Little Wicomico River to MWR Marina Norfolk

Tues-Wed, October 20-21, 2015

A little before daylight, when I got up, I remarked to Ellen that the boat who had been anchored near us had evidently left, which I was a little surprised, owing to the number of crabpots you needed to dodge on the way out.  A few minutes later, when I was down below, Ellen told me they hadn't left, but, had evidently drug anchor and were over against yonder bulkhead.  We watched as he headed towards where he had been anchored, and then turned on the wrong side of a dayboard and ran aground.  Boy, what a bad way to start a day!  It made me very grateful for good ground tackle, and a good holding bottom.

When we came out of the Little Wicomico River, the wind had picked up on the bay, and we beat our way steadily towards Windmill Point, where we had decided we would make the decision to keep going, or turn off to some great anchorages we'd been to earlier in the summer.  The wind was beginning to shift, putting us into a lee, so we decided to keep going.

We saw a 37 Nordic Tug, the AMANDA J, and they are on their way south as well.

There are some days that AIS is REALLY nice!  No doubt about what anyone is doing!

We pulled in the Norfolk Sailing Center, an MWR facility, right in front of our friends on the Rash Decision, who had moved their boat to give us room on the T head with them. It was such fun to spend some time with folks we had met here earlier this year, then seen in Maine!

We spent Tuesday night at the marina, as well as Wednesday, giving us a chance to provision the boat again on Wednesday, for our journey south.

Cambridge, MD to Little Wicomico River, MD/VA

Monday, October 19, 2015

Today, as the Cambridge Creek bridge opened for me for the last time this year, I breathed a sigh of relief!  For the past month, the MERCY has been at the dock of Mid-Shore Electronics in Cambridge, where the owner allowed me to leave the boat for a month while I went south to Dad's.

Things never work out quite as planned!  I was expecting to return in a month, but returned in about two weeks with the threat of a hurricane heading up the Chesapeake.  The hurricane never produced, but, we had gale warnings for days!  

I had left the boat to have a Furuno autopilot and hydraulic pump installed.  Like I said, they weren't expecting me back for a month, so, though they had ordered a custom panel for the electronics, it hadn't arrived yet and the job hadn't begun.  Insert a couple of boat shows, and a lot of employees working them, and I was about going bonkers!

The plate finally came in, and the pilot and pump were installed.  The software and charts on my TZT were updated, and the pilot works great!  

We got underway this morning, saying farewell to Cambridge, and enjoying the great weather out the Choptank River and down the Chesapeake Bay.   

By the way, I love AIS.  This is what it looks like with vessels meeting and overtaking each other on the Chesapeake.  The TZT update has made the AIS integration a little better.

This USCG buoy tender practiced doing intercept drills with us as we ran down the bay.  

We came in to anchor in the Little Wicomico River, right on the border of Maryland and Virginia, just a little before sunset.  There is one other boat anchored in here.  

It is slick calm in here tonight, we enjoyed good food on the grill, the boat is warm, and the dogs are snoring.  Does it get any better?