One More Day in the Chesapeake
29 October 2007 | Back Creek, just south of Gibson Island, between the York and Poquoson Rivers.
Roland
Monday, October 29, 2007
We hoped to make it to Norfolk today but that didn't happen. The winds were down from yesterday and we had a 1K current against us most of the day. We got a good early (for us) start from our anchorage this morning and unrolled the staysail as soon as we were finished dodging fish traps in the mouth of the river. After getting tossed around yesterday, we decided to start with a small sail and see how much wind was out on the bay. Once we got out on the bay, it was obvious the wind was down from yesterday and we switched to the jenny. We never did shut down the engine, there wasn't enough wind to keep our boat speed up. By noon, the wind had dropped further and moved dead astern of us. At this point the sail was flopping around so we rolled it up and became a motor boat. With the current against us, pushing hard our boat speed over ground was only about 5 K. It was time to consult the charts and cruising guides to find an anchorage we could get to by about 4 PM. So, here we are anchored in Back Creek, just south of Gibson Island, between the York and Poquoson Rivers. It's not the prettiest anchorage we've been in, but in isn't bad. We are protected from the north wind and have room to swing if needed. And, even though we are getting back to suburbia, Patti sat in the cockpit for the longest time watching a pair of eagles flying from a treetop at the edge of the creek. Not a bad place to spend our last night in the Chesapeake for this year.