Monday, June 23 — By midnight, we could see the lights of Virginia Beach. It was definitely a big city! We’d also exited the Gulf Stream, so our speeds were back to normal — 6-knots at 1650 RPM.

We entered the mouth of the Chesapeake in the wee hours of the morning. Once inside, we hit an adverse current and had to increase RPMs to 1900 to maintain a speed of 6-knots.

We ran on the edge of, but not inside the shipping lane, hoping that would keep us safe from both big ships and fishing traps. One of the scary things about going through an area know for traps at night was that we wouldn’t be able to see the markers on the traps. There was a steady conga line of shipping containers. We also passed a military vessel while it was still dark. Since the vessel looked huge on radar and tiny as we passed it, we believe it was a submarine. Fortunately, with the long days, we weren’t in the dark for long.

It was a very pink sunrise.

We did have to cross the shipping channel at one point, and that went fine. We saw a big pod of dolphins come to the bow of our boat, but we couldn’t see them playing at the bow very well since the water was so muddy.

Our destination was Deltaville. Several people had recommended that we visit Deltaville because it was an especially calm, deep water anchorage. It was also an active fishing port, so it had a ready access to parts and labor for boat maintenance/repairs.

We’d been told Deltaville was cute, and that was accurate information. The houses along the waterfront were picturesque, as was the marina.

We’d originally planned to anchor, but with it being so hot, we decided it was best to go to a marina where we could plug into power and run the A/C all day. We pulled into the Fishing Harbor Marina at about 1000 and were directed into a slip. A marina staff person was waiting to help us tie up the lines. We were thankful for that because the dock was narrow and tying up the front of the boat was tricky as there wasn’t really enough room to maneuver. We were relived that they were floating docks. The marina was small and cute. There was a pool, and next to the pool was an air conditioned lounge where the tenants could hang out.

A few hours after we’d tied up, the marina asked us to change slips. Apparently, the slip belonged to another boat and they needed it. We said “Sure, no problem.” And then we realized that we were grounded and couldn’t move! The boat waiting for our slip anchored while we all waited for the tide to come up.

Thanks to the assorted digital apps, we knew that there were two families in the anchorage. We were sad to find that both were getting ready to put their boat on the hard and leave for the summer. One was leaving the next day, and they were tied to the adjacent boat yard’s dock in anticipation for an early morning haul out. They invited us and the other family over to eat up their remaining food.

Of course, high tide was right in the middle of the get together. We had to leave for a little while to move slips. Once we were done with the move, we rejoined the families at the lounge. We were exhausted from the passage, so we didn’t stay out late. This was the twilight.