"Overnight in June" Crisfield Travelogue by grandmaR

Janes Island light

I called Somers Cove Marina where we had a reservation to ask them what would happen if we got in after 1900, and they gave me a slip assignment and the number of the night watchwoman. I asked if we could just tie up to the bulkhead, and they said that the end of D dock was open, so I said I'd take that. I figured it would be easier. They didn't think that it would be past 7 if we were in Kedges Straits.

And I thought we might make it too. We were at the Jane Island light by 6:30. But we didn't get to the entrance channel to the harbor until 7:10. So I called the night watchlady, and she helped us tie up and brought us the information packet with the gate combination numbers. Bob tipped her $5.00.

We had done 36 nm at an average speed of 5 knots.

Restaurant or bar with a lighthouse on top

We asked if the Original Captains Galley were open and they said not, but the Cove WAS open. So we stuck everything below and locked up and went to walk over to the Cove. We were passing some people with foam take-away boxes in their hands, and I asked where they had eaten and they said the Cove and it was excellent, but they were closing in 10 minutes (at 2000). So we hurried up.

This was the restaurant where Bob really liked the crab cakes so he ordered a one crab cake dinner for $15.99, and I got the special which was Crab Imperial with two sides for $9.99. We both got asparagus which was the vegetable of the day as one of our sides, and Bob got cole slaw and I got potato salad. They brought us two biscuits which tasted like they had honey butter in them and two that were made with pumpkin or sweet potato. My crab imperial proved to be a crab cake with a rich topping on it which tasted by itself like a cheese and tartar sauce custard. I could only eat half of it and got it in a box to go. We had virgin pina coladas for dessert ($3.99 each). Still a fairly cheap dinner and really good.

We walked back to the boat. I noticed that there was a restaurant open in the next block which had a second floor with a kind of lighthouse thing on the top and there was a flashing light in it. I absolutely can't find out what the name of this place would be

Bob had covered up the compass and GPS overnight, and he accidentally put his hand on the top of it and cracked the plastic mount where we have the GPS mounted. He put a plastic tie on it to keep it there temporarily.

We made our beds up and Bob tuned the TV to the new digital channels through the antenna rather than setting up the satellite TV receiver. We got 5 or 6 channels really nice and clear.

When he looked at the weather, he said that it looked like we were going to get a thunderstorm and maybe he should put the cockpit curtains down. So he did that. And we did get a storm with a lot of lightening and thunder and the electricity went off for a brief moment or two.

I was doing the route to the Cape Charles marina on the computer, and it turned out to be over 50 miles. So I asked Bob if we shouldn't forget going there and just to go Deltaville instead. He agreed.

I downloaded my pictures and edited them, and then went to sleep and slept soundly all night.

Backing away from D dock

I slept so soundly that I did not wake up at all, and finally surfaced about 8 am to find that Bob was up and had breakfast and was ready to cast off. I usually pay at the office, but I asked him to do that this time while I got myself organized. He started the engine while I was still doing that, and I put the Toshiba back into the cockpit all set up and ready to go. Although I accidentally leaned a little too hard on the bottom plastic overlapping flap and cracked it. I'm afraid this is a trend.

Since we were on the T-head, all I had to do was flip off the bow line and Bob could motor out of the marina. We left about 9:15 which was perfectly in order since we were just going over to the Rappahannock.

New Marina?

I stood on the bow and took pictures as we were leaving. We followed another sailboat out. Some pictures I took from the bow, but then I went back and took some from the stern because I wanted to show where the harbor entrance was as you approach. There was also what looked like a new marina (with absolutely no boats in it) outside the harbor. I told Bob that we had a boat behind us. It was a crab pot boat and he gave us two blasts on the whistle and passed us.

By 9:30, we were out of the harbor and turning south. I called the Cape Charles marina to tell him that we are not coming, and call Urbana to see if they have space there. She said that she does not.

It turns out that she has only 3 slips that are not covered slips, plus a sea wall, and all of them are booked this weekend. She also informs me that she only works Weds to Sunday and that's why she didn't answer the phone on Tuesday. So for a reservation I need to call at least a week in advance.

I talked to the people in Deltaville to make a reservation and the man said that his mother-in-law's name was RosalieAnn.

Tangier Sound shoal

We saw crab pot boats throwing out their pots, and we were now passing Tangier. I saw a big blue boat which I thought was the mail boat, but it didn't seem to be moving so I decided that was the head boat out of Crisfield.

Then the noise happened again. We discussed this, and Bob is sure it is the cutlass bearing, and says that the boat will need to be hauled to check on it. He says that if the bearing is disintegrating, that the prop shaft can move around and will vibrate which makes the noise that we hear.

Finally I asked Bob if he wanted to go back to our marina, and he said yes that he thought that would be a good idea. I hate it when he makes me guess what he wants to do, although in this case I did eventually get there. However, the noise and vibration did not occur again on this leg of the trip.

I tried to call Deltaville to cancel, but by this time, we were south of Tangier and had absolutely no signal. The wind was still from the north, and we had some sails up, but we were basically motoring. I re-did the route on the Toshiba taking us around the bottom of Tangier (since we were already too far south to just go through the middle).

We passed fairly close to the Tangier Sound spider and then picked our way through the crab pots - staying out far enough away from the shoals to keep 10 feet or so of water under the keel, but not making a big circle. We passed another crab pot boat throwing the pots out along a line.

Smith Point Lighthouse

Then Bob complained that the Toshiba had gone to the Toshiba screen again. It was apparently frozen. So I took it into the cabin and shut it down and let it contemplate its navel for a bit and charge the battery. Then I fired it up and changed the power requirements so that it never hibernated while on power. I tried to label the courses that we had taken and it said it could not write to the C drive. But I got it working again and put it back into the box in the
cockpit. [The cockpit box has a plug for 12V in it]

Bob got himself lunch, and I ate the crab imperial that I'd brought from the Cove the night before. We were progressing fairly well across the Bay - going northwest now, but the wind was on the beam and so light as not to be a problem. Then the Toshiba froze up again, and this time I could not resurrect it. By this time it was about 1515 - we could see the Smith Point lighthouse, and I figured we ought to be able to get home without the computer - we've done this a gazillion times after all. It isn't difficult.

Point Lookout on extreme left (yellow & red roof)

We were still not going to be in a position to photograph Point Lookout lighthouse The Navy has apparently moved the tracking station stuff over to another place along the Bay shore - you can't see the lighthouse at all anymore unless you are in the Potomac - at least not coming from the southeast. There is now a big building in front of the lighthouse.

I took the computer GPS out of the cockpit at 1645, at which time we had been 35 nm. I also started packing up my stuff so it would be easy to get off when we got to the marina. We got a weather bulletin which said there was a thunderstorm approaching, and Bob thought we might be motoring towards it.

Arriving in Wynne