Day 44 Chesapeake Bay

We had nooooo idea how big this bay is. Left the dock at 7:40am to head for Mill Creek (Reedville, VA) - an anchorage suggested by Bernie and Carol. (Many thanks to them for all their help.) Passed tons of huge Navy ships and Fort Wood. It was a little choppy, but when we turned the corner at Fort Monroe, we started taking it on the the side and that made for a very rough ride. Thank goodness we had awesome weather - minimal winds, a high of 78 degrees and no storms. Despite good conditions, poor Jack got seasick again, he does not like bumpy seas. After a couple hours, we got between land again and the bay laid down. After a few more hours, it reminded me of the Gulf on a smooth day - the land was just on the opposite side. Not much to see today but open water, large dolphin and some crab traps - didn't even see that many boats after we left the harbor. However, at one point when I was on the wheel, I noticed a fin cutting the water coming directly at us from the side. I heard the dum, da dum, da dum, well, you know the tune. When it got close, I saw the other "fin". It was a huge manta ray swimming on the surface. Whew, we will not "need a bigger boat". Weaved our way back to a pristine anchorage. - quiet and lush. There's only three other boats on the hook back here with us. What a difference from this morning. There's some interesting fish nets all along the waterfront. The net is staked with a million little sticks. The fisherman come and empty the nets in the morning. I'm assuming it's fish since there's a bunch of crab traps here too. For Jack fans, no worries, he's recovered and chomping down his dinner as I type. Tomorrow we head to Solomons Island passing the Potomac River, which is right on the other side of this inlet and the mouth is about 10 miles wide. Unfortunately, our bucolic setting did not have Sprint internet so this blog entry is delayed.