Solomons to Fishing Bay, Deltaville … Tuesday 16th October 2012
It was still very dark when the alarm went off at 6am this morning, but we had a long journey planned and we needed to get going. We brewed coffee, re-checked the marine forecast and pulled up anchor at 6.45am - still dark. As predicted the wind was out of the north west and blowing pretty well (15-18 kts) and we had the main sail up as soon as we left the harbor and motor sailed until the fridge compressor switched off. Then it was up with the genoa and we were flying along on a broad reach with decent swells from behind. It certainly seemed like the right decision to postpone our departure until today. We made good progress down the Bay and it was evident that many other cruising boats were also heading south. At one point I counted at least 14 other yachts in sight. As the day progressed the winds eased and at times we struggled to stop the genoa being blanketed out by the main - so we did sections dead downwind with main alone (to get sea room) and then sailed on a broad reach with main and genoa. We had hoped to make the Poquosan River, some 75 miles away, but it became clear that we wouldn't get there until well after dark, so we headed for Fishing Bay to the south west of Detaville and anchored at about 5.45pm. We had covered ~ 55 miles in 11 hours. Quite a number of boats passed us on the way - we aren't sure if they were just sailing better than us or using their engines in conjunction with one sail. The anchorage turned out to be very beautiful with perfect sunset. We have about 45-50 miles to go to Norfolk, VA - mile zero on the Intra Coastal Waterway and a significant milestone for us. Today we logged our 60th day of >4hours sailing on Cotinga.
Mike
37 32 23.1 N, 76 20 03.8 W
Heading south down Chesapeake Bay
Smith Point Light
Boat entering Fishing Cove at sunset
Fishing Cove, Deltaville, VA
... and about 10 minutes later
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