War Ships, Loose Belts and a Creek Called "Antipoison"

Naval ship yard with ship completely
out of water!

     As we were preparing to leave Tidewater Marina, we met the owner of Saving Grace, the Valiant sailboat that traveled through Dismal Swamp with us yesterday. He is taking the boat from Kentucky to sell her in Annapolis. It has been a series of adventures including getting stuck in the mud in Alabama for a month, broken batten in the main and miscellaneous crew problems, but all and all it has been a very interesting voyage.

Returing war ship receiving help into slip.

    As we were approaching the naval docks, the announcement was made that there would be a naval ship departing. We were able to keep to the outside of the channel and watch as she was eased out of her berth. There was another naval ship being assisted back into her dock at the same time.

F16s patrol the harbor

 Add to this was a barge with a diver in the water further south in the channel and an air craft carrier beginning her entry into the harbor.  Unfortunately, Saving Grace did not have her radio on when we tried to alert her to the naval traffic.  Saving Grace was centered in the channel with the “war ship” (as they are now referred to on the radio) was bearing down on her.  The war ship actually had to blast the horn twice to get Saving Grace to respond.  Dan finally told him he had to give the navy ships 500 yards clearance.  After making a joke about not having a tape measure, he exited the channel. We were surprised the chase boats didn’t go after him. We had noticed the increase security, which is probably due to the news last night that US Special Forces took out Osama Bin Ladin in Pakistan last night.

Coast Guard escourts the very large air craft carrier into Norfolk Harbor

     After that little bit of excitement, we headed towards the north and into the Chesapeake Bay.  The winds were able to give us a little bit of a push so we motor sailed for most of the day.  Andiamo once again saw the temperature increase slightly so John checked and tightened the belt and we were once again on our way.  Then the temperature started to increase again, the instruments were also behaving a little bit flakey.  After some walkie discussion between the boats, John decided it might have something to do with the gain on the autopilot being too high. Once he lowered the gain, things seemed to settle back to normal. So we continued on, but changed our destination from Fishing Bay to Fleets Bay off of Antipoison Creek.  It offered better protection from the south wind and a more direct entry to the bay in the morning.

The beach - complete with a volley ball net
with osprey on each post!

    As we were heading towards the anchorage, Betty called to announce she had dinner ready for us once we anchored.  Dan offered to provide shuttle service.  Martha and I just had to add a few items to round out the meal and we were all set.  The anchorage is very pretty, close to a sandy beach with a volley ball net already installed.  It is not protected from the north, but if we were to head up the creek we would not have to worry about the wind from any direction.  It is a good place to keep in mind for a future trip in this area.

     At dinner, we discussed how quickly this cruise is coming to an end.  Tomorrow we will be in Solomons.  The weather doesn’t look good for Wednesday, storms and wind; then Thursday, cool and windy.  We are just not used to this weather!  Since the weather might come in early, we will be heading out at 7 AM. So it is back to the boats and getting ready for tomorrow for us.

~  ~ (\_~ ~ ~     Kathy and Pete