The Journey

Monday, October 19, 2020

Post #15: Sailing down the Chesapeake

 Saturday, October 17 (part 2)

Despite our sadness at leaving family, we have to admit, it felt great to get back on the water again.  David and I didn’t really get serious about sailing until about 20 years ago.  We took lessons in Boston harbor, working our way up to bigger and bigger boats, and spent many wonderful weekends and weeks sailing around New England and chartering sailboats in the Caribbean with friends. Now sailing is providing a way to self-quarantine yet still quench our thirst for visiting new places.

Our 50-mile trip from Annapolis to Solomon, Maryland, took about 10 hours, so you can tell that sailing is about as fast as bicycle travel! Along the way we passed Thomas Point Lighthouse, one of the most recognizable landmarks in Maryland. It is a hexagon-shaped screwpile lighthouse built in 1875 and, according to the National Historic Landmark Commission, “the last unaltered screwpile cottage type lighthouse on its original foundation in the nation.”  For all you lighthouse aficionados, there are some interesting photos of the interior and exterior of this unique structure at wtop.com


Much of the day we stared at open water, once more astounded by how few boats are out now that we’ve left Annapolis. I call the refractions, “diamonds on the water,” my favorite jewelry.

We’d see the occasional small group of seagulls and even a few pelicans, but there must have been some fish running when we came across this flock of feasting birds:

We are always looking out for buoys, lighthouses, day beacons, and other aids to navigation.  Unless you’ve spent time on the water, you might never have seen this type of floating weather station.  NOAA uses data collected from these weather buoys to record (and then forecast) wind (direction, speed, gusts), temperature (air and water), water quality, waves (height, frequency, direction) and currents.  All of this is incredibly valuable as we plan each day’s voyage.  I like to think of this system as my US tax dollars at work.  Well, at least $750 of them.


1 comment:

  1. Great to see you on your way again. We love following you!
    Stay safe and Enjoy!
    Ron and Julie. S/V IS FEARR CARA

    ReplyDelete