June 29, 2014  Day 63  Chesapeake Bay!

Herrington Harbor North Marina
Tracey’s Landing, MD

On Thursday, we were ready to cast off our lines and leave Point Lookout Marina, only to discover that our port engine would not start. After several failed attempts, we got Jake, yesterday’s mechanic, to come back and diagnose the problem.  Fortunately it was a frayed wire that was sending a false signal to the engine that the gear was not in neutral. Wire fixed, and we were soon on our way across the creek to the Corinthian Yacht Club. He is our hero!

We spent the afternoon doing laundry and relaxing.  One of the local residents stopped by and took Joyce to a nearby store to do some provisioning.  That was very nice of her to offer!

On Friday morning we left and headed north and then east across the bay to enter the Little Choptank River.  We joined at least 12 other boats who were anchored in Hudson Creek.  It is a beautiful anchorage.  We were intrigued by the number of watermen in their deadrises and other work boats who were crabbing. They were not pulling up crab pots, but had weighted lines with bait and they were using a net to get the crabs off of the lines.  We like this spot so much that we decided to spend two nights here.  Joyce cleaned and polished the stainless railing on the starboard side of the boat during the morning before it got too hot.

We left the anchorage this morning (Sunday) and traveled to the west shore of the bay again and docked at Herrington Harbor North Marina, in Tracey’s Landing, MD. It is by far one of the nicest marinas we have stayed at in our two years of boating.  It is a large marina with pool, clubhouse, fitness center, playground, park/garden like settings, a West Marine on site, etc.  We got some chores done and had pizza for dinner.  We will head to Annapolis in the morning!

June 25, 2014  Day 59  Chesapeake Bay!

Point Lookout Marina
Ridge, MD

On Monday, we left our anchorage on the Great Wicomico River and went back into the bay and headed north.  We passed Smith Point Lighthouse at 0925.  

We then entered the Potomac River and then broke off into the St. Mary’s River.  We anchored in Horseshoe Bend across from St. Mary’s College. This is a large picturesque anchorage and is popular with sailboats. We stayed two nights and enjoyed being there.

We left there early Wednesday morning and headed to the Corinthian Yacht Club in Smith Creek. We were having issues with AC power and we needed to get connected.  Unfortunately this did not solve our problems, so we went to Point Lookout Marina, directly across the creek, since they have a maintenance staff.

We spent a long day without any power, but by the end of the day the problem was identified and resolved.  Bill found a connector wire to the inverter had been “fried”. We suspect the lightning strikes we felt at Doziers several days ago was the cause. The electrician replaced the wires and we now have power!

We also spent a delightful evening onboard Gail and Jeff’s boat, YOLO.  Gail prepared a delicious German dinner. They are here for a lengthier stay with an engine problem. We are sorry this has happened just at the beginning of their Loop.

Tomorrow we will go back across the creek to the Yacht Club and spend one night.

June 22, 2014  Day 56  Chesapeake Bay!

At Anchor, Wicomico River

Near Reedville, VA

Before we left Doziers, Bill got the new impeller for the generator at a nearby boatyard, installed it, changed the generator oil and fuel filters.  This allowed us to leave Saturday.

We cruised up the Rappahannock River to the Corrotoman River to a calm, peaceful anchorage.  Four sailboats joined us by the end of the day.  There is no end of places to anchor on the bay and we enjoy discovering them!

On Sunday, we cruised back out into the bay and headed north to the Great Wicomico River. As soon as we entered the river, we passed by the town of Reedville, which we have also toured by car. Reedville is known for harvesting menhaden, and we could smell the fish as the wind was out of the north! The bay itself was very choppy and we were happy to be in the river by mid-afternoon and enjoyed another calm anchorage by Rogue Point.  We had this anchorage to ourselves.

We plan to take a trip to St. Mary’s tomorrow, a small detour, but it is a delightful historical town on the St. Mary’s River at the mouth of the Potomac. That will put us in Maryland!

 

June 19, 2014  Day 53  Chesapeake Bay!

Dozier’s Regatta Point Marina
Deltaville, VA 

We enjoyed anchoring on the Piankatank so much that we spent three nights there! We took a leisurely dinghy ride on Monday going further up the river. We only saw three boats and one jet ski – hooray for Mondays!  Tuesday was very hot and we stayed on board and relaxed.  Unfortunately our generator quit working that night and we knew we had to head to a marina the next morning.

We arrived at Dozier’s before noon on Wednesday and got quickly tied up on a long face dock and connected to power.  We were facing 97 degrees and needed to run our air conditioner! After we got settled, we borrowed one of the courtesy cars to go to West Marine and to a grocery store.

We also saw Mike and Lois on Inch-n Along (we met them at Ortega Landing).  They invited us for docktails and dinner on their boat along with Loopers, Gerry and Julie on R Island. We had a wonderful evening sharing boating stories.  We hope to see them again as they will also spend their summer on the bay.

Today (Thursday), Bill worked on trouble shooting generator issues, and removed a broken impeller.  Joyce went back to the grocery store and to a farmers market, and then did laundry in the afternoon.  We had a series of very strong storms this afternoon and early evening complete with high winds, hail, rain, and lightning.

We will stay here one more day and hopefully get the impeller for the generator. We cannot anchor out without it!

 

June 15, 2014  Day 49  Chesapeake Bay!

At Anchor
Piankatank River, VA

Our month long stay in Poquoson was filled with many get-togethers with family and friends, several medical appointments, getting the dinghy motor repaired, cleaning the boat, and spending a week long road trip to Illinois to visit Joyce’s family.  It went by quickly and we enjoyed every day! We even hosted a birthday party for Bill’s brother Bob on June 7 and had 24 people on the boat and the dock. 

Sailing school for the little ones

We have officially begun our summer on the Chesapeake Bay.  We departed Whitehouse Cove Marina in Poquoson, VA at 10:15 this morning and headed north up the Bay to a peaceful anchorage on the beautiful Piankatank River.  We followed the river a few miles, winding back and forth to stay in the narrow channel. We crossed under the bridge (which we have driven over many times!) and anchored near a small island at 4:10pm.  Our ride today was sunny and pleasant with only a light chop on the bay. We enjoyed seeing a “fleet” of tiny sailboats, each sailed by a child probably 7 or 8 years old.  They were in a sailing class and it was fun to see them.



Our anchorage on the Piankatank

Today is Father’s Day and Bill enjoyed having waffles for breakfast. Bill’s gift was a new waffle iron (the 3^rd one in 44 years – and the first one that has worked perfectly with no sticking!!).  We declared that a success!

We cooked dinner on the grill, talked to our kids, and had a quiet evening.  We are not sure where (or if) we will go tomorrow!