Its definitely fall! The leaves are turning, the nights are
colder and we’ve been forced to wear long pants a few days!
In our last update,
we were on the free dock in Chesapeake City, MD. We had a nice the next
day through the rest of the canal to another free dock in Rock Hall, MD. Rock Hall is quite a boating center with the
harbor ringed with marinas. We tied up next to a local crab boat whose engine
was being worked on and went for a short walk. We found there was little within
walking distance but it was good exercise.
The following day we had an easy run down the Bay to Knapps
Narrows where we met up with our friends Lee & Carol on Carol Ann. We all
had a nice dinner that night at the Bridge restaurant. Our plan for the next
day was to go to an anchorage near Oxford, MD but once again the weather
interfered and we wound up going into the marina in Cambridge instead.
That afternoon, we took a car tour of Cambridge and then
down the peninsula all the way to the end of Hoopers Island where we found a
nice restaurant and enjoyed more MD crab. We had planned on another day in
Cambridge but the weather for the next few days looked threatening so we went
to the Solomons where we wound up spending 4 days waiting for the wind to quiet
down. While at the Solomons we used to the courtesy car to do some shopping and
worked on the boat. I managed to fix both heads! We also cleaned all of the
fenders which had gotten very dirty as a result of passing through over 100
locks this summer.
We had a good weather window the next day so we were off at
daybreak and headed down the bay. Our original plan had been to go to Yorktown
for a couple of days but the weather was forecast to be bad so we went all the
way to Hampton, arriving at 1645. This
was a long 90 mile run but the conditions were right and it put Chesapeake Bay
behind us.
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| French cannon used at Yorktown |
We spent 3 nights at Hampton. On our first day there, we rented a car and
drove to Yorktown and Jamestown. The
Yorktown battlefield and visitors center was quite interesting. We watched a
movie that described what happened and then took a tour with a ranger who
explained the events in more detail and showed us some of the battlefield. Among other things, we learned that the war
was all but lost for the colonies until Yorktown and it took quite a gamble on
General Washington’s part to pull off a victory there. We also learned how
certain events set the stage for victory including a battle between French and
English fleets off the mouth of the Chesapeake that gave the French Navy
control of the Chesapeake at that moment. This was a major battle in which no
Americans were involved in the fighting.
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| A "dig" and some findings |
When we left Yorktown, we then drove to Jamestown. We took
another Ranger tour and learned a lot about the colony there, including their
criteria for choosing the Jamestown location.
We also saw the partial recreation of the fort and more interesting the
archeological digs that were taking
place there. We even talked to the people doing the digs. Later we toured the museum there, leaning
more about the history and seeing some of the artifacts that have been
recovered. Then it was back to the boat for supper after a shopping trip that
turned into an adventure to find the store.
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| An actual dig - a church |
The following day we toured the Virginia Air and Space
Museum. Hampton Roads had been involved
in all of the early naval aviation research and training and Newport News is
the only yard that builds aircraft carriers for the US Navy. Langley AFB in Hampton was also a major
center in the research and training for the US manned space program and the
ongoing programs today. We saw actual
and replica planes from the Wright Brothers up through modern jets. Among other
things they had a number of simulators one could try. I didn’t do well either
landing the shuttle or landing the lunar module but a few (lot??) more
practices ( and better understanding of the controls and instruments) might
make a difference.
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| An F-4 Phantom Fighter |
From Hampton, we had a rough trip across Hampton Roads to
Portsmouth where we filled up with fuel at a very good price and then went on
to Chesapeake where we stayed at a marina near the entry to the Dismal
Swamp. This marina was brand new and had
a deal where the cost of your meal at the restaurant would count against you
dockage. We had planned to eat out anyway since it was my birthday so we
effectively wound up with a free nights dockage and had a very nice dinner
out. We were a bit surprised however to
find ourselves the only boat in the entire marina.
Our trip down the Dismal Swamp started with passage through
the Deep Creek lock which raised us about 10 feet. The motor through the Swamp
was at no wake speeds so it took almost 2 hours to reach the free dock at the
North Carolina Visitor’s Center and the Dismal Swamp Park. We arrived in time to tour the museum and walk
the boardwalk through the swamp, seeing 4 deer in the process.
Today we finished the run through the Dismal Swamp and tied up at the free dockd provided by Elizabeth City. We walked around town trying to find a barber shop and some ice cream and were unsuccessful with both. We did however have a nice dinner at a Mexican restaurant with Ray & Linda from Summertime.
During the past week we’ve been saddened by the news of the
loss of two of our friends, one after a bout with cancer and the second with a
blood clot. Its been a grim reminder of how quickly things can end and how
lucky we are to be doing what we are.
Steve & Jean
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