Into the Fog

by Nancy

There are over 30 stops on the Chesapeake Bay and we have only a month’s time to cover the Bay and get a feel for the area. We missed out on two of our stops due to being weather delayed in Norfolk by 3 days. The winds and rains really dictated us extending our stay at Waterside Marina. Friday looked like it would be a good travel day and we were ready to start cruising. We awoke to Fog and not just a little fog but heavy fog where you couldn’t see anything in front of you, not even the bow of the boat. It was predicted to lift, so we decided to wait until visibility got a bit better. We never discussed a go-no/go option as we have radar, AIS, and autopilot to keep us on the course so we should be able to travel despite the fog. We got caught up with everyone else leaving the marina when the fog started to lift from Norfolk, but it didn’t take too much time on the water until it set in again. Like a big cloud just hanging right over us. There were a fair amount of pleasure boats on the water, as well as commercial and military vessels and a submarine. The only way we ended up navigating down the Elizabeth River is by following a tug, well that worked well until the tug turned off and charted a different course, then we were on our own, blowing our horn every 15 minutes. We were fortunate enough to be ahead of the submarine and didn’t have to worry about avoiding or waiting for it but it was still a little unnerving. We spent the entire day traveling in the fog to our destination in Deltaville which was Fishing Bay Marina. We arrived late in the day and didn’t get a chance to use their courtesy car to get the fresh seafood, everyone raves about in town, but we did use their bikes to tour the peninsula and surrounding area.

We have learned to ask for what we need when contacting Marinas in terms of dockage. Our favorite is docking on a face dock or t-head as they are sometimes called and we do a side tie on the starboard side for easy on and off the boat. Since we have the dinghy on our stern, to stern into a slip is our least favorite because it makes it more difficult to get off the boat. So we always ask how long are the finger piers in your slips. Well this marina manager insisted we would have a fifty foot slip a fifty foot finger pier, seemed likely she really didn’t understand what we were asking but we had no choice. When we arrived, sure enough the slip assigned to us was not going to work for us, so we went on the fuel dock for the night.

Again, the fog set in pretty heavy, and the next morning we couldn’t see a thing. We asked to stay another night and were declined, they needed their fuel dock accessible. There were several boats on the bay, so needing a break from traveling in the fog, we decided to anchor. Yes, we actually used our Ultra Anchor and it worked great. We enjoyed our time “on the hook”. This was a great anchorage and had we known about it earlier, would have just anchored instead of docked at the marina.

The next day we were due in Solomons after having delayed our reservation a day due to weather but awoke to heavy fog. With the prediction that the fog would lift, we contacted another boat docked in the Marina to see if they were leaving and sure enough they were but wanted us to lead. We waited til we thought visibility was better and left, it was easier traveling in the fog without all the pleasure craft and commercial traffic but the fog never lifted. Foggy all the way to Solomons, which is located on the Patuxent River and turned out to be great stop.

The fog lifted a bit and we left Norfolk, however, after we left, we did experience dense fog again for most of the day.
After a long day on the water, it’s always good to get off the boat and get some exercise. Since we had such a late arrival most of the town was closed, so we opted for riding around the bay and ran into this yacht club. Not much happening there, clubhouse and docks and that’s about it and it was a Friday night!
View of Fishing Bay from the fuel dock of Fising Bay Marina, this turned out to be a great anchorage spot the following night.
Restored VW Bus on the premises of Spring Cove Marina in Solomons, the owner’s labor of love. The marina had great amenities and areas for docktales.
Docktales with our Fog Buddy Boat, La Vida
Dinner with SCYC members, the Petersons
Maritime Museum in Solomons
Evinrude Motor Collection one of the 6,000 artifacts the museum owns
Drum Point Lighthouse
Megaloddon Skeleton replica, part of thepalentology exhibit.
We were amazed by the Calvert Maritime Museum, the best one we have seen in that its jammed pack with history of the area, boating history, a palentology lab, an incredibly large touch tank with rays, skate, turtles, whelks, and other critters. They devote a large area to a playful group of otters, they were just shy the day we were there. They house a large number of historic small craft as a means of preserving wood boat building. The lighthouse is screwpile, cottage-type lighthouse and is only one of three out of 45 that were found on the Chesapeake Bay.
We topped off our tank with almost 273 gallons of diesel and this was our total bill, thought it might only get more expensive as we head north on the Chesapeake. Flying Colors holds 430 gallons of gas total and at our “hull” speed we get about 1.4 miles to the gallon.

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