CHESAPEAKE
May 4, 2012
We bought the guide some time ago and we have listened to those who went before about the Chesapeake. Since we leave Portsmouth next week, we broke out said guide and started to decide “where to next”. The obvious thing here is that there were three guides covering Texas to Norfolk. The Chesapeake has its own guide. That means lots to do.
In looking at the bay and tributaries, it is obvious that we could easily spend the rest of the summer here. Fellow cruisers have favorite destinations on the bay and we have been taking notes. This is a place where one can almost see the next destination and long cruising days may not apply as long as we are in the Bay. It is a little over a hundred sea miles to Annapolis, near the top of the Bay yet the list of “must see” is so large that one must make choices. It is sort of like going to Disneyland the first time: which ride first.
One last museum in Portsmouth is the Portsmouth Naval Yard and lightship Portsmouth. The ship is moored in dirt in a park downtown but was closed for touring. So, the consolation was the museum. It is a small facility that tells the story of this area (again) along with more details about the lightship. Imagine a two month duty aboard a 100 footer moored in one location in stormy conditions for days on end and the whole duty was to keep the light on. Lightships are no longer used but the men who crewed them performed a very necessary duty faithfully and with honor.
We had a bit of a diversion yesterday in this marina. The marine construction company next door hosted the Mitt Romney visit to Portsmouth that made national news yesterday. Early in the day, the Secret Service, local, county and state law enforcement and many television crews took over the parking lots. Then a thousand or so supporters showed up. The security screening process was something to behold. Mr. Romney, and Ms. Bachman spoke on a stage easily viewed from the swimming pool deck at the marina. After the event all that disappeared in a couple of hours. Poof, the circus moved on.