St. Michaels to Hampton

—Blogpost written by Bob

St. Michaels to Solomons

During the night we experienced 28 knots of wind out of the East. The boat's movement made sleeping difficult—I certainly don’t feel like I got sufficient rest last night.

We had to bail out the dinghy again this morning and load the outboard motor onto its mount on s/v Rainy Days before pulling up anchor.  We left our anchorage at 8:30 AM as the clouds were clearing.  About 30 minutes later the sun came out and warmed up our cockpit enclosure. By the time we left the Eastern Bay, two hours later, we shed our sweat shirts and were in just t-shirts while inside our cockpit enclosure.

Most of the 50-nautical mile trip to the Solomons was somewhat boring as the wind dropped off in the afternoon and the sea state went flat.  However, we moved along steadily under motor at 6.7 knots, quite an improvement in speed over the morning hours when we were bucking the wind. 

Of all the times I've passed the Cove Point
LNG Dock, this was the first time I've
ever seen a ship at this dock.

Cove Point Lighthouse

We arrived in the Solomons at 3:50 PM and filled up our diesel (27 gallons) and water tanks at Solomons Yachting Center before proceeding to our reserved slip (South end of the T-head on H Dock) at Zanhisers. We docked at 4:15 PM.

Rainy Days docked at Zanhisers
in the Solomons.

We luxuriated in our nice hot showers at Zanhisers!  Afterward, we enjoyed a glass of wine (or two) together in the cockpit in the warm late-afternoon sun. 

Lola enjoying Happy Hour with us in the
cockpit.  She likes being at a dock
better than being underway.

We decided to stay at Zanhisers two nights because of imminent bad weather (lots of rain and strong southerly winds tomorrow) and because we need to refill one of our propane tanks.  (One of our propane tanks was less than 1/2 full when we left Baltimore and we were using our propane fireplace for heat while anchored in St. Michaels.)

Stay Over Day in Solomons

The sky was overcast from the get go today, Tuesday, October 22, 2019.  (We got caught up on our sleep last night.)  Walking around outside the boat was like walking through a water-filled cloud--everything felt wet.

s/v Rainy Days on a misty
morning in Solomons.

We got our propane tank refilled at the 10 AM grocery run for the marina's van.  Maggie stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few items we needed.

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I made the first engine checks for the trip while in Solomons--the oil level and coolant level.  (I realize it is best to check engine oil daily but our quarter berth has to be completely emptied out in order the check the engine oil level and this is impractical to do on a daily basis.  Also, our engine was brand new in 2017--so, it shouldn't burn oil yet.)

As I was checking the oil level I noticed water leaking from aft of the primary fuel tank.  The only component that could leak water aft of the primary fuel tank is the rudder shaft.

Note the water leak to the left side of the
raw water strainer in this image. (The
four bolts on the hull mount the strut
that holds the cutlass bearing.)

We are heavily loaded at the moment (full water tanks, full fuel tanks, and supplies for the upcoming season in the Bahamas).  So, we might be sitting a little lower in the water than usual.  Our boatyard (Hartge's Yacht Yard in Galesville) repacked the rudder shaft during this past summer's haulout but I wonder if the outside water level might be just above the level of the casing around the rudder shaft.  (I'll keep an eye on this as we proceed down the ICW.)

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At about 2 PM the wind kicked into high gear and rocked us (even in a slip) in the Solomons.  The serious rain started at about 5:30 PM.  I was glad to be in a marina for the night.

The serious rain started
at about 5:30 PM.

Solomons to Fishing Bay

We left our slip in the Solomons a little before 7:30 AM—the sun was just coming up. We motored out of the Solomons, keeping the big shallow area in the outer harbor to our port. 

While still in the Patuxent River, I removed one of our little cockpit bins so that I could take a pic of the hull connections behind the rudder shaft that I thought might be leaking. I made sure to take the pic while the boat was under power and the stern was low in the water. (I’m going to remove the panel behind the propane locker and check this area more carefully when we get to Hampton.)

One of the hull connections aft of the rudder
post shows signs of being wet. (Aft
is to the left of this image.)

Once we got past Cedar Point, we unfurled our genoa and motor-sailed down the bay. We had about 14 knots of wind on our stern and we were moving against the incoming tide and still doing 7 knots over the ground. (Our motor was purring along at 2100 RPM all day.) When the tide shifted to ebbing, our boat speed increased to 7.5 knots, sometimes hitting even 8 knots. We passed Smith Point Lighthouse at the mouth of the Potomac River just after noon, entering Virginia!

Our trip down the bay under autopilot 
got rather boring at times.

About 1:30 PM, the wind died and we rolled in the genoa but we were still traveling at 7 knots. Our speed dropped dramatically as we motored in toward fishing bay because the tidal current was against us.

We anchored in Fishing Bay at 4 PM in 20 feet of water. We traveled a total of 55 nautical miles today in 8.5 hours for an average boat speed of 6.47 knots.

Fishing Bay was a beautiful anchorage with
over 20 boats anchored around us.

Fishing Bay is one of the nicest anchorages on the Chesapeake Bay, in my opinion, and is a little over half way between Solomons and Hampton.  It is protected from weather from all directions.  We will definitely stop here on future trips up and down the bay.

Fishing Bay to Hampton

We left our anchorage in Fishing Bay at 7:15 AM, just as the sun was coming up.  The following images were taken today.

The sun came up on the opposite side
of the narrow peninsula from
our anchorage.

A waterman busy at work early in the morning.

We were able to motor-sail most of the day.  The
5 to 8-knot breeze was blowing from
the East Southeast.

We passed Wolf Trap Light along the western
shore of the lower Chesapeake Bay.

As I took a nap in the cockpit, Lola came up
and found a spot on the cockpit coaming
where she could be close to me.
(What a sweet cat!)

We arrived in Hampton at 1:30 PM.  The 43-nautical mile trip took us 6.25 hours for an average boat speed of 6.88 knots.  We got a good boost from the wind and the tide!

We have planned a stay over day in Hampton--so, we'll be here tomorrow but more on that  in our next blogpost...



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