DELTAVILLE TO SOLOMONS
May 23-24, 2012
We left Deltaville in full rain and cold Northeast wind. In fact, we navigated some of the morning on radar and a very active lookout in visibilities from near zero to a mile or so. We left the dock at 0900 after some motor vessels some of which turned around and came back. Our original thoughts were to sail to Onancock across to the Eastern shore but by the time we cleared the Rappahannock buoy we changed our mind. We decided to hoist sail and head north along the western shore since winds were lively and from the southeast. In fact, we chose to motor sail and wound up doing 8 kts at times. That gave us enough speed to make about any port below Annapolis before the end of the day. For us, the Bay is more like sailing in the Gulf. The water depth is such that if one stays a few miles offshore, the waves and swells are smooth and less aggressive than Corpus Christi Bay. We even had wave sets and swells along our route. The guides make it clear that all of that is subject to change in a big way when winds shift but we did not see “square” waves all day. By 1600 we were north of the Potomac and decided to sail to the Solomons. The decision to skip the Potomac and sail beyond is somewhat easier since we will have ground transportation to visit the DC area. That turned out to be a really good decision with a nice surprise at the termination. We found not only a very nice harbor and many marinas but also a very picturesque place with just a bit of history. Of course it did not hurt to be just across the river from the Patuxent Naval Air Station. A Raptor, America’s newest fighter, was doing touch and go operations there. That was the first time we’ve seen it in flight. Most impressive!
This harbor is one that ranks as a “must see” by those we met on the way here. It is easy to see why it is a good stop on the way up and down the Bay. This place had to be a Colonial dream. The small peninsula was, methinks, a plantation with a view. About half of it is still a huge farm looking plot on about 500 acres or so. So, this quaint place is a destination for those wishing to be on the water but not on a beach. There are no tee shirt shops to be seen, only boats everywhere. As a stopover one can see all types of boats from working crab boats to very fine sailing vessels. Many are wood which may fare well in these cool waters. We are seeing boats from all over the world here. This marina, Zahnister’s Yacht Center, is actually a working yard albeit the cleanest yard we’ve ever seen. It is in the middle of many yards in the area. Yesterday, we drove through the low lands from here to Norfolk where several of our Founding Fathers were born and lived. We drove some of the escape route of John Wilkes Booth and very near Dr. Mudd’s house. It is definitely a contrast between the surroundings of Dr. Mudd’s house and where he spent much of his life imprisoned at Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas about 70 miles west of Key West.
Scurv is getting to know a fellow ABSD just a few slips away. The chocolate Lab is way less active than he but methinks they speak some kind of code to each other and have decided to keep it down. Scurv stands watch on the mooring field and will let us know if pirates enter. Scurv has a way of waiting until we are in full REM sleep to let out a single bark. It cannot be rats aboard since he is in charge of keeping them away. He has done a fine job so far. The single bark is either a way to let us know he needs something or he is getting even with something we have done to him during the day. At bsea, he sleeps a lot but so far, he had not been sea “sick”. Could it be that there are very limited smells out there? He alerted big time the other day offshore when a boat sailed upwind of us and was cooking something that even I could smell a bit later I thought we were going to have to stand by with a sniffer rag since his was going full bore to windward. Whatever they were cooking had his nose leather (a name Poozak gave dawg noses) twitching fast.
More later.