Solomons Island to Coinjock - 2017

--Blogpost written by Bob

Back to Solomons Island

On November 1, we left our anchorage in Mill Creek with calm water and no wind and headed out of Solomons harbor and, then, into the Patuxent River.  As we got to the mouth of the Patuxent River the wind was clearly building out of the south—before we were a couple miles into our trip toward Reedville, we turned back to the Solomons.  We were only making 5 knots of boat speed (at the most) and we realized we could not have made our destination for the day during daylight hours.  So, we rented a slip along the "K" T-head at Zahniser’s Marina for the night.  We did laundry and some grocery shopping, as well as getting much needed showers.

Here, we are tied up to "K" T-head
at Zahniser's Marina.

Today, we were reminded that we must check the marine weather before heading out--not just make a judgement on the weather conditions from our protected anchorage and using Weather Underground.  This delay cost us a day of progress.  Even though we are really not on a schedule we want to make it through the Alligator River Bridge before it is closed for maintenance (between November 6 and November 17).  The Alligator River Bridge is approximately 171 nautical miles away--that's a little over 4 days at the rate we are moving south.  We have to speed up!

I spent a considerable amount of time this afternoon, planning our next several days so that we make up for the day we lost today. I’ve come up with the following plan which involves several long travel days:

      Nov 2 - travel to New Point Comfort, anchor out, 71 miles

      Nov 3 - travel to Great Bridge, VA, free dock, 45 miles+

      Nov 4 - travel to Coinjock, NC, slip, (MM 50) (slip reserved)

      Nov 5 - travel to Alligator River, anchor out (MM 102), 52 miles

                  (Alligator River Bridge, MM 84, closed from Nov 6 thru Nov 17)

Next year we have to leave no later than October 15!  We waited over a week too long this season.

Solomons Island to New Point Comfort

We left Zahnizer's Marina at 7:20 AM--the earliest we have left in the morning.  It was actually after "first light" but before sunrise.  It was noticeably warmer than it has been up until now.  

Today we motored at about 6-1/2 knots for hours and hours, 10-1/2 total. Fortunately, our autopilot was doing all the work. Our first waypoint heading south was Smith Point Light. We watched as the distance to the waypoint clicked down from over 26+ miles to zero by 12:30 PM. We decided to keep our course just off the western shore because it was more direct. Our last major waypoint of the day was just outside of New Point Comfort Lighthouse—another long leg, this one 32 nautical miles. The wind was blowing at about 5 knots from the south in the afternoon and the temperature reached a high of 73 degrees, perfect weather for today’s journey. It was nice and toasty in the cockpit—it made us temporarily forget about the cold nights we recently experienced.

The following photographs give you an idea what our day was like today.

This was the view looking back at Solomons Island as we
departed on the morning of November 2, 2017.

We passed Point No Point Lighthouse today
several hours after leaving Solomons Island.

Wolf Trap Lighthouse was very close to
where we anchored for the night.

The sunset from our anchorage on Mobjack
Bay was absolutely stunning!

The moon came up shortly after sunset and gave me this
beautiful photo opportunity from our anchorage.

We anchored at 6 PM as the sun was setting.  It was a long day!  We traveled 71 nautical miles today.

New Point Comfort to Great Bridge

Last night’s outside temperature was a delightful 65 degrees F. We slept very soundly. In the morning, there was a very heavy dew on the windows of our cockpit enclosure—it was on the inside and the outside. 

We watched the sunrise as we were motoring away from our New Point Comfort anchorage on our way to Norfolk.  Our navigation was simple—we simply followed the red track that remained on the chart plotter from our return trip last season.

This photo was taken as we were leaving our anchorage
at New Point Comfort before sunrise.

A container ship enters Norfolk harbor
as we were entering.

Waterside in Norfolk is very similar
to Baltimore's Inner Harbor.

We went aground for our first time this season!  I should say for MY first time this season--I was at the helm.  I have no excuse except that I wasn't following the channel carefully enough.

We were delayed at the Great Bridge Lock because the gates wouldn't close.  A diver had to go dwon and clean some debris from the gates.  This caused a delay of at least two hours.  We actually anchored in the ICW channel during the delay.  Late this afternoon we tied up to a free dock just south of the Great Bridge Lock.  We quickly realized that we would not make the opening of the next bridge, the Centerville Turnpike Bridge--openings were restricted between 4 and 6 PM because of heavy motor vehicle traffic.  We have to wait until 8:30 AM tomorrow morning for an opening.

Here, s/v Rainy Days is tied to a free dock
south of the Great Bridge Lock.

Today, we spent about 9 hours on the water and we traveled about 45 miles.  We are beat!

Great Bridge to Coinjock NC

On Saturday, November 4, we left the free dock at 8 AM so that we could catch a reasonably early opening of the Centerville Turnpike Bridge.  We went through the Centerville Turnpike Bridge at 8:30 AM.

Typical foliage along the upper portion of 
the Virginia Cut Route on the ICW

Looking behind as we travel along the ICW on 
the Currituck Sound in North Carolina.

Maggie is at the helm as we travel on the Currituck Sound.  It was
overcast, windy, and cold.  We had about 3/4 of our cockpit
enclosure installed to break the cold wind.

We arrived at Coinjock Marina in North Carolina at 2 PM.  We had reserved a slip for the night about a week ago and I'm glad we did because they are full tonight and have a waiting list for slips.  This stopover is so nice, not so much for the location but, for the facilities--great showers and a great restaurant!

When we arrived we filled up with diesel fuel, the first time since Annapolis.  We consumed 27.45 gallons since leaving Annapolis, about 230.5 miles ago.  I did not record the engine hours when we filled up with fuel--so, I can't measure the gallons per hour we consumed but I'm sure it is between 0.66 and 0.75 gallons per hour.   Our fuel consumption calculated to be 8.40 nautical miles per gallon (or 9.66 stature miles per gallon).

Our next blogpost will be published from Beaufort NC where we will have a two-day stopover.


Thanks for following our blog!