Week 53: June 4 – June 10 – Around the Great Loop on the Answer

Week 53: Deltaville, VA to Rock Hall, MD

We left Yorktown early to head to Deltaville. The ride was smooth and we had a slight push so arrived at Doziers Regatta Marina before noon. This is the first marina where we stopped that has a courtesy car still in use since COVID-19 began to shut everything down. We borrowed the car for a quick run to the grocery and hardware stores. The marina also had a pool and laundry. Peter and Endeavor went for a swim and I did laundry.

Deltaville has marinas on both the south and north sides of Stingray Point. Doziers is on the north side and the first of a number of marinas on Broad Creek. Many of the marinas on the Chesapeake are tucked inside creeks and that adds additional mileage each time. I have started to identify protected marinas that are not too far off Chesapeake Bay. While this cannot always be accomplished, it’s worth a try.

Doziers was a nice place with friendly staff. They have a large porch with a dozen rocking chairs so you can sit and chat and wait for the “spectacular sunset” that is advertised. Unfortunately, the two evenings we were there, no visible sunset because of cloudy weather. Originally we were staying for one night but the weather shifted and Saturday was projected to be a much better travel day. We did have incredible rain during the evening into early morning but all was fine as we prepared to leave.

It is Saturday, June 6th and our one year anniversary on the loop or as our daughter and son-in-law commented, it is our loopiversary. At times it is hard to imagine that it has been a year and yet other times it feels like we have been gone forever.

Continuing north, Solomons Island was our next stop. It is a long travel day but there is little between Deltaville and Solomons that has been recommended as a good place to stay. Solomons has lots of marinas but I used the notes I had from Paddy Wagon and made reservations at Calvert Marina. There is little on that side of the Patuxent River but with most tourist options closed, it did not make much difference where we stayed. As it turned out, we were pleasantly surprised to find Maggie Jo on the dock across from us. Endeavor was planning to secure a mooring ball on the south side of the river but had some boat issues with clogged fuel filters so stopped at a marina with mechanics.

The next day was used to relax from the long trip and then we planned to travel with Maggie Jo to the next marina, Herrington Habour South on Monday. It was one of the places recommended by other loopers and they also had reservations for one month as they are travelling back home for two weeks for their son’s wedding and to see family. They also need to slow down as they have to wait for the Erie Canal to open in July (last locks do not open until August 10) to make their way back to Wisconsin.

Endeavor took a dink ride over to see us and explained that process needed to fix their fuel filter issue (fuel needs to be polished) and Monday would be the first day that the mechanic may be able to do the work. As it turned out, they sent us a text later on Monday to advise they needed to wait until Friday for work to be completed so they moved over to Calvert Marina where dockage was close to half what they had been paying. After the work is done, they are now planning to go to Annapolis for a few weeks instead of their original crisscross plan. At that point, they may begin their journey north.

We spent Monday evening at Herrington Harbour South in Herring Bay. Peter was happy to find that there was a large swimming pool and the marina was practicing social distancing so he went for a swim. There was a market/deli that had outside seating so we had dinner with Maggie Jo since we would not be seeing them again until they travel north and stay at a marina near our yacht club later this summer. We left the next morning and had a calm, peaceful ride to Rock Hall. Everything was fine until we were close and had some skinny water near the entrance to the marina. There are only a few markers until you get to marina channel. Following the sail line on Navionics was very helpful.

Again, the plan was to stay in Rock Hall for one night but the wind picked up with projection of rain on Thursday so we adjusted once again. We took a walk to tour the town but nothing was open in the immediate area. There is a restaurant and a few boating stores open by the marina but the town was desolate. Wind was 13+mph on Wednesday with gusts of close to 20+. By evening the wind was continuing to pick up and during the night it was 25+ providing a very rocky night.