Today we are leaving Solomon's Island to head further south. Our goal for this week is to get to Deltaville where we expect to meet Rachel (Sue's daughter), her husband Jon and their daughter Scarlett next weekend.
We had a few days to get to Deltaville, so we decided to make our next stop an anchorage in the Greater Wicomoco river that was recommended by an "live aboard" we met at Zahniser's Marina. It was south of the Virgina border, a 25 mile or so run down the Western shore and would position us nicely to make the remaining 20 or so miles to Deltaville later in the week.
We were up and off the hook early because we were expecting a long day. The sky was sunny, the wind out of the West and variable over a 10 to 20+ knot range; the current was with us and apart from some lumpiness in the seas, the conditions were perfect for our sail south. Indeed, with the boat on a beam reach and "in the groove" and Sue smiling at the helm (there was a reef in the main), we had a rollicking good sail down the bay averaging well over 6 knots all the way -- indeed, the stronger gusts accelerated the boat well into the 7's and occasionally, over 8. It was exciting and exhilarating, the best sail of the trip thus far.
We arrived at the entrance to the Greater Wicomoco, doused the sails and motored our way in -- the entrance was easily navigated and we soon were rounding Sandy point, which formed one side of our cove for our evening -- it was large, lined with homes on large lots and just lovely -- it would be a serene place to spend the evening.
The cove was mostly deep (16') but did have a small 9' deep "island" available -- liking as much scope as possible, we motored over to this patch, dropped anchor, and ran into our first snag of the day -- perhaps I should call it an "unsnag" since the problem was that the anchor wouldn't hold. It kept dragging over what was almost certainly rock at the bottom of the harbor -- we could hear it clunking along.
We tried a couple of tricks to try and get the anchor to set, but were unsuccessful. Just as we decided to move and try another spot, another boat showed up in the cove. Lo and behold, it was Mike and Liz on their Hinckley -- as we later found out, they had talked to the same "live-aboard" in Solomon's and also decided to try his recommendation.
As we were motoring off the shallow spot, we passed their boat and I called over that I couldn't get my anchor to hold. They either didn't hear me or decided to try their own luck, because they basically motored over to the same spot and dropped the hook.
I watched Mike's boat drag backwards along the same line mine had -- eventually, his hook grabbed something and he stayed put -- grrr!!!!! Meanwhile, Sue and I tried our luck in the deeper water, further away from shore. Unlike Mike, our luck was poor, the anchor dragged here as well -- we were getting frustrated.
We abandoned the deeper water attempt and moved to yet a third spot, still relatively deep but closer to shore -- my "theory" being that things might be "muddier" there. This is a case where the "third" was a charm, the anchor held and we were finally settled into our home for the evening.
The trip down had been exhilaration, getting the anchor down had been maddening -- a "typical" boat day :-) We were both burned out to do much else so we just hung out and enjoyed the scenery, including a starry night with a prominent milky way, multiple shooting stars and a satellite arcing brightly over our head. Life is good.
We had a few days to get to Deltaville, so we decided to make our next stop an anchorage in the Greater Wicomoco river that was recommended by an "live aboard" we met at Zahniser's Marina. It was south of the Virgina border, a 25 mile or so run down the Western shore and would position us nicely to make the remaining 20 or so miles to Deltaville later in the week.
We were up and off the hook early because we were expecting a long day. The sky was sunny, the wind out of the West and variable over a 10 to 20+ knot range; the current was with us and apart from some lumpiness in the seas, the conditions were perfect for our sail south. Indeed, with the boat on a beam reach and "in the groove" and Sue smiling at the helm (there was a reef in the main), we had a rollicking good sail down the bay averaging well over 6 knots all the way -- indeed, the stronger gusts accelerated the boat well into the 7's and occasionally, over 8. It was exciting and exhilarating, the best sail of the trip thus far.
We arrived at the entrance to the Greater Wicomoco, doused the sails and motored our way in -- the entrance was easily navigated and we soon were rounding Sandy point, which formed one side of our cove for our evening -- it was large, lined with homes on large lots and just lovely -- it would be a serene place to spend the evening.
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| The view across the cove |
We tried a couple of tricks to try and get the anchor to set, but were unsuccessful. Just as we decided to move and try another spot, another boat showed up in the cove. Lo and behold, it was Mike and Liz on their Hinckley -- as we later found out, they had talked to the same "live-aboard" in Solomon's and also decided to try his recommendation.
As we were motoring off the shallow spot, we passed their boat and I called over that I couldn't get my anchor to hold. They either didn't hear me or decided to try their own luck, because they basically motored over to the same spot and dropped the hook.
I watched Mike's boat drag backwards along the same line mine had -- eventually, his hook grabbed something and he stayed put -- grrr!!!!! Meanwhile, Sue and I tried our luck in the deeper water, further away from shore. Unlike Mike, our luck was poor, the anchor dragged here as well -- we were getting frustrated.
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| The Hinckley, peacefully at anchor |
We abandoned the deeper water attempt and moved to yet a third spot, still relatively deep but closer to shore -- my "theory" being that things might be "muddier" there. This is a case where the "third" was a charm, the anchor held and we were finally settled into our home for the evening.
The trip down had been exhilaration, getting the anchor down had been maddening -- a "typical" boat day :-) We were both burned out to do much else so we just hung out and enjoyed the scenery, including a starry night with a prominent milky way, multiple shooting stars and a satellite arcing brightly over our head. Life is good.
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