Travels on Chesapeake Bay

Simple church on Solomons

     From Fish Creek we wove through endless clumps of crab traps and had a perfect leisurely sail to Solomons Island on the western shore of Chesapeake Bay. There we sighted nice stretches of beach and entered Back Creek off the Patuxent River. Winding around clumps of marinas and wharves it became clear that Solomons is a town where life is centred on the murky waters of the Chesapeake. There must have been hundreds of boats docked there and the town was small and spread out.

     We had planned to stay another day but this morning after listening to the weather forecast Dad realized that we need to get moving towards Norfolk. There is unsettled weather coming on Wednesday and Thursday so we decided to continue our progress south to reach Hampton by Friday. This morning we said goodbye to Raftan until the end of the month and did a brief downwind sail to the Potomac River. We are now anchored in a pretty rural area in a place called Glebe Creek. (For Raftan, if you are reading this it's a good anchorage and is located at 37 degrees 59.29 minutes north, 76 degrees 29.26 minutes west).

Drum Point lighthouse at the Calvert Marine Museum

     Aside from having a beautiful calm sail today we came across a naval training area and were advised by a Navy range boat to avoid the target area by 2.5 miles because there were exercises going on. After that I expected to see some exciting target practice or something exploding in the water, but that didn't happen. We did get to watch several aircraft circling the area though.

     Tomorrow we will aim for a place called East River off Mobjack Bay. Our plan for heading to Cape Hatteras for a few days will take us to Hampton Roads and the Downtown Hampton Public Piers by Friday.

That's all for now.
Nicole.
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