Day 21: Reedville to Colonial Beach

Preston fries the remainder of the 'hot' sausage and makes corn muffins for the crew. I fry my last-night left-over meatloaf from the restaurant. A rainy front passes and we wait for an hour. We untie as the rain subsides, and are under way by around 0915.

It’ll be another day of ‘broadwater cruising’. Our course is back out into Chesapeake Bay with a left turn after Fleeton Point to take us up the 'coast' toward Smith Point before another left turn will admit us into the broad mouth of the Potomac River.

It's worth considering some dimensions of Chesapeake Bay. It is the largest estuary in the US. Its drainage basin (166,534 sq km) covers portions of six states. Its width ranges from 4.5 to 30 km. Its 11,601 sq km of water are bordered by 18,804 km of shoreline, including tributaries.

From the Smith Point lighthouse (now un-staffed, of course), which is about 3 miles offshore, we will run almost 50 miles up the Potomac to reach our tie-up for the night.

The showers have stopped, the sky is clearer, and the wind has subsided as we make our way from the broad Potomac along the channel, dodging lobster pots, and into the super-sheltered Monroe Creek, where we tie up (with the aid of a couple of boaties who have noticed our arrival) at The Boathouse Marina.

Graeme and Lorraine decide to foray into the town to see what's what, while I (deciding that I already know what 'towns' look like) walk a few blocks along the creek waterfront to the local craft brewery for a tasting rack and a bar meal.

G & L have found a Thai restaurant while Preston is eating on the boat. I join him in the cockpit as the ducks and herons say goodnight. We'll be back here in 5 days' time.Weiterlesen