Chesapeake Experience

"Mud, mud glorious mud,
Nothing quite like it for cooling the blood"
and running aground.
We are not hopeless navigators but as the locals say, "Anyone with a 6 foot draft who hasn't been aground in the Chesapeake Bay has not left the dock".
We finally sailed away from Whitehall Marina on Thursday May 3, and after refuelling in Back Creek we sailed across the bay and into the Wye East River (26 n miles). We anchored in the mud in 7 feet of water just inside the entrance of Dividing Creek, not brave enough to proceed further up the creek. Once the anchor has settled in the mud it sets as if in concrete. Wye Island is now a State Park and although much of it was cleared for farming at an earlier time it still has gravel roads and enough remnant vegetation, horse riding trails and nature trails to make it a beautiful spot to visit. We turned to our second love, walking, and explored most of the island including the camping sites and small rustic conference centre. The bird life on the island was outstanding and we even saw a few Canada Geese that seemed to have lost the urge to fly further north.
After two nights we weighed anchor and sailed the tortuous route out of the river, past magnificent mansions, eyes glued to the chart and our new depth sounder to avoid the mud banks. In spite of our care we still nudged the bottom in one spot. We sailed south down the bay, and up into Dun cove (30 n miles). Dun cove is listed as a suitable hurricane hole and the forecast was winds of 30 knots over night. We entered the bay in 15-20 knot winds and it was raining. We went aground again in the entrance. According to the chart we should have been anchored in 8 feet of water at low tide. We shared the anchorage with three other yachts who rafted together in a three boat raft on a single anchor with only a rope rode visible. They obviously wanted a nice social time that night. It blew 35 knots overnight and the next morning. The raft was dragging in our direction. Fortunately the wind swung more to the north east and the boats decided to part company. They probably had an uncomfortable night. We then learned another lesson of the Bay. The tide tables and chart depths are meaningless when you have a strong northerly. It sucks all the water out of the bay. Bonnie looked at the bank and exclaimed "The water looks low". We could see mud flats where there should have been water. We turned on the depth sounder and it showed 4.6 feet. We draw 6 feet and we think the sounder is about 1.5 feet below the water surface. So we were wallowing around in the really soft stuff or barely afloat with 1" or less under the keel. We had let out plenty of chain and had not moved. By the afternoon the winds had dropped and the anchorage was like a mill pond. Offshore conditions were much worse. In the gulf stream which runs south west to north east a strong northerly against the current can make sailing very difficult. The strong north easterlies had created seas up to 60 feet. We heard on the radio that one yacht had disappeared and no survivors had been found. We made a mental note to avoid those conditions at all costs.

Freedom Now needed some minor sail repairs and so we headed for Solomons Island 40 nautical miles away. With north easterly winds of 15-20 knots and blue skies it was a romp with the boat hitting speeds of 8 knots. Bonnie helmed all the way and couldn't get the smile off her face. Solomons is an easy place to get into apart from winding your way through the minefield of cray pots and fish traps at the bay entrance. We had been advised that Zahniser's Marina was a good place to get work done so we arranged for a slip (berth) there. The price of $2 a foot per night plus electricity making it $87 a night for our boat was a bit of a dampener and after we had tied up we discovered they were far too busy to do the work we required within the week we had allowed. We stayed two nights and then tried to sail on. The forecast was for fog to lift about midday. We left late but when it was still early afternoon we could hear other boats but not see them for the fog and we could not see a buoy we knew was only 50 metres away. We turned back and anchored near the Calvert Marine Museum. We finished up staying a week in Solomon's and our favourite spots were the wonderful museum and the excellent Woodburn's supermarket where we could select from about 20 salads add some steamed shrimp or Atlantic Salmon and sit down in the dining area and eat it. That's our sort of living!
We also had an amazing experience of the other America by jumping on the first public bus we saw and asking if we could get to a public library. "Sure", said the driver, "But it will take two bus rides to get to the Leonardtown library." We had the time so we went. An hour later after calling in at several shopping centres, wandering through some rather depressed housing and rural areas and stopping at the detention centre we were dropped off at the Leonardtown library. We used the Internet at the library, wandered around Leonardtown, which didn't seem to have much to commend it except for a fine old mansion "Tudor House" now used as a local history centre. We found our way back to the detention centre and jumped on the first bus to come along. The driver assured us he could get us back to Solomon's but it would require three bus rides this time. The bus dropped a good looking young woman off at the drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre. The driver confided in us that she and her friend seemed to be doing everything they could to get themselves thrown out of the centre. We travelled through more depressed housing areas, picked up a Mennonite or Amish woman with two mentally retarded girls all dressed in full length plain dresses and bonnets and speaking what sounded like German. We drove past farmlets with bib and brace overalled, bearded farmers driving strange horse driven vehicles. Three buses and one and a quarter hours later we arrived back at Solomon's grateful for the education and experience which had cost us a total of $1.50 each in fares!!!
Solomon's is a comparatively small quaint place with a history of fishing including oyster gathering. The stocks of oysters were depleted and now it has become a trendy boating centre.
Our delay allowed us to have a visit from the previous owners of our boat who kindly came down and sailed out into the bay with us to show us how to set up the water maker.

Our next leg took us further down the bay to the entrance of the Great Wicomico River (43 nmiles) We wound our way through the crab pots and entered Mill Creek without running aground. It was a wonderful protected anchorage with comparatively high banks and just the odd house here and there. The winds were fairly strong and southerly for the next couple of days so we sat and enjoyed it, entertaining a couple from another boat anchored nearby just as we were hit by a front briefly bringing 30 knot south westerlies with rain thunder and lightening.

We were keen to get some work done on the boat before heading for Bermuda so we arranged by phone for our life raft to be serviced, sails repaired and bow roller modified in Norfolk. We romped with sails wing and wing 60 nautical miles down the bay to Bay Point Marina in Little Creek, Norfolk. The people here have been wonderful and the work is now virtually complete. We travelled into downtown Norfolk by bus and visited the General Douglas MacArthur memorial. It brought to mind the day the General stood on the Terowie railway station platform in South Australia and said "I have just come out of the Philippines but I shall return." He did return of course and perhaps his greatest contribution was his role in the reconstruction of post war Japan.
Next stop Bermuda.