Chesapeake - Baltimore

Gus & Jo Elizabeth City NC

Brown water (Tonic Acid)

Dismal swamp (algae)

Norfolk ships

Winds howling at 5:30am 23.5 knts

Waves hitting boat at 5:30

Breakers coming in at 5:30am

Lighthouse Cove Point Chesapeake

There is a saying that most Chesapeake and ICW sailors have experienced going aground, the others eventually will..... well more on this later.
We traveled 250 miles this week starting from Elizabeth City , Dismal Swamp, Norfolk, Solamon Islands and now inner harbor Baltimore. We have had extreme weather all week with several violent storms, high winds, as well as extreme temperatures in the high 90's - 105 during the day and dropping to a cool 80-85 in the evening.
We have had little trouble with the boat except I continue to add about 6-8 oz of engine coolant before I leave each morning; We have been fortunate heading north up the Chesapeake as we have had south west winds allowing us to keep the sails up most of the day. We have been sailing in the deeper water allowing us to stay away from the crab pots that seem to like 10-15' water.

Dismal Swamp was full of biting flies and the water was covered with algae. If we come back through the ICW in the late spring/summer again, I recommend taking the Virginia Cut and avid these nasty pests.
The battleships in Portsmouth and Norfolk harbors are huge and intimidating. Navy police kept you well away from them.

Well our luck finally ran out  having been hit by 2 storms and one grounding.
NOAA the weather system we monitored forecasted a bad system coming in on Father's day weekend. We managed to have a good day getting through Norfolk on the Saturday. We had to get through a few regatta's that were dead in the water due to no wind. Norfolk and the Chesapeake are  so active with freighter and barge traffic, you have to be observant.
We knew the storm was moving fast and we tried to get to a safe anchorage we used before. I second guessed myself and moved to a river a few miles up the bay. I ended up in the channel I thought I was going to, I took a wide turn round one of the markers and ended up on a sandbar. It was an hour before low tide,  no matter what I tried I could not get the boat off the should. We had to wait until 11pm when high tide was due and I thought that as the rise was 2 feet, I should have little problem getting off.
We got hit with worst storm we have ever ben through on water. Weather station warned of potential Tornado's , hail, wind gusts 80, the sky was green and wind starts to howl , waves and rain were breaking over the boat. As the boat started to bounce off the bottom and list a bit, the wind increased to over 60 knots, rain was coming sideways and there wasn't a thing we could do. Prior this we were smart enough to contact the Coast Guard and advise them of our situation. Rain gear and lifejackets were on,
This storm lasted about 20 minutes and usually winds die down a short while later. Not this time ... winds stayed at about 20 knots all night and the waves of 1-2' were constant. As the tide rose we tried to get off the sandbar about 10pm, but to no avail. The strong winds and waves would not allow the bow of the boat to turn in the wind. We know the winds and waves had pushed us from our previous position but did not realize it pushed us over another sandbar,
Coast Guard remained in touch with us and we arranged with Boat US to come and tow us out next day.
That was one bad night, the winds and waves kept hitting us broadside, the boat started to bounce off the sandbar and about every minute or so, you would hear one crack or bang as the boat hit bottom,,, a sound that we can equate to a dentist drilling  a cavity or fingernails on chalkboard... they just made you shutter. Jo slept in her lifejacket and I tried to sleep on the floor of the cabin but don't recall getting much. About 3:30, I put together and emergency kit of documents, etc, should we have to vacate the boat. Funny what anxiety and lack of sleep will do, so I am unsure if this was real or my rationalization of the situation.
Well winds finally dropped from 20 to about 10 around 9am, Boat US would be here around noon, an hour before high tide.
It took Boat US , 45 minutes to drag us over the 2 sandbars. No way we would be able to do it our self.
As I turns out, the boat is  pretty solid. I dove on the rudder and keel later in the day to see damage, other than anti-foul paint off. I started to feel a bit better and looked forward to a good night sleep.
I'd be remiss to comment that Jo was tremendous through this and took things in her stride like the champion she is. She really is the"Ying" to my "yang" more than I give her credit for.

Well the next 2 days went well. Yesterday we had a small craft advisory and we wanted to get to Baltimore. We left about 45 minutes earlier than usual as we wanted to get about 60 miles. As it was wind and waves and current were in our favor. We actually got into Baltimore around 4pm and we had picked out an anchorage. Took a few times, but anchor finally set. We had out run the storm that had been announced on the radio for the past 2 hours, We watched the storm blow through to the north. Not 30 minutes later it came back and hit us . It took only 3-4 minutes for the anchor to let go and in the driving rain and winds we quickly got the anchor up and boat out into the deeper channel. Although the winds were not as high as the other night, 30 plus is nothing to sneeze at. It was hard to see and keep the boat in the wind. A couple of guys on the dock saw our predicament and motioned us into their dock. The winds were strong and I could not get the boat close enough to throw them lines. Then the lightning came and they took off.
We put on our lifejacket and safety tethers and tried to anchor in the mid- channel, but this proved fruitless. After about 30 minutes, the storm and the lightning, rain and winds started to reside. Well any port in a storm, we managed to dock at a gas bar round 7pm, an hour and a half later, drenched.
We were safe and staying put for the night. We will deal with owner in the morning. We changed and straightened up the boat. This is when we realized we forgot to close the aft cabin window and the bedding got a bit wet. All you could do is laugh. We dried it up same we did last time, and all was in order by 10pm.
The silver lining in this story is that the storm broke the humidity. We actually had to throw a  sheet on the bed last night as temperature dropped below 70.
We left the gas dock at 6:30am the next morning and anchored out until 10am when w could get into our slip which we reserved for the next 2 days.

Baltimore from Federal Hill

USS Constellation

Submarine USS Torso Baltimore Harbour

Baltimore