A Chesapeake Bay Loop part 2: the journey continues
by Jeanneau 24 Mar 2023 20:58 UTC
Jeanneau NC 895 © Jeanneau America
Sue Redmond and her husband Mark are owners of a Jeanneau NC 895, 'Bout Time'. Sue is the author of, Our Inaugural East Coast Journey, which documents their voyage from Portsmouth, RI to their Homeport of Northeast, MD
On to Deale
Saying goodbye to Smith Island, we headed northwest across the Bay to Deale to stay at the expansive Herrington Harbour Marina, a beautiful marina with many amenities and services but lacking a fuel dock (fuel is available at their nearby southern location). We spent a lot of our time at the pool just relaxing and getting over our Smith Island experience while making new friends and sampling many of their great local specialty cocktails (freshly squeezed fruit crushes, cold beer, and amazing bloody marys to name a few) and pool-side hotdogs that quickly became our go-to lunch favorite.
Deale does not have much of a main town, so the local restaurants and shopping amenities are limited and not easily accessible by foot. Onsite at the marina, we spent most of our time at The Dockside Restaurant, pool, café, and bar. They also have a cute little ice cream shop in a vintage travel trailer that we enjoyed each night.
Back to Oxford
With the cruising buddies we met at Herrington Harbour, we returned to Oxford for another night since we had had such a great initial visit. We had lunch at Capsize Restaurant located dockside next to the Scottish Highland Creamery and returned to Pope's Tavern for another delicious dinner with new friends. Restaurant options are limited, particularly early in the week, so make sure to check on hours. Another great visit to Oxford—we'll be back again for sure.
Our first season on the new boat had been a total success; fun-filled adventures with a lifetime of memories and some challenging yet memorable moments. From Rhode Island to Smith Island and many ports in between, we feel we chose the perfect boat to continue our adventures in 2023. It's compact enough to be affordable to explore but large enough to be comfortable with all the needed amenities for any length of the trip. Sadly, our boat came out for the season on November 1. We plan to make a few upgrades to get ready for next season, including a custom-made mattress for the main stateroom, a roof rack to carry my SUP and kayak, custom shelves in the closets for more storage, additional USB and electrical outlets, and perhaps another air conditioning vent in the pilot house.
Our goal for this season is to explore smaller ports of call in the Bay that are generally less visited and plan longer trips outside of the Bay, perhaps heading north again to ports we didn't have time to visit. We feel this loop was just the beginning of many more adventures to come.
We've already listed our home on Airbnb for next summer to help make some of these goals possible.
Read the part 1 here...