We were lucky they could accommodate us at Waterside Marina, which was perfectly located adjacent to the conference venue, plus lots of other Norfolk attractions. In fact, we were tied up right in front of the popular Waterside Festival Marketplace.
From our aft deck we could watch the paddlewheel ferry boat coming and going between Norfolk and Portsmouth across the river.
It was just a short walk to the Hampton Roads Naval Museum where we got up close and personal with the impressively huge Battleship Wisconsin.
During our five day stay in Norfolk, as were were trying to absorb so many details of the enormous trip still ahead of us, one question kept nagging at us. Where do we go from here? The Chesapeake Bay, of course, but which stops along the way? Do we do the western shore, the eastern shore, or a combination of both? We finally decided to take it one step at a time and make decisions along the way. On May 18th, as we left Norfolk behind, a bit anxious as to what lay ahead on the Chesapeake Bay, the weather was a bit iffy, cloudy with storms in the distance.
We encountered low swells at the Chesapeake entrance, with a breeze from the south. At one point a beam sea had us rocking and rolling, but for the most part, our first day on the Chesapeake Bay was quite calm. The hardest part was navigating between buoys, which were too far apart to see from one to the next, even though the major ones we were following were quite large.
Our first stop was Deltaville, VA, and Dozier's Regatta Point Yachting Center, located on Broad Creek, off the Rappahannock River.
What a great choice that was, too. As AGLCA members we got a special dockage rate, and as an extra added bonus, those of us who had attended the Norfolk Rendezvous also got a third night at the marina free! Little did we know until we arrived that they would also host a wine and cheese happy hour for us two of the three nights we were there, the first of which just happened to be my birthday. What a treat!
If the weather had been warmer, we might have taken advantage of their swimming pool, but the water was a bit too cold for us wimps.
We did use their laundry facilities, plus their courtesy car (they have two) to go shopping for groceries and boat supplies. The small town of Deltaville actually has two West Marine stores! Our three days at Regatta Point gave us the time we needed to choose our next destination, Solomons, MD.
Once again, conditions on the Chesapeake were calm, which allowed us to concentrate on navigation, using both paper charts and GPS to locate the widely spaced marker buoys.
What a great reward when one would come into sight, and we knew we were on the right course.
Solomons, MD, is located near the mouth of the Patuxent River, on the Chesapeake's western shore. We planned to anchor out our first night there and move to a marina for the next three days. The anchorage we chose was up Back Creek in a lovely setting.
However, after dropping the hook and shutting down the engines, we couldn't get our generator to start. Luckily, our marina, Zahniser's Yachting Center, could take us a day earlier than planned, so up came the anchor again.
The main reason we had chosen Zahniser's was because they had a sail loft on site which could sew a ripped out zipper on one of our strataglass windows on the flying bridge. They also had a full service boat yard with a mechanic who was able to get our generator problem sorted out.
The day we arrive turned out to be the opening day for their swimming pool and adjacent bar, and since the weather had turned hot and humid, we took advantage of it, even though the water was still pretty cold.
Solomons is a Mecca for boaters, with one marina after another lining the shores of its creeks. To fully appreciate this setting, we lowered our dinghy and went exploring.
As with any Chesapeake Bay area town worth its salt, one of the major attractions is a nautical museum. But
the one in Solomons also has on site one of only three remaining screwpile lighthouses of the original 45 on the Bay.
We had a lovely time at Solomons, with the only downside being the heatwave we encountered, plus accompanying swarms of bugs which made a mess of our boat. At least they didn't bite! As a parting gift, we received a beautiful sunset before leaving Solomons.
Next we decided to head over to the eastern shore to a place we had visited many years before by car (and loved), St. Michaels, MD. Now the Bay was getting narrow enough for us to see from shore to shore, and some of those shorelines were quite interesting.
We also encountered some strange looking working boats, possibly oystermen? Not sure, but they looked different than the numerous crabbers we had seen before.
At St. Michaels, we decided to try our luck again with anchoring and found a lovely spot in Fogg Cove, overlooking the famous Inn at Perry Cabin on one side,
and the back side of the Chesapeake Maritime Museum on the other.
This time the generator worked fine, and we sure needed it to keep our air conditioners going, because the heatwave continued during our stay in St. Michaels. We used our dinghy to go ashore, tying up at a dock provided by the town for that purpose.
This was conveniently located near the Maritime Museum and the Crab Claw Restaurant.
So we walked around town and had a delicious dinner of braised scallops and salad at the Town Dock Restaurant before heading back to our boat and the welcome relief of our air conditioned environment. What a charming town.
The next morning, May 26th, we got an early start (6:40 a.m.), deciding to complete our trip up the Chesapeake, destination Chesapeake City located on the Chesapeake and Delaware (C & D) Canal. It was sunny/hazy, and very hot and humid. We had thought we might make one more stop on the eastern shore before bidding farewell to the Bay, but the forecast was for more of the same heat and humidity, so we were now looking forward to heading to Cape May, NJ, where it was a bit cooler.
The only things we saw of note before entering the canal were some creatures swimming in the water. One looked like an alligator and a couple of others like otters. Before we could try to snap pictures of them, they were gone, but they did get our attention anyway, and broke the boredom of our cruising day.
What a marvel the C & D Canal is. It provides a means for vessels of all kinds to cut through from the Chesapeake area (including Baltimore and Washington, D.C.) to the Delaware River (and on to Philadelphia) without having to go hundreds of miles out of their way. There is a dispatcher located at Chesapeake City, a few miles from the western end of the canal, who controls traffic through a system of red and green lights positioned at both ends. Before entering the canal, one must check to see that the light is flashing green. Since some huge ships regularly transit the canal, this can be very important.
Also at Chesapeake City is a harbor where cruisers like ourselves can stopover either at a free dock (if there is enough room) or at an anchorage. It was still a grey day as we approached the entrance to this harbor.
As luck would have it, the dock was full, but there was plenty of room for us in the anchorage. Our plan was to stay a second day to explore the town, but weather predictions changed our minds, and the next morning we pulled up anchor and made a run for it through the rest of the canal, down the Delaware River into Delaware Bay and the safe haven of Cape May, NJ. Other boats left even before us. Apparently, the word was out to make haste!
Upon exiting the C & D Canal and entering the Delaware River, we found good cruising conditions. The tidal current was in our favor, which gave us a boost in speed, and the chop on the water was light. Once again, as on the Chesapeake, the channel markers were few and far between, some of them huge when we actually reached them.
As we progressed and the river broadened into Delaware Bay, the conditions changed dramatically. First the light chop became a heavy chop with whitecaps.
Then the chop turned to waves (too rough to take pictures) increasing in size minute by minute. We had to brace ourselves to keep from being knocked down as the Docker fought through the surf. Actually, she handled it remarkably well, but both wind and waves kept pushing us off course, so we had to continually make course corrections to keep on heading toward the entrance to the Cape May Canal. Finally, we made it, and all was calm again
This provided us with a false sense of security, however, because as we exited the canal and entered Cape May Harbor, the wind was whipping up a frenzy of whitecaps again. This made for an interesting entrance to our marina, but we made it, finally ending up securely tied to a dock in a great Jersey Shore setting.
Now, we're looking forward to exploring Cape May, NJ over this Memorial Day weekend.
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