What happens when you blend sailing, history, ecology, friendship, and a birthday trip on the Chesapeake? For Pat Regan and Vicki Hutchins, neighbors in Annapolis, the result was a meaningful, fun, and educational five-day charter trip. In May, the duo, in their late 70s and early 80s, enjoyed a captained charter to explore the Nanticoke River on a beautiful new 39-foot Seawind catamaran, Lily Rose.
How did they choose this trip?
Although Pat has sailing in her DNA (having grown up on small boats in the Severn River), the trip was the brainchild of Vicki, a non-sailor but a serious history buff, who wanted to mark her birthday by following a portion of the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail. Pat was game, although for her the trip’s real appeal would be exploring the remote natural areas of the Eastern Shore.
The route and provisioning
The catamaran departed from the South River in Edgewater, MD, traveling south and east across the Bay. Near the mouth of the Nanticoke River, they dropped anchor in Fishing Bay for the first night. The following day they navigated the well-marked but winding channel up the river, making their way to Vienna, MD, where they stayed at the municipal dock for two nights.
Although they had originally planned to head back down the river and farther south to Smith Island, Pat and Vicki decided that five days aboard was going to be plenty (foul weather played a part in the decision), and the following morning the pair and their captain pointed Lily Rose’s bow toward home.
For Pat and Vicki, the planning and provisioning was part of the fun, and the trio (captain included) ate all of their meals aboard, with Pat cooking dinner each night and feeding the captain a breakfast sandwich each morning. On day two they were surprised and dismayed to find that the boat’s freshwater tanks had stopped working (due to calcium deposits that clogged the hoses, it turned out), but fortunately, they were well provisioned from the start with enough bottled water for cooking and drinking.
Memorable experiences
Pat says, “For me, the first night, in Fishing Bay, was magical. There were no people, no sounds, and not one other boat. Our captain brought out his clarinet and played on deck as the sun set. I had brought my sextant, which I took out to experiment with (I have an ambition to learn to use a sextant, and my children had given me one as a gift). As I looked up, I saw a half globe of stars that was absolutely incredible. The beauty was so amazing that I was almost in tears.
“Vicki was most excited to learn about the area’s rich history, including details about Capt. John Smith’s 1608 expoloratory voyage, which included the Nanticoke, where Smith met with the indigenous people of the Nanticoke Indian Confederacy who dwelled along the river’s shores. Vicki had brought along her John Smith Trail map, and she studied it along with the nautical charts.”
Pat and Vicki, both lifelong learners, were delighted to discover and use the interpretive NOAA smart buoys, which help modern trail explorers learn more about the environment of the Bay while discovering what Capt. Smith might have seen as he passed near a buoy location 400 years ago.
To have a little fun and get into the spirit, their captain flew the flag of England from the time of Capt. Smith, and one day dressed as Capt. Smith while Pat dressed as Pocahontas.
Exploring Vienna, MD
Pat recalls, “When we came into Vienna under sail and the captain made a sharp U-turn to dock the boat, it seemed as if half the town came out to greet us. Of course, they knew we were coming because they spotted us as our sail showed above the marshes.
“The following morning, Margaret Wright Ingersoll (author of “Handsell: Three Cultures, One Story”) showed Vicki and our captain around the area, including Handsell, a National Park Service site that preserves the intertwined Native American, African American, and European histories of a Native American settlement, Chicone village. I stayed back and took a couple of walks by myself through town. Vienna is a cool little spot with lots of colonial-era homes and an interesting maritime and economic history.
“At one point while they were gone, and I was still at the boat, the wind came up suddenly. Our captain hurried back. Meanwhile, Vicki’s guide called some local men who came to our rescue with extra fenders. They came back again in the evening to make sure the boat was still secure. The local people were very welcoming, and we even met a man who had built an authentic Irish pub behind his house. He invited us over for a Guinness, and we took him up on it. It was all very charming.”
Accompanied by Pat Johnson, Vicki and Pat also toured the Nanticoke River Discovery Center, a National Park Service site in Vienna. Vicki says, “It’s a very small museum, but the highlight for me was the video of the 2008 re-enactment of Smith’s sail from Jamestown up the Bay and back, to mark its 400th anniversary.”
Any wildlife sightings?
“We saw two groups of dolphins playing around our boat and one big orange cownose ray. We saw eagles and pelicans, and it seemed that on every single piling there were osprey,” says Pat.
More explorations are on the horizon
Pat says, “Everyone at Vicki’s exercise classes is clamoring to know about the trip. Many people our age, like us, exercise diligently so that we are physically able to enjoy this type of adventure. The whole experience left me wanting more, so my husband, Dave, and I plan to visit Vienna by land this summer. Sometime in the future we want to drive to the southern tip of Virginia’s Eastern Shore, sleep on land, and take day charters to explore the area even more from the water.”
