After a morning pump-out of our waste system, we were away at 7:20 headed for the Eastern Shore. Wind on the stern all morning made for challenging steering, but the deeper water after the first hour really helped. The Bay is so darn shallow that much of the time you are in 20 feet of water or less.
Judie found a shady spot on our porch just behind the bridge, sitting facing backwards, and camped out for the trip. She saw lots of what looked like some sort of ray or skate, some turtles, and a large pod of dolphins.
Made the Onancock Creek entrance about 11;00 and enjoyed the ride up to town at the head of the creek. About 4 miles of the prettiest ride we have had. A good mix of house sizes, but all very well kept. Yards and seawalls in pristine condition - from our point of view.
The marina is small but rebuilt after Sandy with new office/shower/laundry facilities and many new docks. The harbor master is retired Microsoft and claims to have a large block of Linked-In stock. Talked about donating $6 mil to renovate the rest of the docks. Good restaurant next door - Mallards. We shared fish tacos for lunch.
In the afternoon we walked into town. Many older homes from late 1800's but somebody got a sale on vinyl windows and siding and many have been, what is probably "saved" with these products and it really takes some of the appeal away. Found one house (with a small graveyard in the back) that is for sale - bet you can make a deal on that one. Lots of older or closed stores, but found a great antique place with lots of building supplies from, probably, all the renovations that were done. Also a great old bank converted to a coffee shop and bistro. Stopped at the Blarney Stone Pub for a beer about 3:30 and left some time after dinner!
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| Mike, outside the Blarney Stone Pub, resting up for the walk back to the marina. |
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| Where Judie wants to put Gerry! |
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| Lots of pretty flowers |
Had a real rainstorm about 7:30 - just 5 minutes before we needed to walk back from the showers - wet again! Lots of thunder and lightning and it rained until about 9:30. Ger went out in the middle of it as the wind was stronger than the fenders we had out and needed to double them up to keep the boat off of the pilings. Wet again!
Day 2: After sleeping in again, Judie walked to the bakery for some sticky buns that she had seen yesterday during our touring. She arrived at the bakery at 7:15 only to find out that the buns are not ready until 8:00. So back to the boat, chat a little and back up the hill (half mile walk) to secure the buns! Mmmm good!
Judie, Lois and Mike caught the 9:40 bus to Cape Charles, 32 miles to the south. They stopped at, what seemed to be, every grocery store, post office, gas station, housing project and restaurant along the way.And after their 2 hour ride on public transportation, have a new understanding of the plight of the poor in rural eastern shore Virginia. Lot's of very nice, polite folks; but definitely struggling to keep going. Cape Charles was a bit of a disappointment, with the hardware store being the highlight of the town.
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| The local hardware store |
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| Judie's favorite accessory for her bike. A coconut insulated drink holder! |
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| Ice cream always helps to make a good day. |
Ger meanwhile stayed at the boat to catch up on blogging, plan for the future stops, study charts and establish routes - just historian and navigator duties. Had to do much of the work in the laundry room at the "folding" table to utilize the weak wifi signal - as I am now! Went back to Mallards for a light dinner and then to the old time movie theater in town for "The Million Dollar Arm" - nice upbeat movie.
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| Judie returning with her sticky buns. |
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| Looking out at he Onancock Creek from the boat. |
We decided to stay an extra day for two reasons. 1. the weather forecast calls for rain all day today - mostly wrong so far. and 2. Charles the harbormaster gave us a free nights slip rental! Had homemade bread from the bakery for breakfast followed by a trip to the farmer's market for veggies and fruit. Judie doing some laundry as I write this and then headed to the historic Ker House for a quick tour.
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