JACKIE B III Going Loopy

  Gibson Island  is a private Island club that has been around for generations.  Our friends Michael and Phyllis have sponsored us so that we can stay here for a few days.  They even loaned us their car so that we can run to Annapolis for a few things. The marina is located on an isthmus that connects the island to the mainland. You can look up the Bay to the Bay bridge from the isthmus. View of Gibson Island from the boat Besides loaning us their car, their friends let us use one of their golf carts to tour the island.  Here's a video above of our drive around the island just before we headed for Baltimore. A beautiful sunset chased by a moonrise. Our Journey “He made the moon to mark the seasons, and the sun knows when to go down.” ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭104:19‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Today we woke to more fog. It was supposed to lift by 8:00. It didn’t. Barbara kept watch out on the bow as we moved out very slowly, confident the fog would lift. It did not.  Barbara moved her watch inside as it was really cold and wet out there and we had very few crab pot sightings. But then we saw this pop out of the fog at about 18 knots. Very thankful for all the electronics we have on the boat.  Very spooky thinking about how the early settlers did this. As you can see it was still really foggy as we approached the Bay Bridge.              From a New Perspective Our Journey “Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”” ‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭30:21‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Today we finally ventured out of Deltaville heading to Solomon’s Island.  It was foggy when first woke up but it looked as if the fog was lifting. I sat up on the dash for the best view of crab pots lurking in the bay. We set out with buddy boat Dog House and entertained them with our auto pilot troubles.  Turns out we had accidentally hit the reverse course button and the boat kept trying to make a course correction by turning us around in a big circle.   First of many lighthouses on the Chesapeake We did a quick drive around Solomon Island before ending up back at Linda's Sister's house. We were so fortunate to be able to dock at her property.  She owns the entire point at green buoy #5 as you come into Solomons, Maryland.  It's just spectacular!  We did not fit into the boat house but we were able to tie off to the pier and piling for the slip next to the boat house. We had a great time with our friends Tom and Linda.  We went for a dingy ride and t...

Our stop in Deltaville, Virginia, turned from one night into seven due to the strong winds and high surf brought on by a Nor’easter.  We are trying to remember that this is pleasure boating and rough seas are NOT pleasurable Well, sitting on the boat at our dock was also not too pleasurable.  The wind was coming into the harbor and we rocked and rolled the entire time we were there. Deltaville is a sleepy little town with many marinas but very few restaurants near the marina.  I had to bicycle 3.5 miles to the grocery store, although the marina did have a loaner car if I hadn’t needed the exercise. They do however have a terrific maritime museum, complete with a waterside exhibit of old Chesapeake Bay boats that used to be built in the Deltaville boatyards.  I thought the weather would be better so intended to get back there for more photos but we also had a lot of rain in addition to the wind. Instead “we” did a lot of boat maintenance.  Mike worked on our gene...

We got up and left Waterside Marina early this morning for Deltaville, VA.  The sun was just coming up as we left the harbor.  Although it was slightly overcast all day, the Chesapeake Bay was fairly calm. We were up close and personal with this big boy on our way out of Norfolk. The Chesapeake Bay is a major shipping channel and yesterday was no exception.  It took me three photos to capture all the ships waiting to move up the bay. This is a picture of our chart plotter showing the  Automatic Identification System (AIS) symbols (green triangles) of all the tankers and container ships we saw anchored on the east side of the bay.  AIS is  a short-range coastal tracking system currently used on ships . This photo was taken by another Looping couple, Sarah & Michael, from their boat the Noah Genda. Say that name out loud 😁. Thanks to them!  We made it safely to the Regatta Yacht Center, but have decided to stay here through the weekend given the imp...

We have had a wonderful time at the American Great Loop Cruisers Association Spring Rendezvous in Norfolk, Virginia.  We met many past present and future “Loopers.” The photo above is a screenshot of an app that shows the location of Looper boats. As you can see we had quite a crowd and there were even more boats at the marina across the Elizabeth River and some loopers left their boats elsewhere on the loop and stayed at the hotel where we had our information sessions.  We learned a great deal and met some wonderful people we hope to see again on our journey. Just one of many slides about the loop I thought some of you might be interested to see. Our good friends from Immanuel Bible Church are in the Norfolk area ministering to Navy families.  It’s always great to see them!   New friends gathering for a friendly game of Left Right Center Lots of Loopers Learning and Celebrating Alaura and Jonathan finally get their dingy ride. Bon Voyage Party with the local gang: C...