Cruising the Inter Coastal Waterway Part Two

Solomon's MD -  moon rise in the early evening

Jackson Creek anchorage, Deltaville, MD 5:00 PM

 We went home for four days to attend the wedding of our good friend Matt Bagnell and his new wife Lauren in Milton, MA. After we returned we worked hard on finishing up work. We found problems with the newly restitched stay sail when we tried to put it up and had to have the sailmaker from North Sails come over to fix it. At the last minute we got someone to rebed the salon hatches that had been leaking so we had to delay our planned departure for two days. Ed and Benia went on ahead of us. We'll catch up to them at some point.

 Finally we untied the mooring lines and cast off, on our own power for the first time since last June! It was a beautiful day for the easy trip down to Solomon's Harbor. This time we went down the right hand creek and found a lovely spot by ourselves to anchor. Soon though a progression of boats entered looking for good spots. Unfortunately one chose a poor location. We didn't notice in time to warn him, but he saw the sign soon enough and was on the VHF to the Coast Guard. The sign warned of high voltage cable right under him!

Same anchorage at 5:15 looking west

Next morning at dawn the first boat heads out the channel

The Coast Guard evidently told him to very CAREFULLY lift his anchor because that's what he did and thank goodness nothing happened. He went a long way down the creek before he re anchored. It was a lovely evening as you can see from the first photo above.
As was the next day when we motor sailed to Jackson Creek at Deltaville. We've been here before so we don't panic at the narrow scary channel that comes only feet away from the sandy beach. A trawler ahead of us wasn't so lucky. He had to be towed off the bottom.

Norfork, VA - Boats of all kinds share the channel

It was a very quiet evening here and as you can see I took a number of pictures. Although it had been quite cold on our trip, once we put the anchor down it was very comfortable. We were able to sit outside and enjoy the sunset with our drinks. We're enjoying the full moon!
We were up very early and had a slightly warmer trip with the seas calming down to nothing by afternoon. The entrance into Norfork is thrilling with all the huge aircraft carriers and ships of all sizes and types everywhere. We've been here a number of times and anchored easily for a change at Hospital Point at mile 0 on the ICW. It wasn't crowded.

Norfork is a huge Naval base

The next morning we had to make another early start to get to the first opening of the Glimmerton bridge at 8:30 AM at mile 5.8 before it shut for commuting traffic for two hours. Still in the dark we were amazed by the arrival right next to us of a Cruise Ship lit up like a Christmas tree. It docked across the channel from us and as the sun's rays started to streak the sky, we were underway. A lot of boats joined us waiting at the bridge for the opening. I'm going to do a separate blog entry on the bridges of the ICW (and the restaurants), so no more here.

This was the scene that greeted us as we prepared to lift the anchor to head down the Inter Coastal 

Our destination today was the Coinjock Marina. We arrived at the Great Bridge Lock around noon. The wind had really picked up and the last four hours we saw gusts up to 26 knots. It was tiring out in the wind and we took turns at the wheel often. I picked up a cold from who knows where several days ago and was suffering the works. After nine hours of this we were really happy to tie up at the Marina.  As often before we ate the restaurant and I ordered the 16 oz prime rib which I enjoy that night and both of us the next night!