Baltimore sailaway

[Kybabe]

We will be sailing out of Baltimore for the first time on Sept. 21st. What are the "not to be missed sights" that we should looked for as we sail through and out of the Chesapeake Bay?

[Ocean Dancer]

We will be sailing out of Baltimore for the first time on Sept. 21st. What are the "not to be missed sights" that we should looked for as we sail through and out of the Chesapeake Bay?

The bridge tunnel near Norfolk should be about 4 to 6 hours once you sail. Someone should chime in with a more exact time frame. Have a great cruise!

[retiredgram]

Get on top deck when going under Key Bridge, about a half hour after sail away. Looks like you are not going to make it. Also watch for the Bay Bridges.

[djyellowsub]

I waited until 1:00 am to sail over the Norfolk Bridge tunnel because I heard how awesome it is to see car lights go under the water as the ship passed by. By that time, there was only one car that went on the bridge. Still fun to see. It was the first night of the cruise, so I wouldn't have slept anyway. I thought of all the times I have been in major traffic jams in the same spot!

[spookwife]

Key Bridge and Ft McHenry. Bay bridge Tunnel is like at 11 pm or later, depending on when you start down the Bay

[CarpeCerevisi]

Less than a mile after leaving the dock Fort McHenry is on the port side. If you are interested in nautical history, a couple of miles along on the port side you may notice an almost all white cargo vessel moored at a dock. This is the NS Savannah, the first nuclear powered cargo ship, completed in 1961. Both these sights are well before the ship passes under the Key Bridge.

 

 

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[breezy_carol]

Also on the port side, after Fort McHenry, before the Key bridge, is a buoy that marks where the Star Spangled Banner was written. http://midatlantic.coastguard.dodlive.mil/2014/06/the-star-spangled-buoy/

 

It is a little hard to spot but for a native Marylander, it was worthwhile.

 

The Key Bridge was about 45 minutes after leaving the dock, the William Preston Lane Memorial (Bay) Bridge was about an hour and 15 minutes after that. I thought it was funny that the captain kept calling it the Memorial Bridge when Marylanders call it the Bay Bridge. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel was about 5 hours after that. (I am a bridge geek.)

[Mr. Click]

There are a number of lighthouses along the way in addition to the bridges others have mentioned. The two that stick in my mind are Thomas Point Light http://www.thomaspointlighthouse.org/ is about 8-10 miles past the Bay Bridge's twin spans on the starboard side, Blood Point Light http://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=427 will be on the port side another 8 to 10 miles down the bay. It marks the entrance to the Eastern Bay, one of the major waterways of Maryland's Eastern Shore. I know there are other lighthouses but those were my two navigation keys when I was a Chesapeake Bay boat owner.

[Ocean Dancer]

Also on the port side, after Fort McHenry, before the Key bridge, is a buoy that marks where the Star Spangled Banner was written. http://midatlantic.coastguard.dodlive.mil/2014/06/the-star-spangled-buoy/

 

It is a little hard to spot but for a native Marylander, it was worthwhile.

 

The Key Bridge was about 45 minutes after leaving the dock, the William Preston Lane Memorial (Bay) Bridge was about an hour and 15 minutes after that. I thought it was funny that the captain kept calling it the Memorial Bridge when Marylanders call it the Bay Bridge. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel was about 5 hours after that. (I am a bridge geek.)

The Memorial Bridge connects Delaware and New Jersey!!

[dixieva]

The Key bridge will be 45 minutes from the time you leave the port. The Chesapeake bay bridge will be two hours from the port. That is the double span bridge, not the bay bridge tunnel.

 

Try to be up on deck for both.

 

Have a great cruise.

[cb at sea]

You should also be able to see the lights from the Va. Beach Resort area, as you head out to sea.

[GottaGetAway42]

The other approach is to look for the Chesapeake Bay bridge-tunnel on the return to Baltimore; I saw it when I happened to go up on deck after dinner (late seating) on the last night of my first cruise - probably around 9:30 pm or so.

 

 

I waited until 1:00 am to sail over the Norfolk Bridge tunnel because I heard how awesome it is to see car lights go under the water as the ship passed by. By that time, there was only one car that went on the bridge. Still fun to see. It was the first night of the cruise, so I wouldn't have slept anyway. I thought of all the times I have been in major traffic jams in the same spot!

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Yes--I would wait to see the Bay Bridge Tunnel for the return trip. You will know you are getting close when you see the resort lights from Virginia Beach.

It will be between 8 pm and 10 pm. It will depend on how fast the ship is going. for example. We have sometimes run into rough weather around Cape Hatteras. [it is known for this] If so, the Captain will be in a hurry to get into the protected waters of the Chesapeake Bay.

[Kybabe]

Thanks for all of your responses. Really looking forward to sailaway and the whole cruise!