Slowing down in Solomons
- sondrawinter
- 20 minutes ago
- 5 min read
Thursday, June 26 through Wednesday, July 2
From Ridge, Maryland to Annapolis Maryland
77 NM (89 miles)
We have slowed down our pace a bit lately as the “heat dome” has melted into just normal hot weather. At least this week the warm weather has been punctuated with some fun times as we moved from the St. Marys City Area up to Annapolis with a lingering stop in Solomons.
Point Lookout Marina to Spring Cove Marina
Thursday, June 26
32 NM
After springing off the dock just south of St. Marys City, MD, we headed back to the Chesapeake, north to Solomons, MD with smooth seas, no wind and plenty of heat. A great dockhand greeted us at Spring Cove Marina. He fully communicated with us after we came to a stop using our spring line, to move to the end of the dock (same maneuver as Coinjock but clear communication makes a huge difference in removing the chaos!)
Once the boat was put together for the day, we walked to a nearby store, then headed to the marina pool. The pool had a bar and played music under the water. After swimming, we stayed for a drink and ordered pizza for dinner. Ordering food or going to restaurants has helped us from adding more heat to the boat.
Solomons Point Anchorage
Friday, June 26 – Wednesday, July 2
1 NM
We performed a stern-out spring from the dock, turned around and docked into the wind at the adjacent fuel dock, where we topped off our tanks for the first time since leaving Brunswick, GA. We had run the engine 117 hours, consuming about 70 gallons of diesel.
After springing our bow off the fuel dock, we turned south to set anchor near “downtown” Solomons Island. The heat had reduced enough for us to try anchoring again, and we ended up staying here for five nights.
Each morning, we took walks around the little island and crossed over the 20’ bridge for walks on the mainland. Other sightseeing activities included a visit to the Calvert Marine Museum and taking a cruise on a very old boat.
Calvert Marine Museum: Along the way up the Chesapeake, we heard a lot about his museum and were glad to have had the time to stop by to spend a morning there. A favorite for us was touring an old screw-pile lighthouse. The Drum Point Lighthouse was relocated to the museum property sometime after it was decommissioned. This style of lighthouse sits on piles out in the Chesapeake a good ways offshore. The first level of the structure is a loading dock and open-air storage area. The next two levels consist of a small home, where the lighthouse keeper would live with his entire family. The lens of the lighthouse is up on the fourth level with parts of the lighthouse mechanisms down in the living quarters.
Wm. B. Tennison: The following afternoon we took a narrated cruise on the Wm. B. Tennison, which departs from the foot of the Drum Point Lighthouse. The Wm. B. Tennison is a log-built bugeye originally built for oyster harvesting in 1899. The one hour long cruise turned out to be a nice respite from the heat as the we had a good breeze out on the Patuxent River.
We took tours of the Drum Point Lighthouse and on on the Wm B Tennison
With this longer stop (I am enjoying this slower pace), we tackled a few extra chores, including going up mast to replace a lightbulb. The temperatures still have been quite warm, where staying in shade and finding a breeze are necessary. Baxter enjoys spending the mornings and evenings out on the deck of the boat but sleeps away in the cabin during the hot portions of the day.
The biggest highlight of our stay in Solomons for Jimmy and me was the arrival of our friends on Quest II. Cam and Denise have been making some big pushes to catch up with us. As they approached Solomons, Jimmy and I took our dinghy out to the river to greet them. Once they were anchored, everybody needed to cool off. Since we had not seen too many jellyfish during the day, we got brave and jumped into the water. It was refreshing to swim there in the anchorage between our boats. However, the cooling swim did not last too long as we all got stung by jellyfish hiding under the surface.
The final night in Solomons was a little eventful with a tornado warning and lightning crashing all around us. Our anchor chain stretched out so much that we were pretty darned close to the boats on the dock behind us. It was nice having friends nearby during this heavy weather event.
Solomons, MD to Annapolis MD
Wednesday, July 2
45 NM
In the morning, we were able to weigh anchor between bands of rain and make our way out of Solomons. This was fortunate because our chartplotter heading was off by about 30 degrees. Had we used the the chartplotter to guide our direction, we would have veered out of the channel, into shoals. So close visual navigation was needed to wind our way out through the shoal lined channel and to turn onto the Patuxent River, then onto the Chesapeake. At least it is well marked, and we had had been in and out of this channel a few times already. Jimmy eventually figured out that the flux gate compass had been knocked around and shifted. He took a stab at the correct configuration and rotated it back. Now things on the screen appear to match actual conditions.
After reaching the Chesapeake, the downpours began. Luckily, we expected the heavy rain and dressed accordingly (our cockpit cover is very leaky). We have not cruised in such a prolonged heavy downpour before, and it reminded me of sailing at night where you have very limited visibility.
At one point during the trip, we proceeded to re-raise the mainsail after a lull in in the wind had ended. While Jimmy hoisted the main, I looked up to check the progress of the raising, only to find the main halyard flying around without the mainsail attached to it… By the time he stopped the halyard had reached the second set of spreaders. We kept the clutch open for the rest of the trip hoping the halyard might fall down on its town… wishful thinking this was. The halyard just ended up wrapping around both back stays.
Later we entered Annapolis Harbor and found a mooring ball next to Quest II, which is a much faster boat than Utopia. Before I had time to even admire our amazing location, we rigged up the bosuns chair and Jimmy went up the mast. He grabbed the halyard, attached it to the chair and I lowered him back to the deck, only to discover that the halyard was thread through the spreader and shrouds, thus useless for raising a mainsail. With a big sigh, Jimmy had to go back up the mast. This time he lowered the halyard down the aft side of the mast for me to catch. So, after both trips up the mast, it was finally time to relax and to take in the sights of Annapolis Harbor.
We plan to stay here through Independence Day, then head south a bit to visit St. Michaels before we make a big push north to Long Island Sound.
Post 25-27
Link to last week's post is below under "Related Posts"
Most recent video from our outside passage from Charleston to Cape Fear:
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