Tag: Sailing
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An Icy Start, But We’re On Our Way
Day 2 – 10.3 nautical miles The first few days of our winter cruise south were off to a slow start. After leaving Portsmouth, we proceeded down the Elizabeth River, through the lock in Chesapeake, and we had hoped to make up some ground and arrive in Coinjock for the night, but the ICW was…
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We’re Headed South!
It’s hard to get an early start sometimes when you know you’re going to be cruising for awhile. There are so many last minute preparations that need to be done, like topping off water tanks, unplugging the shore power cables, packing away the water hose, stowing away items that can fall or break, and the…
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Returning to St. Michaels, MD
As much as we love Solomon’s Island and always have a blast there, we were excited to leave because it meant we were headed to St. Michaels, another favorite stop of ours in the northern portion of the Chesapeake Bay. Winds were unfortunately too light to get our boat moving, so we had to motor…
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Relaxing at Solomon’s Island
We progressed further north up the Chesapeake Bay after leaving St. Mary’s City to visit one of our favorite towns on the Bay: Solomons Island. In fact, Solomons is our most frequently visited cruising stop. We love walking the long island and checking out the old homes. Autumn is our favorite time of the year…
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Sailing to St. Mary’s City, MD
After a productive work week in Onancock, it was time to head further north and cross over the Maryland border. The conditions were perfect for flying the Code Zero most of the way until just outside the St. Mary’s River when we did a sail change for the final few miles. St. Mary’s City is…
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Stepping Back in Time on Tangier Island
We first talked about the possibility of visiting Tangier Island by sailboat several years ago, but I didn’t think we’d actually get around to it any time soon. So when we decided that we had run out of time to spend the summers in New England and would instead explore the Chesapeake Bay, we knew…
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Little Bay and its “Pirate’s Beach”
While we were a little sad to leave Urbanna behind, we knew that other new and exciting destinations were ahead of us. Just 23.1 nautical miles back out of the Rappahannock River and up and around the southeastern tip of Virginia’s Northern Neck lies Little Bay. A large anchorage with protection on three sides, marshes…
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Unwinding in Urbanna
Urbanna was our first town destination of the cruise, and boy, was it a good one! Historically fascinating for such a small town, Native Americans settled the area around 1,000 BC. Much later in 1680, it was established as a colonial port town. Like on other rivers in Virginia, early colonists built plantations that allowed…
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Gone to Godfrey Bay, VA
After two nights on the Ware River, we weighed anchor and headed toward Deltaville on the northeastern most portion of Virginia’s Middle Peninsula. After a glorious 32.9 nautical mile sail with light winds and a comfortable sea state, we arrived in Godfrey Bay, an anchorage we were already familiar with. Winds overnight were forecasted to…
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Time to Untie the Lines Again
After nearly four months back at the dock, it was time to untie the lines and head back out to sea. Since returning from our 3.5 month cruise to Key West and back over the winter, we were itching to explore again. After weeks of final preparations (including last minute boat projects along with West…
Sailing Mystic Hearts 