2024 October: Arrive Hampton Virginia

 16 October 2024
Depart: Mill Creek anchorage, Solomons, MD 7:40
Arrive: Fort Monroe anchorage, Mill Creek, Hampton, VA 6:10
Distance: ~ 91 nm

We anchored in yet another waterway named Mill Creek. Clark seems to be able to find "Mill Creek" wherever he goes, so when he says, we will anchor in "Mill Creek", I just shake my head at the non-information.

This morning, I found the rising sun hiding behind trees. After several attempts at a good picture, I finally gave up and helped Clark get the anchor up and underway.  As we exited the anchorage, I managed to capture a sun picture.

As we passed the Point No Point lighthouse, I looked up its history. I wondered about the name which came about because the promontory is much less pointed up close than it looks from the water. The lighthouse was funded in 1901 and began operation in April of 1905. 

We were happy to see that the auto pilot behaved properly today after Clark's work to clean out the carbon last night. The following seas we had as we traveled the bay, however, drove the auto pilot crazy. It was constantly correcting left or right. We were surfing most of the day as the tall waves picked us up and carried us. 

For a while we saw the speeds fluctuate from 7.8 knots to 9.8 knots back down to 7.8. Later in the day, while passing the Potomac River, I noted the spread of speed increase to from 5 knots to 12 knots as we rode the waves.

We saw a few sailboats traveling south on the bay. Off in the distance I noted an Evergreen container ship. Overall it was very quiet traffic wise. I was quite excited to see my first (this season), and only, pelican today. 

As we passed the entrance to the Potomac River, the waves picked up with wind against current. The seas are always worse here as it far less protected than other areas on the bay. I look forward to getting beyond the Potomac as quickly as possible. Today I watched a sailboat being tossed about in the swirling waters and was glad I was not on their boat.

Many of the Chesapeake Bay lighthouses have a similar appearance. The one below is Smith Point Light.

The autopilot did the heavy lifting piloting a route today. While we looked for non-existent traffic and crab pots, the autopilot followed the track Clark had entered moving from Waypoint to Waypoint mostly without human intervention. To pass the time, we pushed play on an audible mystery book that I have Bluetooth-attached from my phone to a wireless speaker.

With the up and down wave / speed action, the navigation calculations fluctuated by large amounts. Clark said we should arrive at our anchorage around 4:30. At 4:30, however, we were still an hour away from our destination. We have been traveling about 10-hour days, but today it got up to 11 hours of travel time. I used the last half hour before anchoring to pre-cook dinner using the electricity coming from the running engines. Once settled, we could quickly sit down to a nice hot meal.

The sun was going down as we pulled into the anchorage near Fort Monroe and motored past the Old Point Comfort yacht club to look for a place to drop anchor amongst the sailboats already sitting there.

Lighthouse on shore just before entering anchorage

Warship on the opposite shore to the lighthouse

Sun setting at the anchorage

Buildings reflecting the setting sun

Sailboats reflecting the setting sun

Sun setting behind the highway by the anchorage

Blue dot is us on Mill Creek next to Route I-64

2024 October: Arrive Solomons MD

 15 October 2024
Depart: Sassafras River anchorage MD 7:40 a.m.
Arrive: Solomons, MD - Mill Creek anchorage 5:30 p.m.
Distance: ~ 80 nm

With temperatures in the low 40s last night we snuggled down under the covers to sleep. We do not have a source of heat on the boat at anchor without running the generator, and we do not do that overnight. Fortunately, we were tucked in nicely and had no noticeable winds. 

Before sunrise, Clark jumped out of bed, turned on the generator and heat, and jumped back into bed where we remained until the state room was cozy warm for dressing. Reluctantly I dragged my body out of bed and made my way to view this morning's sunrise.

I piloted the boat through the Sassafras River and into the Chesapeake Bay. Clark had some things he wanted to take care of and surrendered the helm to me which is somewhat unusual.  Fortunately, today we had winds of about 15 knots - nothing like the 40 knot gusts of yesterday.

Once Clark took over the driving duties, I grabbed some obligatory pictures of the Bay like the Bay Bridge.

We saw little traffic today, but we managed to see / encounter the container ship shown below multiple times. In the picture below, the ship is at anchor. Later he pulled up anchor and followed us on the channel. Then later still , we saw him again at anchor off the Solomons where we turned in to find a place to drop anchor for the night because the channel he needed ahead was closed for his draft.

YM Trust - Container Ship

I grabbed more pictures of other usual sightings on the Bay.

Typical Lighthouse

I really liked the sails on the boat below. Too bad I can't read the message on the sail. We had to make a detour as we appeared to be on a collision course, and boats under sail have the right-of-way. We passed behind him and heard "Thanks Captain!" on the VHF radio. Was he calling us? Probably.

Below is the container ship once again after passing us. Timing was bad as we were crossing the main channel at the time of the encounter. Given that, we had to change our route slightly so as not to be in his path.

From a distance I wondered what the somewhat odd-shaped object was in the waterway ahead. The round top, white color, and the birds made it look less like a buoy than I expected. 

We saw YM Trust for a last time as we turned into the Patuxent River to look for an anchorage. He was at anchor at the entrance to the river.

We heard the captain talking to a pilot boat about navigation. Shortly afterwards, we saw the boat below going into the Patuxent River.

Pilot Boat

I tried very hard to capture a picture of the light breaking through the thick dark clouds. Most pictures did not show the rays clearly.

While searching for a place to drop anchor, we found some tugs docked on the Patuxent River.

As soon as we had the anchor down, Clark had me at work holding up the instrument panel in the pilot house while he explored the NEMA-0183 wire connections. As I held the display at a 45 degree angle while he worked, I saw the sun set. With both arms / hands occupied, I got no picture!

Once Clark finished analyzing wires, he went to the stern for more repair work trying to get carbon buildup out of the reversing motor for the auto pilot. It failed yesterday and again today briefly until he tapped on it. Tonight, he partly opened it and blew out the carbon and sprayed it with contact clear to wash more. He is hoping this will be a more long-term solution after this work tonight.

Dinner was late tonight. I worked on a blog update instead of cooking since Clark was busy working on the boat.

2024 October: Enter Chesapeake Bay

13 October 2024
Depart: Brigantine anchorage, Atlantic City, NJ 7:30 a.m.
Arrive: Cohansey Cove along Delaware River, NJ 4:15 p.m.
Distance: ~ 72 nm

Clark did a lot of analysis to decide which route we would take today. The choices were Atlantic Ocean or Chesapeake Bay. Ocean travel would get us to Norfolk, VA faster by a couple of days. We managed to do that trip last year for the first time ever and loved it. We have been up and down the Chesapeake Bay more times than I can count, and it seems like every anchorage we stay in is called "Mill Creek"!

Unfortunately, the weather proved uncooperative for an ocean voyage this time, so we headed for an anchorage off the Delaware River for the night. Sadly, this not only adds days to our travel, but sends us northwards into colder weather expected over the next few days.

Before pulling up anchor, I watched the sun come up over the anchorage.

This anchorage has an intimidating entrance with a narrow entrance with marshes to one side and a beach to the other. The deeper water is along the edge of the marsh grass. We came in at high tide and saw no less than 4 feet of water below the boat. 

We had a good view of the Atlantic City casinos from our boat this morning.

As the sun came up, it reflected in the windows of some houses by the anchorage.

Since we have been up and down the Jersey shore numerous times, the sites from the boat are familiar. I grabbed only a picture of the Ferris wheel at one of the resort towns along the way.

Having been underway for about 5 hours, we finally arrived at Cape May. We had been traveling all that time heading into the southerly wind and oncoming waves. The motion of the boat was comparable to riding a rocking horse for that amount of time. It might be fun at first but loses its attractiveness as time goes on! When Clark said the winds and waves would pick up in the afternoon, I was mighty glad he had decided on heading for the Chesapeake Bay.

We traversed the Cape May Canal to Delaware Bay and into the Delaware River. At 1:30, we entered Delaware Bay with calm seas and all looked good. Clark selected "Cohansey Cove" on the New Jersey side of the river as tonight's anchorage. Unfortunately, when we arrived there, we found it to be a mine field of crab pots. 

Everywhere we looked in every direction, we found pot after pot. By the time we arrived, the wind had picked up. The associated wave action made the crab pots bob up and down giving us a hard time surveying the area for a place to drop anchor, so I went out on the bow for better visibility. We finally found a place big enough to drop anchor and have swing room as the tide changed. The spot was not ideal but seemed to be our only option.

As the evening wore on, we discovered that we had chosen one of our worst anchorage spots ever. The tide forced the boat sideways to the waves. Some rocking was so severe we were pretty sure it came from wakes of boat traffic on top of the waves formed by the wind. (We are only stabilized when underway!) 

Walking in the boat was difficult as we rocked heavily from side-to-side. Cooking dinner was an interesting challenge. Hunting down and securing items swinging, banging, and falling in the boat helped pass the time.  Clark yelled out, "Sundown", so I could grab a picture. I told him I was busy chasing pots around the kitchen, and he could take one. It did not happen!

We hoped it would calm down as the night progressed and the wind abated. However, at midnight, I was still being thrown from side to side in bed holding on to the side of the bed to stay mostly in one place. Clark suggested that the winds would calm down around 2:00 a.m. and it did but at 3:00 I was still awake! Needless to say, it was not a pleasant night and not conducive to sleeping.

14 October 2024
Depart: Cohansey Cove anchorage 7:35 a.m.
Arrive: Sassafras River, Money Creek, Anchorage, Maryland 1:50 p.m.
Distance: ~52 nm

Motion sickness is not something I generally need to deal with, but with so little sleep last night, and many hours since I ate dinner, I felt "peculiar" this morning. Clark said we needed to get going as early as possible today to catch the current going up the river. Given that breakfast would need to wait. I grabbed a handful of almonds and a glass of water and hoped for the best. (I did eventually feel myself after eating a full breakfast.)

As I waited for Clark to get the engines up and running, I took a couple of sunrise pictures. That was the best part of dragging my body out of bed this morning.

We got underway and continued our way up the Delaware River towards the C&D Canal. We had light winds and little traffic.  Our last view of New Jersey is the Salem Nuclear Power Plant. Today it was brightly lit by the sun as we approached.

On the Delaware River, we passed the "Green Warrior" from Monrovia. I liked the "Pi-like" symbol on the ship. We were traveling outside the channel, so he had plenty of room.

Then, later, we saw a barge being pushed by a tug. These are a common sight in this area.

Entering the C&D Canal, we saw the usual sights. A few folks were using the trails along the canal - biking or running. Passing by Chesapeake City, we checked out the sailboats lined up at the town dock. It looked like they had a full house.

On the opposite shore, we spied the marina at Schaefer's Canal House with a pilot boat docked nearby.

Fall colors have just started to appear on the C&D Canal.

When we had entered the C&D Canal, Clark radioed a tug named "Rock Hall" for his plans so that we could navigate such that we did not get in his way. We followed him the length of the canal. 

As we made our way along the waterway, we heard someone with a very loud mouth haling a vessel. Until he passed us, we did not know he was calling us. Our vessel name is clearly displayed. He did not use it. As it turned out, some sailing vessel replied to him in our stead. As he flew by us, I said, "Oh, he was calling us!"

Later, as that same loud mouth, approached "Rock Hall", he called on the radio "tug, we're passing on your starboard". He got no response. He tried again. Eventually, "Rock Hall" answered and said, "Are you haling 'Rock Hall'?" He then proceeded to give the haling boater a harsh lecture on boating etiquette and told him to use a boat's name when calling. The loud mouth gave a "yeah, sure" kind of reply - not polite and not quite totally rude. Clark said, "That guy is a jerk!" Harsh words from Captain Clark! To me it sounded like he thought he owned the waterways.

The wind has not been our friend thus far on the trip. Just before entering the C&D Canal, the winds suddenly jumped from 12 knots to gusts of up to 40 knots. The weatherman had said to expect a sudden change in wind speed, and he was correct.

As we departed the Elk River at the entrance to Chesapeake Bay, we had 4 foot waves with a very short period causing water to splash over the top of our boat that stands almost 20 feet tall. At lunchtime I ate down below where the wave action was not so noticeable. I had a nice break from wind and waves.

Clark later told me about a sailboat that he had seen so far keeled over in the river that its rail was in, or practically in, the water. He said it looked "scary".  He took a picture of the boat, but it was not keeled over at the time.

At 12:45 Clark asked me what I wanted to do - exit the Bay and enter the Sassafras River to look for an anchorage or continue on the Bay. Visibility had become somewhat poor, so I suggested we bail out and try for better weather tomorrow.

Even on the Sassafras River conditions were not ideal, and I prayed that Clark would find an anchorage that would allow me to sleep tonight. He said there looked to be a good place about a mile up river. We were on lookout for traps bobbing in waves as we entered the river in search of the anchorage.

As we traveled along, we collected a number of seagulls who must have thought we were a returning fishing boat.

We poked ourselves into an anchorage tucked around a corner in the river. We could still see white caps on the water but only baby ones. 

Since we dropped anchor so early in the day, I got to do the bulk of the blog update early! Yay!

Today's travels ... New Jersey to Maryland.

Evening sky at the anchorage ...