We arrived in Deltaville on Wednesday afternoon expecting to leave on Thursday morning... but cruising is controlled by the weather so when the forecast for Thursday was small craft warnings and winds gusting to 30 knots we decided to wait an extra day... which turned into waiting three days as the storm front stalled over Deltaville!
So what do you do for 3 days in Deltaville (population 800)? We made good use of the time-- made some new friends, Geoff and Pepper on Rosetta, and talked on the radio with Andy on SeaDee and Jim and Fay on Wanderer who were anchored in a harbor close by. Our boat is comfortable and we have both heat and air conditioning... and our KVH Satellite TV antenna worked perfectly so we had 200 channels of DirecTV to watch in the rain storms. Even though our Sprint cell phones had no signal we had a strong WiFi Internet connection from our marina so we could do email and use our Skype phone
to talk to family and friends (this Skype phone is great-- it looks like a cellphone but it searches for WiFi connections and links to Skype where for $3/month you have unlimited calling to any phone in the USA). I started to re-read Chesapeake by Michener and was at the part when he tells how, while exploring the Chesapeake from Jamestown in 1608 , Captain John Smith was stung by a stingray and he had his sailors dig a grave for him and he sat in it waiting to die... then when he got better he ate the stingray! It turns out that our marina was located on Stingray Point and we walked out to where the grave was dug!
Our marina had a "courtesy car" free to use for one hour so we went out to lunch each day to the lunch spot where all the locals dined-- great burgers and onion rings! For dinner the local restaurants will pick you up at your marina and return you after dinner-- a nice way to see some other spots. Our driver was the owner of the restaurant-- he'd lived in Deltaville all his life and tried several different businesses before settling on the restaurant, marina, and selling "aqua homes" -- floating one bedroom cottages.
But the storm continued for 3 days-- heavy rain, high winds-- and everyone in the marina got tired of the wet and the waiting. When the Saturday forecast was for a break in the weather everyone began to get shipshape in preparation for a rough ride-- putting away lamps, clearing counters, and securing chairs so they don't tip. We ended up with a "fleet" of five boats-- BettyB, SeaDee, Rosetta, Wanderer, and Pathfinder all cruising the 55 nautical miles to Portsmouth, VA within 5 miles of each other. We kept in touch on the marine radio with encouragement for each other because it was rough! We were pounding into 4-5 foot seas with winds of 20-25 knots taking spray off our bow all the way to the top of the bimini. We needed to hang on and brace ourselves as the boat pitched and rolled. Fellow "fleet" members who had done this trip many times said it was some of the roughest weather they'd face. Fortunately, about 2 hours into the trip the last of the storm clouds swept past and the seas settled down to 2-3 feet and we were able to pick up speed. Entry into the major naval and commercial port of Norfolk, VA was a nice distraction -- we passed several large aircraft carriers and Andy on SeaDee reported he had 72 commercial vessels tracking on his AIS display.
By the time we reached the marina the sun was out, we broke out the Pusser Painkillers and relaxed in our chairs in the upper deck then had a wonderful dinner at Cafe Europa in the lovely Old Town section of Portsmouth. We loved walking around Portsmouth and enjoyed seeing the maritime museum
including the old Portsmouth lightship now firmly moored ashore on the river walk.
including the old Portsmouth lightship now firmly moored ashore on the river walk.
We found a nice church for Sunday Mass and we walked all around Old Town... knew we were now in the south by the southern hospitality and the confederate statues!
1 comment:
Nothing like a Painkiller after fending through the rough waters.
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