers. Capt. Mark Einstein; located at the foot of Sharp Street, Rock Hall; 800/256-3270; www.rockhallmd.com/rhboat/rhboat.htm
Cambridge Lady Cruises -- A 47-foot classic wood passenger vessel cruises the Choptank and Tred Avon rivers and Trappe Creek. Cruises include the James A. Michener Chesapeake Cruise; historic and waterfront homes on the Tred Avon in Oxford; 1.5-hour harbor tour; or one-hour afternoon cruise. Trenton Street Marina, Cambridge; 410/221-0776; www.cambridgelady.com.
Channel Charters Historical Cruises -- one-hour tour aboard Satisfaction, a locally built 38-foot Chesapeake Bay workboat. Capt. Randy Collins has a master's in history from Washington College in Chestertown. Also operates out of Cambridge. Capts. Randy and Jeri Collins; Municipal Yacht Basin, Mill Street, Cambridge; Oxford Ferry Dock, Oxford; 410/-228-1645; www.channelcharters.com.
Chesapeake Lights Tour -- Offered by Capt. Mike Richards and son Capt. Chris Richards -- all day, half-day and two-hour lighthouse cruises aboard Sharps Island, a retrofitted Navy special operations vessel -- includes historical narrative. Carol Richards; 6178 Tilghman Island Road, Tilghman Island; 800/690-5080; 410/886-2215; www.chesapeakelights.com.
Chesapeake Skipjack Sailing Tours -- Capt. Ed Farley leads sails aboard the H.M. Krentz. Narration on Bay ecology, oystering industry. Located at the end of Mill Street, St. Michaels; 410/745-6080; www.oystercatcher.com.
Choptank Riverboat Cruises -- Home port is the Suicide Bridge Restaurant. Cruise aboard the Dorothy-Megan and the Choptank River Queen for lunch, dinner and sightseeing tours. 6304 Suicide Bridge Road, Hurlock; 410/943-4689 or 410/943-4775; www.suicidebridge.com.
Clipper City -- The largest tall sailing ship in the United States licensed to offer day and evening cruises. Often has special musical themes. There is plenty of room on this 178-foot boat, including a salon below decks. At the Finger Piers in the Inner Harbor on Light Street, Baltimore; 410/539-6277; www.clippercity.com.
Colton's Point -- St. Clement's Island/Potomac River Museum offers a short water taxi out to the island where the Maryland colonists first landed. Runs weekends but can be chartered during the week. Kim Cullins; 38370 Point Breeze Road, Colton's Point; 301/769-2222 Ext. 305.
Dockside Express -- Former Department of Natural Resources professionals provide eco-tours, land and sea tours and sunset champagne cruises. Jerry and Kelley Cox; St. Michaels Harbor, 205 Carpenter Street, St. Michaels;; 410/886-2643; www.docksidexpress.com.
Harbor Cruises -- Another large boat concern, which departs from in front of Harborplace. The Bay Lady, Lady Baltimore and Prince Charming offer lunch and dinner cruises daily. Special-event cruises themed around holidays and often offer crab feasts.) 301 Light St., Baltimore; 800/695-5239; www.harborcruises.com.
Kathyrn -- Forty-three-foot sailboat sails Friday through Sunday afternoons 1:30-3:30 p.m. Also offers a sunset cruise lasting 1.5 hours. Capts. Bruce and Kathy Meeks; leaves from the P.E. Pruitt Restaurant dock, 20895 Bayside Ave., Rock Hall; 410/639-9902; www.rockhallmd.com/rhboat/rhboat. htm.
Lady Patty Sail Charters -- Capt. Mike Richards and son Capt. Chris Richards offer narrated sails aboard the Lady Patty, a classic 1935 yacht. Learn about history, ecology and marlinespike seamanship -- knots, splicing and rigging. Carol Richards; 6178 Tilghman Island Road, Tilghman Island; 800/690-5080; 410/886-2215; www.sailladypatty.com.
Liberte the Schooner -- Sails from Annapolis until June 30, then moves to Massachusetts; returns in September. Offers Sunday brunch sails. 222 Severn Ave., Annapolis; 410-263-8234; www.TheLiberte.com.
Lucky Dog Catamaran Co. -- The 36-foot catamaran Sirius sails several two-hour sails daily. St. Michaels Marina, 305 Mulberry St., St. Michaels; 410/745-6203; www.luckydogcatamarancompany.com.
Nathan of Dorchester -- Skipjack sails depart from Long Wharf; select Saturday afternoons throughout the summer. 526 Poplar St., Cambridge; 410/228-7141; www.skipjack-nathan.org.
Patriot Cruises -- One-hour historic narrated cruises. Departs from dock next to the grounds of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum at Navy Point, Mill Street, St. Michaels; 410/745-3100; www.patriotcruises.com.
Point Lookout -- Smith Island Cruises: Cruise to Maryland's only inhabited island on the Chesapeake Bay accessible only by boat. All-day trip departs at 11 a.m. and returns 5 p.m. Lunch available on the island. 4065 Smith Island Road, Ewell; 410/425-2771; www.smithislandcruises.com.
Rebecca T. Ruark Skipjack -- Capt. Wade Murphy, a third-generation waterman, gives two-hour sails aboard Maryland's oldest and largest skipjack, approved for 49 passengers. Hoist sails, dredge for oysters and learn about the bay. Wade Murphy; 21308 Phillips Road, Tilghman; 410/886-2176; www.skipjack.org.
Schooner Woodwind -- Seventy-four-foot schooner custom-designed for sailing on the Chesapeake Bay. Special sunset sails include beer tasting, learning to sing sea chanteys or entertainment by Them Eastport Oyster Boys. 80 Compromise St. Annapolis; 410/263-7837; www.schooner-woodwind.com.
Solomons -- Wm. B. Tennison is a circa 1899 oyster buy-boat that was restored and offers one-hour cruises from the Calvert Marine Museum. Special-theme cruises include Mother's Day, War of 1812 Invasion, fireworks, World War II, dinner music and Monster Mash. It is unique as the only Coast Guard-licensed log-hulled vessel in the United States. It can handle up to 45 passengers. Calvert Marine Museum, 14200 Solomons Island Road, Solomons; 410/326-2042, Ext. 41; www.calvertmarinemuseum.com.
Schooner Sultana -- 1768 replica schooner provides cruises from Chestertown, Annapolis and St. Michaels. Offers several two-hour cruises with day-long and multiday public cruises offered. One unique offering is a stargazers' cruise. 105 South Cross St., Chestertown; 410/778-5954; www.schoonersultana.com.
Watermark Cruises -- Probably one of the most comprehensive offering of tours and choices of vessels. Forty- or 90-minute tours depart from City Dock; full-day tours go to Rock Hall, St. Michaels and Baltimore City; music-themed (blues, jazz or rock 'n' roll), First Friday and sunset cruises throughout the summer. Special-event cruises also provided, including a new offering of a maritime artist showcase. Annapolis City Dock, Slip One, on Dock Street, Annapolis; 410/268-7600; www.watermarkcruises.com.
The list of boat tours out of Annapolis is very large. For complete listings, see www.visit-annapolis.org under recreation.
Virginia Boat Tours
Chesapeake Bay Region:
Smith Island and Chesapeake Bay Cruises -- Day cruises from Reedville to Smith Island, the only inhabited island on the bay accessible only by boat. Leaves from the KOA Campground, 382 Campground Road, Reedville. 804/453-3430. www.eaglesnest.net/ smithislandcruise/
Tangier Island and Rappahannock River Cruise -- Daily cruises up the Rappahannock from Tappahannock; also to Tangier Island from Reedville. 468 Buzzard Point Road, Reedville; 804/453-2628. www.tangiercruise.com.
