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St. Leonard
Creek, Patuxent River |
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St.
Leonard Creek is the prime cruising destination on the Patuxent River if you are
looking for peaceful, uncrowded anchorages with beautiful surroundings.
The high shores and deep water also provide a number of very secure hurricane
holes.
Give Rodney Pt., the point of land to starboard,
a lot of room as you continue up the creek. There is plenty of water to
within 15 yards of the opposite shore. From here on St. Leonard Creek has
numerous coves and bights on either side that make very satisfactory anchorages
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Immediately to port on entering St. Leonard Creek from
the Patuxent River is a small cove adjacent to the
Jefferson Patterson Park &
Museum. This cove is a little exposed to the wakes of boats entering
and leaving the creek, but it offers great protection from cold northerly winds
in the fall and can capture a lot of the southern breezes during the summer. |
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Our favorite anchorage on St. Leonard is in Rollins
Cove on the starboard side of the creek. Rollins has deep water and a
small bar that protects the entrance. It is open to the west and south
west breezes that predominate in the summer and is protected from the northerly
breezes of the fall. The bar also helps to knock down the wakes from boats
heading up and down the creek. When I first started anchoring in Rollins
Cove in 1976 there was little sign of development in the creek. Just a
single dock that belonged to the farm on the north side of the cove with a
couple of small boats. At anchor all you saw were trees along the banks,
no sign of homes or development. Since that time a number of additional
homes have been built around the cove, and several of those that existed had
many of the trees cut down to give them a view of the cove. It is not as
pristine as in the past, but still one of the nicest places on the entire bay to veg out at anchor.
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A
fall morning in Rollins Cove, looking toward the west into St.
Leonard Creek. |
On
the same morning looking toward the east and the head of the cove.
Notice the steam fog on the water surface. This is a common
occurrence at this time of the year on the Chesapeake. Steam fog
normally forms during the early cold nights of the fall. The water
temperature is still in the 70's, but at night the air is dry and
the temperature drops into the 40's. The result is vapor from the
still warm water condenses in the cold air to form a light shallow
fog. |
This
is the same view as above, except this is in the summer. |
The usual suspects in Rollins Cove -
Vela Llena (me), Saker (Sweden Yacht 38), and the former Prelude (Wauquiez
Praetorian). |
Well sometimes even the best anchorage
gets crowded. Actually there were very few other boats in the cove.
These power boats just decided to get friendly. |
Another
fall shot in Rollins. Not as impressive as New England or Skyline
Drive, but still a very pleasant view |
Typical chillin'
in Rollins |
One
of the many "Snowbird" fleet boats heading for the ICW |
Sarah and Caurus (Nautilus 40) rafted
in Rollins Cove recently (Oct 24, 2002). Moonstruck (Columbia 9.6) is
rafted on the other side of Sarah out of the picture frame. Thanks to
Jeff Bennett for the picture. |