the big broads

I spent some time early this morning printing out tide/current predictions for the Bay and looked at some possible anchorages. The first night we'll be at the Ewell Tide Inn on Smith Island. The second night we'll be anchoring out north of Smith Island somewhere along (at the southern end) Upper Hooper Island or (at the northern end) Taylors Island. I can see three possible anchorages.

Starting at the bottom X there is Barren Island just outside of Fishing Creek. Looks like nice protection but I would prefer to get beyond that point by the end of day two. Further north, past the shallows called the Barren Island Gap, is the interestingly named stretch of sand call The Big Broads. And at the top is Punch Island Creek. I've got to say I would really like to have either The Big Broads or Punch Island Creek as an anchorage in my log book.

From the chart books the water inside The Big Broads looks to be pretty shallow and there seems to be even less water over the Barren Island Gap. But I have sailed and anchored in similarly marked waters down at both Tangier and Great Fox Islands. Spartina needs just 18 inches of water or so to get a little bit of the cb and rudder down and she does just fine with that.
Here is the satellite photo of The Big Broads. The piers and boats along shore seem to indicate enough water to get in there and anchor. It does look to have good protection from all directions, plus that nice stretch of white beach might make for a nice evening stroll.

The entrance to Punch Island Creek does appear to be deeper and better marked, so that might well be where we drop anchor. We'll just have to see how far north the winds will carry us.
On the way from Smith Island to Taylors Island we'll sail about two miles off of the eastern shore and try to track these closely stacked contour lines. When the lines are that close together it indicates a nice drop-off, in this case one that goes from 28 feet to 112 feet in the width of a couple of hundred yards. My fishing friends tell me that is where we should be trolling for rockfish and blues. (As I said before, no fish will be harmed during this experiment.)

Steve