Solomons Island, MD to Chesapeake, VA

Total Miles Traveled 4613 since departing Green Turtle Bay, KY

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A cold front was expected to pass through the bay area with strong winds and rain, so we anchored at St John Creek, near Solomons Island Maryland for four days to let the bay settle down before moving south.

We weighed anchor on October 3^rd and traveled 45 miles to Tangier Island, Virginia. It pays to wait when the bay gets rough, we had an awesome cruise after departing our anchorage.

Tangier Island

Tangier island is only accessible by air or by boat and dockage for our boat is limited to three options, we were fortunate to have one opening available when we arrived. The dock is not a normal marina, the previous owner has passed away and the family now operates the docks. There is no contact by phone or radio so it’s first come first served dockage. There is power and water available, and you pay by the honor system by placing your money in a lock box at a nearby residence.

The island settlement dates back to the 1770’s with mostly farmers, but in the late 19^th century, the islanders began more dependent on harvesting crabs and oysters. Today, with a little over 400 residents, the islanders rely on crabbing to make a living and the island is often called the “soft-shell crab capital of the world”. The soft-shell crab dinner we had at the restaurant was very good.

Unfortunately, since 1850, the island’s landmass has been reduced by 67%. Under the mid-range sea level rise scenario, much of the remaining landmass is expected to be lost in the next 50 years and the town will likely be abandoned. One of the contributing factors to the sea level rise in the bay, is the silt and erosion from more than 150 major rivers and streams flowing into the bays 64 thousand square-mile drainage basin, which covers six states. We had to wait until low tide to leave the dock and still had to wade through water to get to town.

It appears their most popular mode of transportation is ATV's.

We departed Tangier Island on October 4^th and traveled 18 miles to Onancock, VA. We passed the USAS American Mariner, a retired missile tracking vessel, originally assigned to collect radar signature data on incoming missiles in the Caribbean, the South Atlantic Ocean, and the Indian Ocean. The navy moved it to shallow water in the Chesapeake Bay in 1966 to be used as a target ship for training navy pilots in her retirement. Decades of weapon testing by pilots flying out of Patuxent Naval Air Station took its toll on the ship. The hull continues to rust and deteriorate into the bay.

Onancock is known as the hidden gem of the eastern shore and we anchored here for a couple of days exploring the city, the food, and of course, the farmers market.

We weighed anchor on October 6^th and traveled 61 miles to York River Yacht Haven. Our main purpose for stopping was to pick up our mail that we had forwarded to the marina, and to visit the historic Yorktown across the river. Unfortunately, we arrived on Sunday and the museum and places we wanted to visit were closed Sunday and Monday, so we decided to keep moving south.

On October 8^th, we traveled 53 miles to Atlantic Yacht Basin, located on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway in Chesapeake, VA. 

We passed through the Norfolk, VA area with a heavy military presence. 

This warship called us on the radio wanting to know our intentions, we agreed to pass port to port.

We have completed our loop around the Chesapeake Bay and surrounding areas, visiting 21 historical city’s, most of them dating back to the beginning of our country.

Atlantic Yacht Basin is a full service yacht repair and storage facility, family owned since 1936. I first heard about AYB in 2015, and since then have learned that if you need any repairs, this is the place to go for quality work.

We have a drip-less shaft seal on the port engine shaft that is not leaking, but completely out of adjustment. We have a few thousand miles to cover over the next several months before our next scheduled haul out, and decided to have it replaced now. Since the boat will be hauled out for seal replacement, we also are having new bottom paint applied along with new zincs on the shafts, bow thruster, and line cutters, and have a few minor gel-coat repairs attended to.

When traveling north, we took the Dismal Swamp route.  We chose to take the intracoastal route as we travel south, this is the main waterway for "snowbird" boaters leaving the northeast coast to warmer weather in the south.  While our boat was on the hard, we were located in front of the waterway giving us a birds eye view of the boats going past.

Before entering this section of the ICW, boats have to pass through a lock and a lift bridge.  The lock and bridge operate together at the top of every hour.  Before the bridge opens, the barricades drop to stop vehicle traffic, and a horn blast before the bridge opens.  When we here the horn every hour, we stop what we are doing and watch the "boat parade" migrating south. 

Our friends on m/v Inked Mermaid.

Our stop at Chesapeake Virginia took longer than we had planned, but we are very happy with the work completed, and are looking forward to heading south for the winter.