Log #35 - Tangier Island Cruise - August 13-16, 2003

Cape Charles - cement plant in background

In the bay - first time I've seen railroad cars on a barge.

Track for the first day. Wednesday, August 13, 2003
Underway at 8:56 AM, Anchored at 7:40 PM, Distance traveled: 41 miles.

Cape Charles was really just a stopping point on the way to Tangier Island so we just cruised the harbor (which is honestly pretty unattractive) and then cruised a little north to Cherrystone Creek to anchor out. I will go again since this is a good location for weekend sail. Next time I will allot time to actually visit the town.

The cruising guide warned me about shoaling in this area and darn if I didn't run aground. Cherrystone creek was a nice anchorage.

Checking out the sandbar outside Cherrystone Creek. You can see that I am in mid calf water. I raised the daggerboard and "walked" the boat over the sandbar. This saved us several miles of backtracking. Another advantage of small boats!

The unorganized stuff inside of the boat before we cook our dinner.

Dad eating his dinner to a beautiful sunset.

The next morning it was on to Tangier Island. On the way out I decided to see if we could cut across the shoal area. It was very shallow, I had to take off the rudder, raise the center board and motor and then I got out of the boat and "walked" it across the shoal area. So no time was saved (can't you feel the joy being supressed (not!))

The wind was straight from the north and since this was a long leg of the trip we decided that instead of spending time in a tacking battle we would motor instead of sail.

Thursday, August 14, 2003
Underway at 7:07 AM, Tied up at marina slip at 4:33 PM, Distance traveled: 43 miles.

Upon arrival we called out to the docks about overnight slips and were directed to Parks marina where it was $25 a night for a slip. The staff was very friendly and helped us tie up.

Kerrie Lynne in her slip

The marina office and facilities.

The following pictures were taken on our short two minute walk from the slip to the town.

I believe this was a "crab farm" - notice the jets of spraying water.

We believe this is the ferry landing.

After the quick walk into town, the first order of business was to get some seafood!

This was the establishment we elected to patronize.

I had the flounder stuffed with crab meat which was excellent - yum!

It was extremely hot and humid so at dinner we enquired about lodgings. The staff was very helpful and arranged a room and golf cart transportation to the room. After a quick trip back to the boat to retrieve our necessaries, we were on our way to the inn.

Golf carts were the major mode of transportation on the island.
The town airport was about 50 yards from the end of the building. To get cell phone service, I stood on the runway Thursday night when I called Kerrie to report in.

In the morning our cameras were all fogs from the cold in the room and coming out into the extreme humidity.

Our room

These pictures were taken the next morning on the walk from the hotel back to the boat.

The town of Tangier.

The block house was where I bought a big bag of shaved ice for two dollars.

The next morning after getting underway we stopped at the fuel dock to refill our gas tanks..

These pictures were taken on our cruise out of the Tangier channel to the Chesapeake Bay. These pictures show the beautiful waterfront nature of the town.

Looking back on the town of Tangier.

Notice the herons under the pier.

The channel shoals very quickly.

Out of the channel looking back at the town.

Now it's on to Urbanna for more seafood!

Our track for Friday, August 15, 2003, Underway at 8:49 AM, Tied up at marina slip at 7:04 PM, Distance traveled: 51 miles.

On the cruise we were harassed by biting flies and I made a make shift fly swatter out of a paper towel cardboard tube, some cardboard and duct tape. It worked great and evened the odds. It was a constant battle but at least we now had parity.

The fly swatter in action!

Urbanna Creek.
It was still hot and humid and about five miles from the creek we used our VHF radio to arrange a slip at the Urbanna Yachting center marina. This was lucky because the marina closed at 6 PM and I made the radio call at 5:45 PM!

It was pretty much dusk when we arrived. It was still extremely hot and muggy (Kerrie told me later that the heat index for the day had been 106 degrees!) and we decided that once again a hotel room was in order. The cruising guide (which was new for the year) mentioned that the town had a large Inn. After walking to the Inn we discovered that it was closed for remodeling. We weren't happy about that! The cruising guide also mentioned that the town had two bed and breakfasts. I wasn't hopeful since they usually require reservations. Luckily one of them did have a room - hurray! For the second time on the trip we found that credit cards were not accepted - only cash or check. Fortunately the town had an ATM and we were able to get enough cash for the room.

Here are a couple pictures of the Bed & Breakfast where we stayed.

Atherston Hall Bed and Breakfast
We were exhausted and didn't take any other pictures of Urbanna.

We decided that given the hot humid weather we would try to make it all the way back home the next day. We refilled our gas tanks at a local filling station ($2.80 a gallon!) and got underway. We never saw the marina attendants since we were gone before they arrived. I left them a note and a $20 to cover the slip fee.

After leaving Urbanna and crossing under bridge on the Rappahannock River.

Gravel barge

Saturday, August 16, 2003
Underway at 7:42 AM, Tied up at good old Slip 85 at 11:24 PM, Distance traveled: 72 miles.
After getting back to our home slip there was a tremendous thunder storm. I was getting in the truck to wait out the thunderstorm and when I touched the truck door handle I got a shock! I guess it was static electricity from the storm. We didn't leave for home until approximate 12:30 AM. After dropping Dad off it was about 1:30 AM and Kerrie was waiting up for me. She helped me make a turkey sandwich (isn't she sweet) while we got caught up on events.

Track of the entire trip which totaled 207 miles.

The three things I learned on this cruise were:
1) Get some kind of air conditioner if I want to do summer cruising
2) An autopilot would really be nice for "long distance" cruising
3) Bring checks and extra cash because many places don't take credit cards.