The day started early for Sue -- she heard Lanakai leaving at 6:30 am and went up on deck to help them off, but they were already gone by the time she got there. She went back and lay down for a while, and then heard our Williamsburg friends leaving, again went up on deck but was too late to help. One thing about Sue -- she is always trying to help people :-)
Tuesday was supposed to be our "down day" -- a rainy day had been predicted and we figured we would just ride it out in Chesapeake City. However, as we were eating breakfast, the sun was shining and the rain seemed a remote chance, so we decided to press on. Sue had looked at the charts and found a small creek, Farlee, off the main channel that looked like a good day's journey -- 26 miles, what appeared to be a lovely anchorage and a grocery store available -- what more could you ask for :-)
The current was against us (again) and there wasn't much wind, so we motor sailed. The upper part of the Chesapeake is very pretty, with lovely wooded hills, some with homes, coming down to the water's edge. It also has numerous small and large creeks, coves and bights, all making for a pleasant enough journey. It was hot, but the extreme mugginess of the previous day was gone.
Fairlee creek has a "tight" entrance -- basically, you enter via a narrow, short & shallow channel that runs along a beach that ends abruptly at a point - you have to make a hard right turn around that point to enter the creek -- if you don't make the turn, you'll run your boat aground on another beach directly ahead -- the creek entrance is perhaps 25' wide and the point is partially submerged -- beyond the entrance is a nice anchorage just to the right. Narrow, shallow and with a hard turn around a partially submerged point, this is a"white knuckle" creek entrance. Oh, and just to make the challenge even more interesting, by happenstance, we had arrived on the ebb --it was close to low tide and the outflow would be strong because there is a good size bay behind the creek entrance.
Oh, and did I mention the approaching thunderstorm -- yes, just to heighten the drama, a big ugly thunderstorm with coal black clouds started to build right over Fairlee creek as we were approaching it -- we had actually passed a number of thunderstorms along the way -- we could see their lightening and hear their thunder, but they were off to our west and far enough away to not be a direct threat to us -- this one was different, however -- we were headed right into its maw -- the race was on -- could we make it into Fairlee creek and anchor before the thunderstorm broke?
You know, you can't make this stuff up -- as we got closer to the channel entrance, the clouds got blacker, we could see lightening behind them and the thunder was infrequent but loud. The storm appeared ever more ominous as we entered the entrance channel and found it very shallow -- we were seeing around 6 feet (My Weigh draws 5) -- indeed, we even touched bottom about half way down the channel -- but fortunately, the boat kept moving. And then the penultimate moment arrived, timing the right turn around the point -- too soon, and the boat runs aground on the submerged part of the point,; too late and the boat runs aground on the oncoming beach :-( Harrowing to say the least.
Fortunately, we timed the turn well, the boat's nose spun into the creek (the outgoing current helping it briskly along -- it was like a racing turn, you could hear the water swoosh us around) and we made it into the anchorage without running aground -- but then, just to spite us, the heavens opened up -- those coal black clouds dropped a deluge on us -- I could barely see Graham from the helm as he was lowering the anchor -- it was a downpour of massive proportions -- and the thunder was incredible -- there were cracks so close that I literally was flinching when they broke.
Graham got the anchor down and we rode out the rest of the storm in the relative safety of the anchorage (we could see white caps on the bay but the conditions in the creek were more settled). Needless to say, a cocktail or two followed quickly after the anchor was set, as did dinner -- we were glad to be home for the night.
n
Tuesday was supposed to be our "down day" -- a rainy day had been predicted and we figured we would just ride it out in Chesapeake City. However, as we were eating breakfast, the sun was shining and the rain seemed a remote chance, so we decided to press on. Sue had looked at the charts and found a small creek, Farlee, off the main channel that looked like a good day's journey -- 26 miles, what appeared to be a lovely anchorage and a grocery store available -- what more could you ask for :-)
The current was against us (again) and there wasn't much wind, so we motor sailed. The upper part of the Chesapeake is very pretty, with lovely wooded hills, some with homes, coming down to the water's edge. It also has numerous small and large creeks, coves and bights, all making for a pleasant enough journey. It was hot, but the extreme mugginess of the previous day was gone.
Fairlee creek has a "tight" entrance -- basically, you enter via a narrow, short & shallow channel that runs along a beach that ends abruptly at a point - you have to make a hard right turn around that point to enter the creek -- if you don't make the turn, you'll run your boat aground on another beach directly ahead -- the creek entrance is perhaps 25' wide and the point is partially submerged -- beyond the entrance is a nice anchorage just to the right. Narrow, shallow and with a hard turn around a partially submerged point, this is a"white knuckle" creek entrance. Oh, and just to make the challenge even more interesting, by happenstance, we had arrived on the ebb --it was close to low tide and the outflow would be strong because there is a good size bay behind the creek entrance.
Oh, and did I mention the approaching thunderstorm -- yes, just to heighten the drama, a big ugly thunderstorm with coal black clouds started to build right over Fairlee creek as we were approaching it -- we had actually passed a number of thunderstorms along the way -- we could see their lightening and hear their thunder, but they were off to our west and far enough away to not be a direct threat to us -- this one was different, however -- we were headed right into its maw -- the race was on -- could we make it into Fairlee creek and anchor before the thunderstorm broke?
You know, you can't make this stuff up -- as we got closer to the channel entrance, the clouds got blacker, we could see lightening behind them and the thunder was infrequent but loud. The storm appeared ever more ominous as we entered the entrance channel and found it very shallow -- we were seeing around 6 feet (My Weigh draws 5) -- indeed, we even touched bottom about half way down the channel -- but fortunately, the boat kept moving. And then the penultimate moment arrived, timing the right turn around the point -- too soon, and the boat runs aground on the submerged part of the point,; too late and the boat runs aground on the oncoming beach :-( Harrowing to say the least.
Fortunately, we timed the turn well, the boat's nose spun into the creek (the outgoing current helping it briskly along -- it was like a racing turn, you could hear the water swoosh us around) and we made it into the anchorage without running aground -- but then, just to spite us, the heavens opened up -- those coal black clouds dropped a deluge on us -- I could barely see Graham from the helm as he was lowering the anchor -- it was a downpour of massive proportions -- and the thunder was incredible -- there were cracks so close that I literally was flinching when they broke.
Graham got the anchor down and we rode out the rest of the storm in the relative safety of the anchorage (we could see white caps on the bay but the conditions in the creek were more settled). Needless to say, a cocktail or two followed quickly after the anchor was set, as did dinner -- we were glad to be home for the night.
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| Looking out from the anchorage, this beach ends in a point and the channel is on its other side |
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| The point and the entrance from the anchorage |
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| The marina in Fairlee -- we never made it to the grocery store as we decided to move on to Baltimore. |
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