Whitehall Bay, VA

We left our Hongo River anchorage on Sunday, May 26 at 7:15 (earlier than usual for us) to take advantage of what we thought would be smooth sailing earlier in the day. We were bound for another anchorage on the eastern shore. As we headed out it was apparent that the waters were rougher than expected with 2 foot short period seas out of the SW.  Georgio secured himself in our boat bag on the flybridge.  

But once again when we veered north, the waves were on our stern and not too uncomfortable. As the day progressed, the bay calmed down even more.

Traffic on the bay was not heavy but there were some freighters and pleasure craft out. 

Given the flat seas, we decided to change our course and cross the bay to find an anchorage off of the Severn River on the western shore. This would bring us a bit closer to reaching Delaware Bay.  We briefly considered going close to Annapolis to dinghy into town but quickly dismissed the idea. Memorial Day weekend boat traffic and crowds were the convincing factors.

We found a great anchorage on Whitehall Bay - a wide open bay lined with gracious homes and a small beach.  Although it was open to southerly winds, they weren’t expected to be significant.

We were going to take the dinghy up the Whitehall Creek to check out the area but the sky was clouding up and there were ominous sounds of thunder in the distance. Instead, the intrepid Jonathan took the paddle board out for a quick paddle and dip in the bay. The water was quite a bit colder than Onancock’s comfortable temp! 

As he climbed back into the boat, the first raindrops came and we quickly closed all the windows and secured the paddle board and dinghy.  

The storm rolled in complete with thunder and lightening but we were cozy in our little saloon. We made the exact same dinner as the night before - crab cakes, etc. And because we were so close to Annapolis  we were able to get some stations (mostly PBS) on TV which we haven’t watched in weeks. Eventually we settled on the Memorial Day concert filmed at the Capital in DC where the audience wore raincoats in the rain. It was moving enough to cause Lynn  to shed a tear or two.