What I Did On My Summer Vacation, Part II

Click here to see an EarthNC chart of The Great Wicomico River

Click here to see pictures from our vacation


For a recount of Part I click here.


So, this picks up on Saturday, June 4th, just outside the mouth of the Potomac River.  From Smith Point Light we continued south to the Great Wicomico River.  Entering the river from the north is complicated by a profusion of fish traps that are difficult to see until you're almost on top of them.  These things are found all over the planet and have been used since the beginning of time.  Fish traps or weirs, also described as a labyrinth fish fence, can be found in every part of the Chesapeake Bay.  There are many different designs but the ones we're trying to avoid here are made with long stakes driven into the muddy bottom.  Nets are strung from these stakes and form barriers and funnels that use the natural currents to guide fish into the trap.  As they go from one section to another they pass through funnel shaped nets that prevent them from getting out.  The last several sections of the trap have netting on all six sides so the fish have no where to go.  The fisherman just have to pull this part of the net up and haul in their catch.  Simple and effective.

(Chart for Mill Creek)  To enter The Great Wicomico River you need to first travel south (beyond the fish traps) until you're past the light and then turn west into the river.  Once past the light we had difficulty finding the entrance to Mill Creek because of heavy haze.  We ended up picking up R4 on the north side of the river and then heading south on a compass course until we could see the red marker at the entrance to the creek.  The area around the creek is low lying grassland/marsh and the marker just disappeared in the background.  We used the navigation software, EarthNC, on Cheri's laptop to help us find our way in.  The entrance to Mill Creek has some serious twists and turns and halfway in we had to stop and try to locate the next marker before continuing on.  I was up on deck with the binoculars when Cheri says "I think we just ran aground".  Oops.  The water's fairly shallow, 2', on either side of the channel and the wind gently blew us into the mud.  Some high revs in reverse corrected that and after finding our marker we wound our way back into Mill Creek.

We got about half way down the creek and found a nice cove to anchor in.  Tried three times but couldn't get the anchor to bite.  This creek is surrounded by tree covered hills and the bottom must be layered with 10' of packed leaves.  We moved to another spot and had the same problem using our Danforth anchor so I switched over to our Bruce anchor and that dug right in.   I've been using the Danforth exclusively because it works so well in the muddy bottom of almost every place we've been on the Bay.  Up until now.

Mill Creek is a nice spot and the cove we were in is fairly secluded.  There are houses along the shore but they're mostly set back in the trees and you have a feeling of privacy.  We stayed in this spot for three days, kicked back and relaxed.  Cheri has been intent on fishing during this trip so we made a point of getting her out in the dinghy on our second day here.  While she fished I worked on stripping the finish off the exterior teak.  I kept looking over to see how she was doing but she was far enough away that I couldn't tell what was going on.  After a few hours I called her on the cell phone and asked for an update.  She said she couldn't get the engine started and she was ready to come back.  As she rowed closer she held up a string of ten fish, eight spots and two croakers.  Wow!  We filleted them and had fresh fish for dinner.  Awesome!


(Chart for Cockrell Creek)  The third day was miserably hot with no breeze.  We decided this would be the perfect time to spend the night in a marina, get out to a restaurant and stretch our legs on land for a while.  Change of scenery.  The closest place is Reedville, across the river and back up Cockrell Creek.  When we looked it up in our guidebook we found a reference to Reedville Marina which sounded real nice.  We called ahead and reserved a transient slip, explaining we needed 2- 30 amp connections and pump-out services for the holding tank.  "No problem".


Cockrell Creek is almost straight across the river from Mill Creek.  The first half of the waterway is lined with heavy industry, especially the Menhaden fish processing plant.  Once you get past this the creek bends around an immense old brick chimney and opens up to a beautiful old town with nicely kept Victorian homes and estates lining the shores.  As we motored past the industrial section we became engulfed in the unbreathable stench from the processing plant.  I'm talking puke-up-a-bucket-of-guts stink.  I was hoping the stench would disappear when we got closer to the town but it just followed us in.  As we rounded the bend we tried to contact the marina by radio but got no response.  We tried calling on the phone but no one answered.  As we cruised down a side creek we quickly realized that the charts had a misprint and showed the marina in the wrong location.  We ran aground here but were able to back out with no problem.  We back-tracked and continued down the creek looking for the Reedville Marina, continuously trying to raise them on the radio and the phone.  Further up the creek (without a paddle) we again ran aground.  Grrrr.  As I'm backing down out of the mud the phone rings and it's the dude from the marina.  "Ya went right by it, how could ya miss it, it's the place with the red roof".  When we pull up to the place with the red roof we realize that the "marina" is actually just a dock for the restaurant.  The smallish sign for the "marina" was out of sight behind a gigantic fishing boat that was unloading it's catch at the processing plant next door.  We pulled up alongside the pier, put out our bumpers and tied up.  The 2-30 amp power connections were supplied by splitting a single 50.  OK, we can get by on that.  Pump-out is right there behind us as is the fuel dock.  Cute little facility.  The guy running the "marina" disappeared and we never saw him again.

So, it's 1600, the restaurant doesn't open until 1730 and this place stinks to high heaven.  We got the A/C fired up but it didn't really take away the odor so I talked Cheri into going for a walk, figuring that we could walk perpendicular to the wind and get away from the green cloud.  About two blocks down the road the air became a little better.  We're walking down the main drag and it's lined with all these beautiful Victorian homes.  A little further down we find this great little museum with some restored wooden workboats out back.  The museum is closed but we have definitely found a real gem here.  We've blown enough time that the restaurant will be open by the time we get back so we head in that direction.  After dinner at the Crazy Crab, which was pretty good, we go back to the boat and call it a night.

The next morning we're anxious to get going.  It still stinks and we need to get the tank pumped out so we can spend the rest of our vacation on the hook.  Plus we need to pay our bill.  We need plenty of time to sail north and across the Bay to the Eastern Shore where we planned to check out the Honga and Nanticoke Rivers.  There's nobody around at the "marina" and no one answers the phone.  We wait three hours, 1000, and finally get a call from the marina dude.  He's not interested in coming around so we should just stick our payment in the box by the door.  What about pumping out, we ask.  "Oh, well, you'll hafta wait until someone comes into the restaurant.  Should be there around 1100 and they can give you a token".  Thanks for all your help.  We walk down to the museum to blow time and have a wonderful time there.  Walking through town we meet and talk with several of the locals and everyone is just as nice as can be.  At 1100 we wander back to the "marina" and there's still nobody there.  Grrrrrrrr.  Finally at 1300 I give up and make new plans.  It's too late to sail across the Bay but we can cruise up the river a little further where there's another marina and we can pump out there, then anchor out in a great little creek called Horn Harbor.  That's the plan.


(Chart for Horn Harbor)  We motored up the river since there's zero wind and it's already about 300 degrees F.  As we near the next marina we contact them by cell phone and find out that the dude who does the pump-outs just had an operation and the service isn't available.  Jeeze, I just can't get a break around here.  "Uhm, gee",says I.  "I hope he's gonna be OK.  Ya think he might be in tomorrow?"  "Not likely" says she.  We decided to anchor in Horn Harbor which was  just downstream from the marina.  I'd read about this spot and heard it was really sweet.  We headed in between these sticks in the water that served as channel markers.  Just when you think you're gonna run up on shore you turn to port and run along the shore and slide between two sandbars that form the entrance to this creek.  The entrance is just wide enough for one boat to get through, pretty narrow.  Just as we thought we were in safe we bumped across the sandbar and skidded into 12' of water.  That was fun!

This anchorage is written up as being deep all the way to the shoreline.  It's surrounded by steep tree-covered hills and I suspect there's plenty of water in there just from the looks of it.  This is probably the perfect "Hurricane Hole".  We ran back towards the end of the creek and ran aground, again.  I'm getting really good at this.  Got out no problem but we decided to turn around and anchor close to the entrance.  There are several homes along the western shore so we kept closer to the other side, up near the entrance.  This is a beautiful spot and it would have been the perfect anchorage if it wasn't 180 degrees out with no wind.  We could still smell the fish up here too.  Great.  We set in for the night, played dominoes and drank Bloody Marys.  Had a hot and steamy night, didn't sleep well at all.

We got up early the next morning, pulled anchor by 0730 and decided to head for home.  We were truly miserable and we still needed to pump out our holding tank and had no prospects of getting that accomplished on this river.  We decided just to call it quits and go home early.  The weather won this one.

So we head back out to the Bay and turn north.  There's a little bit of a breeze out of the SE now and then so we try out the new trolling gear.  We start out at about 2.5 knots but as we get farther north and the day wears on the wind starts to pick up.  We sailed past the Potomac River and by the time we get up near the Navy target area (listed as "Prohibited Area" on the charts) we're trying to hold the boat back to 6 knots so we can keep our line in the water.  We never did catch anything but we had a good time trying.


This is Thursday, 6/9, with 3 more days of vacation left and it strikes me that I'm being kind of a defeatist by calling it quits just because we're miserable.  I mean, I'm an American, proud and brave.  John Wayne wouldn't call it quits just because he was miserable.  George Washington stuck it out at Valley Forge and I'm pretty sure he was miserable.  Those Marines climbed that hill to raise the flag at Iwo Jima and I'm pretty sure they were miserable.  So who am I to darken the shining reputation of my fellow citizens by being a weenie and calling it quits?  I just can't do that, it's not in my nature.  I grit my teeth, take a deep breath and pick up the cell phone.  I call Spring Cove Marina in Solomons Island and reserve a transient slip for two nights.  I mean, DUH!  Let's do this right or not at all!

(Chart for Solomons Island)  The sailing was so nice out on the Bay that I just had to stretch it out for a few more hours.  We finally arrived at Spring Cove Marina around 1700.  Now this is a real marina!  It's got more than one dock and a swimming pool and fresh air and everything!  Woohoooo!  Staying here was definitely the way to end our trip on a high note.  Solomons Island is Disneyland for boaters.  You cruise in here and there's like 10,000 boats of every description, 8'dinghys to 80' yachts, all around you.  You weave your way into various creeks and every one is just packed with boats.  It's amazing!  It's like driving into the parking lot for the mall on Christmas Eve.  We stayed on Back Creek just past the Calvert Marine Museum (check it out).  The museum is very cool with some really excellent exhibits about the history of the area, a restored bugeye and the Drum Point screwpile lighthouse.  That alone would make a visit to Solomons Island worthwhile but there's also a bunch of excellent restaurants and nice shops too.  This is an interesting place.  If you drive your car in in for a visit you might be inclined to wonder what the attraction is.  Coming in from the river reveals a whole different character.  Solomons Island is a very cool place.

We stayed at Spring Cove marina for two nights and cleared out Saturday morning bound for home.  We had good wind, 12 to 15 knots out of the SE and sailed on a broad reach from inside the river up to RN2 outside the Little Choptank River.  It was very hazy out and difficult to see either shore.  As we sailed along enjoying the quiet we heard canon fire coming from the western shore.  A lot of it.  We looked over to see the source but could only see haze.  The canon fire continued at a rapid rate and while we listened my eyes drifted high up into the sky.  Above the haze was a humongous Cumulonimbus cloud, the source of the canon fire.  We got on the radio and heard that DC was getting pounded with rain, hail and 70 knot winds.  Trees were down everywhere and things were a mess.  There was a string of storms coming up from Virginia and we were seeing the northern end of them.  We secured the sails and ran under power, preparing ahead for the worst.  Joining us out in the middle of the Bay were 26 other boats, mostly power, just sitting and waiting to see what this storm was going to do.  We sat there for two hours while it stalled out over land but a second storm came up from the south and both of them pushed out into the Bay, headed directly for our little flotilla.  Boats scattered at high speed in all directions, leaving us behind cruising along at 8 knots.  As I watched the storms approaching I realized there was a small break between them so I headed directly for it.  As the two storms swept towards the NE we passed right between them with lightning and rain to either side and only high winds where we were.  Once the storms passed we continued north to Herring Bay and home, back in our slip by 1900.

My Summer Vacation was fun.  I got to see lotsa things and go lotsa places.  I ate fish and other stuff too.  I went swimming a lot and got a sunburn.  Best of all, I went sailing.  I can't wait to go again next year.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation, Part I

click here for EarthNC charts to see where we went

The installation of the wind generator took much longer than I had anticipated and pushed back the start of our vacation from Friday, 5/27 (which was really wishful thinking anyway) to Sunday, 5/29.  Then we started thinking about all the crazy boaters out on the Bay over Memorial Day Weekend and decided it'd be smarter to leave on Monday when everyone else would be heading home.  By the time we'd get to Cuckold Creek on the Patuxent River we'd have the whole place to ourselves.  Good plan.

So Monday morning, 0730, we're ready to go.  I fire up the engine and go below to do our routine visual check to make sure it's behaving properly.  It's not.  I notice some coolant in the drip pan and as I look around I notice a fairly rapid drip coming from the hose on the thermostat.  When I take a closer look I find the hose is split just past the hose clamp and is leaking down the underside and dripping down to the pan.  I'm pretty sure this has been leaking ever since we bought the boat.  We've always found fluid in the pan after running the engine but could never find the source of the leak.  The only reason I found it this time was because I was looking in from the side at an odd angle and just happened to see the leak at the hose.

Because of the leak rate I felt that we needed to change this baby out before we went anywhere.  This was the one hose I didn't change when I replaced the heat exchanger.  Figures.  I had gotten a replacement for it from Yanmar but the hose they gave me was straight and I needed one with an 80 degree bend.  When I tried to put it on it kinked so badly I was concerned about flow restriction so I just put the old one back on.  Now I'm paying the price for that decision.  So, it's 0730 and the local Yanmar dude doesn't even get in until 0900 on Tuesday, this being a holiday.  I know it'll take at least three days to get a hose from the factory and even then it might not be the right one.  I decided to wait it out another day and see what he might suggest.  My brain works best in subconscious mode and overnight I came up with a better solution.  Instead of waiting until 0900 for the Yanmar dude I drove down to the local Auto Zone at 0800 and asked if I could hunt through their pre-formed radiator hoses for one that might work.  Found what I needed ($10), took it home and cut out the short bend that I needed to make the repair.  It looks like it was made for it.  Perfect.  Did I mention that the Yanmar hose cost $50?

(Chart of Hudson Creek)  By the time we took care of a few other things it was the middle of the afternoon.  I figured this was too late to attempt a trip to the Patuxent but we could still make it over to the Little Choptank and then have a short run over to the Patuxent the next day.  It's always good to be flexible.  So, on the hottest day so far this year, 96 in the shade, and with zero wind we motored across the Bay and anchored behind Casson Point on Hudson Creek.  This is a beautiful spot, secluded, well protected with good depth, 10', and good holding for the anchor.  We got there around 1930 and after we were settled in I went for a swim.  The water was slightly salty and felt like about 85 degrees, a bathtub.  About 45 minutes after the sun went down a nice breeze kicked up that kept us comfortable for the rest of the night.  After breakfast and a morning swim we took off and headed out towards the Bay for our next destination.

(Chart of Cuckold Creek)  We motored out the Little Choptank to G3 behind James Island before setting sail, heading up to G1 and then shooting out westward across the Bay.  The wind was out of the south at about 15 knots and we tacked our way down to the Patuxent.  We then ran under power past Solomons Island and after passing under the Rte 4 bridge turned into Cuckold Creek on the south side of the river.  As soon as we got to R4 we turned to port and entered a beautiful secluded little cove on the north side of Mill Creek.  There's no houses on this side of the creek and with no other boats we had the place to ourselves.  We anchored in 12' of water with good holding and settled in for the night.  I had an evening swim to cool off and took a brush to the waterline of the boat and scrubbed off the scumline that had built up over the winter.  We had a cool breeze that kept us comfortable throughout the night.  In the morning we headed out with a stiff 20 knot breeze out of the north.  After we passed under the Rte 4 bridge we ran under sail, main and staysail, for easy one man handling while Cheri was on a conference call.  By the time she got off the phone we were out in the Bay sailing wing and wing on a north breeze and had gotten as far south as the Navy target area.

We continued on past Point No Point but as we approached Point Lookout at the mouth of the Potomac River the wind veered around to the west and cranked up to 30 knots.  The river is quite wide here, over seven miles across, and as we turned into it we had to tack back and forth against the wind and what we estimated to be 6' waves, not to mention the natural outward flow.  "Mr. Toad's wild ride" pretty much sums it up.  In fact, after tacking for over two hours and making no progress at all we finally gave in, fired up the engine and secured the sails.  Even then, under power at 2500 rpm's we only made 3 knots at best.  We eventually made our way over to the northern shore where the waves weren't so bad and made good progress from there up to St. Mary's River.  Check out our videos (click here) and (then click here).

(Chart of St. Marys River)  St. Mary's River is probably the prettiest river on the Chesapeake Bay.  It winds back through wooded hillsides with occasional views of historic mansions.  The oldest estate in Maryland, built in 1644, is located here.   Once back into the protected shores of the river the wild winds were reduced to pleasant breezes.  We worked our way into St. Inigoes Creek and found a good anchorage back in Church Cove with 13' of water and good holding.  Despite being surrounded on all sides by large homes, the cove is large enough that we anchored out in the middle and felt totally secluded.  There's probably room in this cove for 20 boats but we were fortunate to share it with only one other for the night we were there.  I continued with my morning and evening swims here.

The next morning we decided to explore the rest of the river to see if we could find a more secluded anchorage.  We powered our way up the river past historic St. Marys City, the first capital of Maryland, and wound our way upriver to Tippity Wichity Island.  On the charts this looked like a really nice spot to anchor for the night plus that island just has a really cool name.  Once we got up to the area though, we found the banks to be shorn of trees and lined with houses and farmland.  The river really widens out at this spot and I felt that as an anchorage it didn't provide the kind of protection I was looking for.  We headed back downriver and Cheri went below to bake cookies and cook up some bacon for use in later meals.  As we approached Horseshoe Bend I decided we needed to spend some time ashore in the old city for a chance to stretch our legs.  We were the only boat within sight and took advantage of that by pulling up to the College dock where we were assisted by a smiling student.  We walked into the reconstructed town, wandered through the graveyard reading old headstones and gave Bella a chance to run loose in the large grassy area by the boathouse.  We hiked down to Church Point and wandered around the village too.  There's a big herb garden behind one of the houses and the nice lady in the gift shop allowed us to fill a bag with fresh cuttings.  The big attraction for me was the Dove, a reproduction of one of the ships that brought the first colonists to this area.  This thing is only 10' longer than La Vida Dulce.  Back at the dock we rinsed the boat off with fresh water, emptied our trash and continued on our way.

(Chart of Price Cove)  St. Marys River offers a number of excellent spots to anchor but we chose to head back out to the mouth of the river to get a quicker start in the morning.  We were looking for an anchorage that would be fairly secluded and safe.  On the north shore of the river right at the entrance is Saint Georges Creek and just inside that to starboard is Price Cove.  The wind was still blowing 25 knots out in the open river and we were really hoping for a nice peaceful spot for the night.  Price Cove is tucked back out of the way surrounded by flat grassy areas and occasional stands of tall trees.  There isn't much protection from the wind but the water is calm being almost totally enclosed by land and, best of all, there are no houses at all.  We anchored way back there by the duck blind and had a good breeze to keep us comfortable and the boat hardly moved at all.  Swimming was good here too.  This is a really nice anchorage.

The next morning (Saturday, 6/4) we headed out around 0930, early for us.  The wind had died down to almost nothing so we ran under power out to the mouth of the Potomac.  Here we encountered what's called the Potomac Swim (click here), where a large group of crazy people swim 7.5 miles across the widest part of the river.  When we arrived there were swimmers and kayaks and small boats stretched all the way across the Potomac.  I spotted a pretty good gap and headed for it.  Cheri stood up in the bow and kept watch for potential targets.  I got a call on the radio from the Coast Guard and responded to them but another boat stepped on my response so I don't think they got it.  All of a sudden this high speed USCG river boat comes flying up beside us.  I throttled back and they pulled up right next to us and I'm thinking "whew, got all that safety stuff just in time".  They asked if I knew there were swimmers in the water and I pointed out that we had posted a safety watch for that very reason.  They were duly impressed and told us to carry on and enjoy our voyage.  Nice fellas.

Once past the line of swimmers we headed out to Smith Point Light.  It was here that we passed fairly close to the presidential yacht U.S.S. Sequoia (click here).  This is a 104' motor yacht built in 1925 and is a historic national landmark.  She was used exclusively as a presidential yacht until 1977 when Jimmy Carter had her decommissioned, just one of the many unforgettable things he accomplished during his presidency.  Hey, let's give away the Panama Canal!  But I digress.  This beautiful yacht is available for charter in DC for about a gazillion $/hour and I'm wondering what she was doing way out at Smith Point Light.  Didn't look like there were any guests aboard but  I did see a tall, skinny, black dude at the wheel.  I wonder.....

Because of the length of our trip I'm going to divide this up into several parts.  It's taken me forever to get this far on it and there's still another week to go.  Look for part II coming soon.  I swear.