It’s rainy and windy Wednesday, and we’re thinking “south”. Thus, the trek begins with a passage from Galesville to Solomon’s Island, a sail of about 45 miles. Despite the gloomy weather, we have a wonderful breeze off our beam and are making great time down the Bay. It’s tempting to keep going, but we know we can find a secure anchorage in the nearby Mill Creek so we pull in for the night. The rain picks up to a downpour just as Burt begins to drop the anchor. He gets soaked, we get set, and it’s down below for the remainder of the night.
The next day is equally gloomy and the wind is directly on our nose, so we motor the entire way into Deltaville in building waves. It’s a bumpy 50 mile ride, made more unpleasant by the fact that we are concerned about our alternator and don’t feel comfortable using the additional power necessary to run the autopilot. We pull into Jackson Creek, drop anchor, and enjoy the peace and quiet, a glass of wine, and a partially clearing sky in time for sunset. Once our minds clear we realize the alternator problem was merely an accidentally flipped switch; the system works just fine. As an added plus we see our first pelicans, one of our favorite water birds.
We plan to spend a lay over day in Deltaville but notice all the other boats in the anchorage are taking off. A quick check of the weather indicates that today would be a better traveling day than tomorrow. So, we get a late start for our next destination, Norfolk. The lesson here is to check multiple sources of weather and not be sucked into decisions by the acts of other boats. Once we get out on to the Bay we see winds on our nose in excess of 30 knots. The square waves are building to huge proportions for the Chesapeake. A further check of weather shows that our initial source got it all wrong. We power on, sometimes making as little as 2 knots to our destination. It’s time for Plan B. We study the charts and find a little creek that will be well protected from the strong SW winds. Several hours later we negotiate the intricate entrance to the Poquoson River and Chisman Creek. We are the only transient boat here; the shoreline hosts homes and a few small marinas, but the bottom line is that this is a real quiet place. A cold front has gone through and we enjoy a beautiful sunset in clearing skies.
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| Sunset at Chisman Creek |
The next day is almost as windy so we decide to motor up the York River to Yorktown. It’s less than ten miles in open water so the discomfort level is no where near that of yesterday. We pull up to the waterfront municipal docks with the harbormaster and another boater helping with docklines in the swift current and strong wind. Things go smoothly, and we are not even completely tied up when the announcement is made for Happy Hour at 5:00. The other two visiting boats are trawlers and our past experiences indicate that trawler owners are very friendly and sociable people. This is going to be a fun stop. Besides the two trawlers, there are two resident tall ships at the dock along with the Godspeed, a replica of Capt. John Smith’s boat that brought the original settlers to nearby Jamestown.
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| Godspeed and Exuberant share a dock at Yorktown |
The Godspeed is in port as part of the anniversary celebration of the victory at the Battle of Yorktown. She is open for visitors and we make haste to check her out. The crew is in period costumes, and the skipper shares his vast knowledge of 17th century sailing vessels.
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| Godspeed's Captain explains it all as a tall ship sails in the background. |
Next it is time to explore Yorktown proper. The waterfront is fairly new as hurricanes have laid waste to the original structures. It’s tastefully done though, with brick buildings and walkways that mimic the original architecture further inland. We take a several mile walk along the historical Main St. which is reminiscent of Williamsburg, albeit on a smaller scale.
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| View of historic Main St. in Yorktown |
We then venture on to the plains where the Battle of Yorktown actually occurred. There isn’t much to see other than grass covered battlements. Yet, the interpretive markers inform us of the significant impact the French navy and militia had on the American victory. All this is commemorated with a majestic memorial to the battle.
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| Monument commemorating the Battle of Yorktown |
We just make it back in time for our 5:00 appointment. We enjoy chatting with our new trawler friends, comparing experiences and plans for the future. As with so many encounters, there’s a good chance we will meet up with them again this winter. And to top the evening off right, we splurge on a dinner out at the nice waterfront restaurant. Yorktown has been a very pleasant diversion.
It’s Sunday and we make an early departure for Norfolk. The weather reflects the recent cold front; we have clear blue skies and a decent breeze, this time from a good direction. Once we clear the York River, we set sails and enjoy a wonderful reach down to Norfolk. On the way, we see our first dolphins of the cruise. There is a pod of around ten either putting on a show for our pleasure or in a feeding frenzy – sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference. They stay with us for about five minutes and at one point three leap from the water in unison; it’s almost as if we are at a show at Sea World.
Now we are now dancing with the big boys as traversing the Norfolk area in a small boat is an interesting experience. We are dodging freighters and container ships. One, over 1000 feet long, is pointed right at us in close proximity. It would be a frightening experience, but we are in water 15 feet deep and from our AIS we learn the ship draws 38 feet. If it didn’t turn soon, which it did, it would have been in a heap of trouble long before it could ever touch us.
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| Huge container ship - note the size of the sailboat off its stern |
We continue down the Elizabeth River, past the Norfolk Naval Base and it’s collection of every conceivably sized naval vessels, past several container freight terminals, past some huge drydocks filled with boats under repair, to our anchorage for the night.
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| Aircraft carriers at Norfolk Naval Base |
We drop anchor across from the renovated waterfront of Norfolk and a docked Carnival cruise ship. Once again, we and the many other boats in this designated anchorage are dwarfed by our surroundings. We are at Mile 0 of the Intercoastal Waterway (ICW) and will stay here for a day or two as we try to get a problem with our battery charger rectified.
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| Our neighbor at the Norfolk anchorage - music went non-stop! |
