Cockral Creek, Reedville - Weems Creek, Solomons

On Monday 12 May, we left Deltaville in our wake and set George, our trusty autopilot, to head for Reedville which was about 20nm away. 

The wind was perfect for the first half and then dropped towards the end forcing us to motor the last few nautical miles. 

We motored into the anchorage and dropped anchor. The only boat here. One always wonders why there are no other boats in an anchorage and usually it just takes one boat to anchor alone before the signal is sent to all other boats that the anchorage is safe. but we were alone the entire time we were there. 

We were expecting rain the following day and sure enough I woke during the night to water dripping on my feet. We have a window at the end of our bed which we keep open, with a canvas flap on the outside that protects it from the weather. But it has started leaking and we are not sure where from. Andrew had sprayed the cover with waterproofing but there must be a gap in the stitching somewhere. Not nice to have wet feet in the middle of the night!

It rained the entire day with strong winds in the evening. Andrew spent the day pottering around doing the necessary and constant boat jobs that needed to be completed while I worked on YouTube videos. Laura spent the day in her cabin, coming out at various times of the day for tea and food.

We discovered some new leaks which Andrew hunted down and fixed and he also fitted the new filter housing to the water maker.

The rain stopped sometime during the night but it was very misty when we woke up on Wednesday 14 May. We decided not to let the mist deter us and departed Reedville and head to Solomons in Maryland. 

It was quite scary motoring through the mist with many boats doing the same thing. There was a barge being pushed by a tug, a towboat pulling a yacht and lots of sailing boats and speedy boats, not to mention the fishing pots dotted in all the shallow spots. While dodging a motor boat that was ahead of us, we saw one too late and went over it. Andrew put the engine in neutral and thank goodness, we saw it pop out the other side! 

After a few hours the mist cleared and we all breathed a sigh of relief. The wind eventually picked up to 7 knots and we put out a headsail, gaining at least 1 knot of speed!.

Another yacht had left before us and we slowly caught up to it. Once we had our headsail out we started to pull ahead. Then they put out their headsail and the race was on. Our headsail was much bigger and we streaked ahead of them.

There is a lighthouse in the middle of the sea just off Solomons. You can see it from miles away, which, I suppose, is the point. Point No Point Light which is located in the Chesapeake Bay, took a long time to come to be. Although the first request for funding was in 1891, it was only constructed in 1902. A series of events led to the light only being operational in April 1905. It was automated in 1938 and renovations were carried out from 1989 to 2001. 

Point No Point Light

We arrived in Solomons and found a place to anchor in Back Creek. There were a few boats on mooring balls and a few anchored.

The lovely clouds that we had seen along the way quickly turned into dark, ominous storm clouds, which passed us by without too many rumbles.

Andrew woke the following morning feeling grotty but we still decided to walk to the nearest chandlery. We found the city dinghy dock without too much trouble.

After walking about 2.5 km we realized we would not be able to cross the highway. There was a robot but no green man or pedestrian crossing. As we were standing on the side of the road pondering our problem a guy pulled up in a fire truck/bakkie.  After telling him our issue he offered to take us over the road, which he duly did. He told us he was the fire chief for Solomons. 

Laura's new Crocs

After purchasing the necessary items which included a gas regulator for our new gas bottle, we sat outside and called an uber. We watched as a few people came and went.  One man asked if we were waiting for the bus as he went inside, we said no Uber. 

When he came out he asked again about the Uber and wondered if it worked here. And then we were asked the usual question we get from most Americans: Where are you from? Which segues into what we are doing? Turns out this guy loves watching sailing YouTube videos. Next thing he backs up the car so we can chat to his wife. She had lived in Australia for a long time so didn’t have a pure American accent. He took down our name, so I hope he subscribes to our YouTube channel!

The following morning we walked in the opposite direction to the day before. It was lovely that end. 

Just for Laura's friend Mr D'Arcy

Pizza Restaurant

Can you see the pizza prices? $15 - $20

We hadn't used the museum dock thinking we would have to visit the museum to use it but when we docked there in the dinghy a very friendly museum employee told us, as she guided us to the front desk, that we could leave our dinghy at the dock and go do our shopping. All we had to do beforehand was sign in at the front desk. 

They had various sections of history including a petting pool, dinosaurs and fossils. 

Otter was tired! Didn't want to play

The lighthouse was fascinating! It was so much bigger on the inside than we expected.

Boat with a very long boom

That evening we endured a thunderstorm with high winds and lots of rain. But thankfully it didn’t last long and before we knew it the sun was out again.

We had to wait for another rain storm to move past us before leaving on Saturday, 17 May. Once we got out the creek, the wind picked up and we had some lovely sailing, heading to Annapolis, Maryland.