Officially Entering The Chesapeake Bay

This was a big day in a way for us because we would be officially entering the Chesapeake today.  It was kind of like a completion point for Larry.  After, our decision not to cross the Atlantic our change of plans would be to reach the Chesapeake this summer and go no further north.  We could at this point stop and smell the roses so to speak.  No more long trips, going, going, going.

We left the marina precisely at 8:15 AM, Larry’s schedule, heading to Deltaville, Virginia on the Western shore.  Our marina was very empty until yesterday afternoon when it filled with large yachts and now our easy escape would be a little more difficult maneuvering around these large mega yachts that the marina stuffed into the little space.  Larry let me take the boat out and as we had our new communication radios, Larry would be able to let me know how to maneuver the boat to avoid getting too close to any other boat.  Unfortunately before we even got away from the dock, Larry’s radio came off his belt and went right into the brink!  But we managed anyway, and maneuvered carefully and slowly out.

Everything is pretty much gray in color as the haze has set in.  We pass marker “36” which is the official zero mile mark to the Intracoastal Waterway heading south. What an amazing thing for us to have come the whole distance!

It’s an easy maneuver out following the main shipping channel markers.  It was quite a bit farther and longer than we thought to get out into the Chesapeake to the Thimble Shoal marker where we changed our course to head north.  It took us about 1 ½ hour to reach that point.  We passed Newport News and Hampton on our left and decided that would be a good and interesting stopping point on our way back before putting Knotty Dog in at the Atlantic Yacht Basin in Great Bridge for winter storage.  Looks like lots of interesting old brick buildings to see.

The Chesapeake feels like being in the ocean without the swells.  We cannot see land in either direction.  The water is choppy and about 30 feet deep.  This is the deepest water we’ve experienced in weeks.  We can actually sit back in our pilot chairs and relax as the boat takes us to our waypoint on Nav mode.  Occasionally, a boat will pass us that may have been at the dock with us at night.  They are pushing the water, creating great waves off their bow, as they speed ahead and pass us.  We discuss “what’s the hurry” and “think how much fuel they are burning”.  I guess that’s what people on slow boats normally say when someone speeds by.  We are happy to do our pace.  Not sure if I could think that fast anyway.

About 3 hours out, we pass the red and green markers that mark the entrance to York River.

The is the start of the area called “The Necks” which are the historic peninsulas that come off the Virginia mainland.  The Southern Neck has Smith River on the South and York River on the North.  It is where our first settlers landed in 1600 at Jamestown.  Nearby is the historic village of Williamsburg.  We plan on seeing that area on our return south at the end of the summer.

Before we know it, it’s time to start looking at the charts for our dockage.  What a quick easy day!  As we are making our approach into Rappaponock River on the Northern edge of “Middle Neck” we are hailed on the radio by an unknown boat called “Tivoli”.  We answer back, wondering if we’ve just made a wrong turn headed towards shallow water and some Good Samaritan is going to give us some local knowledge.  “Tivoli” answers our hail back and suggests turning to channel 68 to get off 16.  We do so, and answer to his hail again.  He immediately complements us on our boat and says he has a Nordhavn 50 too.  We didn’t realize he was nearby but after glancing around to our star board we notice him on our rear flank.

It was a friendly Nordhavn chit chat exchange.  They were curious about where we were from and amazed to hear that we were actually from Santa Barbara.  They wanted to know all the details and we decided that we would try to rendezvous in the next few days.  They said there were about 5 Nordhavns in the Chesapeake.  We mentioned that we came up the last few weeks with another Nordhavn called “Ocean Bear”, and the small world that it is, said they knew the last owners.

They warned us about that entering into the Dozier’s Marina where we were headed.  They said that the channel is “skinny” which means very shallow.  We appreciated the input but were heading in anyway as we’ve been assured by the Dozier’s that it’s deep enough.

We said our goodbye’s to these friendly but perfect strangers that we met on the radio.  That’s life in boating, we meet so many wonderful people, friendly and full of life.  We headed into the marina after the green marker.  Larry hailed the marina and said we were coming in and wanted any local instructions.  We were told the channel was very narrow and to stay 40-50 feet off the red markers and we should be fine.  The first red marker was “skinny” down to 1.9 below us but after a couple minutes we had about 3 feet plus….so, no problem.  The docks were nice new concrete floating docks and supplied with good power.  Water was limited as it was not town water but made through a filter system.  We decided not to use any to wash boat as it would be wasteful.

 They were very nice and had a nice clean dock office and gave us plenty of info on the small town and area.  Three restaurants were recommended and we were given menus for all three.  We went back to the boat and read through the material to decide what we would do.

DELTAVILLE

What a quiet little place.  We backed into our slip and from the wheel house have a great view of the great Rappaponock River and the nearby marinas in our little cove called Broad Creek.  There are three other boats at the docks here but they look like no one is in the boats or are out for the day.  This seems like it will be a nice quiet day and night after all the activity in Norfolk.

 We browsed through all the info on the area that the Dozier’s Marine gave us.  We decided that we’d take the “courtesy car” and see the town and pick up a few groceries.

The “courtesy car” is an old station wagon with phony wood exterior paneling.  There are a few door handles missing and when you turn the engine on several lights come on telling you all the things you are low on, like oil, fuel and water or things that need servicing.  The gas tank is on “E” for empty but we proceed ahead anyway thinking it must be broken.  There’s all kinds of junk in the back and trash that’s probably been there for years.  We don’t care; it’s a free car to see the town.   

We all pile in, including Ziggy and head out on the long gravel driveway heading towards the one main road in town.  We’re following the zeroxed map with different places scrawled on them by the dock master.  All the major things, like the grocery store, marine store, Nautical Museum, row of old houses, the three restaurants to check out and the coffee place.  It’s a good list and will be fine for our needs.

As we travel down the narrow barely two lane road passing by the lushest green fields I’ve ever seen.  There are masses of trees here and there and small modest houses.  This is a big boating area and we imagine that most of the people’s livelihood is supported by the boat yards as we can’t see any other means.  There is NOTHING touristy about this place.  It’s the REAL thing.  We pass several simple churches of different denominations that might have a small spire or two to photograph.  They seem to dominate buildings here.  There are no City Halls or historical inns like others places south on our trip to admire.  We end up as usual at West Marine.  Is there anyplace in the world left that a darn West Marine hasn’t taken over?  We thought of all places we might find a real traditional chandlery but no, just another typical West marine.  We buy a few necessary oil type things and I managed to find a cute nautical throw and we pile back into the car again.  The people that worked there were friendly and in no hurry and customers came in to catch up on local gossip or news.  They talked to us endlessly about Ziggy asking all sorts of questions about him.  I had a hard time convincing them that Ziggy wasn’t friendly with strangers and please stay back.  They were nice people and we enjoyed our time there.

We decided to take an un diagramed side trip on a back road to get a glimpse of the anchorage area that our friends from “Ocean Bear” had anchored in a few nights ago.  I’m glad we did because we saw that there was more to this little village than what the main road showed.  Not chic shops or cafes but little coves with many boats tucked in, beautiful picturesque quiet coves. There were lots of old wooden piers and pilings and many of the pilings were piled high with twigs and stuff.  They were Osprey nests and were filled with huge baby Ospreys.  They seemed really too big to still be in the nest getting a free meal.  We saw some lovely homes overlooking the coves, modest and conservative in looks with large hilly lawns rolling down to the water that looked inviting and comforting.  This was the slow life of the Chesapeake. 

We headed back to the main road as we didn’t want to take too much advantage of the “courtesy car” and headed to the one grocery store in town.  It was the size of a mini mart.  But we were diverted first as we saw a sign posted in front of a lush green corn field that said “Fresh Corn” and other produce for sale.  We found the nearby farm and were delighted when the woman who was just locking the doors and closing up at 4:00 decided to open for us.  Another couple of women pulled up in a car too and came in.  The lady working there took us through their warehouse to the back cooler and we all went in and could pick whatever produce we wanted.  I grabbed 6 “picked today” corn on the cobs and followed her back to the front warehouse where some other items were in farm baskets. It was all very rustic and what you would imagine from an old farm.  There was an old 6’ diameter metal “coke sign” nailed to the wall that kind of anchored the place. 

I picked out a fresh cantaloupe that I had seen the Central American workers loading into boxes out front, so I was sure they were fresh.  I threw in some not too great looking tomatoes but I have high hopes for them if I put them in the sun for a couple days.   I was drawn to the other side of the room by the wooden shelves that were loaded with home made jellies and relishes.  I grabbed several, two being sweet onion relishes and spicy tomato jam.  I thanked the woman for opening up for me and headed out the door to get to the grocery store.

We picked up a few necessary items and headed back to the boat, not without a stop by “Lovers Lane” which had all the historical houses as we were told by the dockmaster.  They were few and modest but very country like in that they were not huddled close together but genuinely down a country lane.  No curbs in this place, grass and flowers grow to the edge and if there are two cars coming, you must make way so both can get by.

We perused the menus from the three recommended restaurants and decided on Tobey’s.  We drove by all three and it looked the cutest.  It was nestled back in the woods with many wild flowers.  It was a cute little cottage that had a friendly feel.  We called to make reservations and asked if someone could come and pick us up.  The girl that answered, at first didn’t know if they could pick us up, but someone in the background said “yes”.

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At 6:30 that evening, a girl drove down the long gravel road and picked us up.  She wasn’t very talkative but from the books in the back of the car I knew she was a student at the local community college.  We found out she had lived there all her life and was now studying to be a nurse.  We were the only customers there for dinner.  I guess we were early.  The friendly bar was close by our table.  A few of the locals were having a few drinks and then heading home.  Our waitress turned out to be our driver.  We had a reasonable meal, nothing to brag about and we went back early.  The waitress said when we were ready, to walk out the front door, and she would pick us up.  Which was true, she was right there.  I over heard her tell her only other customer that came in after us that she had to take us back but would be right  back.  Now this is backcountry!

It was peaceful and quiet when we got back.  The dusk was setting and the sky was a light shade of pink and mauve.  The water out into the bay was flat glass and the channel markers were very distinct on the gray silver water.  We saw a waterman boat slowing coming in the channel with his running lights on as it was just getting dark.  We took Ziggy for a long walk down the forest lined road and I said to Larry, enjoy the peacefulness tonight because it may be the quietest we will experience for the rest of the summer.

The next day, Larry talked the dock master into letting us take the car to Urbanna,  which we did, and on the way back we stopped at the boat museum.  It was off the country road called “Lover’s Lane”.  We found the sign for the boat museum and headed down the gravel path to where several cars were parked.  Many people were busy on the grassy lawns under the shelter of big old oak trees making wooden boats.  The boats were all the same style and size, small-skiff-like.  Wooden Boat Magazine was sponsoring it.  There were fine examples of workmanship of an almost lost art.  Children, parents and grandparents alike were all busy having fun and working together.  Some kids were swimming off the wooden dock below at the creek.  It was a real family activity.

 We couldn’t leave Deltaville without driving out to Stingray Point that overlooks the Chesapeake Bay.  The wind was blustery and we were surprised to see the rough sea and white caps.  The cluster of small cottages here were different from the others in town or nearby Fisherman’s cove.  This was a more wind blown area and the houses were clustered to take advantage of the view of the Chesapeake. While the back woods and creek areas were peaceful and serene this was more adventurous.  This was where Capt John Smith had been bit by a stingray and his foot swelled to an enormous size and turned purple.  It’s said he thought he was going to die and had his crew dig him a grave.  He supposedly sat at the foot of the grave with this feet dangling in waiting to die when the swelling subsided and he got better.  That night when we went back to the boat, we were gazing into the water below the docks watching the many nettles of jelly fish when a big brown stingray swam by. 

URBANNA

 Larry managed to sweet talk the dock manager in Deltaville into letting us use the “courtesy car” for another afternoon to go see Urbanna.  Since they said there wasn’t much to see there, same with the waitress last night, we thought it would be easier to just drive the 20 miles there instead of taking the boat all the way up the river to see it.

We spent the morning vacuuming and housecleaning, and making cobbler with two boxes of fresh blueberries that I needed to use before they got too ripe.  Once those things were done, we all packed into the car and headed up the small country road to see what there was to see.  The landscape is so lush and beautiful here.  We were amazed to see field after field of head high corn and the low dark green soy bean bushes.  As we drove past the thick masses of pine, oak, and maple trees, the landscape would open up into these rich pristine nearly perfect rows of corn.  Each field had a small modest white farm house and barn perched on a high spot.  Some were very old and colonial with long grass driveways leading up to them.  It was picture perfect.   We were amazed by how many churches we saw.  There were more churches than gas stations or grocery stores by 10 to one.  They were small and simple and they varied from Episcopal, to Christ Church, to Baptist.  Some were brick with white pointed steeples and others were white clap board with oddly tall towers with very tall pointed tops and turned up corners at the roofs.  Many had old graveyards huddled by the church with old gravestone markers tilting in different directions so different from our contemporary massive, slick, impersonal headstones of today.

There were no frills in this countryside. We saw no touristy cafes, or chic shops, but instead an occasional lot with farm machinery for sale and churches, churches, churches.  It was a nice 45 minute drive in our old heap of a station wagon that seemed to float up and down the highway probably because the suspension system was gone.  Each time it went over a dip it would bounce several more times in a delayed slow motion.  I was thinking it could use some new stabilizers.  I found an old musical tape amongst the rubbish left on the floor of the “courtesy car”.  It was probably left over from others who have borrowed this car.  It was the sound track from “THE CIVIL WAR SERIES”.  We put it in and the music was somehow appropriate to our drive.  It put us back in time. 

This time we filled the tank, as we had no idea how much gas was in the car because none of the gauges seemed to work.  Thank goodness the air conditioning was about the only thing that worked well because it was beastly hot.  We were unconcerned about all the red warning signs on the dash.

As we got closer, the area became more heavily settled with houses.  We crossed a bridge taking us over the Urbanna River and saw the picturesque harbor of Urbanna.  There were many antique boat houses and across to the other side the shore was graced by grass covered hilled banks graced with lovely houses and each seemed to have its own small rustic wooden dock.

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The road curved into the little down, much like a carriage trail.  It was a town set on a hill in the niche of the river.   We noticed first a wonderful church, pristinely maintained and some lovely colonial houses.  The town itself was small and pretty intact with its historical buildings.  We drove up and down the two or three short streets that made up the town.   We then headed down the small steep road to the marina and had lunch at the Boathouse Café on the dock. 

We had Ziggy and had to eat out on the picnic benches outside, though they had a nice restaurant inside with A/C.  It was fine though even though it was incredibly hot as the waitresses took good care of us bringing us lots of ice water (for Ziggy too) and ice tea.   We had a funny little lunch.  Mine was the special of the day:  shrimp salad with cooked carrots, potatoes, shrimp and mayonnaise with French fries.  I think I’ve decided that the Virginians cook in a heavy style.  We’ve not been able to find so called healthy light food yet.  Even my rock fish last night was covered in heavy bacon and onion sauce.

We walked through the neat old boat storage buildings.  There was something really wonderful about the place.  I found a couple old antique boats inside.  The wooden walkways in the boat house were old and bowing down in the middle from wear. 

We drove up through the small town and admired the old inns that were now B&Bs.  We stopped and poked around in a few of their cute shops.  Though there are few it takes you awhile to see them because in each shop the shopkeepers are so friendly that you spent lots of time talking in each shop.  The rumor about Virginian or Southern hospitality is true, but especially here.  The shops were cute.  One shop on the main corner of town was the oldest operating store in the village and probably the oldest fro many miles around.  It was an old general store and they still had the tall floor to ceiling shelves with the rolling ladder and old wood and glass counters.  They still had original thread displays and bolts of fabric displayed the same way it has been for a century.  In the back they had contemporary clothing and dishes.  It was great to walk over those old would floors and see the store still functioning successfully with the old displays and equipment.

It was worth the drive and certainly had a lot more to offer than Deltaville in respects to a village, stores, and restaurants.  We had to finish the visit off with an ice cream cone in the old soda shop before we headed back.

NOW on to IRVINGTON