May 12, 2011, Thursday; Annapolis, MD, to Anchorage on Bohemia River, MD: Today started out like a normal day. We had fairly calm waters (for the Chesapeake) with a lot of crab pods again and quit a bit of debris in the water when leaving Annapolis. By the time we reached the Chesapeake Bay Bridge we started seeing more and more debris. We were going slow and watching closely. Just on the north side of the bridge we heard and felt a loud clunk and Keith pulled back immediately on the throttles. We don't know for sure what we hit but there was nothing in front of the boat so it must have been under water. We started getting a vibration at 2000 rmp's and the faster we went, the worse the vibration. From the bridge all the way to our anchorage we encountered a lot of debris. It's very stressful watching for debris and crab pods all day long. We are guessing the debris was from yesterday's "Tidal Anomaly". We had a beautiful anchorage on the Bohemia River in Veasey Cove. Very smooth water and quiet. Actually, it was one of the smoothest nights we have had on the whole east coast so far.
N39 28.543
W75 55.037
May 13, 2011, Friday; Bohemia River Anchorage to Greenwich Marina and Boat Works, NJ: We got up early and engines were started by 06:30 but it took 20 minutes to bring the anchor up and wash off all the dark, black, mud from the anchor, rode, and boat; what a mess. We had a green flashing light to enter the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. We were the only boat going east and there was one barge coming at us going west. The canal was very deep but not too wide. We had 6 bridges and 1 overhead pipeline to go under in the canal; with the lowest vertical clearance of 45 feet. We got to Greenwich Marina and Boat Works by 13:10 and they had us drive right into the sling to pull the boat out of the water to change our props. It was very interesting trying to get me off the boat while we were in the lift! The write-up in Dozier's Waterway Guide made this place sound really good; but, I guess it proves the statement that "You can't believe every thing you read" because this place was a dump. It was one of the worst marina's we have been in since we started our trip. In fairness, the owner and his employees were very nice people. Gas at $4.50/gallon, haul out, and replace props proved to be a very expensive day. The weather report for the next week does not look good at all. We will get up early again tomorrow and check it again to see if we have a 5 hour window to get to Cape May, NJ. I certainly hope so because I do not want to stay here for a week.
N39 23.005
W75 20.948
CO's comments: If you take this route through the canal, even though you have a green light, it is a good idea to call the Canal Dispatcher and let them know you are coming. They will let you know of any traffice either ahead or behind you. We anchored in about 7' of water and on a calm night this is a nice anchorage.
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| Sunset at Veasey Cove anchorage on 5-12-2011 |
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