Bay Lights, Crossing the Potomac, Flies and Solomons Island, Merryland

Bavarian Cream in Deltaville

We had only planned on spending 3 days in Deltaville then moving on to the Solomons, MD. However, the morning of the fourth day it rained and was overcast, so we opted for another day in port. Most of the fellow boaters and loopers we had encountered over the weekend had moved on, and we pretty much had the marina to ourselves. We rode our bikes into town, because Jane wanted to get some more strawberries at a produce stand we had seen. The stand was out of strawberries, but we did get some really nice melons, tomatoes, and peaches. We rode our bikes to West Marine to pick up a new American flag as ours had started to tear apart. After stopping at a delicatessen for lunch, and the post office, we headed back to the boat and read our books, had dinner, and watched another of Todd's movies.

Smith Point Light

Point Lookout Light

The next day we left the marina early, because we had to cover around 65 miles to make it to the Solomons. Along the way we encountered some abandoned lighthouses that are now automated. These lights all had a great history in their heyday and they are still really cool to see. Sometimes in the distance they look like large ships on the water and it isn't until you get closer to them that you realize they are not moving, nor are they ships. Around noon two things occurred. One we started to cross the Potomac River, and two, we somehow attracted a large population of biting flies. The mouth of the Potomac is around 10 miles wide from Smith Point, VA to Point Lookout, MD. The weather was sunny and hot with calm winds, and in the heat of the day it seemed that we would never reach the other side. Compounding this situation, we had hordes of large, biting flies that could draw blood in just a few seconds.

Point No Point Light

Jane was wildly thrashing everything with a flyswatter, but it seemed like they had called in reinforcements. We had fly carcasses and blood splatters all over the boat, but finally had to cover ourselves with towels and perform a perpetual shaking motion to get any relief. We got to the Solomons and into our boat slip just as the skies were beginning to darken and signal some afternoon rains. We decided to stay here a week, because our next stop, Annapolis, is all booked up because of the naval academy graduation over the Memorial Day weekend. Besides, just staying put and chilling out is part of the plan!

At the Chesapeake "Bugeye" monument

Historical marker

On the boardwalk

The next day we got our bikes down and rode the length of the island to scout it out. We saw some historical markers and rode on the boardwalk, stopping at a seafood shop where we thought we would buy some fresh seafood for supper. No way, Jose! The prices they were asking were outrageous at $18 for a pound of 16-20 shrimp, and $44 for a dozen blue crabs (which we assume were boiled or steamed with that wimpy Old Bay seasoning). While not Jane's favorite, we decided to go back and cook up the rest of our sea scallops we had purchased in North Carolina. We passed the University of Maryland coastal and estuary studies facility which Capt. Larry knew all about from articles he had read when he was getting his oceanography degree. The Patuxent River, which Solomon's Island borders, is the most studied river in the world with regard to impacts from land use and watershed and drainage basin changes. It was cool to see these facilities firsthand after having read so much about them. We returned to the boat and Capt. Larry made a scallop fettuccine using a prepared alfredo sauce, butter, onions, celery, bell pepper, diced tomatoes, parmesan cheese, and grated cheddar cheese which Jane thought was really great (he's learned that she will eat anything with enough cheese, butter, or bacon!).

The next morning we went to the Calvert Marine Museum on the recommendation of some fellow loopers. We were not disappointed. This is really a great museum and is very well done.

Drum Point light replica

Jane & "Megatooth," a giant Minocene shark

Active museum paleontology lab

They have a replica of the decommissioned Drum Point Lighthouse which warned of shoals at the mouth of the Patuxent River. This was the first "screwpile" lighthouse that we have encountered, and is a construction method is used when soft, muddy bottoms are encountered. The pilings were hand-screwed into the bottom and the lighthouse then constructed on the pilings. Capt. Larry went up into all three levels of the replica. We then toured the museum's exhibits which covered early fossil finds in the area, current Chesapeake Bay wildlife, a really cool display about invasive species, area seafood packing operations and boat building, to modern day military operations at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station. There was something for everyone. Capt. Larry returned to the boat to clean the raw water strainers, while Jane took off to get a pedicure.

Jane's feet soaking it up

From the looks of it, Jane got the better deal! Later that afternoon Rick & Betsy Johnson of Rick and Roll berthed next to us and the four of us joined another looper couple from Sweet Grass for docktails in the picnic area then off to a seafood restaurant for dinner.

The TV lounge with a TV!

Jim Nabors doing his thing!

Capt. Larry's pick wins!

One of the things we were looking forward to for Memorial Day weekend was watching the Indianapolis 500 race on TV. We had given our tickets to Milana & Tracy who were in Indianapolis thoroughly enjoying themselves. Our problem, however, was we didn't have any TV reception on the boat, the marina didn't have cable at the docks, and the "TV lounge" that they advertised didn't have a TV. We befriended one of the dockmasters who told us that we could watch the race with him on satellite TV in the marina office. The marina has great facilities and offers "on demand" shuttle service to anywhere on the island, a pool, and no less than 13 restroom and shower facilities. However, we thought it was odd that they couldn't provide a TV or computer terminal for general use like most of the marinas we have visited. They have some really strong points and some major weak points. Anyway, we arrived at the marina office on race day with food. Buckets of fried chicken, coleslaw, biscuits, and potato chips. It wasn't gourmet fare, but when you are limited as to where you can shop, you do the best you can. We started watching the race preliminaries when the marina staff announced that they had put a TV in the TV lounge especially for us and that we would be much more comfortable there. We arrived with our goodies and took over the lounge much to the chagrin of some readers and young kids who had no interest in open-wheel racing. We shared our food with the marina staff and found the race to be one of the best we have ever watched. Capt. Larry officially picked Dan Wheldon to win and that prognostication turned out to be true. Winning the race on the last lap is always a climactic ending. We returned to the boat and took naps then had dinner and went to bed.

A Deltaville sunset

Doin' Deltaville

Three navy ships directly behind our marina

Big ship in the shipping channel

All types of navy ships

The New Orleans built ship??

Warship 61

Family & crew of Warship 61

An aircraft carrier

Warship 61 underway and Confetti in front

After spending over two weeks in Portsmouth, it was time to move on. We said goodbye to our marina friends and headed into the Chesapeake Bay. The bay is a little over 170 miles long, so our first leg of around 50 miles would take us into Deltaville on the Rappahannock River. But before we entered the bay we got to cruise past the Norfolk Naval Yard. There we so many ships along this stretch that we began to wonder if this couldn't be another Pearl Harbor. There were many different types of ships and, with the exception of the aircraft carriers, we really were not able to discern their function. We saw one ship that we thought we had seen before. It was similar or the same ship as the one that was launched from the Avondale ship yard in New Orleans last fall. We watched this launch on TV and we thought we recalled that the ship was heading for Norfolk, but we couldn't recall the name of the ship. As we proceeded through the shipping channel one of the navy ships announced that "Warship 61 at pier 2, berth 6 was preparing to get underway for all concerned traffic and would be monitoring channels 2, 12, and 16." They announced that it would be about 45 minutes before they got underway. About 15 minutes later we passed the ship in her berth and got to see the sailors and their families on the deck and pier. After we got in the bay we could see the ship in the channel turning to head for the sea. It was really cool to witness this.

Warship 64 in York River channel

Wolf Trap light

The trip up the bay was rather uneventful. We ran about 3-4 miles offshore and outside of the shipping channels. However, when we got to the York River shipping channel we encountered Warship 64 which was very similar to the one we had seen earlier. Then to the northeast we could make out another very similar navy ship that was heading in our direction. It was too far away to identify it, but we began to wonder if there was some naval exercise or operation that was being conducted. It just seemed too coincidental that 3 similar ships would be underway in the same vicinity at the same time. After we crossed the entrance to the York River we encountered light rain for the next couple of hours. We passed the unique Wolf Trap light and made our way to Stingray Point at the entrance of the Rappahannock River. Stingray Point is supposedly the sight where Captain John Smith of the Virginia Company was stung by a stingray that almost killed him. Pocahontas reportedly nursed him back to health and they lived happily ever after.

Throw us somethin', mister!

Upscale houseboat- no white trash here!

Grillin', dinin', and lyin' with the loopers

We got the boat docked and checked into the marina. We were really impressed with Dozier's Regatta Point marina. They had services of every kind, including courtesy cars and bicycles, very clean restrooms, a captain's lounge with satellite TV, propane & charcoal grills, and free coffee, juice doughnuts and a newspaper every morning, all at very reasonable rates. Plus they had a recent hatching of the cutest baby mallard ducks that would beg for breadcrumbs next to your boat. When Jane went to check us in, one of the ducks followed her into the office, and she had to explain that she wasn't with the duck. For staying two nights we got a third night free, so we figured we would be here at least 3 days. The next day we took the courtesy car into town to get some marine supplies and groceries. When we returned we got our bikes down and rode through the countryside trying to find a park on Stingray Point that Capt. Larry thought he had read about, but after an hour of riding into dead end roads we gave up and returned to the boat. We had decided to grill that night and were invited to join some fellow loopers in the picnic area. We traded stories over dinner and had a wonderful time.

We Sightsee Norfolk and Virginia's Eastern Shore

Ferry to Norfolk

With the Moores on Seamoore

It was the weekend and we were supposed to turn in our rental car. We love the marina that we are staying at, but it is right in the middle of the Portsmouth Marine Terminal, and there is not very much to see and do that is within biking distance, let alone walking distance. We decided to extend the rental for another two days over the weekend. On Saturday we drove into downtown Portsmouth and got on a ferry that would take us over to Norfolk.

Should we really go to that museum?

The ferry terminal on the Norfolk side was right next to the marina and meeting place for the AGLCA rendezvous. We spotted Confetti on the way in and decided to look them up. We found several looper boats that we had seen or heard on the radio over the past several weeks. The Laceys were off their boat but right across from them were Carlton & Becky Moore aboard Seamoore, who we had spent several days with in Ft. Pierce. We visited with them and got caught up until the Laceys returned.

At the naval museum

Model of CSS Virginia

Part of the Wisconsin's silver service

Ship's clock from USS Ironsides

Portsmouth lightship museum

We headed off to the Nauticus marine exhibit which also housed the Hampton Roads Naval Museum and the decommissioned battleship the USS Wisconsin.  We felt the marine exhibit would be aimed more towards educating a younger crowd about oceanography and marine biology, so we opted to spend our time in the naval museum. This is likely to be the best naval museum we will encounter on the trip and we really spent a lot of time going through it. The Wisconsin is awesome with her 16 inch guns and proud history. She was the navy's last battleship and saw operations as recently as the Gulf War in the early 1990's. We watched a movie which recreated the sensation of firing the big guns, and it just shook everything in the room. If we were marines landing on a beachhead we would definitely want these babies working for us. We left the museum and ferried back to Portsmouth and returned to the boat. When we got back, Peg & Pete aboard the sailboat Nautilady in the slip next to ours, invited us to a Greek festival that was sponsored by a Greek orthodox church in Norfolk. We often went to a similar festival in Ft. Walton Beach and always had great food and entertainment, so we agreed to go. This festival was much larger than any we had experienced with four food lines that extend for 50-60 yards. Additionally, there was a drive-through line where the cars were lined two abreast for about 40 yards. We had some great Greek food, watched the dancers and musicians in costume, and browsed through the craft and merchandise booths before heading out for ice cream on the way back to the marina. It was a really fun day.

One of two tunnels

Eastern shore view from bridge

Cape Charles lighthouse

The next day we wanted to take a Sunday drive, but were unsure of where to head to. After some discussion with the marina staff, we chose to drive over to Virgina's eastern shore. We wound our way over to Virginia Beach without getting too lost then got on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. What an experience! The Atlantic Ocean is on one side of the bridge and the bay on the other. There are two tunnels that takes you below the shipping channels. What surprised us most, however, was the $12.00 cost to ride this 20-odd mile causeway one way. After we got off the bridge, we stopped at the Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge so Capt. Larry could get some more stamps for his passport book. We viewed the exhibits and drove around the refuge then headed north. Virginia's eastern shore is peppered with small towns, the largest one we encountered being Cape Charles. We toured the town by car and found the beach, lighthouse and business district, but being Sunday, the sidewalks were rolled up pretty tightly. We headed on up the eastern shore and Capt. Larry spotted a billboard advertising a local seafood restaurant just outside of the town of Birdsnest. We figured that we would have a good meal, but when we arrived in Nassawadox further north, we realized that we had missed it. We turned around and headed back, turning off several side roads looking for the restaurant, but we never found the restaurant or saw the billboard again. Must have been an eastern shore mirage. We drove back across the bridge tunnel after paying another $12.00 (the cashier on way over didn't give us a receipt that would have allowed us to return for $5.00) and headed back to the marina.

Ready to entertain

Finishing up dessert

We returned the car, got the throttle cable fixed, and did a bunch of boat chores. We were ready to move on whenever the weather would permit. The Laceys returned after the rendezvous was over and we invited them and Peg & Pete to dinner on Bavarian Cream.

A rainbow over Norfolk

Doing the Historic Triangle

One of the main reasons we had for renting the car in this area was to visit some of the historic sites for which the area is renowned. The three places we wanted to visit were Yorktown, Jamestown, and Colonial Williamsburg.  Jamestown, which lies around 20 miles due west of Yorktown, was the site of the first English settlement in America. Note, however, that it was not the FIRST settlement. The French and Spanish had settlements way before Jamestown in Florida because the weather was so much nicer! Where would you rather settle?

At the Yorktown battlefield

Yorktown Memorial

Grouper sandwich for lunch!

Larry & Dick at the Waterman's Museum

Model of a skipjack fishing boat

We decided that the best approach would be to do Yorktown and Jamestown in one day, and Williamsburg, which we learned would take a lot more time, on another day.

Field cannon and mortars

We invited the Laceys to join us and we piled into the car and took off for Yorktown. Yorktown was the site of the revolutionary battle where the Americans under George Washington and the French under General Rochambeau defeated the British led by Cornwallis. Although the revolutionary war continued after this skirmish, the battle at Yorktown essentially decided the war's outcome which led to the establishment of the United States. We took a guided tour which was conducted by a young Frenchman. Because the French were so instrumental in helping the Americans win the war, we found his perspective to be very interesting and his presentation and thick French accent was factual and entertaining. After the tour we viewed the exhibits and then took an autotour through the battlefield and town. We ended up at a waterfront pub for lunch and had a great meal. The seafood was so fresh and the portions were huge. We visited a waterman's museum and learned about the boats and methods used for fishing on the Chesapeake. Capt. Larry found this interesting and easy to relate to as he had just finished Michner's Chesapeake right before the trip started. We left Yorktown and rode the Colonial Parkway heading for Jamestown. Somewhere along the way we got off the parkway, because we were no longer seeing signs pointing to Jamestown. We were lost and our predicament was further compounded by the lousy maps we had in the car. We were driving on major roads and highways that weren't found on any of our maps. After driving for an hour and a half, we entered Newport News and knew that we were just opposite Portsmouth on the James River. It was late in the day and were were about 20 minutes from the marina, so visiting Jamestown wasn't going to happen. We made it back to the marina and ordered pizza and dined with the Laceys aboard Confetti.

Governor's Palace

Entrance hall, Governor's Palace

Entrance hall fireplace

The Laceys had planned on spending some time off the boat with relatives and then moving their boat to another marina for the AGLCA spring rendezvous. We decided it would be a good time to visit Colonial Williamsburg. We got started later than we had hoped which was going to limit our time. One probably needs 2 days or more to see most of what Williamsburg has to offer, but we felt we could get the historical gist of things by hitting the highlights. Williamsburg was the first capitol of Virginia and the seat of the first assembly or burgess, and because of Virginia's economic and political stature among the colonial states, Williamsburg played an important role in events leading up to and during the Revolutionary War. As a result, most of the revolutionary big wigs passed through Williamsburg at sometime. The restoration and preservation of the buildings are very well done as are the re-enactments. They even had the Dodge Charger automobile that Washington rode in when he defeated the British and later went on to make Dodge TV commercials! But what makes the visit interesting is interaction with the staff who are dressed and role play in period.

Palace gardens

A re-enactment

A fire fighting water pump, ca. 1759

Virginia's first statehouse

Mention to one that it is a nice day and you may get a response like, "Yes a nice day, and much more bearable than those hot spring days we had in 1751 and '57." We learned of a recipe for oyster ice cream which was made with ice harvested during the winter and the abundant oysters from the bay. Because of our late start, we were late getting through Williamsburg and decided to spend the night in a motel (Jane gets another bath!).

Glassblower working his craft

The next morning we headed down the Colonial Parkway. Just like the brochure said, Jamestown was a 10 minute drive from Williamsburg and how we got lost the previous day we will never understand.We went to Historic

Church built on original church site

Jamestowne which was the site of the original Virginia Company settlement.

Jamestown settlement dig site

We watched a movie and viewed the exhibits. This park is run by the National Park Service and one of the things we found disturbing was the emphasis that was given to the contributions made by the local Indians and African slaves. It's true that without the support of the Indians, the colony would probably have failed in the first few years of its existence. But the slaves were not brought over until after the colony was well established and really contributed little except labor. We felt that to imply that the English would not have gained a foothold in this country without African slaves is a distortion of historical fact. We have found this distorted political correctness in other places, but felt the Jamestown park was a little more blatant. Then again, maybe we were just having a bad day! We toured the grounds and had to battle with throngs of elementary school kids who were out for their field trips. At a group picture around a statue of Pocahontas, one kid remarked that "Pocahontas, Sacagawea, what difference does it make?"

Pocahontas? Sacagawea?

Capt. Larry quickly pointed out that Sacagawea was with the Lewis and Clark Expedition and wouldn't be born for almost 200 years. The kid was stunned. Maybe we are having a bad day, but then again the kid might have learned something. (Capt. Larry really believes he's smarter than a 5th grader!). There are archeological digs being conducted on the settlement site and while we were there, one of the team members found a sword hilt. They said they find things just about every day. We then went to the site of the glass house and watched two glassblowers at work. We decided to pass up Jamestown Settlement which has replicas of the Virginia Company ships and re-enactments, and headed back to the marina.

Our marina friends taking the kids for a swim!