2025 October: Norfolk, VA

 22 October 2025

Depart: Mill Creek, Virginia, anchorage 7:50

Arrive: Norfolk, VA Hospital Point anchorage 4:30

Distance: 65 nm

First, an update from yesterday's whoops. Seems like the boat and I both came through the incident with little to no issues. Even the bruise forming on my hand never turned into anything interesting (must be the ice that helped that). Also, we did not notice anything misbehaving on the boat today other than the autopilot that was giving us grief prior to the incident near the anchorage yesterday evening.

Clark and I were up again today before the sun, and I took some pictures in the anchorage before we got underway. Not a great sunrise picture, but the reflections of the trees in the water presented a good opportunity for the camera.

Sunrise at Mill Creek anchorage ...

 

Today on the Chesapeake was, thankfully, uneventful. Waters were mostly calm on the Bay. Where waves picked up, Clark steered to compensate, so we had a smooth ride. 

I was naughty today and did my NY Times puzzles and then continued to play on my phone for a large portion of the day. I am addicted to a few games that I use to pass the time. Today was one of those days until we neared the Hampton / Norfolk area. Then, we had lots of naval ships to gawk at as we moved along. 

As we came through the Hampton, Virginia area, Clark pointed to a container ship and said, "The AIS says we are on a collision course with that guy." We were very close to each other. So of course, I took  a picture!

One can see from the picture above just how calm the waters were in this area. Later, a tug came out to meet this ship and help bring him in to dock. The tow looks so small and insignificant next to the behemoth ship. I wondered what it felt like to captain either one of those vessels. The responsibilities of either are enormous! 

"CMA CGM" and tug ready to assist

At the same time this ship was coming in, another one was going out. After seeing next to no one on the Bay, this was quite a bit of excitement!

"WAN HAI A15" - Singapore

As I got ready to take the above picture, a helicopter came out to hover over the area. I wanted to get both the ship and the helicopter in the picture, but the helicopter took off before I got "my act together".  The helicopter looked like a tiny gnat flying over the huge container ship!

Next we came upon something interesting floating in the water -- clearly anchored as it wasn't moving.

We found a few of these basically in a row including one pair of them. My guess - they are moorings for barges.

More of the same floating things

After that we got to see a number of naval vessels at dock as we came into Norfolk. We saw quite an interesting variety including air craft carriers and a hospital ship.

A multi-masted sail boat passed by while I was admiring the naval vessels, so I snapped a picture of that as well.

Clark said we had two choices to anchor tonight - Mill Creek in Hampton or Hospital Point in Norfolk. To me it was a coin toss with no real preference. We would anchor at Mill Creek around 3:00 or Hospital Point about an hour later. Ultimately, we opted for Hospital Point.

Building at Hospital Point says
 "Welcome to Norfolk"

Anchoring here was a wee bit challenging. As we entered the anchorage, Clark said the depth was 27 feet. That requires a whole heck of a lot of anchor line to be put out. As we came in closer the numbers continued to drop until we ultimately anchored in around 15' of water. We had to scope it out as the depths were all over the place, and we had catamarans anchored there and crab pots to avoid. 

Once the anchor was finally down, we had a lengthy discussion on wind directions, high and low tides, currents, etc. We ultimately decided to pull in some of our anchor line we had deployed because a crab pot appeared to be in our swing radius at longer scope. All told, it probably took a half hour to get settled for the night.

Pictures of the anchorage, i.e. the views from our boat ...

Shortly after we came in from dropping anchor, I heard a noise outside and got yet another show. A big ship came in guided by two tugs - although the one in the stern appeared to be towed not towing!

"Gladiator" coming in to dock

McAllister Tow on the hip

McAllister tug being towed behind

It was like a parade because after those vessels, a fancy, tourist-taking sailboat came in. The sailboat had numerous passengers on board enjoying a pleasure cruise.

"Nauticus" from Norfolk, VA

When the "show" was over, I decided to grab a bucket of water to get some salt off the boat. With all the salt spray, it had gotten to a point where I could not see out the windows, and the wood trim and handrails were caked with dried on salt. I am hoping it might last for a while as we travel inland waterways, i.e. ICW and rivers.

Later, as I was busy typing up today's blog entry, I noticed the sun reflecting off the buildings surrounding the anchorage, grabbed the phone, and took some sunsetting pictures.

After that, I noticed that lights had started to come on in the area, so I went out for another look.

Lit up string of lights on shore

Marriott

Flashing red marker behind our boat

2025 October: Upper Chesapeake Bay

 20 October2025

Depart: North Summit Marina (on C&D Canal) 10:05

Arrive: Dobbin's Island anchorage (north of Annapolis, Maryland) 4:30

Distance: 52 nm

Having electricity, due to staying at a marina instead of anchoring, meant enjoying luxuries normally taken for granted in a house including using electricity to cook and showering with the heat on (without running the generator). We set off shortly after our 10:00 goal.

The sun was glistening off the water as we passed by Chesapeake City and then Shaefer's Marina. 

Into the sun at Chesapeake City

Schaefer's Marina

We saw a few more sights along the C&D Canal before entering the Elk River.

As we traversed a "No Wake" zone, a work boat buzzed by us.

He slowed down a bit after the above sign as we passed by the Back Creek Mooring Basin.

As November rapidly approaches, we as seeing some change in leaf color, but it is more "blah" than vibrant. The pictures below were taken on the canal.

We noted strong winds on the canal. I commented to Clark that anyone heading towards the Delaware River would have an easy ride with a strong wind at their back. Going the other way would be a devil of an outing. As we entered the Elk River towards the Chesapeake Bay, we were facing winds greater than 30 knots in speed. 

On the Chesapeake Bay three-foot waves were were tightly spaced. I couldn't decide if I was riding in an agitating washing machine or on a bucking bronco. I took a video of a sailboat that we passed to give the blog reader an idea of the conditions we experienced. 

The waves splashed up over the top of our boat rendering visibility through the front panel of the full enclosure less than perfect.

As we navigated outside the main shipping channel, the poor visibility made watching for traps a challenge. I stood for hours with my face next to the enclosure to get the best view possible. With all the swaying and jerking motion, I got a good workout while on trap duty.

As we approached our anchorage for the night, we had somewhat calmer seas, and I took the opportunity to grab a picture of the Point No Point Lighthouse as we motored by. Clark suggested it would be a good picture with the sun shining on it.

Point No Point Lighthouse on Chesapeake Bay

Coming into the anchorage, we were back on trap duty looking for flags.

Perhaps fighting with the heavy seas was too much for our autopilot, but it failed with a "Drive Stopped" error. Clark just "fixed" the autopilot this summer having fought with it on the trip north in the spring. After we got the anchor down, Clark asked me to assist him with some troubleshooting tests on the autopilot. He collected some data and "scratched his head" trying to determine the root cause problem. He came away with no definite conclusions and a still not functional autopilot.

Afterwards I managed to get some pictures of the anchorage at sunset.

21 October 2025

Depart: Dobbin's Island Maryland anchorage 7:45

Arrive: Mill Creek (south of Washington DC) anchorage 6:45

Distance: 87 nm

Clark said we needed an early start today - once again due to catching favorable tides. Since we were up and around before the sun, I slipped out and captured some early morning pictures of the anchorage.

Sunrise at Mill Creek

Houses on the opposite side of the anchorage presented an interesting picture of the sun reflecting off the windows.

We passed another Chesapeake Lighthouse this morning shortly after getting underway. Again, the sun was shining brightly on the subject of the picture.

Sandy Point Lighthouse

Boating traffic was extra light on the Chesapeake Bay. Conditions were not great for today. The USCG announced small craft advisories were in effect from 10am on and made the following (I thought obvious) announcement ...

"Inexperienced boaters especially those in small boats should not be out in these conditions." 

At the start of our travels, the ride was quite pleasant. Clark said the wind would pick up later in the day making travel "more interesting". Meanwhile, I got some great pictures of the Chesapeake Bay bridge.

I found it impossible to get a good picture of the whole length of the bridge, so I took pictures of the piece parts.

A tree growing under bridge in the 
middle of the bay

Shortly thereafter, we passed by a big-boat anchorage.

"Lila Frostburg"

"Lila Frostburg" bridge

That was the end of picture taking for the rest of the day on the Chesapeake. We were navigating outside of the channel and had trap duty. Unlike yesterday when the traps had little flags on them, today's did not and were harder to see in amongst the white caps. 

The morning was mostly calm with a light chop and a south wind at around 13 knots on the nose. As predicted the winds picked up, and by 2:00 we once again had a bumpy ride. The short-period waves grew to 5-foot in height making for a wild ride and magnificent sprays of water breaking over the bow of our boat. 

I had music playing on the radio, and we laughed as the song "Against the Wind" by Bob Seger played. Clark said, "That's what we're doing!" Both the current and the wind were against us. Clark had the RPM turned up to help us reach our destination for the night before dark. 

As we approached the Potomac River, Clark said that we would be anchoring tonight in the Mill Creek just south of the Potomac leading to Washington, D.C. The trip across the entrance to the Potomac River would take over two hours, and then we would have to travel another hour beyond that to get into the anchorage. Doing the math put us arriving at the anchorage around the time the sun set tonight. Crossing in front of the Potomac River often gives us a choppy ride. In general, I do not look forward to it. Today sounded especially challenging.

As we rode up 5' waves and splashed down on the other side, I thought, "There's no need to go to amusement parks since I have Clark as my captain!" After some time pounding on the waves, instead of navigating directly towards our way points on the way to our anchorage for the night, Clark tacked - first looking for calmer waters and later avoiding traveling directly into the sun.

Bouncing along, we fortunately saw no traps in amongst the waves. We did, however, have a sobering moment when I spied a 9" diameter piling sitting vertical in the water just a tad off the starboard side of our boat. Yikes! That could have caused serious damage to the hull if we came down on top of that. 

 

We missed it thank goodness, and Clark quickly dropped a pin on the chart at the location of the hazard. He took note of the GPS coordinates and haled the USCG on the VHF radio to make a report. Later, we heard the Coast Guard give our hazard report over the radio. 

The sun was kind to us as we entered Mill Creek. It hid behind the clouds!

Heading into Mill Creek.

Sun setting on Mill Creek

As we entered the anchorage, Clark literally "knocked me off my feet" as he ran aground. He went on the wrong side of the green marker, and wham we grounded. We hit hard and the boat came to an abrupt stop. It seems even the best captain's can make mistakes. 

Unfortunately, I was standing up getting ready to go below when we hit. I sat down hard on my butt as my arms were flung out to the sides. Fortunately, my butt has lots of padding, so that's not too bad. My hand took the major hit. As I fell, it smashed against a metal portion of the helm seat. 

Nothing is broken. I have a bruise on my hand the size of a quarter. I iced it, and it seems to be fine.  I am thankful it was nothing worse. My body was shaking from the shock of the fall for quite a while afterwards. It was a bit challenging making dinner, but I am fine now.  I expect I might have some stiff / achy parts tomorrow.

Given we grounded at speed, Clark was concerned about damage to the hull. After we backed off and got going again, he said we needed to check to see if we were taking on water. I told him to let the boat drift and go do the research. I was too shaken to be climbing into holds on the boat looking for damage. 

Since it was after sundown by the time we had the anchor down, we did not have a lot of time to check the condition of the boat's hull and props. I expect we will find out more tomorrow.