We spent a wonderful couple of days at Olverson's Lodge Creek Marina... spent some great quality timw with Cas and Fred Olverson... we celebrated Susan's birthday on Saturday night and had a fantastic dinner at Luna's in Callao... Fred and Cas joined us... great evening with great people!

The winds subsided after midnight on Saturday and the Bay was forecast to have 1-2 foot seas with an East wind 5-10 knots... We departed the dock at 0710 hours and headed out of Lodge Creek toward the Potomac River... Once on the Potomac River we headed east out to Chesapeake Bay... we reached the bay about 1000 hours and turned south... destination Portsmouth, VA.

The bay was calm with 1-2 foot seas as forecast and it was easy cruising... the sun came out late morning and the 1-2 foot seas subsided to barely 1 foot and we had the current with us all day... typically pushing us along at 8 knots... at times we were doing close to 10 knots... love days like this... :)

Not a lot of boat traffic... a few tugs towing barges headed up the bay... one container ship and the most exciting was a giant cruise ship... did not pass close enough to see the name but it looked 20 stories high... and it was moving along very quickly... RADAR/MARPA said it was moving 22 knots... really fast for such a large vessel.

With the time change it started getting dark around 1700 and we still had over an hour to go... once we passed the navy ship yards we were running in the dark... we had another trawler that had joined us somewhere along the way... I had not noticed him until I saw them about a half mile off our starboard beam just before we turned into Hampton Roads... we ran neck and neck to the Navy ship yard and then they dropped behind us as we approached a dredge working in the channel. Later I heard them hail Tidewater Marina for a slip for the night.

We continued past Tidewater to a small basin located on the Portsmouth side of the ICW just before you come to Ocean Marine Yacht Center... the ferries from that take people from Norfolk to Portsmouth and vice versa docks in this basin... but we discovered that you can dock in here and it's free... mo electric or water but you are tied to a dock. We arrived and were safe at the dock at 1815 hours.

We traveled today for 11 hours and 5 minutes covering 87.31 nautical miles and averaging 7.88 knots.

Trip totals to date:

Distance: 591.96 nautical miles
Hours: 95 hours 21 minutes
Avg Spd: 6.21 knots
Days not moving: 3

Not moving today... waiting for weather to pass and winds and seas to subside... winds still blowing 20-25 knots with higher gusts... but forecast to diminish to 5-10 knots after midnight... Sunday morning we will depart and head for Norfolk, VA... seas forecast for Sunday as 1-2 feet which will be a treat compared to the what we last experienced on the bay.... :)

Trip totals to date:

Distance: 504.65 nautical miles
Hours: 84 hours 16 minutes
Avg Spd: 5.99 knots
Days not moving: 3

We departed from Galesville, MD City Docks at 0720 hours and headed out just as the sun was rising… saw an orange ball as it broke over the horizon and from the looks of things that was the last time we were going to see the sun all day. Forecast was for 15-20 knot winds out of the north increasing to 20-25 late afternoon and as we left West River we had about 10 knot north winds… Seas were choppy but nothing to worry about... and we had an awesome boost from the ebb current making 7.5-8.5 knots.

Engine started right up… still a mystery as to why it did not want to start in Chesapeake City… anyway, we saw a few boats during the day… a sport fishing boa passed us first ting in the morning and a larger motor yacht passed mid morning… had a huge ship cross our bow near the Little Choptank River… still can’t get over the size of these ships no matter how many I see. The winds had already reached the 20 knot level by mid morning but were out of the northeast rather than the north so while we were in the narrow portion of the Chesapeake Bay above the Potomac River the waves were not bad… 2-3 foot with an occasional larger one… we were also close to the eastern shore and in it’s lee.

Early afternoon the winds picked up to steady 25 knots and with gusts to 35 knots… waves also increased to 4-5 feet… it was a flowing seas so it was not too bad but starting to get uncomfortable… just below the Patuxent River we started moving away from the eastern shore and the waves started to increase… soon we had 5-7 seas with some larger ones every few minutes… the ride was now definitely not what you enjoy… As we approached the mouth of the Potomac River it got really really rough… had a steady 8 foot wave hitting us on the port quarter… we were doing some surfing and rolling… it was 1500 hour and we had 2 hours +/- to go for our planned destination of Reedsville, VA and it appeared the conditions were worsening… then the Coast Guard came across the VHF with a PAN PAN… weather alert... for the area we were approaching… warning of gale force winds and gusts to 50 knots… all boats should immediately seek safe harbor… so that’s what we did… changed our destination to Olverson’s Lodge Creek Marina the MTOA Yacht Club located off the Potomac… it would be well protected from the weather and it’s a great place to stop… :)

We turned toward Point Lookout at the northern side of the mouth of the Potomac River and this eased the ride tremendously… the 10 foot + seas were directly on our stern and we surfed them towards Point Lookout… once around the point we would gradually move in to the lee of the northern shore of the Potomac… and gradually the waves subsided to 3-4 foot as we headed up the Potomac towards Olverson’s. With the turn we slowed as the current was against us but it was nothing horrible.

We left the Potomac and headed up the Yeocomico River that leads to Lodge Creek… at 1700 hours we were safely docked at Olverson’s Lodge Creek Marina. We traveled today for 9 hours and 40 minutes covering 70.03 nautical miles and averaging 7.24 knots.

Trip totals to date:

Distance: 504.65 nautical miles
Hours: 84 hours 16 minutes
Avg Spd: 5.99 knots
Days not moving: 2