Day 278
After a less than peaceful night in our Deltaville anchorage (reports of this anchorage being protected and still were not entirely true for us), with some overnight rocking and rolling, we pulled anchor at 6:50 am on Tuesday morning, 06/15/21, bound for tonight’s destination of Spring Cove Marina in Johnstown, MD, on Solomons Island. We had to leave with a muddy anchor in the bowsprit, as the boat’s wash-down pump had apparently called it quits..(?). Steve tried to investigate but found repairing it would require a professional. (Shocker! :() So we added the wash-down pump to our growing list of needed repairs, which also included a broken water-maker (that’s right, it stopped working again), a broken ice-maker (needs to be replaced), and a broken port stabilizer pin. The hits just kept on coming! On a positive note, at least the waters in the Chesapeake Bay were very smooth and the breeze was light, which made for pleasant cruising!
Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before the winds began to increase, as we continued northward on the Chesapeake. The wave heights were less than 1-foot, but we were quartering the wind, so our ride felt like we were riding a low-energy bucking bronco. At 8 am, as we passed the mouth of the Rappahannock River where it empties into the Chesapeake Bay, the wave heights rose to 2-feet with some white-capping now visible. Our ride was still not too bad, with our one working stabilizer activated. Again, we were both in total awe of the incredible massiveness of the Chesapeake!
As we continued out into the big waters of the Chesapeake Bay, we passed Westland, Foxwells, Fleets Bay, and Byrdton, VA, to our west. Unfortunately, we were way too far out into the bay for me to get any decent pictures. 🙁 We passed Ditchley and Sandy Point to our west, and Tangier Island was to our east. Once we reached Smith Island to our east, we were on the same latitude as the mouth of the Potomac River, where it dumps into the bay. We passed Reedville, and Ophelia, VA, where the southern edge of the mouth of the Potomac actually begins. We had originally planned to cruise up the Potomac River for a short distance, just to say we had, but we’re still making up time, so will hopefully catch it on the way back down in the fall. (The list of places we’re going to catch on the way back down is growing!)
As we started crossing the actual mouth of the Potomac River, we passed from Virginia into Maryland, as the Potomac River marks the boundary between the two. As we had anticipated, the wave heights grew to 3-feet in height and the winds were now up to 14 knots. Exciting, but manageable. Something we’d never actually known, until we were right there in it, the Potomac River is huge at its mouth – 30 miles wide, in fact! It narrows considerably farther inland, but we could see for ourselves why it has such a dramatic effect on the waters in the Chesapeake, where the two formidable waterways meet.
After a time, we reached the northern side of the Potomac River, but not without riding some 4-foot high waves, which is plenty for us! We both thanked our lucky stars that we’d not encountered this intersection in higher winds, or God forbid – stormy conditions! 😐 Again, it was Steve’s expert weather-planning that ensured our crossing was made in such calm conditions. The farther north we progressed from the mouth of the Potomac, the calmer the waters became, as we passed Scotland, Ridge, and St. James, MD, to our east.
Heading toward today’s destination, we began following the Patuxent River northwest off of the Chesapeake Bay toward Solomons Island, into Johnstown, MD, where we had reservations to stay at Spring Cove Marina.
We arrived at Spring Cove Marina at 2:30 pm, where we learned our slip was on brand new docks, but was one of the narrowest we’d encountered so far. Still, with some direction from me, Steve reversed Legacy right into that slip like a professional! Just as I was throwing our lines to the dock-hands, I heard someone calling my name, and looked up to see Scott and Ruby Stevens (and Bitsy), on Nautical Dreamer, where it was tied at the end of an adjacent T-dock! They were there to have their boat hauled-out for the rest of the summer, while they headed back to their home in Washington state until next winter, when they’ll return to Spring Cove Marina, have Dreamer splashed again, and head down the east coat to Stock Island Village Marina in Key West again for the winter. We should see them there!
After settling in and showering, on the Stevens’ recommendation, we walked six tenths of a mile into historic Solomons Island for dinner at the CD Cafe. (We’d asked the Stevens to join us, but they were in the middle of offloading their belongings from their boat into their rental car for their drive back home.) Both of our entrees at CD were exquisite, and we even shared a dessert, which was Bailey’s Irish Cream Creme Brulee. YUM!!
As we strolled back to the marina, we both commented that we found Solomons Island very pretty and would probably plan to stop there again on our way south and stay for more than one night.
Position: N 38° 20.068, W 76° 27.688
Distance traveled: 65 SM
Total distance traveled: 3863 SM
Total marina nights: 254
Total nights at anchor: 23
Locks today: 0
Locks Total: 28