By the early hours the sea was calm and the sails flogged so on came the motor as we entered the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, we slowed to ensure we would enter in daylight, especially as a fairly thick fog had gathered at the entrance.
Another Rally boat the new catamaran Escapade, skipper Neil was just 7 miles behind after taking his own route across the Gulf Stream. They were returning to their home marina after taking delivery of his new catamaran and sailing it back from South America. We followed Escapade for several hours to their Marina we were to share, as the fog cleared.
The trip across the bay could not have been more different from the expectation we had been given from the cruising guide. Far from busy we saw just a handful of small vessels on the water and two larger and virtually none of the navy fleet, in fact I have seen it far busier most days in our home town of Dartmouth (UK). There are hundreds of marinas in Chesapeake so its just pre-season and early morning and we can expect it to be busier on our next trip out of the Bay.
We had to call US Customs 2 hours out and were not allowed to leave the boat until they arrived to greet us, to complete entry. The Marina is quiet and across the small river from what looks like the quiet end of Newport town. We managed to reverse in between the two pole style mooring they tend to have commonly here, Murray managed to make the most of his ‘reindeer herding’ Lasoo experience over the poles on the way, we were tied to the dock in minutes – Pat and I did a ‘Hi five’, we had sailed all the way to the USA !
Two uniformed representatives (one armed) came on board and quickly completed what they made a pleasant and informal process. They took our ‘garbage’ away as it goes to a special waste process and they did not make us throw our freezer food overboard as long as we are going to eat it.
Since owning BriZo we have had many coincidences and within hours a couple sailed in and popped over to see us, David and Angie spotted our Discovery 55 and thought it maybe a couple they had met on their world tour, this though was yacht Seaduced. The coincidence was that we had spent a lovely evening with the owners of Seaduced Jane and John just 5 days before as we anchored next to this sister Discovery 55 in St Georges Bermuda.
We had drinks with David and Angie on BriZo, our first night in the USA as an amazing sunset unfolded behind us which Murray managed to capture on camera. They were a very inspiring couple and provided us with some gems of information that will be key to our next two legs we are planning.
Stu