Captain's Choice blog: A little gem

We were spoiled and we know it! From the time we left last July to when we left the keys in February we could probably count on one hand how many weather days sidelined us. From March to now you need at least our fingers and toes, the weather is the dictator for all we do. It's kind of like the good, the bad and the ugly and these grey skies, cold temperatures (high 55) and rain are ugly!

We stayed in Deltaville for 2 nights, Wednesday was pleasant and we were able to get a bike ride in and Thursday was a washout. The marina was great with a nice boaters lounge, huge front porch with rocking chairs, a swimming pool and 2 courtesy cars. Unfortunately with the weather the pool and front porch were not utilized. The only problem with this marina is that it isn't protected from winds from the north. Wednesday - Friday the winds were from the east but it was predicted that the winds would change on Saturday to the NW with gusts in the 30+ range...time to pick a different marina.

There was a short window of opportunity to move in the drizzle on Friday so we took it. We traveled 17 miles up the Rappahannock River to Urbanna which gave us a fairly smooth ride with the waves to our stern and good protection from the NW winds at Bridge Marina. There was also a little town in walking distance versus Deltaville where the town is spread out for miles along the main street. Our timing was perfect as the drizzle turned to rain right after we got settled in and it rained and rained and rained, from 12:30 p.m. Friday to about 10 a.m. Saturday morning. Now we could have let the rain dampen our day but when we signed in they were so appreciative we came to their marina and town that we decided to don the raingear, get out the umbrellas and go into town for dinner at Something Different. Being a Friday night they also had live music, this week it was Tom Euler, a rock/blues guitarist who was excellent and has been a finalist in many band/guitar contests.
An interesting tidbit we learned from the restaurant menu had to do with nails and joinery in early buildings. No nails were used in any of the framing because joinery was stronger and nails were more valuable. Iron rods were brought from England for nail stock and then nails were cut, shaped and headed by a blacksmith. At one time it was common for settlers to burn their houses in order to retrieve the nails when they moved to fresh ground. In 1644 the General Assembly passed a law forbidding this practice and provided for houses to be surveyed by two men, the number of nails computed, and settlers compensated accordingly.

Not many "traveling yachtsmen" go to Urbanna because it is up the Rappahannock River, most opt to stay closer to the Chesapeake, which is a shame as this little town has a lot to offer. The marina docks are new, the boaters lounge which includes a small kitchen and bathrooms/showers are beautiful, complimentary coffee and pastries in the morning. It's walking distance to several restaurants, shops, grocery and a farmer's market the second Saturday of each month. Once the rain finally stopped Saturday we headed for the farmer's market, unfortunately we are too far north and there isn't much home grown local produce yet.

Mother's Day, Sunday the 14th, brought the sun back out and a little rise of the temperatures as we headed to breakfast before picking up our lines and heading to an anchorage on Carter's Creek. The winds were hovering in the 15 mph range, not bad for crossing the Rappahannock River and heading up one of the arms in a large bay surrounded by beautiful homes. We anchored in 10' of water with good holding, put the dinghy in the water and did some exploring. By nightfall the winds had died to practically nothing, just a beautiful night to grill a steak and call it a day. At some point in the middle of the night the winds were howling, both Mark and I checked our position at different times of the night and all was well.

We decided to stay put on Monday, it was still very windy, we were secure and the weather forecast for Tuesday was looking great to go back out in the Chesapeake. Another gorgeous night on the hook with no wind at all, our hopes were to wake to the same weather.

It's a beautiful day Tuesday to cross the Chesapeake and head 52 miles over to Onancock (Indian meaning - foggy) on the eastern shore. The 5 knots or less winds have come true, with blue skies, water that glimmered like thousands of diamonds in the sunshine and we are not taking this for granted! I miss the dolphins swimming with us but luckily the pelicans are still entertaining us as they dive bomb into the water looking for fish. We anchored in 7' of water about a mile from the town. We did a little exploring today by dinghy and will take a ferry Wednesday to Tangier Island.