Woke up to a decent day today, Saturday (9/14) and decided to leave Yorktown, VA about 10:00 and made the short half hour trip back to the comfort of Wormley Creek Marina. Boy, is it calm and quiet here! Completed a few boat projects, did laundry and relaxed in the pool.

Anxious to start exploring the Chesapeake Bay, we left Wormley for Cape Charles VA around 8:50 on Sunday (9/15) morning. It was a nice easy ride across the Chesapeake, and we arrived at Cape Charles Town Harbor at noon. Once settled, the first order of business was to hop off the boat and get to know the town. We headed for The Shanty Restaurant overlooking the marina for lunch. It’s a nice water view but, we felt, overrated. For $55 we received a shrimp basket and a fish basket that were just ok and a couple of weak and warm beers.  Nice view though. Next we took a walk into town – not much happening there.

Cape Charles turned out to be pretty sleepy, so we decided to leave the next morning. We went for an early morning walk on the beautiful white sand town beach. It’s closed to dogs from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm from Memorial Day to Labor Day but open to them all day otherwise. This morning we had it all to ourselves, so we let Snooki and The Duke run free. They had a ball! If you ask them, they might have a different opinion of Cape Charles than Michael and I, and probably would have wanted to stay a little longer. But the human’s rule (today anyway).

The Chesapeake’s eastern and western shores are two different worlds, and the towns are some of the oldest in America. We decided we would crisscross back and forth as we headed up the Bay. We left Yorktown and crossed over to Cape Charles then crossed again to Deltaville (see map photo) on Monday (9/16) morning about 8:30. We had another nice easy crossing and arrived at Dozier’s Regatta Point Marina in Deltaville, VA about 12:10.

It is said that boats outnumber residents by about three to one here (1,200 residents to 3,000 boats) not counting transients. We hopped off the boat and took advantage of the courtesy van for a trip to Hurd’s Hardware, West Marine and Deltaville Market and didn’t encounter a single stop light. FYI: the hardware stores in most of these towns are amazing. They carry everything from clothing, cookware, gifts, marine supplies and hardware. They also seem to be the heart of the towns. A couple of places we wanted to visit were closed on Mondays. So back to the boat.

We met Bruce and Rhonda on “The Norm” their (extended to 49 feet) Lagoon catamaran and found them very engaging and helpful. They are from San Diego and we’ve nicknamed them the “mayors” of Dozier’s docks. A few hours later a Grand Banks 49, hull #1, named “Simply Grand” pulled in and docked right behind us. We helped them tie up and met Lenny and Tobi with their two fur babies before they hopped off their boat for a grocery store run. When they returned they invited us, along with Ronda and Bruce, for a crab soup dinner. It was amazing! We had a lovely meal and wonderful conversation.

“Simply Grand” left in the morning, Tuesday, 9/17. We decided to stay another day since it was a little overcast and we could still see white caps out in the Bay. We’re in no hurry. Rhonda and Bruce organized a “sundowner” which is when everyone gets together – brings drinks, food or not, toasts the sun downing. We couldn’t see the sunset because of the clouds but we knew it was there and we all toasted to it. Bruce blew his conch shell to memorialize the event. Much fun was had by all! We went to bed late and woke up around 1:30 am to some real rocking and rolling. Another north wind blowing us around.

Wednesday (9/18) morning the wind was gusting pretty hard and white caps were visible. A couple of boats ventured out, thinking they were going to leave, only to come back, tails between their legs, because it was too gnarly. One of those boats was the sailboat “Luna Sea” with Jim and Helen. They said it was brutal out there. Ed who had just learned to sail his new-to-him sailboat “Sandpiper” was getting pretty beat up on the exterior dock and wanted to move to a calmer slip. He was able to get away from the dock but had trouble getting into the slip. With the help of Bruce and Michael they got the boat back to the dock and Michael got on board and brought the boat in while Bruce helped in the dinghy. Rhonda and I grabbed lines and got him in safely. It was a little like victory at sea today…… Hmmm, we think we’ll stay another day. Took the courtesy van back to town and visited Nauti Nellie’s – a gift and boating consignment store. A great place to visit. The front porch contingent met again, conch horn blown, drinks consumed to celebrate sunset. More fun!

Whoa, this morning, Thursday (9/19) about 1:30 we were really bouncing around, the wind howling and lots of loud noises. We were up every hour. It was really gnarly but we had our “butts to the wind”.  Our friend, Doc, told us about the wild horses that roam the Outer Banks of North Carolina. They ride out storms and hurricanes by finding high ground and huddling together with their “butts to the wind”. It’s a stabilizing trick that’s worked well for them for more than 500 years. So, we are staying put in our slip with our “butts to the wind” until we know it’s safe to do otherwise.

The “butts to the wind” thing must have worked because by late afternoon things settled down. We saw the sailboat “Volunteer” come in and met John and Laurie from Solomons, VA. Eight of us decided to go to dinner. Four (Sharon/Michael/Rhonda/Bruce) went by sea, with Michael driving us in the dinghy and four (Jim/Helen/Lori/John) by courtesy van. We had a lovely meal at Deltaville Tap and Raw Bar and wonderful conversation. Also, a nice quiet, calm night.

Friday (9/20/) woke to a beautiful morning about 54 degrees. Decided to stay yet another day because we wanted to and not because we HAD to. Took the doggies to the vet for their shots. The vet’s office was about 7 1/2 miles away, still no sign of a stop light. Later in the evening we met with John and Laurie. They live on the Chesapeake and offered to give us some local insight of where to go and what to do. Priceless!

We’re thinking we’ll head north on Monday. Will keep you posted…..