This morning we left our gorgeous little anchorage at Gwynn Island to explore up the Piankatank River. We went back out the way we'd come in, past the quaint old buildings, the Milford Haven USCG base, and under the Cricket Hill Road Bridge, which is a swing bridge that must open for our passage.
We crossed Hill's Bay, and followed the river in a serpentine westerly direction, investigating anchorages as we went. The Piankatank River is naturally deep, and the shoals and oyster-beds along the insides of the turns help provide great lee anchorages.
We explored up Wilton Creek, and its sprinkling of docks from condos, apartments, and houses. I saw what appeared to be alligator gar... if they come this far north. If not, a long, pointy, barracuda/gar shaped fish in the 2.5' range.
We went under the fixed Rt. 3 bridge and circled Berkley Island. There were duck blinds on each side, and the backside of the island was a great little anchorage, protected from any wind, out from a boat ramp. It looked like a great spot to sit out bad weather.
However, the weather is low winds today, and extremely hot. The great protection from the high sided land and trees blocked what little wind there was, and it didn't take us long on the hook to decide to go back towards Chesapeake Bay.
I like to anchor in different places, checking them out. I was, however, out-voted by 3-1 to return to Gwynn Island, and it really wasn't hard to convince me. The dogs had recovered enough from yesterday's exertion that they were ready to go again.
We launched the RIB within a minute of being anchored, and spent another few hours walking the island, and wading in the water. We crossed the island to the Chesapeake Bay side (only a few hundred feet) where the water was a little cooler. I could see a sand bar a hundred feet out, and started walking. I was in about waist-deep water when my right knee hit an oyster bank. My left foot was on the bottom, in a hole between oysters, and it made backing out tricky.
My right knee has some nasty shreds, and it being summer, I didn't even snatch the oysters to eat!
The breeze was better here, and we spent another nice evening on the hook, same spot as yesterday.
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