Hampton to Jackson Creek to Reedville to Calvert Marina (Solomons)

Day #240; Loop Miles to Date = 3,181
 
We've been busy making our way north, enjoying a couple of anchorages where we didn't have the best of internet connections...so time to catch up.

Leaving Hampton, we immediately encountered some Naval activity in the Bay. Evidently there were 2 different exercises taking place, coincidentally near each other and within range of our vision. We were instructed on the VHF radio to keep a minimum of 500 yards from this activity, so we obviously didn't get too close, but it was interesting none the less. One group was escorting a submarine into the Navy docks, and just near them a Navy ship was departing for the Atlantic...we think it was a cruiser (Jeff will certainly correct us if we're wrong!) Here's the best picture that we were able to get:

As you can see, the day was rather gray, but the good news was that the seas were very flat...we like flat! We had an otherwise uneventful trip to our anchorage at Jackson Creek. This worked out nicely, as it was just outside a marina, and for $5, we gained access to their dinghy dock for dog walking, and were able to snag a bag of ice and drop off some trash (important stuff for us).

From Jackson Creek the next day we rather lazily made it out of our anchorage at 10:30 or so...we only had about 35 miles to go, so there was no hurry. Our next stop was Reedville...home of the largest fish processing plant in the country. We had hoped that the wind direction was going to hold as predicted, because if you are on the wrong side of this plant, it is exceedingly unpleasant. Good news for us is that it did. We found the bottom condition to be very soft mud, and both we and Act lll had difficulty getting our anchors to take a good set. As the winds were light, and the current non-existent, we both decided that a less than perfect set was acceptable for the night. We slept like babies with no worries.

Then on Friday, we set out for Calvert Marina in Solomons, MD. Once getting to the Potomac River, we found ourselves in Maryland...now our 9th state. Solomons is a huge boating mecca, particularly for sailors. There are a bunch of marinas here, and thousands of boats. We chose Calvert because it was the cheapest, and it has worked out just fine. We are here through tomorrow (Monday) and then off again headed north. Our cruising life will be very different for 2 weeks though, as we just picked up an additional passenger. Our 6-year old granddaughter Sarah is once again on board for a visit. Life is just a tad more busy with a 6-year old aboard! We will try to keep the blog updated...but no promises!

Thimble Shoal lighthouse.

Windmill Point lighthouse.

Ok...this is for gaining a sense of perspective. That tiny speck over to the left is Act lll, a 48' motor yacht. They are passing the container ship in this picture, so both of these boats are about the same distance away from us!

Here's  how big that little speck of a boat is in the above picture...an action shot of Act lll.

Stay tuned...more updates as we can...