BACK TO THE CHESAPEAKE

We're finally back to the boat! Although it was good, and necessary to get home for a little while to take care of a few things,it's good to be floating again. As usual, everything was doing well thanks to Teresa, Wendy, Sandy and all the agents. We got delayed a few days longer than we anticipated due to availability of flights but finally got out on 9/22 on a morning flight and left the 40 degree weather of Chicago to arrive in the 90 degree heat in Baltimore. It felt great! Terry, my cruisng buddy in the Keys and the Caribbean, helped us shuttle to and from the airport and hopes to join us as we go further South. Len picked us up in Baltimore and we are staying an extra day at the marina to visit them at their home on Bodkin Creek ande to esplore what we could of the creek. Sorry it took so long to get this blog up but we have been very busy since we got back. On Monday 9/24/12 we left Bodkin Creek for Solomons Island. As usual, the wind was light and on our nose, so we wound up motoring most of the way there. Leaving Bodkin Creek

The famous "spider" lighthouse South of Annapolis in Chesapeake Bay

The Lighthouse outside the river entrance to Solomons

The Back Creek at Solomons and a Restaurant over the River

Denise's favorite, the Tiki Bar at Solomons

Solomons is across from the the air force base that tests new aircraft and is where Jim and Sherri's son Kyle works most of the time. We found a nice anchorage in an area called Back Creek near the Museum and spent the two nights. The area had some beautiful scenery and some interesting restaurants. Of course we had to dingy everywhere, but it just added to the fun. Once again a local shop keeper helped us by giving us a ride to a store that was over a mile away. It is amazing how helpful and kind all the people we have met have been. Denise's cousin lives near Cape Charles on the East side of the Chesapeake and we were making arrangemnents to pick her up and take her with us for a few days, so we headed South on the 26th to meet her in Norfolk, Virginia, where her daughter had organized a bicycle ride to Key West to raise money to help her mom get a kidney transplant that she needs. The forecast had been for winds from 15 to 20 MPH with waves from 2 to 3 feet and small craft warnings. We had initially decided to wait a day, but changed our mind when we saw what looked like a beautiful day in the Solomons. We decided we would just make a short hop to get closer to Norfolk. When we got out of the River and into the Bay, the wind and waves were not too bad and we tried to motor sail. By the time we got to the Potomac River, The winds had increased and the waves were doing more than the forecast 3 feet. We battled the wind and waves all across the mouth of the Potomac (which is huge) and had to get around Point Smith before we could hop into the Reedville, which was the first place that was deep enough for us to get into and off the Bay. We had to dodge crab pots and fish traps going into Reedville and once we got in there was a fish processing plant with a smell that could make you gag. Luckily, the marina we pulled into was downwind from it! The marina itself was pretty laid back. We pumped our own fuel and when we asked where our slip was, no one seemed to know. We wound up pulling the boat up in front of the restaurant and just past the fuel pumps to spend the night. On the way in to this laid back little marina with the stinky fish plant, we saw our first dolphins as they jumped along side our boat. I guess they must like the fish smell! Sorry, no pictures, you have to be very quick to catch them in a picture, but we will sooner or later. Thursday, the 27th was forecasted to be 5 to 10 knot winds with waves to 1 foot. It started out that way with a little wind coming (of course) right on our nose. We raised the main and tried to motor sail, tacking a little across the bay to give us a boost. We did quite well with speeds up to 9 knots as the wind, and waves continued to increase. The currents were also helpful in getting those kind of speeds. The further South we got the higher the wind speeds and the higher the waves. It was quite a distance yet to our destination and we realized it was going to be dark when we got there to pick up Denise's cousin. We opted to go to another marina. Going past all the naval ships and cargo vessels in the Norfolk boat yard was impressive. An aircraft carrier

A beautiful end to a long day.

We got secured and grabbed some dinner after a very long day on the water. Our map at the top of the page has been divided into three different maps. My son Patrick is trying to get them put together for me so you can see our progress as we map it. It's a great feature but we will continue to tweek it. Today....the Dismal Swamp!