Intracostal Waterway Cruise Adventure: Day 1 Lessons Learned

Day one of the east coast cruise brings rough seas on the Chesapeake Bay on the way to the first stop in Solomon’s Island

This guest post blog series details the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway Cruise of two friends, Karen and George, as they cruise the east coast from Chesapeake Bay to the Florida Gulf Coast.

 

After a wonderful Bon Voyage celebration with friends and family we were ready to set-off on our Intracostal Waterway adventure to Florida. 

We left port on Monday May 13th, 2013 to begin a whole new life. Although we are excited about the future, we are sad to leave behind so may wonderful friends and family. 

We left port from Skipjack Cove Marina in Georgetown Maryland at 0900 heading down the Sassafrass river to the Chesapeake Bay.  Our goal was to make it to Solomon’s Island.  The temperature was unseasonably cool at 53 degrees with Northwest winds at 15 knots.  The weekend storms had passed and the skys we clear blue with billowing clouds overhead.

Shortly into our trip the winds began to pick-up and we were experiencing 4-5 foot swells with water breaking over the bow of the boat and fly bridge. Visibility was “terrible”.  Captain George kept a tight grip on the wheel and a sharp eye on the water.  The winds were relentless and by the end of the day we had all felt we had been in a fight.  Karen studied hard to make sense of the navigational charts while their crew did their best to keep from getting sick and keep the windows clear.  All the time thinking how helpful it would have been to take that navigational course or buying the “boating for dummies” book

Our little buddy Diesel (snuggled in his life jacket) did well as long a she was in his mother’s arms.

We traveled at about 10-11 Knots and crossed under the bay Bridge @ 12:59.  By 450pm (10 minutes before the marina closed) we entered Back creek off the Patuxent river and landed at the peaceful, serene setting of Spring Cove Marina.

Spring Cove is only a few short miles walk into the heart of Solomon’s Island.  We enjoyed a good dinner at dog friendly Stony’s, known for their casual atmosphere serving prime rib & Oysters.  We found the staff at Spring cove friendly and accommodating.  It was a lovely, clean marina.  It was surrounded by shady pines and picnic areas.  My sister-in-law (Betty Ann) was also impressed by the number of boats of Indian Doctors named “Solomon” – ha, ha  not realizing this was the name of the town and that MD stood for Maryland….hahaha… it was a long day.
 
By the end of the day we were all exhausted but well fed and satisfied we had made a safe journey to this quiet port.

Follow the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway Cruise

Continue to follow this two week journey guest blog post series as Karen and George share details on of each leg of their cruise along the Intracoastal Waterways.

See all the latest posts:
Intracoastal Waterway Cruise


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Diane Seltzer

View posts by Diane Seltzer
Diane is the founder of MyBoatLife.com as well as the boating lifestyle site for kids BoaterKids.com. Active in the boating industry, Diane has also led the marketing for multiple recreational boating businesses and startups.
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