Our next stop would take us into the Atlantic and North to the Chesapeake. The total miles would end up being 436 nautical miles taking nearly 45 hours and involve 2 overnights, which would be a first multi-night run for us. We do our best to monitor the weather forecasts ahead of time and pick a window that gives us favorable conditions for a smooth trip. Unfortunately, Mother Nature often has other ideas so we’re always prepared for the worse, including “bail out” ports in case we need to divert for any reason.
We departed Charleston around 12:30 pm in order to time our arrival at the Chesapeake at sunrise two days later. Day 1 matched the forecast with light winds and high clouds making for a great first day. The sunset didn’t disappoint either and as usual, I’m sharing a few shots!
Day two matched the forecast as well and we picked up a few “hitchhikers” along the way! I’m sorry, but having dolphins ride the bow or in our wake NEVER gets old!!! In this instance, we had several dolphins riding in our bow wake and they stayed with us for over 20 minutes!!!
Day 2 was uneventful as we settled in to our 3 hour watches for the second day. When we hand over a watch, I will conduct an engine room check looking for any leaks or components that are running hotter than normal. I use an infrared temp gun to check the temperatures at about 16 different spots on the engines, generators, hydraulic system and shafts. We also record the vital temperatures of the engines and generators so we can track any patterns that might give us an early warning of something about to fail.
It was an uneventful night on this run. I was on watch till midnight and then Leslie took over for the 24:00 – 03:00 watch while I tried to get some sleep on the settee just behind the helm. At 03:00 I woke up, started making some coffee and then headed down to the engine room to check that everything was running smoothly and that we didn’t have any issues. After about 15 minutes inspecting the lazarette (rudder posts, steering gear) and engine room I headed back up to the galley to grab my coffee and then I relieved Leslie of her watch. Fortunately, she had already recorded all of the data from the engine, transmissions and hydraulics so I was left with keeping the watch till 06:00 while she tried to catch some sleep.
We were slightly ahead of schedule due to the gulf stream as we had planned to arrive in the Chesapeake at dawn. Since it was our first transit into the Chesapeake, we wanted to enter at daylight knowing it was a busy waterway with lots of ship traffic. As we approached the mouth of the Bay, it was still dark, so I slowed Steppin’ Out down to around 6 knots and pointed us due East until it started to get light, which was only about 45 minutes.
I could see the lights of ships all around us heading into the Chesapeake plus all of the commercial ships were “squawking” on their AIS system. AIS (Automatic Identification System) is an electronic signal that a ship sends out notifying other ships in the area of the name of the vessel, location, speed, and heading. Steppin’ Out is equipped with an AIS as well so other ships can “see” us on their screens and we’re also able to see them. It provides another layer of situational awareness, especially at night or in poor visibility.
Well, as dawn arrived, I turned Steppin’ Out back to the West and towards the “mouth” of the Chesapeake Bay. Now it was at this time that the silhouettes of two ships started to come into focus. They had shown up on AIS but instead of a name, there was only their MMSI number so I didn’t have any idea who or what they are. Much to my surprise, it was two U.S. Navy Warships – LHD 5 (USS Bataan) and LHD 3 (USS KearSarge) – LHD 3 was on our port side and LHD 5 was on our starboard side, effectively sandwiching us in between (with a few miles of distance of course)!
As I’m waking up Leslie to see these Navy ships up close, the VHF radio springs to life – “Steppin’ Out, Steppin’ Out, Steppin’ Out – this is Warship 5”! I quickly respond with “Warship 5, this is Steppin’ Out” and they reply back with “Switch to channel 13” I make the switch to channel 13 and I hear Warship 5 again – “Steppin’ Out, Steppin’ Out, Steppin’ Out – this is Warship 5 – state your intentions”
Now at this point, I’m thinking “my intentions”??? So I respond, “Warship 5 I’m headed into the Chesapeake and then on to Norfolk”. After a few moments of silence they come back with “Steppin’ Out maintain your course and speed, we are coming around you” to which I replied, “copy that – Steppin’ Out maintaining course and speed”. I switched back over to Channel 16 and we watched Warship 5 pass us on the starboard side and come within ½ mile of our bow.
How cool is this, we’ve got 2 U.S. Navy ships on either side of us so I opened the starboard command bridge door to get a couple of pictures (see above) and as I’m closing the door, I hear on the VHF radio “Steppin’ Out, Steppin Out – Warship 5” – so we switched back to channel 13 and I respond – “Warship 5, this is Steppin’ Out” – I then hear ” Steppin’ Out – do you have a drone aboard”… Now I’m thinking, a drone aboard??? I’m sure this U.S. Nave Warship has several different systems aboard to counter any possible threat that little ole’ Steppin’ Out could be in possession of but I respond, “Warship 5, negative, we do not have a drone aboard.” They responded with “Copy that, maintain course and speed” and we switched back to Channel 16 as we entered the Chesapeake Bay.
Wow – talk about making an entrance! We were so excited to be in the Chesapeake and to encounter two amazing U.S. Warships was just an incredible feeling. We didn’t realize at the time but our Fall would involve several interactions with our Navy – some current and many from the past!
Next week – Welcome to Norfolk!
