Solomons to Fishing Bay, Piankatank River

The frost may have been on the pumpkin this morning, but not in Brunelle's cockpit.  As soon as the coffee was brewed we weighed anchor (0720) and headed out with the workboats as the sun rose.  We opted to go outside the Naval target range about 5 miles south of Cedar Point and were free and clear of it by 0900.  Twas a good thing!  We spent the rest of the morning listening to Navy Moose and Navy Patrol Boat #301 as the shooed other vessels away from the area.  We did encounter a bit of military action tho, Stiletto (corrected spelling) must have been heading home because she passed us going 29.8 knots. We also encountered another "military" vessel (as identified by AIS -- automatic identification system )  the only other information listed was it's depth -- 84'.  It was (yes, Betty) a submarine.

The submarine was also moving rapidly, 13.9 knots and didn't seem to have the escort we remembered so well from three years ago!

The forecast was amazingly accurate today.  We encountered WNW winds 10-15 with gusts to 20 knots all day.  We were able to sail, mostly with full sail, all day and averaged 7 knots all the way.  We passed Smith Point Lighthouse around 1230 and decided to cut inside to get better lighting for a picture.... considering all the residents (several hundred gulls and cormorants) we probably made a good choice to stay to windward of it!

The trip across the mouth of the Potomac was less eventful than we expected, but we did experience stronger winds and more slop as we crossed the Rappahannock River on our way to our anchorage in Fishing Bay on the south side of Deltaville.  Things did quiet down as we maneuvered the twisty entrance to Fishing Bay.  We joined several snowbirds again as we dropped the hook. A very pretty spot with yet again a lovely sunset.

They say tomorrow will be colder still, but that it will be close to 80 by Saturday!  We'll see.  We should make it to the Norfolk area tomorrow, cold or not.  ~~~_/)~~~M&D