Solomons to Annapolis by Karen Posey - June 24-26, 2015

We spent June 24 at anchor in Solomons, MD in order to make an overdue trip to the grocery store.  For those who are not familiar with the cruising lifestyle (and believe me, I was not among the knowledgeable before starting this trip), grocery shopping is an all-day affair…15 minutes to lower the dinghy from the davits, half an hour to row ashore, 30-60 minutes to walk to the grocery store, an hour or more to shop in an unfamiliar store, 30-60 minutes to walk back to the dock pushing the card filled with groceries, half an hour to row, half an hour to move the groceries to the boat and tie up the dinghy to the davits, and 15-30 minutes to find someplace to store the food, which includes removing all cardboard boxes and putting food into plastic bags, etc…usually 5 hours total.

The photo below shows a typical haul.  And, yes, we managed to get all that stuff in the Pudgy (dinghy), including the cart and ourselves, without sinking it, while still leaving the middle open for rowing!

Grocery shopping

We departed Solomons at 6am the next morning (June 25) because the forecast was calling for 20+ knots of wind in the afternoon.  The photo below shows a family of ducks swimming near the boat.  The reflections in the water were picturesque.

Early morning at Solomons

We had a wonderful 9-hour trip up the Chesapeake Bay.  My family and friends from Maryland might recognize the Cove Point Lighthouse at Calvert Cliffs and the Calvert Cliffs liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in the photos below.

Cove Point Lighthouse at Calvert Cliffs

Calvert Cliffs liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal

As it turns out, the forecast for 20+ knots was completely wrong…there was no wind and we motored the entire way to Annapolis.  On the other hand, the water, which was smooth as glass, presented a gorgeous view (see photo below).

The Chesapeake Bay smooth as glass

We saw another RORO, approaching Bloody Point Lighthouse.

RORO approaching Bloody Point Lighthouse

And I just had to include a photo of the famous Thomas Point Lighthouse, a well-known fixture on the Chesapeake Bay and one of the few remaining operational screw pile lighthouses.  (The Drum Point Lighthouse shown in the last trip report is also a screw pile design, but it is no longer operational.)

Thomas Point Lighthouse

As we got closer to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, we saw the familiar sight of freighters lined up at anchor, waiting for the go-ahead to proceed to Baltimore.

Freighters waiting at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge

I wanted to include a photo showing the 5-mile-long Chesapeake Bay Bridge structure.  Of course, it is difficult to capture that in a single photo.  The photo below, which was taken from over 5 miles away and has those large freighters in the foreground, might give some sense of the length of this amazing bridge.

5-mile-long Chesapeake Bay Bridge

We arrived at the Horn Point Marina in Annapolis mid-afternoon.  We had traveled 997 nautical miles (1,147 statute miles) since leaving Titusville on April 27!

Shortly after docking, as we were surveying the surrounding waters from the cockpit, we saw several groups of boats on the Bay.  Some groups were sailing classes, some were boat races.  The photo below captures one of the groups.

Group of sailboats on the Chesapeake

We also observed “The Woodwinds” sailing vessel on one of its tours.  “The Woodwinds” is a 74-foot schooner that provides 2-hour public sailing cruises, including sunset cruises, in the Annapolis Harbor, Chesapeake Bay, and nearby Severn River.  I took a cruise on  “The Woodwinds” years ago, and really enjoyed it.  If you are ever in Annapolis, I highly recommend it.

“The Woodwinds”

“The Woodwinds”

The next day (June 26, our first full day in Annapolis) was laundry day.  No rest for the weary…I know, with such a great adventure, there is no room for whining, and actually, even doing the laundry is fun :-).  The photo below shows our departure from the docks, which was followed by a 2.1-mile walk pushing the cart to the laundromat, access to Wi-Fi at McDonald’s while the laundry was washing/drying, and a 2.1-mile walk back, all in all a 5-hour event.  It’s amazing how excited one can get when one has good access to Wi-Fi…it’s the little things in life.   :-)

Laundry day at Horn Point Marina in Annapolis

During the next two months in Annapolis, we plan to sail as much as the weather will allow, taking day trips or overnights to various ports and adjacent waterways along the Bay.  Hopefully, this will include many of the following:  Baltimore, Rock Hall, St. Michaels, Oxford, Cambridge, Kent Narrows, Galesville, Sassafras River, South River, Severn River, White Hall Bay, Patapsco River, etc.  Too many to mention.

Here's a chart of our entire northbound trip.

Deltaville to Reedville, VA to Solomons, MD by Karen Posey - June 22-23, 2015

June 22, 2015

We continued our trip north on the Chesapeake and anchored in a quiet little anchorage in Reedville, VA.  The photo below shows the beautiful sunset that evening.

Sunset at anchorage in Reedville, VA

June 23, 2015

We had to be underway by 6am the next day (June 23), so we were able to catch the sunrise photo below.

Sunrise at anchorage in Reedville, VA

In order to avoid too boisterous a ride today, we put a second reef in the main and a single reef in the jib and motor-sailed for 8 hours on the Chesapeake to Solomons, MD.  We saw several lighthouses along the way.  I am disappointed that I did not take photos of all of them, but four of them are shown below…New Point Comfort Lighthouse, Wolf Trap Lighthouse, Smith Point Lighthouse, and Point No_Point Lighthouse.

New Point Comfort Lighthouse

Wolf Trap Lighthouse

Smith Point Lighthouse

Point No Point Lighthouse

We also passed a towboat pulling a barge of gravel…interesting sight to see on the open water.

Towboat pulling a barge of gravel

Another interesting sight on the Chesapeake that day: a RORO (roll on, roll off car carrier transporting up to 8,000 new cars across the ocean)…

RORO on the Chesapeake

We arrived in Solomons, MD mid-afternoon and felt immediately at home in a favorite stopover town for sailors that we both know well.  The photo below shows Drum Point Lighthouse, which was retired and relocated to Solomons at the Calvert Maritime Museum.

Drum Point Lighthouse (retired) at the Calvert Maritime Museum

We rowed ashore in the dinghy for dinner (hooray for no canned goods!).  A serious lightning storm passed over us, so we waited it out in the restaurant until there was a brief break in the weather so that we could safely (and without too much discomfort) row back to the boat.  We will stay in Solomons tomorrow (June 24) to re-provision, and then HEAD TO ANNAPOLIS!!

Mobjack Bay to Deltaville (North) by Karen Posey - June 21, 2015

Today provided another wonderful 3- to 4-hour sail.  This one was “brisk” as opposed to “boisterous” (which made it more comfortable), but Murph still tested the limits of the wind and currents.  He put out the whisker pole (see photo below) to take advantage of what he thought would be 5- to 10-knot winds, but the winds stayed at 15 knots and Murph was hesitant to take down the whisker pole, so we had quite a ride.  The short video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63TmpZ08rrk  (Mobjack Bay to Deltaville) was taken during the sail.

Sailing the Chesapeake with whisker pole out

We pulled into Deltaville, VA in early evening and anchored in the very small harbor.  There was a flotilla of Aqua Lodge floating cottages nearby…something I had never seen before, though Murph says that there is a live-aboard floating cottage at Annapolis Landing Marina.

Aqua Lodge floating cottages

Our anchorage in Deltaville

Deltaville Anchorage in Broad Creek

”Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! We’re finally in the Bay!!” by Karen Posey - June 20, 2015

Dismal Swamp Canal to Norfolk Harbor to the Chesapeake Bay

The Norfolk Harbor is an amazing 15-mile stretch of maritime commerce and operations.  The photos below, all taken in the Norfolk Harbor, show…

The aircraft carrier “Ike”, which was one of 4-5 aircraft carriers in the harbor (more than most countries own);

Aircraft carrier “Ike”

the battleship “Wisconsin” (a celebrated battleship that served in World War II and the Korean War) alongside the schooner “Virginia” (a replica of the original schooner “Virginia” that served as a pilot vessel during World War I);

Battleship “Wisconsin”

the Portsmouth skyline;

Portsmouth skyline

and the Norfolk skyline.

Norfolk skyline

We saw huge and colorful container cranes (depicted below) loading cargo on the barges.  The second photo below gives you some sense of their enormous size.  The “small” boat in the foreground is actually a US Coast Guard security boat, capable of mounting a 50-caliber machine gun on its bow…looks like a toy boat in the photo!

Cranes loading cargo on the barges

US Coast Guard security boat

The afternoon provided the title for this report…”Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! We’re finally in the Bay!!”  We entered the Chesapeake Bay by noon. What a sight to see the water open up with nothing but the horizon and an occasional boat in view. With wind speeds of 15-20 knots and 3ft waves, we had 3-4 hours of “boisterous” sailing (read that: stuff flying all over the cockpit!).  Murph was at the wheel for most of it because it took great force to keep the boat at its proper heading. Murph later admitted that he probably had too much sail up…I wonder if that explains why the books in the cabin flew over the 2” lip and off the shelf :-).  We ended the day tired but exhilarated.

Sailing on the Chesapeake Bay

We anchored in the East River of Mobjack Bay.

Mobjack Bay Anchorage

Dismal Swamp Canal by Karen Posey - June 19, 2015

We spent today traveling the Dismal Swamp.  The Dismal Swamp does not look dismal at all (at least, not in the bright sunlight).  It is actually a 5-hour cruise through a peaceful, though algae-filled, narrow waterway.  (The second photo below was taken by Murph when he traveled south last Oct.)

Dismal swamp in June

Dismal swamp in October

So what makes the Dismal Swamp so dismal??  Think two things…swarms of sweat bees and periodic loud thumps on the bottom of the boat!  ‘Nuff said :-).  We truly are enjoying this wonderful adventure, with all of its unexpected little pleasures and challenges along the way, but after 5 hours of the above, Murph proclaimed, “We are NOT traveling the Dismal Swamp again.”  (Fortunately, there is an alternate route.)

The Dismal Swamp is essentially bracketed by two locks…the South Mills Lock to the south, and the Deep Creek Lock to the north. We traveled through the South Mills Lock early in the day but did not make the Deep Creek Lock by their last opening at 3:30pm.  So we rafted up with two other boats that were also waiting for the next lock opening and waited it out overnight at the Deep Creek Bridge (photo below…we are the boat farthest from the bridge, with the brown mainsail cover).

Rafted up overnight at Deep Creek Lock

The next morning (June 20) we went through the lock (photo below) and headed for Norfolk, VA.

Entering the Deep Creek Lock

Albemarle Sound Sailing by Karen Posey - June 18, 2015

Today proved to be a great sailing day in Albemarle Sound.  It was the first time during the entire trip that we were able to put up both the main and the jib with the motor off and have enough wind and navigable water to get in a good sail.  We were on a beam reach, doing 4-6 knots, and were able to sail for almost 3 hours. It was so comforting to hear only the waves lapping against the boat.  It is hard to capture that in a photo, but I did take one in the cabin to show the heel of the boat.  (I hung a shirt from the grab bar (a no-no when underway and done only to capture the photo) in order to show vertical.)

Boat heeling while sailing

That afternoon, a Coast Guard rescue helicopter (photo below) flew over us several times.  Hopefully, he was practicing his drills and not rescuing some poor boater who was overcome by waves or insects!

Coast Guard rescue helicopter

Kelly IV in her slip in Elizabeth City, NC

Kelly IV in Elizabeth City

Bellhaven to Alligator River Marina by Karen Posey - June 17, 2015

Before departing this morning, we captured the photo below of a colorful (blue, orange, yellow) little bird on the bow line.  (Unfortunately, the photo does not do it justice.)

Bird on bow line

As we traversed the Alligator-Pungo Canal, we passed a dead tree onshore with several vultures lying in wait (photo below)…Guess they were waiting for someone to keel over (no pun intended) so that they could swoop down and grab dinner.

Vultures in dead tree

To add to the excitement of “nature’s specimens” on the ICW, we were again blessed with the opportunity to be bombarded by horse flies all afternoon as we traveled the Alligator River.  As if our last encounter were not terrifying enough, this time they sent The Big Kahuna of all horseflies and his mighty band of warriors, who chose our cockpit as their kamikaze practice location.  Those suckers were more than an inch long and had big green bulging eyes…looked like something out of a sci-fi movie.  One of them decided to stop in the galley (perhaps looking for a cold beer?) and I took him out with one swat.  I was so impressed with his appearance that I kept him in a plastic cup as a souvenir (shown in photo below beside a teaspoon to indicated relative size).

Gigantic horsefly

We tied up at Alligator River Marina that evening (actually, a few slips behind a truck stop.   :-)

Alligator Marina Slip

Oriental to Bellhaven, NC by Karen Posey - June 16, 2015

We departed Oriental, NC today.  (It was 104.6 degrees in Oriental yesterday!)  On the Neuse River, we passed a towboat pushing a barge transporting building materials of some kind. It was noteworthy because the bow of the barge was submerged in the water.

Towboat pushing a barge

We tied up at Belhaven Guest Dock that evening.  Yes, they have electricity and we have AIR CONDITIONING!   :-)

Belhaven Guest Dock