Leaving Annapolis the plan was to put on a bathing suit and take on the role of “bow bunny” as we motored to Solomons Island, Maryland, in the sunshine. Most bow bunnies are young, lithe, tanned and adorn the bow of a fast and sleek boat. Seeing as that description no longer fit me, apparently the sun gods decided the solution was to give us a cloudy, windy day with rough water. And, just to ensure that I maintained my role as a couch potato, we had a second day of boating from Solomons Island to Colonial Beach, Virginia, that was not only cloudy and windy with rough water but added rain just as we were docking.
Boating, for the most part, is uneventful except when docking and leaving the dock. That means you can enjoy the scenery at a leisurely pace. For example, if you drive from Annapolis to Solomons Island, it would take just over an hour as it is about 60 miles. By boat it took us five hours. Going from Solomons Island to Colonial Beach also takes just over an hour to drive and is just over 50 miles, however, it took six hours by boat. Steve described the pace fairly well after we took our boat from Fort Lauderdale to the Chesapeake Bay. He said to imagine driving from Fort Lauderdale to Washington, DC, at 15 miles per hour the entire route.
In my opinion, the Chesapeake offers some of the best boating in the United States, although not the most scenic. There are so many destinations to visit, from major cities to picturesque small towns to boating/fishing communities to rivers to creeks. Solomons Island, where we spent the first night at Zahniser’s Safe Harbor marina, is a very small community with its focus being the water and sailing. That translates to very few café options (no fine dining to be found), so, dinner was at the CD Café. Also limited are the menu options with Maryland blue crab being the appetizer and entrée of choice, prepared in a multitude of ways. Although the community of Solomons Island is not particularly picturesque, there were some charming homes on view.
The second night we stayed at Colonial Beach Yacht Club, a definite misnomer, in the very small town of Colonial Beach, Virginia, on the Potomac River. With the “yacht club” closed, we were fortunate to have several boaters help us dock as there were fairly strong winds. Whenever someone was docking next to us (when we were still boating), we were always quick to help. . .both out of the kindness of our hearts and because we did not want any damage done to our boat as they docked. Dinner at Colonial Beach was at the outdoor “tiki hut,” which actually was tacky but charming as it made no pretense at being anything other than what it was.
From Colonial Beach it was on to Washington, DC, which was another six-hour boat ride (45 miles driving) to arrive at the Capital Yacht Club at the DC Wharf in downtown DC. And, apparently the sun and weather gods decided to take pity on us and provided us with a beautiful sunny day for the ride.