Chesapeake Bay

Our travels have re-commenced.  We arrived back at the boat on a Wednesday afternoon, and the yard crew had moved it to an outside dock so we wouldn't have to live in the "cave" in the sheds for a few days while we got ready to depart. 

After sitting for 5 months, the boat was very dirty of course, but the interior looked great.  Judy's idea of vacuum packing the linens etc, and installing a supplementary de-humidifier worked great.  The outside was another matter though.  This area is infested with a spider that leaves a particularly nasty black ink like residue on the boat.  If washed off within a few days, it doesn't seem to be an issue.  Sitting for 5 months is another matter.  Had to contract the yard crew to clean the horizontal surfaces of the boat.  Very disappointing after doing what you think is the best thing for the boat of putting it under cover.

Oh yeah, and I found at least 8 mud-wasp nests on the boat that when washed, of course, spread fresh mud over the decks.  At least that didn't generate any nasty stain. 

So after the extensive cleaning, and some provisioning runs, I did want to get a coat of varnish on the cap rail, so we did put her back in the shed Friday afternoon for Saturday varnish.  And in this heat, does the varnish ever set up quickly!  

After the work was done Judy said "Take me to a bar. Just any bar. Just your average American bar"  (Fans of Love Actually will recognize those lines.) So we celebrated the end of the work phase by going to Big Woody's bar and dancing to some great music.  Both types.  Country and Western.   

We also achieved a significant milestone.  Our Canadian registration came through while we were home (delay due to US de-registration) and we could install a new hailing port sign and start flying a Canadian flag.

We departed Norfolk (Chesapeake actually, south of Norfolk) with a first light bridge opening and lock transit, and headed north for Chesapeake Bay. The turn into the Bay was a bit lumpier than had been forecast, and we took spray for an hour or so from an easterly wind until we could get a sufficient northerly bearing.

The Chesapeake is a big bay.  More of an estuary that many rivers flow into.  200 miles long and 30 miles wide at its widest, it covers almost 4,500 sq miles and nearly 12,000 miles of shoreline.  But its average depth is only 21 feet, so travel is a fair bit from shore to be in adequate depths.

We had some options for stops over the day, but with tropical storm Dorian now forecast to be on a northerly track after hitting the coast of Florida, we wanted to get a good start on our northerly progress.    We traveled about 60 miles and stopped at a very nice marina in Deltaville VA.  A pretty small place but a very active boating community regionally.  The highlight of this marina is the best pool in town.  And we made good use of it as it is still pretty hot here.  In the 30C range the last couple of days. 

 A beatiful tree is in bloom here.  They look like lilacs and are called Crepe Myrtles.  Hard to get the scale in this pic but this tree is about 30' tall. 

Tomorrow we hope to log another 50 to 60 mile or day.  Our destination is Baltimore, as we have decided to leave the boat there for a few days while we visit NY.  From there we will head south, meet up with some friends in Annapolis, who will accompany us back to Norfolk, and then my brother Doug will join us for the next hop down to Myrtle Beach, where we will dock the boat awaiting the official end of hurricane season.