Most dictionaries define ferries as boats or vessels that regularly carry passengers and goods over a relatively short distance. The Staten Island Ferry is a prime example, with its 25-minute ride between Manhattan and Staten Island. Closer to Maryland is the Cape May-Lewes Ferry, which carries vehicles and their passengers between the New Jersey Shore and southern Delaware.
It is a much longer trip at 85 minutes but often a timesaver compared to driving more than three hours between the two points. Maryland once had quite a few Chesapeake Bay ferries, too, going all the way back to the 19th-century steamboat era, but regular service faded away as automobiles arrived, modern highways were built, and the first Chesapeake Bay Bridge opened in 1952. There’s now a move afoot to beef up Chesapeake Bay ferry service.
envisions all sorts of cross-Bay routes, including from Baltimore to Annapolis to Kent Island to St. Michaels and on to Kent Narrows and then Rock Hall. Sounds like quite a boat trip, right? And that, alas, is exactly the conundrum.
The various routes — seven altogether — cover an awful lot of water, and they would likely do so infrequently. That Baltimore-to-Rock Hall trip is envisioned as potentially one-way in each direction once-a-day. And it would take eight hours.
Let’s repeat that. . One would have to get stuck in a truly epic traffic backup at the Bay Bridge to think you might save time.
And then there’s the matter of finding oneself in Rock Hall, whi.