Plans are settled. I did not originally wish to have a schedule, but we are bringing guests for the first 4 days and they will be staying in hotels each night so we needed to plan our overnight stops around ports with convenient hotels that had rooms available. Thus, I have made slip reservations for the Saturday, May 14 through Wednesday, May 18, and for Friday May 20 at our end destination, leaving only May 19th up in the air.
We scrapped the plan to take the train when we learned that MARC does not run to Perryville, MD on weekends. However, with 4 adults, the train tickets cost as much as a limo, so we hired a limo to take us from Woodbridge VA to Perryville MD on Sunday, May 15. The limo ride is much fater than the train (assuming no traffic...) and will allow us to start our trip late Sunday morning and rather than spend a second night in Perryville.
On Sunday May 15, we will be heading south down the bay from Perryville, MD to Rock Hall, MD for a transient slip at Rock Hall Landing that night. We hope to hit Jelly Fish Joel's for a late lunch on the way to Rock Hall. Fingers are crossed for good weather as it's an unsheltered 40 mile ride down the bay to Rock Hall.
On Monday, May 16, we plan to leave Rock Hall and go to the historic part of Chestertown, MD, on the Chester River, for a few hours, then take the most sheltered route possible to Tilghman Island where we have a slip reserved for two nights at Knapps Narrows Marina. From there, we can visit many ports like Annapolis, St Michaels, Oxford, Cambridge, etc., over a 2 day stretch without having to cover large distances of open water.
On Wednesday, May 18, We plan to cruise from Tilghman Island to Solomons where we have a slip reserved at Spring Cove Marina. Again, it's a 40ish mile cruise on open water, so here's hoping for good weather. At least we'll have the option of leaving early in the morning, when the wind is typically lightest, on this stretch. Our friends will leave us in Solomons via a car that will be left there for them at the Marina.
On Thursday, May 19th we will Leave Solomons and won't have anywhere in particular to be until we arrive in Woodbridge, VA (just off the Potomac, about 15 miles downstream from Washington DC) on Friday night, May 20th. We have a slip reserved at Hoffmasters Marina in Woodbridge and have also arranged to leave or truck/trailer there for the duration of our cruise.
Thursday, May 19th is our 26th wedding anniversary, so we hope to eat a nice meal at some nice restaurant we can get to from a marina with a transient slip. Thinking Cobb Island would be perfectly located for this. Any advice here would be appreciated.
The plan, for now, is to see Mt.Vernon and Washington on Friday, May 20th AFTER we find/pay for our slip in Woodbridge. This allows us to arrive later than the marina is open for business fop our overnight stay on Friday evening.
We'll haul the boat out roughly high tide (8:24 AM) on Saturday, May, 21 and start heading home from Woodbridge, with an overnight stop in NJ on the way.
