Solomons Habor Marina - At anchor just off the docks

At anchor in the Solomons

Suspecting the winds were going to pick up in the afternoon, we left Onancock at 7:15 this morning bound for Solomons Island. Sure enough, the calm winds of the marina gave way to 15 to 20 kt winds once out on the Chesapeake! We've found the anchorages in the Chesapeake to be very deceiving. It may be calm but you'd better believe the forecast by NOAA for the Chesapeake Bay. Last year we did not believe and headed out twice when the winds in the anchorage were 5 to 10 but found the forecast for the bay to be accurate at 20 to 30 kts! This year we no longer dispute the bay forecasts, it's usually worse than predicted, not better. Along the way we saw a sailboat headed south! Now that was into the wind and the waves, I took the opportunity to shoot a video of his progress, you can see it here.  Pardon me for the shaking of the camera but it was a little rough out there.

We first met "Nessie" in the Dismal Swamp lock

Today we had winds and waves on the aft section which made for an unstable ride. The autopilot could not keep up with the motion so we had to hand steer most of the way. After a 55 nautical mile trip, we made it to Solomons, MD just as the Coast Guard issued a small craft advisory. Solomons Island is a major destination for boaters in the Chesapeake but we're early in the season so it's not so crowded now. There are lots of marinas but also lots of places to anchor. With the weather forecast not so good for the next few days, we'll spend at least the next four days here. At least it's free here in the anchorage except for the $2 daily fee for use of the dinghy dock at the Solomons Harbor Marina. The winds for the rest of the week are projected to be 20 to 30 kts, a bit much for northing so we'll sit it out for awhile.

Our next destination, when we get the chance, will be either Annapolis or Rock Hall, depending upon the wind direction. Meanwhile, we'll rest up and catch up on movies from the nearest Redbox.

Onancock - Johnny Mo holds forth

Just watching the sunset off the back of the boat, how to improve the day?

Well, there is a laundromat in Onancock but it's a 20 min walk up a hill into town. Luckily, we have a cart so it's not too bad with a full load, still a long way to go. Strangely, the place was packed on a Sunday morning even though they had over 40 washers in the store. Not too exciting here but needed. For even more excitement, I washed the boat in the afternoon.

Johnny Mo, the Musical Chef

The town is well kept, reminds me again of typical Maine towns with manicured lawns and an abundance of flowering plants all around. Except for the laundromat, there wasn't much happening in town but the waterfront was buzzing. The dockmaster said this was the beginning of their season and the restaurant next door, Mallards, was rocking. Johnny Mo, the chef, was holding a party for his friends but we were invited too. Johnny was singing (he's known as The Musical Chef with two CDs out along with two cookbooks) with original songs and/or new lyrics to old songs. We used his previous cookbook, Rock the Kitchen so much that many of the pages were loose from the binding. Upon seeing that, Johnny offered his latest cookbook, Rock the Party, as compensation. As I said in previous posts, the recipes are easy to follow on a boat and result in great meals. We use his cookbook all the time.

Dockhouse to the right, Mallards in the background, convenient marina

Monday morning it's off to the Solomons Island and an anchorage. From this point on we're watching the weather and moving north when conditions permit - weather rules now.

Onancock - at the town dock

The room filled up a few moments later for the Derby

We made good use of AIS (Automatic Identification System) today. We were crossing shipping lanes today getting from the western shore to the eastern shore where Onancock is located. At one point I noticed a tanker coming at us from the port side. It was hazy outside so the tanker was not in view and also beyond our usual 3 mile radar scan but it was clearly visible on the chartplotter as an AIS target. The line that projects forward from the target shows where it will be in 10 minutes. A similar line is shown on the icon representing Fleetwing's position in 10 minutes. If the two lines meet, then you have a collision in the making.  In this case, the two lines met perfectly. If I continued on my present course, one of use would not survive. Therefore, I changed course since I didn't want to damage the tanker and went behind him... All these decisions were made before the tanker was even visible in the light fog. I also transmit an AIS signal so the tanker can see me too. I do like AIS.

Part of the fun of cruising is meeting such nice people along the way

We arrived at Onancock and took on fuel and docked. We were eager to come here since we like to dine at Johnny Mo's restaurant, Marllard's. We've used his recipe book for the past year, it suits boat cooking very well, relatively simple but very good.

This is the second year we just happened to hit Johnny Mo's restaurant at the time of the Kentucky Derby and Ann, who is an avid fan of the Derby, and I watched the running in the bar area of the restaurant, exciting! The dinner was equally entertaining (for us) and we left satisfied after a well prepared meal. We'll be here another day to explore Onancock downtown since the winds are not predicted to be favorable for northing until Wednesday.

Deltaville - At Fishing Bay YC

Very peaceful anchorage

We had intended staying another day at Hampton but the weather forecast was for strong winds out of the north for Saturday so we thought discretion was the better part of valor and headed north today to Deltaville. For once the prediction for winds in the 5 to 10 range out of the south was spot on and we motored north comfortably with very little wave action.

Here's Walt telling us of his future adventures

The route into the yacht club is daring with  one turn only yards off the obviously shallow beach  but the way is marked with buoys and as long as you obey them, you will stay afloat. The big attraction here is the free dock offered by the Fishing Bay Yacht Club for the first night's stay - provided you below to a recognized yacht club (listed in the yacht club directory for the US).

The sled for the Atlantic

On our first try for docking, I got too far off to the east and ran aground, the first time this cruise. I rev'd he engine in reverse and backed off before turning the wheel and rev'ing forward - we plowed a furrow to deeper water. The bottom in the Chesapeake is mostly soft mud anyway. This technique would NOT work in Maine. On our second try we just came straight at the dock and pivoted in front for a sideways touch. Not a problem when there's no current and no wind.









Once docked, we were greeted by a member preparing his boat for a cross-Atlantic adventure. They have a boat that can reach 20 mph in a strong breeze, a sled design that only weighs 6000 lbs but is 40 ft long! The entire boat is built of carbon fiber and has nothing inside except the shell (no floors, no bulkheads - everything is sacrificed for for speed. They'll carry only 60 gallons of water but only for drinking, hummm..

On Saturday we're headed for Onancock and Johnny Mo's restaurant for dinner. We've used his cookbook more than any other on our cruise south. The recipes are relatively simple and the results are great!

Hampton, VA - Provisioning

The fountain is lined with about 50 shops, unfortunately only Ann type shops

We rented a car from Enterprise for the day. Their office is right next to the marina, less than 200 ft away, very convenient! Running a boat is very much like running a house, you may not have to mow the lawn  but the chores are very similar. Add to that all the things that can go wrong on a boat exposed to the salt water of a marine environment and it actually amounts to more work that with a house. Hampton is our last stop where there's a supermarket close by so we're trying to get everything we need to reach PYC.

Even a Farmer's Market - on Thursdays

I had started a download to the iPad of a newer version of our road guidance app and it was updating all morning (it's a very large app, it has all the maps of the entire US stored so no internet calls are required) and was not available for our use in navigating Hampton. We had forgotten how much we depended upon the voice of the app (Bettie, the popular name for voice guidance). Ann's in the right seat looking at a Google map trying to imitate "Bettie" while I'm fighting traffic, Ann had the tougher job. After seeing more of Hampton than we intended, we finally settled for a Walmart instead of a regular supermarket. It seems that Hampton has no Publix, no Winn Dixie, no Kroger, no nothing except for Food Lion, a one supermarket town. Eventually we got what we needed.

Dog walk area by the bridge - it "filters out" sailboard from the anchorage

Hampton has revitalized their town with many shops and a very nice waterfront. At only $1.25/ft  with the third day free (if you stay for two days), it's a great value. The docks are floating concrete and they have the usual showers and laundry facilities. The only drawback are the half length fingers but we manage. Ann's taking me out Friday night to a place with 40 beers on tap and a decent menu, great!

Hampton, VA - at Downtown Hampton Public Piers

Exiting the canal, you start high and drop down - this time the lock door worked!

The trip through the Dismal Swamp Canal north of the visitor center was much better than the southern section. We didn't hit anything substantial, just a branch or two and we made the 11:30 lock opening. The northern section is generally deeper than south of the visitor center, usually 7 to 8 ft vs 5.5 to 6.0 for the southern section. So if a log does find its way to the bottom of the canal, you're more likely to pass over it without bumping in the northern part.

One of the several railroad bridges - it lowered right after we passed through

Exiting the locks, it was a race to reach the Gilmerton Bridge opening at 12:30. The bridge only opens on the half hour, once per hour. If you miss the 12:30 opening, then the next one is at 1:30! I rev'ed the engine to 2500 rpm and we were making 8.0 kts and made the bridge with no minutes to spare. We passed by the naval yards which had patrol boats out to ensure that no one got too close to the ships in dry dock. At one time I got too close to shore on the other side and I heard a loud speaker saying to stand off - I did a right angle turn to the middle of the channel, no one chased me so I guess it was okay. Everyone seems on a high alert around here.

Coming into our dock at the Hampton Public Piers, no one answered our calls to the marina, not on VHF and not on the cellphone. So after a few minutes, we decided to come into an empty dock. Some help arrived from fellow boaters already docked and we made it in okay. It's a little chancy since the docks are only 1/2 boat length long, limiting where to tie up. At first we ran the A/C to cool off but now we may run the heater at night, it's very cool now.

Our plans are to rent a car Thursday for provisioning and renewal of a subscription for Ann's blood pressure medicine and maybe see some sights too. The marina has a two for three deal where you pay for two nights and the third night is free so we'll stay three nights and leave on Saturday for Chesapeake Bay.

Dismal Swamp Visitor Center - At the face dock



Mile after mile of "Swamp People" scenery

The face dock we chose at Elizabeth City proved calm during the night but noisy. Off in the morning, we enter the Dismal Swamp. I like this part of the route, there's a thousand shades of green along the sides of the creek as we approach the Dismal Swamp locks. The ever present turtles are present in abundance and I'm sure there were snakes around but then we've had our quota of snakes this trip!

Humm, where the ICW here? Kinda narrow

There were eight of us in the locks, always exciting. Everything was proceeding as in the past until the lockmaster tried to open the locks for us to leave. The locks would not open! After 15 minutes of trying, the big hammer came out (actually a mallet) and he disappeared, leaving into a large metal box by the locks. Still nothing happened. Next came out a rather large crowbar and he again visited the large metal box - much banging ensued. He emerged and didn't look happy, said he had to call for help. He proceeded to the lockmaster's station to "try one more time" and we heard a groan and gradually one of the two swinging doors on the lock slowly opened. We were in front so we carefully glided through the narrow opening (thought for while we were going to spend the night in the locks).

"Fixing the locks" You can't see the crowbar

Motoring ahead we found the water to be even more shallow than usual with many 5.5 ft spots (they are supposed to guarantee 6 ft) and I started hitting logs, not really hard but some pretty good thuds nevertheless. When I got up to 12, I stopped counting - and this was only for the 5 miles to the visitor center, we have 15 more to go on Wednesday. I reported the bad news on the logs to the visitor center who routinely notifies the Corps of Engineers about problems. Hopefully they will clean it up.

We're on the dock side at the Vistors Center in the Dismal Swamp

Wednesday we will head north to Hampton, VA to the city docks for three days to provision and do weekly chores. Then it's up the Chesapeake!