Sunday: Time to say goodbye to our wonderful sojourn in Washington D.C., and retrace our path down the Potomac River. Getting fuel, water and pump out at the only fuel dock in D.C. (which opens at 9:00) guaranteed that we'd have a late start down the river. We've been debating places to anchor tonite, and for such a big river, the choices are amazingly slim. Our goal is to make it back to Pt. Tobacco since we are running behind schedule ...this means anchoring after sunset, something we generally try to avoid.
Yes, some beautiful homes line the Potomac.
Here we are, chasing the sunset towards our anchorage. Thanks to the city lights of D.C., we had about 30 minutes to spare before it got really dark ... and by that time, we were using our boat light to search out crab pots that line the shore. We anchored safely midst the crab pots ... tuna sandwiches for dinner and early to bed so we can beat out of this anchorage before the crabbers arrive tomorrow!
Monday: We were on our way by 7:00. The day was clear and calm and warm ... probably one of the last we'll be having for awhile. Because of our early start, we had time to cruise up to St. Marys City, off the St. Mary's River, at the mouth of the Potomac. St. Marys City is the oldest town in Maryland, originally the state capitol, so lots of history to hike over around town.
This shipped traveled from England with 70 passengers!
This ship traveled from Georgia with 2 passengers!
Happy Birthday to Me! Steak dinner and champagne and sunset. Life is good!
Tuesday: Exit the Potomac River and enter the Chesapeake Bay. We were expecting rain today so we left the cockpit enclosure up as we got underway. Even though the rain never came, the temps stayed cool enough that we ended up leaving the cockpit enclosed the whole day. Today was one of those days where the wind was always coming over the bow, no matter what direction we were headed, so we had little luck trying to run with the sails up. So, it was just a long, long day of 60 miles to Deltaville, where we anchored at Fishing Bay for the night. This is our last night at anchor on the bay ... tomorrow, we arrive back at Salt Ponds Marina where we started this leg of our trip 6 weeks ago.
Wednesday: Brrrrrrrrrr. Let's hope this is not a preview of things to come! The temps are in the 60s, it's windy and cloudy and the waves on the bay are giving us a rocky, rolly ride down to Hampton. Even with the cockpit enclosure up, we are dressed in sweatshirts, wind breakers, hats and mittens ... makes me wonder what we'll wear when it gets really cold. The good news is that it's 80 degees in Georgia! We arrived back at Salt Ponds Marina at 4pm, and docking into the wind was made much easier because Sheri Leatherwood (m/v Morada) heard our radio call to the marina and came down to catch our dock lines. Despite boat tasks waiting for us, we ended up hanging out with Clyde and Sheri on Morada until 9pm, catching up on news since we last saw them in August.
It's been 12 days since we've been in a marina, and we are looking forward to the creature comforts of shore power, TV reception and water on demand! From here, we head back to the ICW and the 3-week trip back to Brunswick Marina in Georgia. The onset of cool weather makes us want to get the trip started, but we're also reluctant to say goodbye to the Chesapeake ... for now, it's nice to be in one spot for a few days.
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