Photos and Text by Jordan Snyder
There are islands and villages in the Chesapeake Bay that have been forgotten by time. These islands are so remote that the locals speak their own unique English dialect. Where beaches and shorelines are pristine and undeveloped. Where the local people lead simple lives, work unbelievably hard and are incredibly friendly. And their roots, livelihood and future success depend on their harvests from the Chesapeake Bay waters. Where time moves at a slower, more peaceful and meaningful pace.
Sailing to these islands and exploring aboard a small boat enhances the experience, intimacy, and understanding of how wonderful these people and islands truly are. And aboard our 31' sailboat called Base Camp, we did just that.

We set aside 8 days for our sailing exploration of the Tangier Sound and left from our home port of Casa Rio marina on the Rhode River just south of Annapolis. Our plans included 2 days of sailing south just to get to these pristine islands with a stopover at Solomons Island to break up the 80 mile sail. We explored as much as possible throughout the adventure. One of our many trip highlights was an afternoon anchorage off the undeveloped northern tip of Smith Island. The unspoiled beaches were accessible only by dinghy where we discovered a Galapagos-like setting of wildlife in natural harmony including many species of shore birds, pelican nests right on the beach with eggs hatching before our eyes and Terrapin turtles crawling all around.
Our Tangier Sound sailing adventure included peaceful and secluded overnight anchorages, docking at the famous Parks Marina and strolling thru the tiny island villages of Tangier and Ewell.