Circumnavigating The Delmarva

I would be interested in hearing from anyone who has sailed around the Delmarva Peninsula. My friends and I are planning to do this when I retire in a couple of years and we are collecting all the information we can from those who have done it. Thanks, Stephen

Stephen:

We did it two times back in 2000. Suggest going clockwise - nothing really that significant about the trip - just pay attention and stay out of the shipping channels in the Delaware and Chesapeake Bays and pay close attention to tides and currents.

Bobby
Martinique

Thanks for the advice. It sounds like quite a wonderful trip. Stephen

Stephen:
We have sailed the entire Chesapeake Bay many times, and we have sailed down the Delaware Bay 7+ times, but never a full DelMarVa (Delaware/Maryland/Virgina) trip. If I were to do this, I would do it in legs and I would break it up like this.
1. Rock Hall, MD to C&D Canal, Engineer's Cove
2. C&D Canal to Lewes, Del, dock in town at the city dock.
3. Lewes, Del, overnight to Chesapeake Bay Entrance, Little Creek, VA
4. Little Creek, VA to Deltaville, VA Jackson Creek
5. Deltaville, VA to Solomons Island MD
6. Solomons Island, MD to Annapolis MD
7. Annapolis MD to Rock Hall MD

I would like to plan 2 weeks for this trip minimum so I could plan for weather and also some lay days and town visits.

All of these legs can be day trips, except the ocean leg, that would be an overnight trip. Many of these legs are full 10 hrs / 50+ mile days, but I have run nearly all of them.

Learn to use Maps.Google.com and create your own custom map of this trip. Place map pins down and then look a the harbors and locations. This is avery fun way to plan for a trip.

Hayden

Made the trip in 2009. But, I went clockwise. No wind, motored most of trip. I agree with Hayden's description but I'd suggest Cape May instead of Lewes. It's a looong ride from Engineers anchorage at Chesapeake City to Cape May/Lewes. You must hope for a favorable current all the way. A good anchorage to consider is the Cohannsee River on NJ side, about half way down the Delaware. I anchored there in the past. It can be a fun trip, and I hope yours is too.
Skye

Stephen,

We're planning to do the Delmarva trip next year as a form of training to help prepare us for future more extended trips. We joined the Herrington Harbour Sailing Association because we heard they had done this recently and are hoping we can drum up enough interest to do another. I have a copy of the itinerary from their trip in June 2010 which I'll attach here. They included several over-nighters in the Atlantic and a stop in Chincoteague. There's also a map that shows where they stopped along the way. Looks like a pretty good plan to me. Hope it helps.





-Tom