Summer Cruising on the Southern Chesapeake
- sondrawinter
- 17 hours ago
- 6 min read
Deltaville, VA (Thursday, June 19) to Ridge, MD (Wednesday, June 25)
76 nautical miles (NM) / 87 statute miles
Fixing holding tanks, running aground, biting flies, jellyfish filled waters, and oppressive heat are just some of the things in this week’s blog post. There are also some very nice moments covered.
Deltaville, VA
Thursday 6/19 – Saturday 6/21
Last week’s blog post ended after our very first sail in the Chesapeake and setting anchor in a quiet, pretty cove near Deltaville. Thursday morning strong wind gusts returned making us a little bit nervous about docking Utopia at a marina in Deltaville, 10 NM away. Luck was on our side when we arrived at the marina, as the winds dropped down to nearly nothing allowing Utopia to float gently into her slip.
Regatta Point Yachting Center is a great little marina. The fairway was wide, and the staff are incredibly helpful and friendly! It feels like a family run marina that takes a fair amount of pride in its facility. Floating docks, water, power, wifi, pump-out availability, nice laundry room, very clean bathroom & showers, grills, pool, and courtesy bikes are some of the things that the marina has to offer. We would certainly consider coming back to this marina!
Since we have had a holding tank issue since arriving in Charleston, we planned a stop at a marina with pump out capabilities so we could tackle the problem. During pump outs at the last three marinas, the draw from our holding tank was very limited. I suspected we had an air leak in the suction pipe, Jimmy wondered if the suction pipe was clogged. Once at this marina, he added a de-clogging chemical to our holding pipe and ran a drain auger (a.k.a snake) down the suction pipe. The following day we were very pleased that the full tank contents were able to be pumped out! It appears that we did have a clog, and we are very happy we do not have to replace a hose in the holding tank.
Now, reaching the pumpout dock was not as easy as solving the holding tank issue. It was a little challenging to land Utopia on the narrow pumpout dock at the end of the fairway. Fortunately, the wind was blowing to the dock, and we used that to our advantage and had the bonus of the dock hand offering to help (and would not accept a tip). It is so nice to handle a challenging docking situation with many, many onlookers, only to bore them with a snail’s pace of velocity between our slip, the pumpout dock and back into our slip.
During our stay here, we took our typical marina style rusted bikes out for a ride to the grocery store, 3.6 miles away. I found it to be a good workout; I am sure Jimmy did not feel the same way. We stopped at an incredibly cool little store called Nauti Nells. It is part gift store, part chandlery, reminding us of Sailors Exchange in St. Augustine. I sure hope this little gem survives!
Free marina bikes used to get around to great places like Nauti Nells
Reedville, VA
Saturday 6/21 – Monday 6/23
Lack of wind and a low motor speed from the slip made the exit from the marina slip quite successful. However, the great feeling from the peaceful departure was cut short by running aground in the Broad Creek Inlet channel. As we turned the corner from the marina into the channel, I watched the water depths get deeper and promptly let my guard down, got distracted and steered the boat too close to the channel’s edge. Thankfully, it was a soft grounding, and I was able to give the boat a hard throttle in reverse to get back in the channel properly.
After a windless motor-sail up the Chesapeake, we turned onto the Great Wicomico River, wound our way up Cockrell Creek to set anchor near the little town of Reedville covering 22 NM for the day.
The anchorage is very pretty with nice homes along the banks of the twisty creek system, trees in the yards, birds singing from all directions, locals coming and going over the weekend. Though there is not a whole lot to see on land, we considered staying a third night to give us a day in a pretty setting to work on boat chores. However, this anchorage has one nasty attribute: when the winds are out of the south, odors from Omega Protein come wafting over us. Reviews of the anchorage mention a “horrible fish odor”. I think “dead fish odor” would have been more appropriate. When in town, odors from Omega Protein were not noticeable. I am not sure if that is always the case, or if the winds where favorable during our two landside visits.
Reedville, Virginia, is located right on the Chesapeake Bay and is Northern Neck's easternmost town on US Route 360. Once a renowned fishing village, well-known for its steady supply of a variety of fish that's used in manufacture of fish oils and fish foods, Reedville was one of the most prosperous towns in the US. Reedville's rich history lives on through its museums and the Millionaire's Row, a colony of Victorian Era houses that were built during the town's storied heyday. – Long & Foster Real Estate
Our visit to the Reedville Fisherman’s Museum was well worth the time. The focus of the museum highlights the history of commercial fishing in the region. There is also historical information about the town. The amount of stuff curated there is impressive and well displayed. Our time was interspersed between self-touring the exhibits and having one of the two docents providing additional details. They really have done a nice job with this museum.
A few of the exhibits from the Reedville Fisherman's Museum
St. Marys City, MD
Monday 6/23 – Tuesday 6/24
We said goodbye to the pretty, yet very smelly Reedville anchorage to say hello to light winds inside of a heat dome around the Washington DC area. To add insult to injury, biting flies accompanied us on our 35 NM motor-sail day, during which we entered into Maryland.
After we set anchor next to St Marys College, we had another summertime gift: a second anchorage with jellyfish-filled waters (they were prolific in Reedville too). These are Bay Nettles which can deliver a sting, keeping us out of the water during this hot, hot weather.
During the day it was cooler inside of the boat than in the shady cockpit, and the thermometer in the salon was reading 92° F. After Jimmy cooked dinner, the cabin became unbearable until well after sunset. Even though the outside heat index was 100° F at 9 p.m., Baxter and I refused to go inside the hot boat until 9:30 p.m.
Point Lookout Marina, Ridge, MD
Tuesday 6/24 – Thursday 6/26
With the temperatures much higher than anticipated, and the lack of wind, we felt that these weather conditions were too much for Baxter, so we decided a marina may be necessary after our one night at St. Marys. Before leaving the pretty little anchorage, we had breakfast at the college cafeteria to avoid cooking breakfast on the boat(we are out of non-cook options and cooking really makes things super-hot inside the cabin) and took a walk around campus.
During the two-hour (9 NM) trip down the St. Marys River, the heat index was 107° F, and we needed to cool Baxter down with ice cubes wrapped in a paper towel. By ten minutes after noon, we were able to turn on the air conditioning, much to Baxter’s delight. Jimmy and I visited the marina pool to cool ourselves off.
Other than a warm three-mile walk along farm roads early one morning, we did not do much outside of the boat during our two-night stay here as the heat index stayed over 100° F. Instead, we took advantage of the air conditioning to knock out some inside-the-cabin chores.
Point Lookout Marina is a nice small marina, not far from the Chesapeake. It is an affordable, decent stop with a pool, which was very appreciated. This is another locally owned marina, worth the stop, but don’t expect too much. We were very happy to have stopped here.
Link to last week's post is below in Related Posts.
Our most recent video showing a few scenes during Utopia's month long stay in Charleston
We had the biting flies too, same time, same general area. Desperate to buy a fly swatter.