We left Solomons on Tuesday morning early enough to do our favorite getting fuel trick. We get to the fuel dock before it opens so we are waiting there when the attendant shows up for work. We were concerned that the wind would be too strong but it was not strong at all. We were able to fuel up, get rid of our four bags of trash, and our used engine oil from the oil change that Bill did on Monday. It seemed like it would be a relatively calm day until we headed out the Patuxent River to the Chesapeake Bay. We had the main sail up, double reefed, but we were making water so we kept the engine on so the battery power would not all be used up by the watermaker. The wind, which was supposed to be 10-15 knots with gusts to 20, was actually more like 20-25 knots with gusts to 30. There were 4-5 foot waves. I am sure we could have successfully sailed but once we were out there we just wanted to go as fast as we could, get as far south as we could, and get this day over with. We decided to leave the engine on and motorsail. At one point I saw the boat reach 10.5 knots. I’m sure that was when one of those”following seas” that people wish on us caught up with us.

We always leave the anchorage with a destination in mind but it’s a flexible goal. Conditions, our moods, and the next days’ weather all are factors in where we actually end up. Yesterday’s destination was to be anchored at 4pm. As I’ve already stated, the conditions were awful, my mood was pretty bad, but the next days’ weather was going to be even worse. Everything we had that day plus rain. Bill proposed we should go all the way to Norfolk, getting there about midnight. I wasn’t too fond of the idea but he convinced me that it made sense. I was OK with it. Luckily after a while he came up with a different plan which had us anchoring by 8pm. The wind was just as strong as it had been all day, maybe stronger. Depending on what direction you are going it affects you more than other directions. At sunset we were doing OK and the sky was so incredibly beautiful as you can see from the picture above. As it got darker it got even more beautiful.

The real fun came when it was time to go into our anchorage. Bill picked Chisman Creek because the entrance is well lit by navigation lights and the water isn’t too shallow. We stayed there last year on the way down the bay too. We had to get the sails down though and that isn’t so easy with 30 knots of wind in the pitch dark. Bill is very brave though, and a really good sailor, so the sails came down without anything going really wrong. We got into the creek and dropped our anchor at about 8:30pm, so very happy to be stopped.

Today it is pouring rain and we are happily staying put and are warm and dry. Hopefully the weather will be much better tomorrow.