Baltimore to Solomons Island - 2017

--Blogpost written by Bob

Baltimore to Annapolis

The distance between Baltimore MD and Norfolk VA is 173 nautical miles through the Chesapeake Bay. The distance from Norfolk (MM 0) to West Palm Beach via the ICW is 1018 statute miles (or 1170 nautical miles).  Adding the 173 nautical miles from Baltimore to Norfolk, the stateside portion of our trip is 1343 nautical miles.  The Chesapeake Bay portion represents a very significant 14.5% of our total distance to West Palm Beach.

As we were leaving Baltimore Harbor a tug was
pushing a barge into the harbor.

The weather forecast is an important consideration for travel by sailboat.  Since rain is forecasted for Sunday (October 29) we planned on a one-day layover in Annapolis.  Going to Annapolis on Saturday, 12 mph headwinds are in the forecast.  We expect strong westerly winds on Monday--so, we planned a short day with a stop in Galesville.

The weather forecast as of the day prior to leaving Baltimore.

We left our slip in Baltimore at 8:10 AM.  It was chilly but there was very little wind when we left.  The wind started to build as we went under the Francis Scott Key Bridge, about an hour out.  It was blowing 15 to 17 knots as we got into the bay--of course, it was right on the nose and we had to motor into it.

We got to Annapolis a little after 1 PM, the 15 to 17-knot headwinds slowing us down considerably.  We grilled hot dogs for lunch and had them wrapped in low-carb tortillas with some mustard and green salsa.

We listened to the Penn State-Ohio State football game on our onboard satellite radio in the middle-to-late afternoon.  It was an exciting game with Ohio State edging out Penn State 39 to 38 within the last 2 minutes.  (I am a Penn State alumni.)

Middleton's Tavern is the second oldest continuously operating
tavern in the United States.  We had an excellent dinner
here on October 28.  This photo was taken
the following day during the rain.

We had dinner at Middleton's Tavern with Maggie's daughter, Jessica, and her husband, Joe.  Middleton's have really upped their game with respect to meals.  We had an excellent (though costly) dinner here.  It was a nice send off for us.

Stay Over Day in Annapolis

Sunday proved to be an all-day rain event.  We ventured into town on our dinghy for breakfast but got plenty wet in the process.  We came back to the boat, had a hot rum drink and took a nap.

Our APEX rigid-hull inflatable dinghy with our new 6 HP Yamaha
outboard engine bobs behind the boat in the rain.

While I was napping in the afternoon, I dreamed up this meal to make tonight for dinner.  Fortunately for me, with all our recent provisioning, we have a lot of ingredients on board.  The meal I dreamed up was a layered bake--this is the best way I can think of to describe it.  I sliced a huge chicken breast into 3 slices about 1/4-inch thick.  Between the lower two layers of chicken breast, I placed a thin (1/8-inch thick) slice of sweet potato that fills the surface of the chicken breast.  I sprinkled cinnamon over the sweet potato slice.  Between the upper two layers of the chicken breast, I put some thinly sliced green apple and some sliced provolone cheese.  Prior to layering on the top layer of chicken breast, I coated it with honey mustard and, again, addend a sprinkle of cinnamon.  Then, I wrapped the entire layered concoction in aluminum foil, spraying a generous amount of olive oil along the way to inhibit the chicken from sticking to the aluminum foil. 

This is the layered chicken bake concoction
before cooking it on the grill.

About an hour prior to dinnertime, I baked it on the grill.  We had some hot rum drinks while it was cooking.  Of course it was still raining but our cockpit was nice and dry and toasty.

The completed chicken bake was cut in half to 
make two servings.  It was delicious!

I cooked the chicken bake on the grill for one hour (it was just a guess but it turned out perfect!).  We had dinner in the cockpit as rain fell outside.  The light rain continued throughout the night.

Annapolis to Galesville

It was cold during the night (down to 45 degrees F outside) and into the morning of October 30.  It was also very windy most of the night making it difficult to sleep well.

In the morning, I started the propane fireplace to warm up the
cabin and you can see the steam coming off my
freshly made coffee in the background.

 

There was a high-wind advisory until 10 AM on Monday morning. Gusts were predicted to be as high as 50 mph in Annapolis. So, we got nice warm showers at the Harbor Master’s office and departed our mooring buoy at noon, after the high-wind advisory expired.  We topped up with diesel fuel (22.9 gallons) before leaving Annapolis and then motored to Galesville in the afternoon—it only took a couple hours but we traveled in the correct direction, southward. 

Thomas Point Lighthouse is located just south of Annapolis.
The wind was blowing at about 20 knots out of the
west at this point and we were motoring.

We anchored in the West River across from Pirates Cove at shortly after 2 PM.  It was a very short motoring trip today but on the way, we learned of the National Weather Service's Gale Warning in effect until 7 PM this evening.  Since Gale Force winds are not my idea of great sailing, we stayed put in the West River for the remainder of the afternoon and had some hot rum drinks.

This is a view of Galesville from our anchorage in the West River.
Pirates Cove, a restaurant and marina, is in
the center of this image.

Annapolis to Solomons Island

It was cold last night!  It got down to 44 degrees F last night and we used four blankets to keep us warm.  We departed our anchorage at 7:45 AM (October 31) as the sun was coming up over the trees on the eastern shore of the West River. The water was calm and there was very little wind.  Our navigation was very simple—just follow the red line, our track from last season (coming home from Solomons to Galesville). We experienced a boost from a 1/2-knot tidal current heading down the bay.

Maggie dressed in layers to stay warm in the morning.

The motoring trip was completely uneventful. The sun warmed up the cockpit during late morning and into the early afternoon. We had the forward side windows in place to keep it warm. The cats were both sleeping in the sun like cats tend to do. We saw three or four sailboats and an equal number of power boats, all, but a couple, heading south.

Our two cats sleeping in the warmest spot in the cockpit.

We had pizza for lunch while underway, the one luxury we have maintained while on our low-carb diets and it WAS pure luxury having hot pizza from Italian Market while in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay!

It amazes me that fish are still caught this way (nets strung
between stakes) in the Chesapeake Bay.

Two watermen are sorting out their harvest
on the way back home.

We arrived in the Solomons at 1:45 PM.  We traveled a distance of 40 nautical miles in exactly 6 hours, an average speed of 6.67 knots.  We anchored for the night in Mill Creek, one of our favorite anchorages. 

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Reader Feedback Wanted

As we start this season’s adventure, I am hoping to get some more feedback from our readers.  What types of things do you like to hear about, as well as those things you don’t care to hear about.  What would you like me to add to our blog?  I’ve been considering adding a tab to our blog that list all the boat projects we’ve completed with hyper links to get more details—does this sound like a good addition?  Please leave a comment on this blogpost with your feedback...Thanks!

When we have an all-day rain event like yesterday, we get a
leak from the area in the center of this photo.  

When we have an all-day rain event like we did on Sunday, we get a leak from the area in the center of this photo.  The exterior handrails are mounted directly above this area but I thoroughly checked them with a hose during the summer and they don't leak.  There is a fiberglass channel that runs fore to aft in this area and the rainwater runs inside this channel.  The channel slopes slightly downward in the fore section--so the water may be entering the fiberglass channel somewhere aft of this area.  Any ideas from our readers would be greatly appreciated? 

Conclusion

We published this blogpost from the Solomons, on our way down the Chesapeake Bay. We’re moving south a little slower than we anticipated.  The nighttime cold temperatures served as wake up calls that we have to keep moving south.  We’ll be making blogposts every three to five days from this point on...

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