Norfolk to St. Leonard Creek

Mobjack Bay is a natural place to stop either on your way south to Portsmouth or if you are headed north up the Chesapeake. The Severn River, Ware River, North River, and East River all empty into Mobjack Bay. Last year we spent time on both the Ware River and East River, so this time we headed for the North River. All of these rivers are somewhat out of the way if you are in a hurry going either north or south, with the Severn being the most convenient but probably the least scenic.

There was no wind at all, so we motored the whole way. We went as far up the North River as our draft would allow, then came about a third of the way back down and dropped anchor where we could catch any breeze that might be kind enough to come our way--it was hot. We figured with the 5 knot wind forecast, being a bit exposed would be a good thing--did I already say it was hot? Big mistake. We couldn't figure out why a wicked swell developed, but it ended up being a very uncomfortable night.

We were out of there early the following morning and were able to sail all the way to Fishing Bay near Deltaville. It started out as a lively sail, but mostly it was slow and peaceful.


Nice clouds that evening, but this system bypassed us---missed us by thaaat much.

We spent the following day checking out all the marinas in the area. We walked many miles, but also hitched a couple of rides. The second guy was a freelance writer who writes for Spinsheet, and several other sailing magazines.

Upon leaving Deltaville we were able to sail about half the way to Horseshoe Bay near St. Marys before the wind died and we had to use the evil engine. It was hot and the jelly fish (they call them sea nettles here) had not yet arrived, so we swam in the bay at Horseshoe Bend.

We then bypassed one of our favorite anchorages on Mill Creek off the Great Wicomico River and headed for another Mill Creek on the south side of the Patuxent River. This was our first time on this creek, and bad weather was forecast so we were anxious to drop the anchor and get settled.

It was a Sunday afternoon and this creek is not far from Solomons, which has about 2 million boats give or take 1.98 million. We had to use great care that our anchor didn't hit a skier on it's way down. To make a long story short, we reanchored 4 times without getting it to hold properly. On the 4th try it still would not hold (this is very unusual), but the storm had arrived so we elected to leave it down with a lot of chain, stayed at the helm and we kept the engine running. We had been closely monitoring the weather and they were talking about lots of lightning, damaging winds and possible tornadoes.

We started tracking it on our radar and it got to us very quickly, but as soon as it got to us it slowed to almost a stop. That was good because we got no strong wind, just a lot of rain and---OK it wasn't all good because we got a lot of lightning that was way too close for comfort. Fellow Texans on an Island Packet got hit by lightning from this same storm while anchored in Reedville--just a bit south of where we were. So they got hit by lightning and had to smell the fish plant at Reedville--not a good way to spend an afternoon. All their electronics got fried.


After the rain and lightning.

The following day we headed a few miles up the Patuxent River to explore St. Leonard Creek before turning around and heading back down river to Solomons. Solomons has fuel, water, pumpout, laundry and groceries so we usually stop there.

The day brought the first cool and pleasant air we had felt in a while and we were quite taken by St. Leonard Creek, so we dropped anchor and stayed a couple of days. One of our favorite spots yet, but don't tell anyone.


Beautiful Creek.


We were able to land the dinghy and do a lot of scenic walking. This deer kept trying to get away, but I track like an Indian. I mean a Native American.


Can you believe a butterfly on my blog? Am I trying to get a job with the White House or what?