Anchor up at 9:00 as it was going to be a BEAUTIFUL day on the bay! 10-15 knots of wind from the north, 1-foot swells, with temps in the 80s. Just perfect!
Alas, we don't have an electric windless to raise the anchor. But the hand crank keeps Dan in shape!
Dan developed a great contraption for rinsing off the muddy, icky anchor as it comes on board. He hangs a hose over the bow and into the bay and uses a small pump to wash off the anchor as it comes up. Courtsey of Chris (s/v Synergy) who has an endless list of cool ideas to share!
Leaving Mobjack Bay, around New Point Comfort. (that little black boat is us!)
Up with all 4 sails! It was my type of sailing day. We had expected the bay to be busy with boats because of the holiday weekend, but it's a big bay and we only passed a few other boats. Definitely not like sailing on Lake Pepin on a holiday weekend where you spend most of your time tacking out of the way of other boaters.
We sailed for about 4 hours across the bay before we had to accept the fact that although we were having a great time, we were making no headway north towards our next anchorage. Between the current and strong north wind, Maja just cannot keep a heading into the wind. We debated changing plans and just going where the wind wanted to send us (the sailor's mindset), but since we have a agenda to get to Solomons Island by the end of the week (the cruiser's mindset) to meet our good friends, Dan and Renee Devereaux, we turned on the motor for a few hours to get closer to where we planned to anchor for the night.
Towards the end of the day, the wind shifted to the east so we were able to put up the sails again for the last couple of hours of the day. However, by then we were in the bane of all cruisers -- crab pots! The damn things were everywhere! There's no relaxing at the helm when you have to be on constant watch for the small bobbing buoys that would just love to catch on our prop.
You get the idea.
Tonight, we are anchored at Fishing Bay, just below Deltaville, VA. Traveled 35 miles today.
A beautiful little spot. Anchor down at 6:30pm. with time for a rum drink and watch the sunset.
More of the same is predicted for tomorrow. I wonder if this will ever get old?
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