Cruising the Lower Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay – Crisfield, Pocomoke City, Onancock & Salisbury

Continuing our lower Chesapeake Bay cruising, we had just explored the Northern Neck and crossed the bay routing through Tangier Island.

The goal was to spend some time poking around the Eastern Shore along the Delmarva Penisula.

These adventures cover May 20 – June 8, picking up where we left with an arrival to Crisfield to start our next leg of the journey.

And as always, there’s the video version as well:

Stop 1: Somers Cove Marina – Crisfield, MD

We came to Crisfield with no expectations. Some friends recently had been through and reported it was a nice marina, but the town was deserted.

We reserved a weekly spot anyway, taking advantage of Somers Cove Marina’s $9/ft rate. There was more windy & rainy weather coming, and Memorial Day weekend was upon us (we prefer to not travel over holidays).

And woah.. were we in for our expectations being blown out of the water!

We arrived to about 6 other Looper boats already on the dock, and within seconds we had new friends and an invitation to docktails.

Being Sloopers (slow Loopers) – we typically only get to experience the social side as traditional 1-year Loopers are passing us by in clumps. So we soak it up!

Also, our friends Sax & Sherry about Red Eagle randomly pulled in next to us – we had met them last fall when we both got kicked out of Richmond due to the flooding on the James River, and spent a few days at anchor together.

Crisfield also had a weekend of festivals planned right across the marina – on Saturday the Tangier Sound Music Festival, a day of country music. Despite the marina gifting us all free tickets (super awesome!), we opted to ‘enjoy’ the experience on board. We’re just not country music fans, it was plenty loud enough from the flybridge and the festival was sadly poorly attended.

Sunday was the Soft Shell Crab Festival, which we did browse.

We went the Tawes Museum to learn more about the history of this Seafood Capital of the World.

We learned so much about the crabbing industry and life cycle of the crab – like, did you know ‘soft shell’ is not a species of crab, but a short window in the molting process of the Blue Crab? Yeah, we’re neophytes in this area.

And no, we didn’t consume any – Chris has a shellfish allergy, and I’m gluten free & mostly plant based.

We enjoyed biking and running around, easy provisioning at the nearby Food Lion. And checking out a couple local restaurants that were open (enjoyed Chesapeake BBQ and From Scratch!).

We had so many serendipitous meetups with fellow boaters we’ve met before and long time followers too!

All and all, a delightful week with the indulgence of dock life with unlimited power and water. Which was appreciated, because it’s been chilly and we ended up running the heaters a bit! In May! How glorious!

Only downside? This is where Chris’ laptop met it’s soggy fate when a crazy unexpected torrential downpour came though, and we had left a window open.

Stop 2: Pocomoke City Town Docks – Pocomoke City, MD

After exploring Crisfield, MD for a week, we were trying to decide where next on the Eastern Shore?

There are so many rivers heading inland, with towns to check out. We decided to head south, and explore the Pocomoke River – both Pocomoke City and Snow Hill have town docks.

There are two ways from Crisfield to get to the river – the long way going fully around the peninsula, and the short way. We opted for the short cut through Broad Creek, which shaves off over 25 miles.

The problem? A very narrow and shallow passage, which we timed on a rising tide. Even then, we passed over about 4.5′ at the entrance.

We were both on high alert the entire time, checking actual depths, surveys, charts and reported depths. And then into the Pocomoke Sound, which was much choppier than we expected for the predicted wind conditions.

Now, the next challenge – getting into the Pocomoke River. Which is also a narrow passage with shallow depths. It’s marked with both official markers, and placed white sticks that are a challenge to spot.

With the higher winds still bashing us, it was a butt clenching approaching with both of us again at the helm.

‘Favor Green!’ ‘ Favor Red!’.

We saw depths at high tide around 6-7′, but knew barges regularly traverse this.

Once within the protection of the river, we breathed.. and enjoyed the 11nm cruise up to Pokemoke City. We got docked, and checked in at City Hall for our 2-free nights (extra nights are just $10), which thought would be plenty.

At this point we hadn’t even realized the bridge was broken and we couldn’t get further upriver – or that the town docks with power were actually beyond said bridge.

That evening we hit the newly opened Cypress Roots Brewing Company, just a couple blocks from the docks. A warm welcoming place with great brews. The brewmaster even turned on the Starship launch for us to watch – we had an amazing night.

The next day was an all day rain-a-palooza. So we mostly stayed indoors, and enjoyed the relaxing drizzle and attending to some work.

After it dried out in the morning, we hit the Delmarva Museum in town, and met the adorable river otters Mac & Tuck.

We returned to the boat and were about to cast off the lines and call the bridge tender for an opening to head on up to Snow Hill for the weekend.

And that’s when we got the news that the bridge was broken and awaiting a part to be replaced ‘any day now’.

With more windy conditions brewing, heading back out into the bay wasn’t an appealing option.

So.. we’d have to do what we do best, and that’s make the best of the situation! Walked back to City Hall, and paid up our $10/night for our anticipated stay and started researching what else to explore.

We found a bowling alley just about 1.5 miles away, and went bowling for the first time in over a decade! Somehow, we managed to arrive for their ‘free bowl’ special too? It was more fun than we remembered!

Chris then found the Pocomoke Ice Cream bike trail in All Trails – which piqued our interests. Just 5 miles outside of town is Chesapeake Bay Dairy with ice cream made on site – only open a few hours on weekends. So off into the winds we rode, and it was delicious! Nothing better than enjoying yummy ice cream next to the cows who made it.

Also just a mile or two out of town is ample shopping – with several hardware stores and a Walmart – which made provisioning by bike a breeze.

But the absolute highlight of our visit was repeated visits to Cypress Roots Brewing Company. The owners made us feel so welcomed to Pocomoke, and we enjoyed getting to know them and their passion for beer making. This month, they are celebrating being open 1-year! We hope their roots will grow to become great things for Pocomoke City!

We also got in several runs around town, including their lovely nature trail – and discovered a beautiful disc golf course. We meant to go back for a round, but we actually ran out of time!

So all and all.. our visit to Pocomoke City was fabulous. We ended up there 5 nights.

Stop 3: Onancock Harbor Anchorage – Onancock, VA

We took a weather window to make our way to our next stop – Onancock for a MTOA meetup.

It’s not often we sign up for organized events, schedules and us just don’t mix. But we had this one on our radar, as it was flexible without needing to commit.

After returning down the river and reversing the tight shallow entrance, we had a pleasant cruise southbound back into the open bay. All and all, a 39nm cruising day – a bit longer than we generally prefer. But there’s really nowhere interesting enough to stop otherwise.

While the meetup was happening at the Onancock Wharf Marina, we opted for the anchorage for flexibility. The marina is tiny, and only has limited space for larger boats.

The anchorage was quite tight with several boats, and not all from the meet-up. So definitely come in prepared that there just might not be space in Onancock – it’s a popular spot!

We enjoyed exploring the quaint town of Onancock (jury is out on the proper pronunciation – heard everything from O-nan-cock to Anon-cock to Non-cock from locals). But it means ‘Foggy Place’.

We strolled around, found a disc golf course to play, toured the Ker House, ate at Mallards and the local Irish Pub and Chris had donuts at Corner Bakery.

The meetup was well attended, and there was really only one organized docktail to get to talk with others.

Our friends Sax & Sherry however serendipitously arrived – so we enjoyed another evening together, including attending the towns Wine Wednesday artist event.

Onancock is a lovely town, and it has a movie theater and community theater. Neither of which had anything playing that lined up with our stay. Otherwise, we might just be ready for a ‘real’ town after so many quaint small ones?

And.. our tech curse seems to have followed us here. Chris went to make a final drone flight before we left, and it wouldn’t connect. So, there will be no drone photos until we next have a shippable address.

Stop 4: Wicomico Creek Anchorage – Eden, MD

Another boat up winery??? Yes, please!

With another good weather window upon us to cross open water on the Chesapeake Bay – we weighed anchor in Onancock and set off back north up the Eastern Shore.

The swells hadn’t quite settled down as much as we would have liked and weren’t as southerly as we predicted. But waves were still only 1-2 feet and quite manageable by comfortably quartering them. Once we were inside the protection of Tangier Sound, things got much calmer.

We considered anchoring off of Deale Island, but there wasn’t much protection – so on we continued for a longer cruising day.

We entered the Wicomico River towards Salisbury, MD (there’s like a dozen rivers named Wicomico off the bay.. confusing much?). It means ‘places where houses are built’.. which, does apply to most places.

But instead of heading directly to Salisbury, we took a right onto the Wicomico Creek towards Bordeleau Vineyards & Winery.

We anchored just off the owner’s private dock, and called over to the tasting room – and got permission to use the dock to come ashore by dinghy. We met the owner, and he also invited us to just tie Y-Not up to the dock if we liked.

We made it just in time to share a tasting, and purchase a couple bottles for later. It was a long day for us at 50nm, and we enjoyed a soak in the hot tub in one of the more secluded feeling anchorages we’ve encountered in quite a while.

At this rate, Harvest Hosts might want to start expanding to include boat accessible locations?

Stop 5: Port of Salisbury – Salisbury, MD

We weighed anchor off Bordeleau Vineyards & Winery on Wicomico Creek in a light drizzle and headed further up Wicomico River to the town of Salisbury, MD.

To get there, we had to cross the paths of two cable ferries and coordinate having their cables dropped to safely transit. Both ferries have been operating since the 1680s – reported to be the longest running public ferries in the USA!

A college town and the headquarters of Perdue – we had hopes of more of a city vibe in Salisbury, with more things to do than many of the quaint small towns we’ve been in lately.

After all, there’s only so many museums and ice cream shops one can enjoy.

We were not disappointed.

Salisbury has a small city run marina, offering $1.05/ft slips plus electric. They’ve been neglected for years, but are still functional – although no operational fuel or pump out. But it is next to River Brew, which hosts nightly entertainment that can be enjoyed from the docks.

We set off exploring, and were delighted to see the historic downtown celebrating Pride with rainbow banners abound. Lots of cute shops, taverns and restaurants awaited us.

And we arrived just in time for the town’s Friday night free music concert.

We also biked over to the city’s free zoo, and ran/biked the trails around the park multiple times. We also set off on a 12 mile round trip bike ride that included crossing the river on the Upper Ferry – pretty cool!

Chris also saw in the city’s weekend planner an Intro to Pole Dancing Fitness class just down the street at Pole Dance Paradise. Sure.. why not.. and let me tell you, pole dancing is a lot of fun, and not as easy as it looks! But my instructor told me I crushed it (pretty sure I crushed something judging by the bruises on my legs!).

There’s a grocery store just about a mile from the marina, making provisioning easy too.

All and all, we could have enjoyed more than our 3-nights in Salisbury – there’s plenty to do!

But a weather window awaited us to get back across the Bay to start the next segment of our Chesapeake adventures!

And boy did we pick an ideal day for a smooth crossing and entry into the Potomac River:

Real Time Update

We spent about 10 days exploring the Potomac River – we’ll catch you up on those adventures soon.

And then we arrived to Washington, DC and booked a month long slip (we arrived before this last heat bubble so we had plenty of AC to get through it!).

We expect we’ll keep plenty busy with museums, monuments, food, shows and friends! And of course, being in the nation’s capital for 4th of July will be magical!