Morning comes calm and clear at the wharf in Onancock. 7:05 mizzen raised, motoring down the creek with a day-old blueberry donut that tastes fine. 8:10 out of the creek, sails up. A nice west wind, not a cloud in the sky.
Making 4.3 to the north, wind helps me to choose going south of Watts Island as opposed to going inside of the island and then finding the cut through the shoal that runs from Watts Island to Fox Island.
8:30 3.6 towards Watts Island. 9:30 reach the south end of Watts, doing 4.0. Just past the island, fall off to the north.
12:30 can pick out Smith Island to port, less wind and making 2.1. Easy sailing and lots of sunshine so I experiment with using the new four-panel solar charger to charge a small 10,000mAh travel battery. The battery fits nicely in the charger pocket of the solar panel and seems to charge quickly. Very pleased with the set up.
1:00 heading north at 2.9 and thinking about where we'll anchor for the night. 2:10 wing and wing, 1.8. Decide to head to a cove at the top of Janes Island at the mouth of the Big Annemessex River. 2:20 motor sailing. 3:35 rounding Flatcap Point into Daugherty Creek, a white sandy beach lining the marsh.
A few tacks into the creek, anchor down 4:20. An unexpectedly beautiful anchorage.
Very rough on the boat in the early morning hours as the wind swings to the north. I wake to a dark overcast and waves rolling down the sound. Should have tucked up farther inside Whale Point.
Spend 30 minutes looking to the east, watching the waves and trying to judge the wind. My goal is to sail to Onancock, which is slightly downwind at 125 degrees. From past experience I know the entrance to Onancock Creek blends into the shoreline, my concern with the strong north wind and waves is that I come in too low and it would be a struggle to work my way back up.
I decide to angle just below Watts Island with mizzen, jib and double reefed main and see how it goes from there.
7:45 raise the anchor, right away the rudder touches bottom. I quickly reset it, head out onto Tangier Sound. With the boat pounding in the waves I find I can head up into the wind. I slack the mainsheet and fall off towards Watts Island.
SPARTINA rolls in the big waves but seems to handle it well. Lots of waves, some bigger than others. I'm surprised as a splash of water seems to come down from above and land on my hat. The low battery alarm goes off on the gps, something I should have checked before leaving Cod Harbor. I change batteries crouching over the device so it doesn't get soaked in the spray. Making 5.9.
8:05 get a glimpse of the trees on the Eastern shore. 8:30 south of Watts Island and a little calmer water. 8:50 round up and bring down the double reefed main. Now sailing mizzen and jib, fall off a bit more. 9:30 sail just inside the marker for the Watts Island shoals. GPS shows speeds from 4.2 to 4.8 depending on the swell. Pass out of the lee of Watts Island, rougher water, making 4.9 sailing on the southern edge of Pocomoke Sound. 9:40 spot red marker "0" and fall off to the south southeast.
I can see a sand beach ahead, maybe Parkers Island that is just above Onancock Creek but I'm not sure. 9:50 see a green marker, gps tells me it is for Checonessex Creek. Turn downwind along the shore and start looking for entrance markers. Come up along the sand beach and stay just offshore. Spot red markers ahead.
10:00 round Ware Point and sail onto Onanccok Creek. Round up and raise double reefed main. Sailing close-hauled on the creek and make a few tacks into the wind. Near East Point fall off and the channel turns east southeast.
Good wind on the starboard quarter and making 5.2 on calm water as we follow the gentle curves in the creek. 11:10 Onancock Wharf in sight. 11:15 sails down and motoring to the dock.
Tie up and pay for two nights at the slip, I check my phone to see a text from Hannah with a photograph of SPARTINA sailing up the creek. I text back "are you in town?". She replies that the photo was shot by a friend's brother, who sent the photo to his brother knowing that he likes sailboats. The brother sent the photo to Hannah, knowing she likes boats too. Hannah see the photo, says "I know that guy." It's a small world on the Eastern Shore.
Lunch at Mallard's, then an afternoon of laundry and drying out gear. A good time to clean the boat.
I get an afternoon text saying she is going to dinner with mutual friends at a sushi place than has live jazz, offers to pick me up at the dock. And so a nice, unexpected evening with good friends and music, and even more coincidence as the guy who sent the photo of SPARTINA to Hannah is playing in the jazz band. It is a very small world indeed.
A bit rolly in the early morning hours as the wind swings to the west and wraps around Windmill Point and waves reach into Paul Cove. 7:15 raising sail as the sun crests the horizon.
Beautiful clear morning. Sailing south at 2.9. 7:50 out on the open water of the Honga River, 4.0 with lower Hooper Island to starboard. 8:20 Hooper Strait Light to starboard, Bishops Head to port, 5.3 with excellent wind.
8:45 across the strait, Bloodsworth Island to starboard, calmer water in the lee of the island, 4.8. Surprised to see there are no crab pots in the shallows along shore.
9:25 reach the south end of Bloodsworth Island with a rough crossing to South Marsh Island. Finally see deadrises working crab pots. Once in the lee of South Marsh Island, calmer water and making 5.4. 10:00 round up and tuck in a reef to make the crossing of Kedges Strait.
10:15 pick see Kedges Strait lighthouse. 10:25 in the strait, rough and choppy, doing 5.4.
10:40 approaching the shallows off the north end of Smith Island, fall off to the southeast around the shallows, calmer water in the lee. 11:15 easy sailing and 5.6 tracking down the east side of Smith Island.
Reach the south end of Smith Island 11:30, 5.0 and choppy now that we are on open water. Looking south I sort through the scene ahead of us. Once again I think I see Watts Island to the south but after checking gps realize it is Port Isobel, the heavily wooded island just to the east of Tangier Island. 12:10 tack into the calmer water behind the shoal that runs from Smith Island to Tangier Island.
12:30 tacking close-hauled towards Tangier. 1:30 calmer in the lee of Tangier Island. 2:00 tack off the eastern side of Port Isobel, then a series of tacks into Cod Harbor.
Pelican show me the floats of an oyster farm on the edge of Cod Harbor, stay well clear of them. A few more tacks up into the anchorage protected to the south and west by a sand spit. Anchor down south of Whale Point at 3:40.
Morning comes with a distinct feeling of fall. Cool and crisp, rich blue skies. The sunrise creeping its way south.
Sail off anchor 7:25, a gentle drift out of the little cove. 7:30 catch the breeze out on Hudson Creek. 7:45 jib to the Little Choptank, 2.5. 8:20 at green marker "5", 4.9 and feel the swell rolling off the Bay with wind ow the starboard beam.
I scan the horizon for James Island and don't see it. Fifteen years ago it was a series three eroding islands with small stands of trees. Each year there have been less and less trees. Now I don't see any.
9:00 reach Oyster Cove at the southern edge of the mouth of the Little Choptank. Glance back north and see two barren trees, tall sticks really, all that is left of James Island.
8:20 3.8 with wind over the seaboard quarter. 9:30 think about heading to the Patuxent River and Solomons Island, the wind seems to want me to go there. 9:30 entering the shipping channel, doing 4.1 with wind aft of starboard beam. No shipping traffic in sight. 10:05 out of the shipping channel.
10:20 Drum Point off the starboard bow. Decide it is too early in the day, I could be in Solomons Island at noon but the wind it too good and want to keep on sailing. 11:05 jibe towards Barren Island on the east side of the Bay. Making 4.0 with wind after of port beam.
See a ship of some sort heading up the Bay. It will be long gone by the time I reach the ship's path.
With the wind I am angling across the shipping channel, taking longer than I like to cross.
I can make out barges anchored off Barren Island which tells me I will soon be out of the channel. A second ship comes up from the south but we are leaving the shipping lane at 12:15 and are well clear of the traffic.
I look south along the Hooper Islands and the bridge between Fishing Creek, an island, and Middle Hooper Island emerges from the shoreline. 1:35 an easy pass under the bridge with a helping tide. On the Honga River making 3.4. 2:20 round Bentley Point. 2:40 jibe in light wind at Windmill Point. 3:05 anchor down in Pauls cove.
Up at 6:00. A few late night gusts and then calm afterwards. Sail off anchor 7:05. Forecast calls for gusts to 25, so double-reefed main and wearing foul weather bib and boots. Surrounded by trees in the cove it is a slow drift out onto the creek, the 3.0 down Warehouse Creek. Ahead there is a deadrise working a trot line on Cox Creek.
7:45 on Cox Creek, round up and shake out the second reef. 8:05 shake out the first reef, making 4.2. 8:15 on Eastern Bay, doing 3.2 in choppy water. 9:00 calmer water and sailing south at 3.8 to Poplar Island Narrows. 9:00 wind filling in, making 4.9 with wind on starboard beam.
9:50 Bloody Point, at the south end of Kent Island, to starboard, 5.2. 10:50 in the lee of Poplar Island, calmer water but still excellent wind. Think about tucking in a reef, decide it is not needed.
11:05 off the channel to Kent Narrows a waterman hauls up a trap filled with large blue crabs. He raises the trap and shouts "Want some?" I say thank you, but no. 11:50 Black Walnut Point at the south end of Tilghman Island to port. 12:10 I can see Cook Point off the port bow. Less wind and now almost directly on the stern, making 3.6 to 4.6 depends on the waves rolling down the bay.
1:05 turn in towards the Little Choptank. 1:30 making 3.8 with wind now on the port quarter. at 2:10 pass green maker "5" and turn up into the wind.
Close hauled making 5.3 and make a couple of tacks to Hudson Creek. 3:00 anchor down in tiny little cove with an old house and a cemetery nearby.
Morning comes with an unexpected and heavy fog. I try to wait it out but the has more patience than me.
Eric is the first to go out in his beautiful canoe yawl. Should I go, should I wait?
As Eric disappears into the grey mist I begin rigging SPARTINA.
Cast off 8:30 as friend Anna says "see you in Chestertown." I motor through the fleet of boats anchored outside (appropriately named) Fogg Cove, looking for dark shadows along the way. Past the anchorage and in deep water, sails up at 8:45. Making 1.2 to the northeast. Silence on the foggy river save for the sound of rippling water. 9:00 hear the church bells in St. Michaels. I hear a motor purring, a boat not too far away. I exchange short blasts with the fog horn. Jibe to the northwest. Feel the wake of the unseen vessel. 9:30 see a sailboat under power near green marker "1". 9:45 Deepwater Point to port. Hear voices in the mist. 10:00 two sailboats and a power boat come and go in the fog.
10:30 fog lifting. 10:35 bright sunshine! Look back to see the fog bank sitting comfortably over the river to the south. 11:45 tacking downwind, 1.9. 12:00 light northwest wind arrives, lots of wakes from passing motor boats.
12:30 struggling with the wind. Motorsailing, with with wind rippling the surface of Eastern Bay to the south. 1:30 wind arrives, doing 3.0 towards Turkey Point. Warm and sunny, great sailing.
2:00 round Turkey Point, 2:20 in Cox Creek. 2:55 turn into Warehouse Creek. Follow the creek north, then turn to port into a favorite cove surrounded by trees. Anchor down 3:30. I put up the boom tent for shade, enjoy the solitude.
