We slept in till 0700… I had some computer work to catch up on so departed much later than we would of liked to… leaving the docks at Crisfield at 0915. We planned to go to Galesville, MD for the night… unless conditions were horrible. The forecast was for 90% chance of rain… winds were only suppose to be 10-15 knots… seas 1-2 feet.

“Sanctuary” departed with us and we headed out and north up Tangier Sound. As we entered the sound we were met with a fantastic boost from the flooding tide… pushed us over 8 knots. This current stayed with us almost the entire day… not always pushing us to 8 knots but never saw less than 7.3 knots until the last hours of the day. Then we dropped to 6.5 to 7.0 knots.

The waves and wind remained as forecast also until the last couple of hours… then the wind picked up and the waves also… plus we were more exposed loosing our break from the winds as we had while in Tangier Sound.

We crossed into the Chesapeake Bay via Hoopers Strait… you sort of backtrack as you go through the strait… running southwest for a short leg and then west but taking this route brought back in the Chesapeake Bay above the Potomac River. Where the Potomac meets the Chesapeake can be a nasty place and we wanted to avoid it… thus Hoopers Strait.

Just at the mouth of the Choptank we were hailed by a large ship “Tugela”… a 660 foot car carried… he asked if we could alter our course to the NW to allow more space for him to pass… no problem… we moved… :) As we passed each other he hailed again and wanted to talk about our boat… he had never seen one like it and wanted some details… pretty cool… at least I thought it was pretty cool… :)

It was shortly after this that the waves increased… instead of 1-2 we were seeing 3-4 with some larger ones occasionally… although it did not make the ride uncomfortable at all… it continued like this for a couple hours and gradually decreased as we got closer to Galesville and the Bay started to narrow down a bit.

We arrived to Galesville and proceeded to the town docks located at N38°50.546’, W076°32.344’. We secured “Sails” to the dock and “Sanctuary” rafted to us… we were not sure of water depth alongside the dock… so we opted to have “Sanctuary” raft to us. We were securely docked at 1945. We traveled for 10.5 hours covering 77.8 nm averaging 7.3 knots.

We spent the last three days sitting in Portsmouth, VA waiting on weather… specifically, the winds to die down… The lower Chesapeake Bay was forecast with 4-6 seas and a looking a weather buoy data is was all of 4-6 seas and what made it even worse was the 3 second period between wave peaks… square waves… not a very comfortable ride…so we sat and waited. Today’s forecast was for 15-20 knot ENE winds diminishing to 10-15 knots and switching to E winds. This was a doable forecast especially if we went to the eastern shore of the bay where we would get some break from the wind being in the lee of the land.

While waiting for the winds at Portsmouth, both “Sanctuary” and “Serendipity” caught up with us… “Sanctuary” was able to dock with us at the ferry docks and pulled in right behind us. “Serendipity” opted to continue on to the Lafayette River just north of us and anchor. The docking was tight and with the high winds they felt this was the best option for them.

We did get to spend some great quality time with everyone while in Portsmouth… great fun! We did a lot of eating dinner out… Baron’s Pub, Bier Garden, and the Cancun Fiesta… all three places were awesome! And it was appropriate we ate at the Cancun Fiesta Mexican Restaurant on “Cinco de Mayo”.

The plan for today was to leave at 0600 and head out to see how bad it was… if the western shore was not real bad we would stay on the west side of the Chesapeake Bay… otherwise we would cut across to the eastern shore. “Sanctuary” was away first as he was behind us and we joined him and departed at 0600 as planned. “Serendipity” had moved from the Lafayette River to the Tidewater Marina and would join us as we passed by them. I hailed them on the VHF but got no response…so I called on the cell phone… they were not sure if they were leaving and would get let us know.

I was following “Sanctuary” out the Elizabeth River as they had plotted our course to the eastern shore if needed and I had not…. So it was easy to follow them. It was a little foggy… something I had not seen in any of the forecasts… but not bad… about a mile visibility.

As we approached the end of the Navy Yards in Norfolk it started to get a little lumpy but nothing bad… the fog was beginning to thicken and visibility was down to about 1/2 mile. We passed over the Bay Tunnel by Hampton Roads and turned more to the north and the waves were a solid 2-3 feet with 4 footer every now and then... still not bad… the fog at this point had rolled in thick and I could no longer see “Sanctuary” in front of us and they were maybe a half mile ahead. We continued on across Horseshoe Shoal and every now and then I would get a glimpse of “Sanctuary”.

I received a VHF hail from “Serendipity” asking for a status report… sea state… they were underway and wanting to know what to expect… told them a solid 2-3 seas with larger waves every now and then… they were actually not that far behind us.

The waves were slowing us down… and the current going out so we had both things against us… waves/wind and current… I was only making 5.5 to 6 knots. I lost total sight of “Sanctuary” and continued on our northerly course. I received a VHF call from “Sanctuary” asking where we were and telling us where he was… I had planned to just follow him and did not a course plotted and the fog did not allow us to do that… anyway, they informed me that he had turned toward the eastern shore and was crossing the ship channel and on a 47 degree heading… I was heading toward the same ship channel but on a 10 degree heading… FOG had no idea they had turned… I made a course correction and came to 45 degrees… this changed the angle from quartering the seas to head on… and these were very square waves… really pounds you and makes for a horrible ride.
The closer we got the eastern shore the smaller the waves… soon we were riding in 1-2 seas… wind was still howling at 20 knots plus but no waves to speak of… nothing like it had been.

We planned to go to Tangier Island for the night… however, Susan is not a big fan of the island and about 3 hours away “Sanctuary” hailed on the VHF and said as an option we could continue on a little further past Tangier Island and go to Crisfield. We had never been to Crisfield so this sounded like a good idea and the destination for the night was changed to Somerset Cove Marina in Crisfield, MD. “Sanctuary” called and made the arrangements and we were all set.

Shortly after our decision to go to Crisfield we were hailed by “Serendipity” on the VHF… they wanted to let us know that they had stayed on the western shore and were now anchored for the night in Fishing Bay. We have never been there either and have heard people talk about it… was glad to hear they were safe and secure for the night.

As we approached Tangier Island we slowly moved away from the eastern shore and where Tangier Sound and Pocomoke Sound meet we lost our wind protection. The waves picked up and they were now on our beam… big difference was the period between peaks… more like 7 or 8 seconds… even being a beam sea the ride was not bad at all. This was a good thing because we had this exposure almost all the way to Crisfield and the winds were increasing rather than diminishing as forecast. They were now gusting to 30 knots and 20-25 steady.

Today we had the ebb current against us the entire day… normally I hate this but I can’t imagine what effect the current against the wind would have had on the wave heights… typically, it’s not good. So, we ran slower than we like but I think the ride was better than it would have been with a flood current.

We pulled into the Crisfield harbor at a bout 1815 and pulled to the T-head of G dock as instructed by “Mitch”… Mitch is the night security and answers the VHF and assists boaters after the marina is closed. He was a very nice and courteous young man. We were secure at the dock at 1830. Our location for the night is N37°58.635’, W075°51.396’. We traveled for 12.5 hours covering 77.2 nm averaging 6.2 knots.

We did go out for a quick dinner Peg and Jim Healy from “Sanctuary”… not sure what the name of the place was but it was located right in front of the marina…a real short walk after a long day.

Spending the night at the closed Pungo Ferry Marina was uneventful… no one came and told us we had to leave or anything but the abandoned boarded up building by the dock was a little creepy after it got dark… I had to take Beecha for her evening walk… Susan was a little wary to venture off the boat after dark.

We departed at 0730 and headed towards our first obstacle for the day… the North Landing Bridge… it opens on the hour and half hour so timing was not a real big issue… brought “Sails” up to speed and according to the GPS we were not going to make the 0830 opening I had hoped for… we really needed to pass through at 0830 for the remaining bridge scheduled openings to work well… I kicked the speed up a little and we were still arriving 5 minutes late… so I backed off rather than push really hard for an hour. We arrived to the bridge at just before 0900 and were there with two other boats that had passed us before reaching the bridge.

The bridge opened about 4 minutes late and this was going to cause us not to be able to make the next bridge at its 0930 opening. The Centerville Turnpike Bridge just 5 miles away also opened on the half hour and hour… but for us it takes every bit of 30 minutes to reach it. After going through the bridge I brought “Sails” up to speed plus a little just to be sure and we could not make it within the 25 minutes left before the 0930 opening. I slowed down and to reach the bridge at 1000 opening… REAL SLOW… almost idle speed.

We reached the Centerville Bridge at just before 1000 and again were joined by three new boats that went through the North Landing Bridge at 0930. I hung back and let them all get ahead of us as they were much faster boats than us. 1000 came and we passed through the bridge and headed toward our next bridge… the Great Bridge Bridge… it was not far ahead of and it only opens on the hour so we again moved at idle speed to time our arrival at their 1100 opening.

We arrived at just before 1100 and all the boats that were with us at the Centerville Bridge were there waiting and a couple of others that pulled away from the Atlantic Yacht Basin docks adjacent to the bridge… so we had five boats plus us waiting for the bridge to open. It opened right on schedule and we passed through fourth in line.

Just past the Great Bridge Bridge is the Great Bridge Locks… they hailed all the north bound boats and gave instructions on entering the locks… the starboard side is steel and concrete walls and the port has large rubber fender system. I responded to the lock that we were not proceeding through and would be docking on the bulkhead between the lock and the bridge. Susan wanted to run to the grocery store to pick up some items and the store is a very short walk from the bulkhead. We pulled in just in front of two sailboats already docked there and were secured at 1110. Susan hopped off boat to the grocery as soon as we were tied up. We wanted to try and make the next locking at 1200… Susan had 50 minutes to do her shopping and get back… it wasn’t a big deal if she didn’t make it backing time but it’s what we were hoping for.

1200 came and the bridge started it’s opening… the bridge and the locking are on synchronized schedules so when boats pass through the bridge they can enter the lock with no delay. I checked back toward the direction of the grocery store and I did not see Susan in sight anywhere… I figured we were not going to make the 1200 and would go through at the 1300 locking. I took Beecha out for a walk and was watching the boats that came through the bridge pass by… however, they were not heading directly into the lock… they were pulling off to the starboard side and stopping. What was going on? Then I saw it… a tug and barge was passing though the bridge and heading toward the lock. This was going to delay the locking for sure… I looked back to see if Susan was anywhere in sight and there she was 1000 yards from the boat.

She got back aboard and asked “are we going to be able to make the lock?”… I hailed the lock on the VHF and asked if there was going to be room for us in the lock with the tug and barge in it… they said for us to remain tied to the bulkhead and they would let us know after the tug and barge were secure in the lock. Fingers crossed now that there would be room… there was a sailboat, a large motor yacht and a good sized trawler waiting… they had come through the bridge.

We watched as the tug and barge moved in and secured itself to starboard lock wall… the lock hailed the sailboat to enter… they wanted to put it between the barge and the lock wall on the port side… said they had 20 feet of space… sailboat said he was 15 foot beam and would give it a try… he made it in… :) The lock then hailed the other two boats to proceed into the lock and then they hailed us and said there would be room for us and to proceed toward the lock. We tossed the lines and headed toward the lock.

The large trawler had gone to the starboard side behind the tug and the large motor yacht was moving to the port wall abeam and astern of the tug. We were instructed to pull to the port wall behind the motor yacht. I moved in behind him and stopped… There was no lock person to assist us so I went to the bow to get a line onto a cleat on the lock wall. I secured a line and started back to pilothouse when I noticed that “Sails” was no longer parallel to lock wall and the stern was moving away from the wall fairly fast. I got back to the pilothouse as quickly as I could and before I got back “Sails” stern had swung away from lock wall and we were now almost perpendicular to the lock wall. I turned the rudder full to starboard and pushed the throttles forward... the wind had caught us as well as a current running into the lock… we slowly started to spin back toward the lock wall… I sped the spinning up by putting the starboard engine in reverse… we soon were back parallel to lock wall and secure. I had never experienced a current like we had in the lock… I have seen turbulence before but never a current flowing into the lock… talking to the lockmaster while locking through he informed me that the large tug and barge transiting the narrow canal from the bridge to lock and entering the lock causes this… not quite sure about the physics of this but I know there was a current and it twisted the stern of “Sails“ around quickly.

The locking was soon over and the sailboat was first out… then the tug and barge exited… next the motor yacht in front of us and then the trawler to our starboard side… we exited last. I hailed the tug and asked what his speed would be heading up to Norfolk. He said about 6 knots. I told him we would not pass him and would follow him through to Norfolk… he acknowledged no problem Captain.

Following the tug gave us the “Bridge Priority Pass”… no bridge schedules to contend with… just follow the tug and the bridges open when they arrive… very nice. This gave us passage with no delay through the Steel Bridge… I thought it would also work for the Gilmerton Bridge… however, when we approached I was surprised to see the new bridge that was under construction last fall had been completed and the clearance was 35 feet… compared to the old Gilmerton Bridge at 15 feet. The tug and barge still needed an opening but he had hailed the bridge and was asked if he could slow down so the bridge tender could get traffic to clear up a bit… so we passed the tug and barge and went sailing under the new Gilmerton Bridge… not even having to lower our antennas… very cool!

The rest of the trip to Portsmouth would not be a problem… the Jordan bridge had been replaced by a high rise a couple of years ago and the RR bridge past it is always open… NOT THIS TRIP… as we approached I saw it start to lower… it’s a lift bridge and very slow opening and closing… we slowed and waited for the train to pass and the bridge to open… we had been going slow all day so it seemed appropriate.

We had now decided to stop in Portsmouth for the night… it had been a long SLOW day with the bridges and lock and stopping for groceries… we had thought to continue on to Hampton Roads and anchor but at this point the free docks in Portsmouth seemed much more appealing and were only a few minutes ahead of us.

We pulled into the Portsmouth downtown basin and the space we normally dock in was open and we pulled right in… secured the lines and settled for the day/night at 1445. Our location for the night is N36°50.128’, W076°17.773’. We traveled for 7.25 hours covering 24 nm averaging 3.3 knots. Average speed way down… did not deduct our layover in Great Bridge... :)