Chesapeake Chase Days 25-26: Plankatank to St. Mary’s
July 6, 2022: Jackson Creek
Our destination today was Jackson Creek off the Plankatank River to anchor for the night, enroute to St. Mary’s off the Potomac River. The last-minute chores before we could get underway were engine and strainer checks, filling the water tank, pumping out, and adding some fuel.
Getting out of our slip was one of the easiest ever. Pulling up to the pump out station was also easy. We needed no assistance at all. Unfortunately, it took some time and several attempts to get the marina pump out hose working. It was fast once it started. While I was waiting, I looked out to the port side of the boat just in time to see a jellyfish. I had not seen one like it before. I looked it up and I think it was a sea nettle jellyfish. After refueling, we were underway heading back into the Chesapeake Bay.
The Chesapeake Bay is an estuary, which is a body of water where fresh water and saltwater mix. It is the largest in the United States and third largest in the world. It is 200 miles long and has widths of 4 to 30 miles, so unless you are traveling very close to one shoreline or the other, you can’t see land at the wider parts. Baltimore and Hampton Roads, both on the Chesapeake, are two of five major United States North Atlantic ports. That explains all the large ships we have seen.
The average depth of the bay is 21 feet. All of you who have been on cruises or seen the big cargo ships know it takes more than 21 feet of depth for them to travel through water. There are deeper parts, but to maintain shipping in the bay, the shipping channels have must be dug or dredged. Here’s a good trivia question. How many cubic yards of sediment are dredged every year in the bay?
The most picturesque parts of the trip up the bay are not in the middle of the bay but up the rivers and other tributaries off the bay. The beauty of the bay is the water, sky, bird life, blue sky, clouds, or both. Its also a great place to see lots of sail boats with their sails up. Sailing is big in the Chesapeake – lots of space, deep enough water, and plenty of places to explore.
We arrived at our anchor site in Jackson Creek with enough time left of the late afternoon and evening to prepare and enjoy a simple meal of creamed tuna on toast and take pictures of the surrounding area. We were the only boat anchored but there were houses and boating activity all around us.
If you have been on the water or on shore, you may have seen small boats pulling a raft, usually with children or young people on the raft being pulled with some speed and having a grand time bouncing around. If I were younger (braver), I think it would be fun to experience being pulled like that. Tonight, I saw a jet ski pulling a raft behind it. They appeared to be having fun. That’s a first for me. After dark, all was peaceful and quiet.
Captain’s Comments:
Time to continue our journey. The familiar chores for leaving a marina went smoothly—cleaning three strainers, filling the water, taking in the electrical, vacuuming, putting everything where it belonged. With just the two of us, we were the least cluttered that we’ve been so far this trip.
We pulled out of our slip and moved over to the fuel dock, which is where the pump out station was located. The dockhand primed the pump, but we had to switch nozzles since the installed nozzle wouldn’t fit where our pump out fitting was located. After we started, the pump quit after about 5 seconds. Repriming and checking the pump breaker did not eliminate the problem. Mysteriously, when a second dockhand came to assist, it started working again. Pump out completed and about 65 gallons of fuel added. We left York River Yacht Haven, but had to radio back to have them email us a copy of our receipt. We never did get to try the pool.
The sea (river/bay) was glassy smooth. Not the flat smooth of new glass, but the slightly dimpled smooth of old glass. There was just enough to periodically poke through the pilothouse door. A slight breath of cool in an otherwise pretty hot day. The horizon was hidden in haze. We were moving through this world on Betty Lou at just over 7.5 knots. It was a beautiful day.
By 1300 the wind had picked up enough to give a little texture to the water. It really wasn’t any cooler, but it felt that way with the breeze blowing through the pilothouse. The barest of swells, perhaps an echo from the ocean, created a slight rock for Betty Lou as we turned more north out in the bay.
It seems like we had the bay to ourselves.
It took a little longer than I expected to get to the Jackson Creek anchorage. In 6 hours we only went 39 NM–in other words, we were fighting the current. Jackson Creek was hidden behind a long tongue of land barely 200 feet wide that stuck out into the river over half a mile. Like many anchorages we’ve been stopping at, it was shallow and cozy. We carefully picked a spot to drop our anchor to avoid being face to face with people sitting in their kitchens (or at least to avoid hitting their docks).
July 7, 2022: St. Mary’s River
We left before 8:00 AM today from our Jackson Creek anchorage in Deltaville, Virginia headed for the City of St. Mary’s on the St. Mary’s River in Maryland. St. Mary’s was established in 1634 and named for the Virgin Mary. It was built on the site of a Yaocomaco Indian Village and the first European settlement in Maryland. It was the colonial capital until 1694 when the capital was moved to Annapolis. St. Mary’s College now sits on the site of the original settlement.
We got back onto the bay headed towards the Potomac River. There wasn’t much to see, but we did pass one of several lighthouses in the bay. We were also passed, thankfully at a great distance, by a huge auto liner. The only other thing out of the ordinary for us was a water taxi that looked much like a school bus.
It was “sportier” on the bay today. We had spray coming over the bow. We didn’t have to put up with it for long. Once we turned onto the Potomac River, the water settled down. By mid afternoon we were pulling into the St. Mary’s River and our anchorage. It was a beautiful spot to anchor and plenty of deep water and space. We had it all to ourselves.
Our plan was to put the dinghy in the water and go ashore to explore. The history is very rich here. We opted to wait until morning and go early enough to tour around and still get to our next destination. We were behind on our travel journal, so tonight we could take advantage of the little bit of extra time. I had read that the sunsets were gorgeous at this anchor site. We were not disappointed. The sunset tonight seemed to envelope the whole sky [see above].
It was a restful night.
Captain’s Comments:
A longer day, today, with about 2′ waves in the bay, and the current still against us. As long as we keep heading north in mid-morning, that will continue to be our plight. The anchorage was beautiful, and this time, pretty deep. We anchored in 15′ and put out about 120′ of chain.