Captain's Blog

  TRAVEL DAY 46 - Yorktown to Deltaville May 10, 2023 5.25 Hours/38.8 Miles     2 days in Yorktown and we were ready to head north, back into the bay and see more of the Chesapeake. My crew gets "saltier" everyday. What used to be "...I need a 9 am start" has now turned into, "It's 7:15 am, let's go!". Goodbye Yorktown     Deltaville is dubbed "The Boating Capital of the Chesapeake Bay". Bordered by the Rappahannock River to the north and the Piankatank River to the south, it is loaded with marinas and boatyards.     At the tip of Deltaville is Stingray Point, named by Captain John Smith. According to legend, he was stung by a Stingray while spearing fish. He gave orders to his men to dig his grave because he believed he was dying from the sting. He recovered and ate the Stingray for dinner that night.  New Point Comfort    The day was perfect and the waves with 2 - 3 second intervals, made for an easy transit northward on the western sh...

  TRAVEL DAY 44 - Portsmouth to Hampton May 7, 2023 1.9 Hours/14.2 Miles     We shoved off a little before noon to make the short trip out of Portsmouth & Norfolk across the James River and into the Hampton River. We didn't have far to go up the river to downtown Hampton and the downtown Hampton Docks.  Downtown Hampton     Coincidentally (and planned)  Bull Island Brewing Co. is right at the docks. Like an old Army buddy always said "Proper, prior planning, prevents piss-poor performance". Bull Island Brewing Co. Martini Practice     This was a short overnight stop before heading to Yorktown in the morning, coupled with a little adventure and a mysterious message in a bottle floating in the Hampton River. Most likely a prank, but we tossed it back into the river just to be sure it got to the right authorities who could help. Message in a bottle Portsmouth to Hampton TRAVEL DAY 45 - Hampton to Yorktown May 8, 2023 4 Hours/31.4 Miles ...

  TRAVEL DAY 43 - The Dismal Swamp to Portsmouth May 4, 2023 1.55 Hours/10 Miles     Another chilly morning, this time in Virginia. The winds in Portsmouth were supposed to pick up by noon and then start to lay down in the afternoon. We decided to catch the 11:00 am lock opening at the Deep Creek Lock to allow for better conditions when we arrived in Portsmouth/Norfolk and to allow the 50 or so Loopers there for the Fall Rendezvous a chance to move on.   Norfolk     At about 10 am we heard the Tyche (fellow looper) who had locked through at 8:30 am call on the VHF back to the lock that the Norfolk Southern #7 railroad bridge was lowered and they couldn't raise it. The bridge tender had no ETA for a reopening so Tyche would radio if it looked like it was opening.  We waited through the afternoon when we heard 30 plus boats were there and no opening was in sight. It looked like we would need to spend another night at the Elizabeth Dock/Deep Creek Lo...