Chesapeake Bay Part II

 TRAVEL DAY 46 - Yorktown to Deltaville

May 10, 2023

5.25 Hours/38.8 Miles

    2 days in Yorktown and we were ready to head north, back into the bay and see more of the Chesapeake. My crew gets "saltier" everyday. What used to be "...I need a 9 am start" has now turned into, "It's 7:15 am, let's go!".

Goodbye Yorktown

    Deltaville is dubbed "The Boating Capital of the Chesapeake Bay". Bordered by the Rappahannock River to the north and the Piankatank River to the south, it is loaded with marinas and boatyards.

    At the tip of Deltaville is Stingray Point, named by Captain John Smith. According to legend, he was stung by a Stingray while spearing fish. He gave orders to his men to dig his grave because he believed he was dying from the sting. He recovered and ate the Stingray for dinner that night. 

New Point Comfort

   The day was perfect and the waves with 2 - 3 second intervals, made for an easy transit northward on the western shore of the bay.  We motored past Mobjack Bay and new Point Comfort and around the Wolf Trap Lighthouse. Wolf Trap Shoal got it's name from the 1691 grounding of HMS Wolf, a British naval vessel engaged in combating piracy.

Wolf Trap Light

    A couple of hours prior to arrival, my Navigator called Regatta Point Yachting Center and arranged for a slip. This far into our journey we rarely plan ahead much more than a couple of days. Weather conditions and boat delays make it more prudent to "wait and see". It usually works out and if our short range plans don't work out, we just pivot and come up with a new plan.

Deltaville

    We pulled into Deltaville with absolute calm conditions, radioed the marina and easily backed the Troll into the slip and along side the floating dock. We were happy to see our friends from Ineffable on the opposite side of the dock, but sad that they were having pretty serious mechanical issues that threatened to end their adventure. We discussed some options with them and hope and pray they can get it sorted out and continue on.

Cruising into the harbor

    My Deckhand and I borrowed the marina bikes and peddled the 3 miles or so into Deltaville. There is no real town except for a few businesses along General Puller Highway. We did find an incredibly large West Marine, and I guess with all the boat yards here, they do well. I used my Port Supply account to purchase 2 gallons of oil. Not sure if that was the best idea while on a bike as they weighed the backpack down pretty good. We of course found the local hangout The Galley and cooled off with a beer with some of the locals.

Deltaville, VA

    Back to the marina after the bike ride, we sat and chatted with some of the other Loopers on the big porch of the marina office, then to the boat where I gave the Galley Cook the night off and made dinner for the crew.

Yorktown to Deltaville

    

Day 2 in Deltaville, we needed to do some "boat chores".  I washed the outside and the Cabin Crew cleaned the interior and did some much needed laundry. I called a diver to clean the bottom and check the zincs. The diver showed up after lunch as he promised, and proceeded to check out the hull. The bow thruster zinc was gone and the shaft zinc was 75% gone. The diver also noted that the swim platform support on the port side was missing. I suspected that and was glad he brought it to our attention. It wasn't urgent and we will repair it when we finish the trip.

Hull Maintenance

    In the evening all the Loopers in the marina agreed to get together for dinner. We each ordered some takeout from a local pizza place and ate together. Afterward, we played a spirited game of horseshoes.

Horseshoes

    TRAVEL DAY 47 - Deltaville to Reedville

May 12, 2023

3.02 Hours/22.3 Miles

    Friday came and we intended on leaving Deltaville but we weren't sure where we were going. Another issue that is constant for us is weather, and the forecast for Friday seemed acceptable but we weren't sure. We waited until after 9 am and then decided to go for it. We set our for Reedville, VA which was a short run in case the bay was not hospitable. 

The deckhand takes a much needed break

    Once we cleared the yacht basin and Broad Creek, it was pretty evident that we had made a good choice. The Rappahannock was smooth and the bay looked equally calm.  We turned out of the Rappahannock and north into the bay.

Calm water, always a welcome sight

    At the Ingram Bay channel, we turned into Cockrell Creek to Reedville. Reedville was named for Captain Elijah W Reed, who in 1874 came from Maine and started the Menhaden fishing industry. Menhaden are squeezed by the millions for their oil. Early on the oil was used for lubrication and lighting much like whale oil and the bones and carcasses were used for fertilizer. Today the industry is a huge part of the area as many products today use the fish oil. At one time there were 18 Menhaden factories here and Reedville was at one time the richest city per capita in the nation.

Omega Protein Corporation - Menhaden Processing

Restored Stack (historical marker) from the 1902 Steam Plant

    In a quiet part of the Cockrells Creek, we docked at Reedville Market which has a free dock. The restaurant was closed and not due to open until 5 pm so we ate a bite on the boat, then went into town to explore.

Reedville Market

Main St., Reedville

    This is a very neat looking town, and when I say neat, I mean, it is very manicured. Most every home, building and yard are kept up. We went into the Waterman's Museum. It is interesting and focuses of course on the waterman and their life and contribution to the area. The museum also has an original home from the 1880's and a boat building shop, along with boats originally designed and built in Reedville and on the Chesapeake Bay.

Waterman's Museum

    Close to the anchorage was Reedville Marine Railway a working wood boat repair with a railway to haul out boats for repairs. A very cool set of buildings and docks and we got to chat with the owner Woody. Interesting character. Everyone we met in town was extremely welcoming and friendly.

Reedville Marine Railway

    It was a quiet anchorage and a relaxing stop, I doubt we would have ever come to Reedville if we weren't on this trip.

TRAVEL DAY 48 - Reedville to St. Mary's City

May 13, 2023

4:45 Hours/38.2 Miles

    We left our peaceful anchorage early to beat the rain and thunderstorms that were forecast for later in the day. I knew the conditions on the bay would not be ideal but I hoped that they would be tolerable at the least.

Horseshoe Bend Anchorage - St. Mary's City

    Once we broke out of the creek and into the main channel, large sets of "stake nets" forced us to make our turn farther into the bay. The waves were up some as expected. It's never fun to ride for hours in a slow boat in rough conditions and the sea conditions were "sporty", our favorite descriptive word for "rough". The ride was doable but grueling.

"Sporty" Chesapeake Waves

   We toughed it out hoping the waves would subside once we reached the Potomac River. The Potomac is so wide at it's mouth between Smith Point to the south and Point Lookout to the north, that the waves were still rolling pretty good and the outgoing tide didn't help. The one saving grace was the lack of wind.  Crossing into the Potomac also meant a new milestone. This would be state #6 on our epic journey, Maryland. Once we began our turn into the St. Mary's River and got the boat fully behind the points, the waves laid down considerably and the water got smoother and smoother until we were in lake like conditions. 

Small sailing regatta

    St. Mary's City is a former colonial town that was Maryland's first European settlement and now home to St. Mary's College.  Sailing is a big deal here and ahead on our final approach to our anchorage we could see a small boat sailing regatta going on.

St. Mary's Sailing Center

    We dropped anchor in the very large and scenic Horseshoe Bend anchorage. Across from St. Mary's College. We dinghied over to the floating dock and ran our scooters some 3 miles to the only place to eat besides the college.

Deli Time!

TRAVEL DAY 49 - St. Mary's City to Point Lookout

May 14, 2023

1.38 Hours/10.4 Miles

   Sunday the following day called for more high winds from the North, which spelled "No-Go", especially on the Chesapeake. We moved the boat down the Saint Mary's River and up into Smith Creek to Point Lookout Marina to waited out the wind and allow the crew to celebrate Mother's Day with their family. What a good captain! We weaved through the minefield of crab traps and entered Smith Creek.

Smith Creek - Pier 450

    Another great stop and totally unexpected. The marina was awesome. We stopped first at the fuel docks and filled up with diesel at an affordable $3.60/gallon, the cheapest price we've paid since South Carolina. We took the free bikes a short ride down the road to a very cool bistro, Pier 450 for a Mother's day brunch. 

Pier 450

    Moral being high at this point, and being the kind captain, I allowed the entire ship's crew to go back ashore to visit a wine tasting room. A great Mother's Day and a beautiful setting.

Woodlawn

Point Lookout Sunset

St. Mary's to Point Lookout