1000 miles and still going strong.

Chesapeake 24th-1st September

We  anchored in Onancock and had a lovely meal with good music and I can’t believe I didn’t take any photographs as it is such a beautiful place but there you go, sometimes you’re too much in the moment to take pictures.

Smith island reminds me so much of Rathlin. A casual beauty with unlandscaped gardens that have lots of meadowlike flowers. Both Tangier and Smith islands. have a strong Methodist community so there is no alcohol served. Needless to say I was very surprised when we went into the restroom /community room and saw two bottles of strong alcohol. Available to drink on honor just like freezer full of ice cream etc

I had asked before we sailed there whether or not anything would be open on a Monday or Tuesday and I was assured everything was open however, as he was taking our lines at 3.30 on Monday he informed me everything closes at 4 o’clock until Wednesday. We couldn’t even hire a golf cart to explore the place. One charming thing was the lady who took our meal order and brought it down to the boat. Fish, corn custard and potatoes with Tangier 8 layer cake for dessert. Strange but surprisingly tasty.

I loved that they did Taps and Reveille for the flags.

You might notice that at the end of the taps, the girl bent down and clapped around her knees. I thought it was part of the ritual, but then realized she was slapping the mosquitoes away.

We moved on to Point Lookout to get provisions and generally clean the boat and ourselves. The cleaning part was OK but getting provisions was not so easy. I cycled to the shop and ordered a Lyft to take the groceries back. One hour after waiting for the Lyft to arrive I was informed me that there were no cars available. I had to stop a woman in the car park and ask her to help me deliver them. She was very kind. I followed behind on the bike .

We also had a great nights craic with Johnny the Scotsman. They told us to wait until Saturday night because the Greeks were coming. I thought that was a festival but it turns out that is just these three mad Greek men who always party. We decided to move on.

It is fun, taking the Dingy to the restaurant rather than boring old cars. It’s the uncertainty of direction when you find out, the flashlight’s range is too poor. !

Another issue with the dinghy is to remember when you’re anchoring that it is behind the boat and you might just get the line wrapped around the prop when you’re reversing. Retrieving it eats into your Miller time. Experience is the name we give to our mistakes but at least there was no damage

Chesapeake is certainly a beautiful sailing area with many interesting towns and images on the water. Every now and then you could see flurry of bubbles in the water and knew that some dolphin were feeding. But I was beginning to tire of crabs. Crab cake crab soup. Soft crab hard crab. I’m expecting to see crab ice cream somewhere. Another problem and this is a big problem is the flies. Out at sea. Swarms of them. I was complaining about them with Sue and Mark of ‘In 2 the Mystic’. ( what a great name for a boat). and Sue talked about trapping the flies with honey and dishwater. But then she said it was more satisfying to squirt them with alcohol. She said they don’t normally have alcohol on the boat so I got to thinking they might be squirting them with an excellent malt given to them as a present. I hope I’m wrong.

We have had a few races when we cut it fine to make it into Marina’s before sunset. This picture was taken in one of those races and chasing in front of the storm. We just about made it.

Not going to squirt them though.

Reedsville is a very interesting place. It once had more millionaires per capita in the USA and they made their money from menhaden fish. The houses are stunning.

When the wind is coming from the west, you can certainly smell the fish oil. I guess that’s the smell of money. It was a concert that night and all the boats were out to listen. It was like the scene from Dolores Clayburn when she kills her husband during the eclipse. I guess only some of you will get that reference.

We are loving Cape Charles. No flies. A free golf cart to borrow to go into the historic town. Excellent restaurants and a very gentile air of tourists. None of those obscene tee shirts. More clever ones

Lots of interesting boats getting fixed and we’re off to the dismal swamp tomorrow