The Navy's "Ghost Fleet" et al.

Vicki told Norm that if they did not catch any fish, we're not eating. Well, if you read our last entry, you know that we got skunked on the Piankatank. Needless to say, Norm's famished.

We left Hampton River today and cruised up the James River. Our destination is the Chickahominy River for some relaxing anchoring in the forcasted rain. But, our plans also included a stop in Kingsmill Resort a little over half way up.

Before we left this morning, we had to fuel up Tide Hiker before we ran dry. She was real thirsty and took 578 gallons of diesel this morning. For our boating buddies reading this, we found a good price of $2.08 at the Bluewater Yachting Center on Sunset Creek, just off the Hampton River.

We passed the Newport News Ship Building Mecca in Hampton Roads. You can see a couple of older and smaller aircraft carriers being refurbished and some other boats.

We also passed the Navy "Ghost Fleet". The ghost fleet are mothballed navy ships anchored in the James River waiting to be scrapped or to be used again, if needed. The Ghost Fleet is much smaller than it was a few years ago when we cruised up here in Muskrat Island. My guess is that the scrap business is good!

Kingsmill is an Anheuser Busch property. We learned today that it is for sale and that the Busch Gardens Amusement Park has already found a buyer for $2.x billion. The marina is small but protected with a sea wall. It is run by very friendly folks that actually could see us approaching a couple of miles away and called us on the VHF radio to give us instructions on getting in. They are very attentive. This is a first in our history of cruising.

Fishathon (Revised with Photos)

Spent the last two nights anchored behind Berkeley Island on the Piankatank River. Beautiful, peaceful.

Yesterday was our first fishing trip in the dinghy. The locals said we could catch Spot and Croaker on the bottom - both good eating fish. So, we thawed out the squid, loaded up the dinghy and off we went to drift over the oyster beds as was recommended by the locals. Vicki landed the first hungry diner within 10 minutes- a little croaker - 8-10 inches, not big enough for dinner, so it was released. Norm followed soon after, catching what might have been the same little croaker. Vicki caught one more - yes, probably the same determined fish. We tried three other locations - no more fish, but Norm did pull up two little crabs munching on his squid. We were out for about three hours on a lovely fall day with the leaves just starting to turn color.

It's going to be really windy tomorrow with higher wave heights for the rest of the week, so we decided to skip Mobjack Bay - we didn't want to get pinned down there for long. We're headed for the Hampton Town Piers. Then on to the Chickahominy River up the James.

Virginia's Lil Ole Opry

What a fantastic day. We cruised about 4 hours from Urbanna to Stutts Creek, up the Piankatank River behind Gwynn's Island. We stayed at Mathews Yacht Club for $1/foot which is the MTOA yacht club reciprocity rate. Saw no less than 8 feet up to the yacht club. A wonderful small yacht club - pool, restaurant, bar, and a very accomodating club manager - Suzanne. We went there because we wanted to go to Donk's Theatre which we had read about in a cruising guide. Every other Saturday the Donk's Theater puts on Virginia's Li'l Ole Opry. We called, got $12 tickets a pick-up from one of the owners, a tour of the place, and 3 hours of fantastic country music. This is said by one who is not a country music fan - there was only one song that was 'twangy' and that made a difference. Best song of the night - 'Memphis Women and Fried Chicken' - you can't make this up, folks. Vicki will be searching for it to download to her IPod. She also liked the song "Tolerate" - great lyrics to both songs.

Good Bye, Mom and Hello Corndog!

Sadly, Avie departed Tide Hiker and returned to Tucson, AZ yesterday. The 2-weeks truly flew by and none of us were ready for her to go. She was a great guest and we enjoyed her stay with us immensely. We're looking forward to Avie's next visit.

Also, sadly, we were to meet one of Norm's high school class mates (Dick Rettinger) near the airport. It would have been a quick visit, because Dick had a golf outing to attend. But it would have been a nice, but short get-together--IF the traffic had cooperated. We were stalled in a long backup following an accident in a road construction area. Unfortunately, we did not get to Dick before he had to hightail it to the links. We'll be trying to reconnect again while in the southern Chesapeake.

All was not lost, though. We had plans, after we dropped Avie off at the airport, to do a driving tour of Richmond and attend the Virginia State Fair. We did both. Bob and Stephanie, tolerated another encore sight-seeing performance and led us on a great tour of VCU, Momument Drive and other interesting Richmond sights. Then it was off to corndog heaven!

Let the gluttony begin. (Only kidding!) The VA State Fair was a fried food paradise. There was fried everything, including twinkies, potato chips, oreo's and more. And I thought Wisconsin Cheese Curds were different. While we did not try everything, we did experiment with a few. Between the four of us (mostly two of us--you guess who by the pictures) we tried the fried twinkie, the fried sweet potato fries, the fried corndog, the chocolate covered potato chips, the grilled italian sausage, fried chicken and the (not fried to my knowledge) warm cinnimon bun with extra cream cheese icing. Needless to say, it was a bit quiet in the car on the drive home. That is, except for the stomach growls.

(Click on the pics for a larger than life view.)

In addition to the food, there were the typical agricultural, livestock etc displays and a midway with amusement rides. Of course there were the wierd displays of the live snake woman and the smallest women, etc. We skipped those - didn't want the deep fried twinkie to come up.

One display of particlar interest to us was the dairy cows. We saw a calf that was only hours old and still being cleaned by its mom. (That's when we were hungry for a milk shake.) We also saw little chicks poking their way out of their shells in a glass-lined incubator. (That's when we were hungry for fried chicken). We also saw the pig races--yes the pig races. Bob got his italian sausage earlier, in anticipation of the pig races. I think we were fortunate that we missed the "Exceedingly Awesome Dog Trick Show". Or, we might have gotten hungry for dog and poor Cassie and Godiva (Bob and Stephanie's pets) could have been prime meat on the hoof. OOh, Icky!

There were three pig race heats. The last heat consisted of 5 pot-belly oriental swine. (That's when we got hungry for chocolate covered bacon and sweet & sour pork.) They kept advertising that the races got faster but they did not. They got slower and the pot-bellys were the slowest. In fact, the winner- the pink one here- stopped just before the finish line to have a snack of something--what a pig! The second one almost overtook him before he got moving and crossed the line. The thrill and suspense was, well, phat!

September Song left today for Mobjack Bay. We stayed another to return the rental car and get the boat ready for about 10 days or so of anchoring before we hit the Norfolk area and the jumping off point for our trek south to warmer climes. Safe travels, September Song.

Williamsburg, and Independence from the British Crown

Since we had to get Vicki's mom to the airport in Richmond on Thursday, we decided to remain in Urbanna for a few more days and take in the local sites by auto. First stop was Williamsburg. Yes we were there for Big Fast Boat Bob's Birthday Bash (try to say that fast 5 times) last month, but did not really explore Colonial. So off we went. First stop was of course lunch. Bob and Stephanie recommended a cheese shop. It was great--a plate of different domestic and imported cheeses and a bottle or two of a fine wine. A finer lunch we could not have had.

Having a bit of the "jolly", it was off to explore revolutionary city and the reenactments colonial times and the war for independence. First, at the playhouse, we saw three short skits of what live theater presented then

The Declaration of Independence was read from the Governor's Mansion to the townspeople. Many actors were in attendance and were participating in the reenactment with cheers and other complicated lines.

Several colonial citizens were listening intently.

A few others had no choice--like these two colonial wenches found guilty for wearing pants in violation of the Church of England's rules on appropriate dress.

And some would be sitting on the stoop in front of Raleigh's Tavern just passing the time by singing drinking songs.(Try clicking on the arrow to hear what we heard.)

Later the fife and drum corps marched down center street and led a parade.



Benedict Arnold, the turncoat, rode into town and overtook Williamsburg. They raised the British flag over the capital and announced the rules of occupation. He also tried to convince everyone that Washington's army had been defeated and told everyone to come back under the King. That, of course, went over like a lead balloon and the other costumed actors delved into their large repertoire of complicated lines and booed him. Also, as you know, Arnold was later captured and hung by the neck till dead!

Later, George himself rode into town to address citizens and the allied American army that had been gathering at Williamsburg and eager to engage Cornwallis at Yorktown. (Again, try clicking on the arrow to hear what we heard)

Of course, Washington defeated Cornwallis at Yorktown. The Americans were independent of the British Crown. It was a great day reliving history. It was a long drive back to the boat, so we hightailed it out of Williamsburg before we were reenacted into the War of 1812!

Pizza, Hamburgers and Root Beer Floats

We arrived in Urbanna, VA on Sunday after a very nice 4-hour cruise down the Chesapeake and up the Rappahannock River. Urbanna was an old Tobacco Port as designated by the king of Great Brittan during the colonial days. Tobacco was grown here and traded with Britan for other goods and supplies. Tobacco back then was like money.

Urbanna now is a cutsey, resorty town that is busy in the summer and slowly dies after labor day until the November Oyster Feast. Then it dies for the winter. So, we decided to eat, shop, clean boats and eat. Our first stop was at the Colonial Pizza Restaurant--the only place open on Sunday. Pizza and beer were good and the laughs were plenty.

We then decided to walk back to the boat but Bob and Avie took a shortcut.

The next day was shopping the grand metropolis of Urbanna. More laughs than shopping, but Vicki did purchase a new shirt.

Of course, following the exhaustive shopping spree we got hungry for a snack. There is a drugstore in town with an old fashion soda fountain. So, root beer floats were in order.

We have to drive Avie to the Richmond Airport (about an hour away) on Thursday so we decided to remain here at dock. Winds were holding us up anyway, so it will work out good. AND, the town gave us a break on the cost, it being out of season and all. Tomorrow, Wednesday, we'll drive into Colonial Williamsburg for the day. And Thursday, we'll drop Avie off at the airport and explore Richmond for a couple of hours. We might even have lunch with one of Norm's high school buddies who now lives in the Richmond area.

The Lasagna Quest Continues

Great cruise today from Cambridge to Cuckhold Creek on the Patuxent a few miles upriver from Solomons. We're on our way with September Song to Urbanna on the Rappahannock River. It was sad today when Gypsies turned north insted of coming south with us. They'll be hanging around the north until the end of October. (Brrr.) This marks the end of Gypsies and September Song cruising together for six months, but they'll be together again, no doubt.



Dinner last night at Bella Luna in Cambridge was good, but the lasagna did not capture the title of 'best ever'. Unfortunately, Vicki's excitement about getting the lasagna rubbed off and most of the party ordered it. It was pretty good, but needed more cheese and sauce. Bob and Stephanie raved about the mussels and the appetizer size was a huge portion.



It was discovered yesterday that Tide Hiker had a bum antenna - it was replaced and we tested it today periodically as Gypsies and we cruised in opposite directions. We could still hear Doug and Tammy well at 20 miles distance. Antenna problem solved - yippee!



Those of you who followed the blog last year will remember Vicki's fanatacism over 'Dancing with the Stars'. Disappointed about having missed this week's 3-night season premier, she was at least able to watch some of the action online. She's hoping for many viewing opportunities on Monday nights over the next couple months.