"2000, November 03-04 ICW Trip Chisman Creek" Poquoson Shores by grandmaR

We weren't sure we could get all the way to Hampton Roads the next day, so we decided to stop in Chisman Creek. We pulled the anchor and left pretty early (only had a bagel for breakfast instead of eggs as usual). We motored out and down the Chesapeake without even trying to put up the sails this time.

After we passed Wolf Trap light south of the Piankatank and saw New Point Comfort Light way off on the end of Mobjack Bay, we crossed the York River and went into the Poquoson River. The Poquoson River branches off the York River. There are no communities in this area with any listing on VT, and we did not go ashore, so there are no tips for this location. It is not far by car from Hampton and is just on the north side of Langley AFB.

Our guide book ("A Gunkholer's Guide Cruising the Chesapeake" by William Shellengerger) says, "The Posuoson River itself has little to attract the cruiser, quickly becoming shoal before there is much in the way of protection." But it recommends Chisman Creek which curves north after you round the red 14 marker south of York Point. It says there are 3 marinas there, none of which offer transient facilities.

anchorage location and drawing of the creek

We can see some tall red and white smokestacks of the Amaco refinery (or a power plant) as we crossed the York River. They are a landmark for entering Chisman Creek which otherwise doesn't have many marks. Chisman Creek is on the starboard as you pass the R10. We anchored just inside York Point.

As we anchored a work boat putting out crab pots came up behind us and circled the boat, putting one pot directly in front and one directly behind the boat. Although the crab pot boat is almost within arms reach of us, no eye contact was made.

This day we did 32.6 nautical miles at an average speed of 5.6 knots, and anchored about 1400.

We did spend a completely quiet night. Most of the traffic in this area is work boats and small power boats the wakes from which rocked the boat as we were not anchored very far out of the channel. The minimal traffic ceased around dark.

The green line on the chart shows our track to the anchorage. The drawing of Chisman Creek (you have to click on the picture and expand it to see the drawing)is from Chesapeake Bay Magazine's Guide to Cruising the Chesapeake Bay.

South toward Norfolk and a calm day

November 4, 2000 - my birthday.
It was flat calm all night last night and very quiet. We had eggs and bacon for breakfast and then started the engine and Bob started to pull the anchor and try to figure out how to get out without running into the crab pots.

There is a boat coming into the creek towing in another boat, and I hear him on the VHF talking to the boat he is towing. I also hear some conversations which I think are between lock tenders and sailboats on Ch 13. We leave between 0800-0830. There is hardly any wind as we run down the coast. There are other sailboats out there including a couple of catamarans with sails up, but they must be motor sailing.

I did the routing for today after Bob was asleep and when we had the cabin hatch boards in. The charts were in the cockpit and I didn't want to go get them and wake Bob up. I think I took us too far out into the Bay. After we get underway, I try to reconstruct the route on the computer to go closer to shore, but it is really difficult with just the little eraser end type pointer and without a mouse (I have a trackball, but the connector is too long to fit into the computer box in the cockpit.). We decide to go inside the Thimble Shoal light. We start seeing more big ship traffic.
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Next Hampton VA

• Pros:Rural area
• Cons:Unfriendly to non-locals
• In a nutshell:Not many services in this area