Journey's End

Day #70:  Today starts much like every other day for the last two months but ends like none other.  Up at dawn; confirm  Nellie hasn't dragged; turn off the anchor light; check the engine; check the weather forecast.  NOAA has some bad news: tomorrow there will be small craft advisories on the Bay.  While we planned to stay one more night in Solomons, today we'll head home.  Knock Off is 50' away slumbering regally in Mill Creek's calm and placid waters.  There's a simple joy to be had in idyllic conditions like these.  Funny, how tightly coupled weather and happiness are while living afloat.  

Cruising up and across the Bay is uneventful.  Entering the Little Choptank, the beginning of our home waters, everything looks at once familiar and unfamiliar. It's been two years since we plied these thin waters. In an unusual bow to conservatism we stay mostly within the channel markers.  Welcoming us home are Nick and Tammy Lyons. They've been following Nellie's breadcrumb trail on the internet and so know exactly when to come down to the dock.  At 3:39 pm we shutdown the engine marking the official conclusion to Nellie's 2013 Key West to the Chesapeake cruise.

Cruising, at least as far as destinations are concerned, is all about making it up as you go along.  The weather is the elephant in the room and there's little choice but to comply with its dictates.  That's how we found ourselves in Key West rather than the Bahamas.  Our biggest surprise was how much we enjoyed Miami Beach.  No surprise at all is how much we enjoyed the people we met along the way.  Cruising has been defined as fixing your boat in new and exotic locations--we had a bit of that too.

It was 28nm between Solomons Island, MD and Church Creek, MD today.  For this journey we put 264 hours on Nellie's engine while covering 1658nm.  DBH. 

Washing Machine Seas

Day #69: The mouth of the Potomac is infamously rough. It's a huge body of water with rapid currents that gush into the Chesapeake at an oblique, southeasterly angle. Add some wind into the mix and you have a cocktail guaranteed to displease. Washing machine rough it's called. The term strikes fear because there is no comfortable heading and no bailout. All you can do is hold on and hope to get through quickly. We think about these things as we enter the Potmac from the shelter of the St. Mary's River. We turn southeast exposing our beam to the waves; waves being fed by the large fetch between us and the windward shore. Tacking slightly puts the waves forward and eases Nellie's motion. So far, so good, but the really rough stuff, if there is any, lies an hour ahead. Worry, it's said, is a down payment on a bill that may not come due. And so it was today. When we hit the confused seas they were comfortably small.

Today's destination is Solomons Island, a boater's paradise on the Patuxent River. Here there are lots of marinas, lots of anchorages, and lots of restaurants. John and Jeanne Niccolls, who own a Victory Tug named Knock Off (#66), drop the hook next to us in Mill Creek. They ply us with food and liquor figuring our stores would be low after a 10 week cruise. Seeing no advantage whatsoever in disabusing them of this fallacy, we keep quiet.

It was 39nm from St Inigoes, MD to Solomons Island, MD. Our total is now 1630nm.

Impromptu Rendezvous

Day #68:  We woke early to get underway but learned there were small craft warnings on the Bay until 7am.  Nellie may not be a small craft but her crew treats her as such, selfishly, for their their own comfort. At the 8am, surprised to find the reported winds down to 10kts, the timid crew shoved off.

One of the ways that 24/7 Internet access is changing cruising is by the wealth of weather information available.  In the old days we listened to NOAA weather on the marine VHF.  Usually only three or four NOAA stations were within range and so we'd learn the forecasts and current conditions for the surrounding area.  The Internet doesn't suffer from radio signal range limits.  If we can get the surrounding weather on the Internet, we can get the whole world's weather.  The screen shot below shows wind direction.  Tap on any wind arrow and instantly get the current conditions and a 5-day forecast for that area.  

We got a sleigh ride down the Rappahannock as the ebb raised our speed to almost 9kts. In the Bay we were pleasantly surprised by the settled conditions. We even managed to catch the beginning of the Potomac's flood tide. Not bad for minimal planning! Bob Allnutt, Victory #2, is always a congenial host. We arrive at his dock to find two Victory Tugs tied up: Bob's and Titan #31. Titan is on a respite from her continuing cruise from Portland, ME, to her new home in Edenton, NC. At dinner Bob serves up Maryland crab cakes. Hard to believe it's almost July and these are our first for the year--Maryland may disown us. The trip from Urbana, VA, to St. Inigoes Creek, MD, was 56 smooth nautical miles. We now have 1591nm under the keel. DBH.

Up the Rappahannock--Without a Paddle

Day #67: There's nothing quite like being on the hook, up a still river, at dawn. To paraphrase Thomas Paine, these are the times that quiet our souls.

No doubt about it, we're back in the Chesapeke. How can we tell? The anchor chain was but a mud sausage completely encapsulated in grey, sticky ooze. Cleaning it all off slows weighing anchor but gives you more time to contemplate the beautiful surroundings--so says the Chamber of Commerce ;-)

Rounding New Point Comfort we see that the 15kt SW winds have stirred up the Chesapeake. Closely packed 3' waves break and froth all around us. It's good to be running with them. We watch and feel pity for the crews hobby horsing their way south. Several day sailors poke their noses into the Bay, think better if it, and then quickly reverse course towards their protected tributaries. Entering the Rappahannock the seas calm. While the river is wide there isn't enough fetch for the wind to stir things up.

Our destination is Urbana, VA, home of Mary Ann and Ed McChain and their Victory Tug Thistle #47. I've got a soft spot in my heart for Thistle. It was a ride aboard her eight years ago, when she was named Yellow Rose, that convinced us to buy Nellie. Mary Ann and Ed, the subjects in today's picture, are long time sailors that 18 months ago made the 'geriatric jump' to a tug. This spring they returned home from an ICW cruise to Florida; very nearly the same trip we're just completing. Naturally there's a lot in common to discuss.

While Urbana is only 18nm, as the crow flies, from our East River anchorage, it's 43nm by water--no wonder air travel is winning out... Our total is now 1535nm. DBH.

Saved by the Storm

Day #66: Into the Chesapeake with following seas, fair winds, and a rising tide. The siren call of home is getting louder.

Today's 90F temperatures weren't so bad while cruising on the Bay but certainly made things miserable after we dropped the hook. The engine exacerbates matters by continuing to radiate heat even well after it's shut down. Bicki and I assumed our low energy state positions, our fans on high, until a passing storm cooled things down. Never though I'd be so happy to see 20kt winds and rain while at anchor.

It was 39nm today from Portsmouth, VA to our anchorage up Mobjack Bay's East River, which is also in VA. Our total is now 1492nm. DBH

ICW Mile Marker Zero

Day #65: We're off the Elizabeth City dock at 0520hrs. Ahead is 18nm before the first of the Dismal Swamp's two locks. Miss the 0830hrs lock opening and the Army Corps gives you three hours to contemplate your navel. And so it went all day--travel a bunch of miles, arrive before a set time or pay a time tax. Most cruisers take several days for this leg, but timed right it can be done in one. We were the only boat up-locked at South Mills which meant we'd have the 20nm long, narrow, shallow, log infested, tree lined canal to ourselves. That is until we crossed paths with any south bound cruisers who had locked-up in Deep Creek. Clearly the Dismal Swamp wasn't named by a real estate developer. Perhaps it was named by those that hand-dug the canal or more likely by the scheme's investors. In fact the length of the canal is very pretty. Occasionally the dense picket fence of hardwoods lining the canal part, giving a glimpse of fertile farm fields or small, grassy meadows.

Approaching the northern terminus of the Swamp we're hailed on the VHF by a sailboat. She's moored in the only available spot and invites us to raft up. There's about an hour wait to lock-down and so we're grateful for the offer. Thus we meet Bliz: a father, waterman, tool and die maker, engineer and published author. If any of his characters are as expansive as he is, his books are certain best sellers.

From the quiet, peaceful cocoon that is the Dismal Swamp, you're dumped, without adequate decompression and little warning into the navigational pressure cooker that is Norfolk. We love it. The tugs and tows, the Navy ships everywhere, the noise and lights of a large metropolis. It's like eye candy. Today's picture shows Nellie safely ensconced at the end of Water Street in the heart of Portsmouth, Va. Yet another free dock. The ketch ahead of us is the Do Littles. Wally and Lori are just returning from an eight year trek to Europe. They did the Grand Tour cruiser style: about every canal in Europe including three winters in Paris. They said their mast was unstepped for so long that coming back across the Atlantic was like learning to sail for the first time. They're heading back home to the north end of Lake Huron and pondering what to do next.

It was a very regimented, but enjoyable, 43nm from Elizabeth City, NC to Portsmouth, VA. This is the ICW's mile marker 0 and the beginning of the Chesapeake Bay. It only took 1453nm to get here. DBH.

Harbor of Hospitality

Day #64: We were underway by 6am this morning with the hope of clearing Arbemarle Sound before the afternoon winds piped up. The Sound is big and shallow, not a place to be in a blow. For the most part the strategy worked. The winds did build but were astern and merely pushed us along. Surfing down the little waves Nellie would accelerate from her cruising speed of 7.2 knots to just under 8.6 knots. All in all a comfortable ride.

Elizabeth City, NC advertises itself as the 'The Harbor of Hospitality'. It's hard to disagree. Not only are the docks free but so are the wine and cheese parties held in the crews' honor. Today's picture shows Nellie over the rose bushes that were once the source of the flowers given to every visiting yachtswoman. While walking through town this afternoon a car pulled over to us and its driver asked if we were off a yacht. After confirming we were he asked if there was anything we needed or anywhere he could take us. That's southern hospitality Elizabeth City style.

The littoral is a small. We're reminded of that every time we cross wakes with cruisers we've met before. In the harbor tonight is Ibis who we met last month in Vero Beach, FL and Carolyn Ann who we haven't seen for two years. Such is cruising, we float in and out of each other's lives.

It was a fast 46nm cruise to Elizabeth City today and that ups our total to 1410nm. DBH