Friday, October 2, 2009

Sweet Virginia

REEDVILLE
On our way to Reedville, VA (Wednesday) from St. Mary's, we could actually smell the (not fish what Reedville is known for Menhaden/Omega 3 protein) but SOUTH. Yes, the south smells sweet and toasty. We left St. Mary's around 7am and by 7:30am felt the sun on our faces despite the crazy 5-7 foot swells we hit once out in the Potomac. That river is nuts.

Plus, the skies were plentiful with pelicans maybe not like FL but places where temps reach 50s at night - we were pleasantly surprised. We love watching them glide just above the breaking waves in search of fish.

Speaking of waves, we almost lost poor Turlock. Turlock is our dinghy. For those who don't understand why we named it Turlock, read James Mitchener's, The Chesapeake (about 800 pages) or read a brief description below.

Turlock, a family name, began with one man brought to the new country (America) as punishment. He was deemed by a judge from England to be no good. Yet, he thrived on the Chesapeake in the marsh, learned the waters; and hence, became a waterman. Since our dinghy is what brings us in close to shore and lives on the water experiencing all the trials and tribulations and occasional bird poop, we thought the name was fitting.

We anchored upwind from the smoke stack at the fish plant. When we left about 7am, they were definitely cooking and since we were sailing downwind, our sweet, toasty south smell dissipated for a couple of miles.

Deltaville
Tricky entrance. We handled it fine until we decided to leave the creek first entered and try another. Giving a wide berth to marker 10, a little too wide, Mandy ran us aground straight into a sand bar. She calmly (not really) put the boat into neutral, then reverse and spun Prudence back into the channel. Thank goodness for sandy, muddy Chesapeake.

We're in Jackson Creek where lovely homes are situated on rural/waterfront parcels - if you can imagine. While beautiful, we risked bodily harm walking to the grocery store on Route 33 without any sidewalks. Actually, we didn't even make it there. Along the way, we spotted a great produce stand and loaded up for only $19! We would've paid at least $50 at Whole Foods (sorry - still love you WF) but...

Met a retired couple, Ed and Nancy, originally from Syracuse, NY. They dinghied over to say hello and ended up back on our boat last evening for a cocktail, tour, and quiz. We asked them lots of questions, got good info, and heard funny/horror boat stories to watch out for.

Best part about entering Deltaville...
"Are those rocks in the middle of the channel? I'd better have Ryan check the charts if I think I spy one more. Then, thankfully it leapt out of the water with a bunch of friends - DOLPHINS - our first sighting - EXCITING!

Off to Cape Charles tomorrow.