From Anchorage to Chesapeake Anchorage

In response to Judie's comment where she asked how the beautiful Dismal Swamp got such a name - the word dismal means swamp - Here's a definition:
Dismal (noun): Southern U.S. a tract of swampy land, usually along the coast.

Monday, May 11th: Hampton River, VA (SW side of the Chesapeake)

After 2 days in the Dismal Swamp canal, and many more moving along the ICW in warm temps with the wind at our back, today we felt as though we were emerging from La-La Land into the big cold world. This morning in Deep Creek pond (where we had tied up at the wall), it was cloudy and the air was cool. By 9:00 we were through the Deep Creek lock and traveling up the Elizabeth River - past the mammoth naval ships, and through the harbour at Norfolk. When we moved into the open water of the Chesapeake, we were met with cold wind on our nose and big waves crashing against the bow. As Sea Change rode up waves and crashed down, Barb hailed us - did we want to continue fighting our way forward for another 1 1/2 hrs. to Salt Pond as planned or bail out somewhere? - but where? On the trip south, Bob and I had gone up the Hampton River for our visit with the Woolseys - Bob suggested that we could nip in there, escape the rough water and anchor for the night. For a while we continued bucking the waves but finally gave up and, early in the afternoon the three boats (Plumpuppet, Sandcastle and Sea Change) turned to port and headed up the river where we squeezed into a narrow anchorage along the channel surrounded by condos and marinas, and big shrimp boats.

Once anchored we did the breakfast and lunch dishes - washing up less often saves water - we think :) - I baked banana bread and Bob studied the engine manual. He suspects that the propeller is "cavitating" but jokes that he doesn't know what the word means. After dinner, we sat up top and had coffee and coconut cake (bought, not made), read our murder mysteries until it got cold and then retreated below so as to close up the boat and turn on the heater. Now, I'm writing my blog and Bob is listening to a Leonard Cohen CD and to all the words in all of the songs. Such are the pleasures of an evening at anchor.

And finally - It seems that we'd forgotten about the Chesapeake. Those big waves were a bit of a shock. NOW we remember!

Tuesday, May 12th: Heading to Onancock, VA (SE side of Chesapeake)










Yesterday we left Hampton and continued north (still on the east side) weaving our way through long lines of crab traps until we reached Mobjack Bay. From there, we moved up into the Severn, one of four rivers that feed into the bay, and anchored in a pretty and peaceful spot - well protected and surrounded by trees with a few homes nestled in among them. As soon as the anchor was set, we lowered our dinghy to do a little exploring. It was sunny and the weather had warmed a little - so we crept up a nearby creek to see the homes and woods (a golf course hidden behind) and then whizzed over the bay in a lovely fresh breeze. We stopped to watch an osprey sitting on her nest and chirping - yes - an Osprey's call is a "chirp" - a rather innocuous sound for a bird of prey. I'd been taking pictures of nests with Ospreys all day and when I zoomed in with my camera, I was also seeing a second Osprey head peeking just over the top of the nest. Was this a rather big baby?, I wondered, but Sue from Hydrotherapy has since told me that the second head more likely belonged to the other parent who sitting on the eggs - the female, I guess - do males ever sit on eggs?

Friday, May 15th: Ornancock (try to say that without tripping!), VA

On Wednesday, we up anchored at 6:30 a.m. and began the 50 nautical mile trip across the Bay to an anchorage up the Ornancock River and beside the town of Ornancock. Anchorages on the Chesapeake are often beautiful but, more often than not, you have to travel for miles up a river into a bay, to reach them. The same holds true for the many picturesque towns up and down the Bay. The air temperature was in the low to mid 70s, and the water, flat calm making for an uneventful 10 hour trip. Our chief entertainment, other than dodging crab traps, was watching the various small fishing boats with watermen (Chesapeake fishermen) pulling and emptying their traps or speeding along with traps piled high on the deck of their boats.

We wanted to take the ferry yesterday from Ornancock to Tangier Island where we there is a community of watermen and their families. The culture on the Island and the neighbouring Smith Island are said have changed less over time than similar communities on the mainland. We thought briefly of taking our boats into Tangier but the water there is shallow and we would have had to wait until high tide to get into and out of the harbour. Since the ferry hadn't started it's summer schedule and wasn't running until today, we have stayed the extra day and in the meantime, made the long long walk to the laundromat (good to have that done!), and also tried out a couple of the local pubs for drinks and dinner along with Sandcastle, Hydrothery (Bill and Sue) and Plumpuppet.

We're taking a ferry to Tangier at 2 this afternoon. We're told that we can buy soft shell crabs on the island for a good price. Those are the crabs that you fry whole: claws, shell and all and you eat them that way as well. I've had them, but although they are tasty enough, I still have to give myself a pep talk before I begin to chew.

There's a small craft wind warning for tomorrow so we'll have to decide whether to venture out onto the Bay or stay yet another day. We've picked out another spot to anchor further north but back on the east side near Reedville. It's only a 30 mile run and will break up the long voyage to our next logical stop at Solomons.

I don't seem to be able to upload pictures on this Internet signal I've picked up from the boat so will add a few pictures another time.