A Harrowing Ride back to Occoquan Marina, Woodbridge Virginia

We woke up to grey skies again, but we could see it clearing up the Potomac by Woodbridge (our final destination).  We didn't have that far to go (only about 30 miles this day) and we really didn't want to get caught if it decided to storm again.  In fact, the water looked very calm... Huh.

As we rounded the bend in the river, we hit BIG crashing waves. Rob says 4 or 5 feet, I say 3 or 4..but no matter, they were a surprise and a scary one at that.  "What makes waves if there is no wind?" I asked.  I thought about how the author of River Horse sometimes referred to his C-Dory as a teapot in a tempest, and so I began to sing "I'm a little teapot" (I get silly when I'm nervous in a stressful situation)  Unfortunately, my attempts to lighten the mood failed miserably (as they usually do, but I still try).  We hit a big one and Rob hit his head on the cabin roof; meaning his body flew up at least a feet off the seat) and then stuff started flying off shelves.

We had prudently donned our life jackets as we take this large bay very seriously, but apparently we hadn't "battened down the hatches" well enough.  I had a plastic medicine dispenser that holds 30+days of 12 kinds pills and vitamins. It flew and broke, spreading millions of little pills across the cabin floor.  Then, as I was picking them up, the cutting board flew off the sink and hit me on the head.  Fortunately, we both have hard heads and neither of us were hurt.  We considered turning back, but we had once been through even rougher seas (on Lake Powell), and we knew the boat could take it.

So, Rob decided to try the Virginia side of the river.  This meant crossing the river with waves potentially broadsiding us.  But Rob went diagonally and avoided any problems.  We found a cove to "pull off" into and regroup (aka: sort pills).  Then we proceeded north to Occoquan Marina.  By this point the skies were clear and blue, the sun was shining and we had smooth seas.  We could still see white caps across the river on the Maryland side of the Potomac.

Now we are back in our home port on the Occoquan River, here in Woodbridge VA.  Nice marina, great people.  We will pull the boat tomorrow and the boat yard here will give Freedom a "makeover".  New bottom paint (ours is over 3 years old), and a wax job.  I go home to a beauty salon appointment in a few days.  We both need it!  Once home, we plan the next leg of our adventure.

I wonder what's blooming in my garden at home?

Occoquan Harbour Marina, Woodbridge VA

Goose Creek Marina

We studied the charts looking for a sheltered place to spend the night as severe storms were predicted.  We were traveling past Point Lookout back into the Potomac, and while there were many marinas, few had the amenities we had found on the Chesapeake side.  We did find one that had decent reviews on Active Captain, it was in a sheltered cove, and it had a pool.  So that became our goal.

We had good weather going around the point because the wind was in the right direction this time.  Still we fought the crab pots and fishing sticks; but it was easier to see them since we had a clear day.

We arrived at Goose Creek Marina and found nice floating docks, but still with no "fingers" and no cleats... you have to "catch" the poles/pilings and loop them with your lines.  I am eventually going to try to draw you a picture of what these kinds of docks are like, but in the meantime, I'll just say we hate them.  The real problem is they are designed for big boats, and we have neither the length nor the beam to reach the poles... and still back up to the power and tie to the TINY (less than 4 foot) finger dock.  On this particular marina, unlike the others, no one was there to help us, and the wind was fighting us all the way.  We scraped the boat a few times on the wood poles...Rob really needs to learn to play cowboy and throw a proper lasso.

We were able to enjoy the pool but then the dark clouds came in.  We were treated to a huge lightning show and lots of rain.  But, thankfully, all that happened after we were safely docked, pooled, showered,  and ready for our dinner.  Unfortunately, the mosquitos were also hungry for their dinner...

Goose Creek Marina, Westover MD

Anchoring Out.. St Leonards Creek

We considered moving on to the town of Oxford MD, but it honestly sounded so much like Solomon's and St Michaels that we decided we'd like to anchor out.  The weather reports for 2 days from now sounded ominous, so we decided to check out St Leonard's Creek, back across the bay, off the Patuxent River  We spent a lovely, idyllic day anchored out in a little cove (Rollin's cove).  We saw a few homes and docks and a gorgeous boat house but no human beings disturbed our solitude.

The fish were JUMPING!  So many fish... and we also saw skates "fly" by our boat... We watched a heron watching us watching the fish... or was it the other way around?  Then, as predicted, it started to rain.  Tonight was not the predicted bad weather but we did see some lightning.  But, in the morning, it was clear and nice once more.

Rollins Cove, Breeden's Point MD (Patuxent River)