Even though we weren’t negatively impacted by Dorian we did prepare for the worst by totally stripping Scout. I can tell you, taking down isinglass, washing and storing it is waaaay easier than unpacking it, polishing it and putting it back up. We spent most of the day Sunday (9/8) on boat projects – re-dressing Scout, putting things back where they were and cleaning out flybridge lockers that got wet from the rain while she was stripped down.

Michael also wanted to change the oil and filters in the engine and generator. The marina didn’t have the needed supplies, so we decided to take a short sail to Gloucester to find what was needed. We left Wormley Marina Monday (9/9) after lunch and pump-out (ugh – probably shouldn’t use those two words in the same sentence), around 12:25 and arrived at Sarah Creek in Gloucester around 1:25. We dropped anchor – just a few hundred yards from the York River Yacht Haven Marina. FYI: A marina slip would be about $100 a night and our anchorage, just a few hundred feet away – zero! I just love it when that happens. We took Scout-About to the marina’s ships store and found they had some of the needed filters then back to the boat where Michael did his magic on the generator. Later in the afternoon Scout-About took us on a lovely sightseeing cruise.

Still needing parts for the engine, Michael rode his bike to the auto-parts store about two miles away on Tuesday (9/10), came back and, again, worked his magic on the engine. Yay…Scout’s digestive system is now in tip-top shape. Later that evening Scout-About took us back to York River Yacht Haven Marina where we took the doggies for a walk and had hors d’oeuvres and cocktails at York River Oyster Company. No need to cook dinner tonight.

Hmmm….Wednesday (9/11) still anchored and still more boat projects. On Thursday (9/12) we were ready for a change, so we weighed anchor and headed for Yorktown, VA, just 30 minutes away. We arrived at River Walk Landing Piers in Yorktown about 9:15. Once situated, we hopped off the boat for a walk-about and found a charming, peaceful and pristine town just steps away. There’s lots of history here – as Yorktown is best known as the site where America won its independence.

We stopped at Carrot Tree bakery for homemade breakfast biscuits, did a little sightseeing, then on to Larry’s Pub for lunch where we met Larry, the owner, who is quite a character. He says he invented his namesake Larry’s Hard Lemonade and that he had a life-threatening injury sliding on ice in his childhood that left him blind in one eye. He said life handed him lemons, so he made beer, from lemons. Lunch was delicious. Michael particularly enjoyed a “lemonade” and we continued an interesting conversation with Larry and his manager Jesse J. What a fun place!

We find folks in these small towns live life at a much slower pace. When walking the doggies often people pause to say hi to the dogs and, the next thing you know, we’ve spent 30-40 minutes, or more, having a nice conversation with a total stranger. Awesome! Incredibly awesome.

It started raining around midnight on Thursday (9/12), then around 2:00 am we started getting the washing machine effect. Fortunately, it felt mostly like it was on the “gentle” cycle with just a few “bulky items” cycles thrown in but enough agitation that the whole family (Sharon, Michael, Snooki & The Duke) got up to investigate. All was fine, it was just uncomfortable sleeping conditions. When we finally decided to get up Friday (9/13) morning we were still bouncing around and the bounce only continued to worsen as the day progressed. Waves were crashing over the dock,  we saw white caps and wind gusts of up to 40 mph according to a dock mate’s anemometer. For a while it looked like the dock behind us might break away, which was access and the gangplank to shore. Yikes! This was worse than our Dorian experience. Needless to say, we will stay in Yorktown until we have a better weather window.

As I write this post we are on the boat, the rocking and rolling has slowed down as the wind and tide are now in agreement. Our new friend Treavor, who we met at Wormley Marina, just docked his “partied out” Chesapeake style crab boat “Lady Luck”, and there is a great live band playing on shore. Music is wonderful and life is good. Will keep you posted when we know our next plan.

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