Middle Chesapeake

We just returned from a four day sailing trip around the middle section of the Chesapeake Bay. Ruth and I went with our good friends Bruce & Karen and this was our 5th time chartering together. Three Chesapeake trips, one Spanish Virgin Islands trip, and one Bahamas trip. We're starting to become a nice cohesive team. Not to mention we have a lot of fun together!

Day one we left Solomon's Island on a 39' Jeanneau monohull. The boat has a 4'-11" draft with two cabins. Bruce booked the bareboat charter with Sail Solomons. They couldn't have been nicer.

Freedom 38

This wasn't the boat we chartered, but it's a really nice Freedom 38. This is one of the boats on my short list, and we did get to speak to the owner about it a little bit. Really easy boat to handle but it is more cruising relating than performance related. The mast is pretty far forward which leave a lot of room down below. Nice boat!

The wind was not cooperating for us the first day. We've learned to plan our trips around the wind rather than force where we want to go whenever possible. So we sailed out into the bay and then returned to the Patuxent River for an overnight anchorage on Mill Creek. Decent wind on Wednesday with 25 nautical miles of sailing.

View leaving Solomons Island

Calvert Cliffs

Bridge Over the Patuxent River

Mill Creek Anchorage - Our Neighbor

Quiet Anchorage on Mill Creek

Working Waterman

Thursday morning we picked up anchor and headed down to the Potomac River. It was a really nice sail and we were on a nice beam reach for the 25 nautical mile jaunt down to the mouth of the river. The Potomac is 10 miles across at the mouth. We saw LOTS of crab pots, pelicans, osprey, and even some dolphins. 

Ketch Heading North

Hitchhiker

Point no Point Lighthouse

Interesting Helm Position for Ruth

Point Lookout Marina

We stayed the night at the marina and had a nice dinner ashore. Pretty quite marina at Point Lookout but they make a nice crab cake and we had an enjoyable stay. The channel in is well marked with a nice "S" turn to come in. Just follow the marks and you'll be fine. Friday found us traveling back up the bay as Saturday had thunderstorms forecasted. 

Fish Trip

Bruce & Ruth

Adjusting the Traveler for Sail Trim

Leonard Creek Anchorage

More Leonard Creek

Nice Sunset

Securing the Dinghy

Thanks to Bruce for a great Beef Bourguignon for Friday night dinner! We enjoyed a nice quiet anchorage with only one other boat with good holding just off the mouth of the Leonard Creek. We all enjoyed swimming and finishing up the rum drinks before our return on Saturday. Thunderstorms did hit on Friday night into Saturday but held off on Saturday until after 3 pm. The winds were pretty light Saturday so we didn't sail too much and had the boat back in by 13:00.

We're Back!

This was a great part of the Bay to check out and a lot more quiet than going out of Rock Hall. Amenities are in short supply and the eastern shore is pretty shallow without much to stop for cruisers. I think we'll venture back into this area and stop at either Smith or Tangier Island. I'd definitely recommend Sail Solomons if you are interested in chartering out of this area.