East Coast Travels

10/14 to 10/?? 2007

We're working our way south from Annapolis. Visiting places we've seen before, but new to Ariel, and visiting spots we'd bypassed on earlier trips. Trying to take things a little slower this time.

We plan to post and update at least weekly. We move the older portions of the log to secondary pages accessible at the bottom of the page. Join our voyage!

Updated on 10/31/2007

10/14/07 - We departed 8:30am for Tangier Island. I really wanted to show Miles and Laureen the island... it has a culture that reflects its early isolation. They still speak with an Elizabethan influence. After a 40 mile motor trip on calm seas with no wind, we arrived at the island at 2:30pm under sunny skies. Enroute we passed several barges and ships - including a ship that ran aground years ago and is now used as a target range by the military. We walked the narrow streets of this fishing town, viewed the graves in the front yards (land is precious here), and explored the watermen's docks on stilts over the water. We had a quick late snack at a local sandwich shop - it was great. We strained to understand the older folks and even the teens. Words were similar, yet different in pronunciation. Sentence structure often demanded our concentrated effort to decipher. Yet it was English - from another era. 10/15/07- Woke this morning to the sounds of a fishing village going to work, the wine of outboards and throaty purr of the diesel vessels provided a background for the human voices calling greetings and instructions across the water. 5am, dark and chilly - time to go to work. I got up and turned on the diesel heater to take the chill off the boat... very nice! By 6am the harbor was still - the boats that were going out were gone. Many vessels remained secured between the pilings that defined their slips. We'd noticed the signs of a shrinking industry the day before. Naked pilings that a year ago supported a waterman's base now gone, jumbled rusty traps on what had been an active working pier. Park had related how the young-un's were having to turn to shipping jobs to support their families. Rather than crab they were deckhands and masters of tugs and workboats. We headed for Onancock at noon when the tidal current slowed enough for us to back out of our slips. Miles dredged a new channel for Park. Mid afternoon we were anchored in Onancock. Ruth worked for a while on the phone, then we all took a walk around town. Onancock is the second largest city on this side of the Chesapeake. That said, it's about the size on New London. Still it was an interesting walk with the old Victorian and plantation type homes. After the walk we went dinghy exploring in the fingers of the waterway - finding osprey, herons and a variety of water birds. 10/16/07 - Woke up to 56 degrees and clear skies. No wind, another motorboat ride. Another Adventure and Fourth Watch left at 8am with Ariel planning to leave a half hour later and catching up. All went well until Ariel found a lump in the channel and came to a quick stop. After a few minutes of working at it a fishing boat wake bounced them free. With that delay we were able to stay ahead of them until a half hour from Deltaville. At Deltaville Marina we fueled, took on water and bought oil and filters for the engine. After anchoring Ruth and I went beach glassing and turned up only 4 pieces. I think the sand is too mobile here for glass to collect where you can see it. Poor Ruthie, she was so looking forward to a couple of hours of serious digging now that her cold is retreating. 10/17/07 - A beautiful sunrise announced the day. We left at 8 for the York River and Yorktown - about a 35 mile hop. Ruth and I are enjoying the slower pace. We normally ran 60+ miles a day when we headed North or South. This is way nicer. By 2pm we were anchored across from York River Yacht Haven marina where Ariel had taken a slip. It was a beautiful day to travel but again no wind for sailing. We'll likely spend 3 days here, touring Yorktown (anniversary of Cornwall's surrender 300 years ago) and visiting Williamsburg. Miles took the girls shopping for provisions while Bob and I did maintenance on our boats. My job for the afternoon was topping off the batteries with distilled water. When Ruth got back she helped me go to the top of the mast to straighten the wind vane... must have had a big bird land on it. 10/18/07 - The sun rose on a sultry still harbor forecasting a hot day. Clouds were building on the western horizon, promising rain. I visited Ariel for a while in the morning to see how the serviceman was doing on replacing then CV joint bearing that Miles had noticed was failing. We may be here longer than planned waiting for parts. At this point it is unknown whether it was a bad bearing, misalignment or too much belt tension on the alternator. Heavy showers gave AA a nice rinse after lunch. Didn't do much for the oppressive humidity though. 10/19/07 - Overcast this morning reflecting a forecast for rain today. We had high humidity and sprinkles most of the morning. A good morning for reading. Miles rented a car and we all went to Yorktown for the afternoon. It was interesting walking through the homes and businesses of the period surrounding the revolutionary war. There were a few residents "in period" and it was fun talking with them about their lives. We also took a tour of a USCG cutter, getting a glimpse of its capabilities and the conditions the crew lived in. The Executive officer and one of the crew were planning on living on sailboats and had a lot of questions for us once they learned we were cruisers. Could have spent a day on that vessel. We got back to our boat about 5:30 - Buddy had kept it in good shape. 10/20/07 -  Miles drove us to Williamsburg today. We arrived about 10 am and spent the day immersed in the revolutionary war era. What a treat! The weather was cool and clear, ideal for a day in an outdoor living museum. Miles was picked from the audience to serve as a magistrate during a mob mock trial. Whoops - I thought he was going to argue for the defendant. I was surprised by the relative grandeur of the homes of the leaders of society in that period. The enactments brought to life the feelings of the peoples involved - masters, slaves, shop keepers. It gave me a new perspective on the period. With sore feet and backs we returned to our boats at dusk. I grilled a pork loin while Ruth made mashed potatoes and corn - an excellent meal to finish the day. 10/21/07 - A sunny Sunday morning, low 60's. The group went to go to Jamestown as part of our Revolutionary Period re-education program (fancy words for waiting for Ariel's parts). Ruth and I bowed out for a boat maintenance day. I sewed a sewing table for the cockpit that will allow me to handle larger projects... i.e. the new bimini, while Ruth cleaned and wax the interior. I also repaired the screen in our companionway door. A flaw in the original screen developed into a tear. Then we ganged up on washing the sides of the hull - got the coastal smile off the bow and stern. A beautiful day for projects. Buddy was in top form - I think he liked having the flock around after several days alone while we went touring. 10/22/07 - I started my morning fresh water rinsing the sides of AA's hull while Ruth made phone calls and sent e-mails. Then Ruth and I waxed the hull. By 3pm we were finished. The boat looks really nice now. Miles and Laureen came by in their dinghy and talked us into going exploring. We traveled a couple of miles up two of the branches of our little harbor. Miles is waiting for info on his alternator pto. Mack Boring, the US Yanmar distributor doesn't see the unit Miles sent in so they are trying to find parts to rebuild it. At dusk we were sitting in the cockpit with a glass of wine enjoying sundown when the lilting sound of bagpipes filled the evening air. A piper was standing on the deck of a boat anchored next to us saluting the departing sun. It was one of those magic moments you couldn't script. After several songs the piper stopped and applause filled the harbor along with call for an encore. The piper obliged with one more song. Moments like this are priceless. 10/23/07 - Wisconsin sailing buddies Scott and Amy sent Miles a short recap of their summer on Green Bay - complete with photos. Kewl! It was great to see how their sons have grown without the parents aging one bit. Big smiles on everyone's faces, must have been a fun summer. The 23rd was another beautiful day. I took measurements for a couple of small jobs and washed the area under the forward berth where I store sewing supplies. I need a few supplies but will wait until I am somewhere I can receive them. Miles reports his rebuilt PTO may arrive as soon as tomorrow. We're getting cabin fever from being here a week. The side tours helped a lot. Just before dusk a 47' sailboat grounded in the harbor - Bill & Linda Wade on Morningstar out of New England. Ruth and I went over to give them a hand, learning that they had also wound their dinghy line into their propeller. We quickly got them off the mud bar and moved to safe anchorage. The line in the prop will have to wait until tomorrow. 10/24/07 - We started the morning providing moral support for Bill as he dove and cut away the dinghy line from their prop. Success! In about half an hour he had the line cut free was back onboard noting that the water was actually pretty nice though cloudy. I set up my sewing machine and made a pair of boat blanket fenders for Ariel so Miles can lift the dinghy out of the water alongside without scratching the dark green hull. Hot, humid day with occasional showers - not nice.  but we've been blessed with so many great days. Late afternoon we noted black clouds building along the horizon and decided to re-anchor further from shore to give us more sea room if we started to drag. The storm turned out to be heavy rain with little wind. 10/25/07 - It rained heavily all night, we saw animals gathering in pairs along the banks. It rained off and on all day as the winds increased. Ariel's parts came and were installed so we can leave tomorrow weather permitting. Miles noted it was time I published an update as people were e-mailing him to find out what he was up to. Ruth got her hair cut this morning. It is the shortest I've ever seen it, a couple of inches above her shoulders. Took 10 years off her... wow! If my wife catches me with this fox... We dragged anchor in strong wind gusts just before dusk. Good thing we'd moved further from shore the day before. The bottom here is soft black muck and doesn't hold well. The wind had clocked 90 degrees during the afternoon and that was probably just enough to disrupt the anchor - even with a 5:1 scope of 3/8" heavy chain. We quickly reset and monitored our position to make sure we weren't just plowing another rut in the bottom. Won't sleep well tonight if the wind keeps up. 10/26/07 -  Bad news is it's another gray rainy day. Good news is that in spite of a windy night we are where we anchored. By 9am we had fueled, taken on water and pumped out the other stuff. We headed down the York River with the wind on our nose. As we got into the Chesapeake we were able to put up some sail, running mid-range to allow Fourth Watch to keep up.  Ariel ran ahead to Point Comfort. All morning we ran with radar on as waves of showers swept over us, frequently dropping visibility to several boat lengths. Even with radar we had a couple of surprises as pleasure boats don't always show up well, particularly in heavy rain. We had one shower end to reveal a Grand Banks trawler 100 yards off our port side. He had quit running and was bobbing in the rain. As we entered Hampton Roads we converged with a warship and throttled back to honor his security zone. The sky lightened, promising better weather. As we readied to drop anchor at Point Comfort the sky unzipped and doused us. What the hey, I was soaked already so I went forward and deployed the anchor. A good towel down and dry clothes and I was as good as new - probably smelled better too. 10/27/07 - Rained on and off all night. As we got up in the morning it started raining even harder. Ugly. Boat sure is getting a thorough rinse though. We blew off our anchor again (twice in 48 hours) when the wind did a 180 and gusted into the high 20's. Go to make sure we back down on the anchor after a dramatic wind shift like that. I think we pass over the anchor and flip it out. Leaving Old Point Comfort we passed Chuck Morrell's boat, Star Gazer. No one was home so we didn't get a chance to say hi. We motored 18 miles through Norfolk and caught the 3pm locking at Deep Creek, the entrance into the Dismal Swamp. We tied to the dock above the look for the night and had happy hour on AA. Ruth did treats... was great to get together. 10/28/07 - We ran the Dismal and found more limbs on the bottom than our last trip. Ariel was last in line and the deepest (6'). They cut more wood than Paul Bunyan. Miles and Laureen have sworn off the Dismal (at the least they can lay claim to having cleared it). We probably won't run it again unless it gets de-snagged. We followed them the last 5 miles - they reported a much cleaner run whereas we hit all the stuff they upset. We stopped at the Visitor's Center 5 miles before the lock at the lower end of the Dismal. We had 3-4 boats pass by southbound while our gathering grew to 12 sailboats. It was fun to catch up with folks we've met in Maine and Annapolis. We anchored for the night above Goat Island - 3' on the chart but in reality 8-10'. Ruth offered to make a shrimp stir-fry for all and I taxied the other 2 crews to AA as it is so much easier for us to launch the dinghy and engine. Had a very enjoyable evening. 10/29/30 - Monday dawned clear, windy and high 40's thanks to a Canadian high filling in. We motored the few miles into the city docks at Elizabeth City... catching up with several boats we'd met along the way. Wore  my winter gloves for the first time this trip. We arrived in Elizabeth City at 10am and spent the day meeting other boaters, shopping for groceries and walking around town. A local retired teacher had brought his yellow naped Amazon parrot down to the waterfront. (Pickles) While the teacher read, the parrot hung out on a low branch of a nearby crabapple tree happily munching away. I treated Ruth to the Carolina Dinner Theater. A large group of boaters went including our small flotilla. We were seated at tables for 4 on a series of terraces that comprised the back half of the theater. After we'd ordered and eaten the theater showed The Kingdom - a movie with so much action you left with your senses battered.

Approaching Tangier Island Dawn in the village Early sun lights docks We'd visited Tangier Island before and wanted to share it with our little flotilla. It was nice to see the island little changed since our last visit, yet sad to see a couple more of the watermen's dock gone. Miles was a little freaked about water depths as indicated on the charts. It turned out that the water was deeper due to dredging. He didn't like the narrow slips at all. Ariel fit with a mere inch on each side. Someone asked how he got in and he responded that I'd put Mazola oil on the pilings so Ariel would slide by them. Hey, I'd promised quaint, not palatial. Park's Marina is operated by Milt Park, a lifetime islander. He gave us a tour of Tangier on his golf cart noting that the population was about half what it was when he graduated from school over 55 years ago (600 today versus 1200). He attributed a lot of the change to smaller families. One to two children versus seven to eight... "Women just don't have children anymore". Some of the decline is from children not staying and families moving away. A living piece of history is ebbing away. On an interesting environmental note - Milt noted that the bay use to freeze frequently - strong enough to walk on. That last happened in 1970. Loading crab pots, Tangier Island Miles, Laureen, Bob & Paula explore Crew at Yorktown battleground Magistrate Miles sworn in Governor arrives Governor's mansion - Williamsburg Patriots march in the Colonies Fourth Watch in Norfolk Ariel passing Portsmouth (Norfolk) Leaving Norfolk behind Elizabeth City is boater friendly New Ruth takes time to...

Visit earlier portions of our east coast travels...