May 22 -24, 2024 Mobjack Bay and Carters Creek Anchorage

May 21 and 22, 2024  Anchored in Mobjack Bay   1 hour and 9 miles

Pleasant enough day at anchor.  Nothing special going on - just chilling.  Anchorage is a bit more exposed and 5-10 mph breeze is keeping a light chop on the water so we're getting a little wave slap on the hull and some swinging of the boat.   We didn't push in closer to the protection of the tree line due to a line of crab traps. Wind settled overnight, but then some stronger gusts showed up just before daybreak and we had the anchor alarm waking us up.  Apparently, we had dragged about 100' with those wind gusts.  Not in any danger as it's an open cove and we were by ourselves.   Operator error as I had been too stingy when deploying the chain.  

Watching the full moon rise as the sun sets

Delightful end of the day

Decided to explore a different anchorage the next day.   Again, a bit open with just a few houses on the shoreline.  Perfectly adequate, simply nothing special.  We're exploring new anchorages and burning up days while waiting to hit Urbanna for the Memorial Day weekend.    

Quick Journey May 22, 2024 to a different
anchorage still within Mobjack Bay 

May 23 and 24 Anchored in Carters Creek   5.3  hours and  49 miles

Moved out of Mobjack Bay, up the bay and into the Rappahannock River.   Beautiful day on the water.  Almost flat calm and perfect for driving topside.  We had anchored up Carters Creek in the past during a fall trip and really enjoyed it.  Very protected creeks with lots of houses along the shorelines.  

Almost to Carters Creek - it's just past the bridge

Unlike our last visit, this time every creek is filled with crabpots.  The crabs don't stand a chance here - must be 2 traps for every crab on the bottom.   No suitable spot to anchor in our old spot without swinging into some floats so we explored a few more branches.   Finally settled on Calf Pasture Cove as our best option.  Two other boats anchored already amidst the crabpots but there was enough gap to provide clearance during the tidal swing.   Stayed 2 nights. 

Beautiful anchorage once we got settled

Shoreside house lights at dusk

These 2 geese amused us flying in and out several times a day honking all the way.
One would oddly fly up and sit atop an osprey nesting platform.

The area is close to the town of Irvington and the The Tides Resort, so it was odd we had the worst internet connectivity we've experienced in quite some time.   No service at all on our T-Mobile and a slow and intermittent connection with Verizon.  Crazy dense fog one morning. Couldn't even see the shoreline a few hundred feet away but somehow the watermen were out locating their floats and emptying their traps.

Dense morning fog off the stern all gone by 8am

Journey for May 23, 2024