11/13/2011 REEDVILLE TO DELTAVILLE, VA

SUNDAY

TOTAL MILES TRAVELED TODAY: 22 MEASLY NM

DOCKED AT: DOZIER REGATTA POINT MARINA IN DELTAVILLE, VIRGINIA ($1.75 /FT W/P WITH BOAT US DISC)

SUNRISE: 6:43 AM      SUNSET: 4:58 PM

HIGH: 64                      LOW: 54

It was a glorious morning with warmer temperatures and a total lack of frost. Thank you very much! Wanting to cover quite a distance today we were once again off well before 8:00 AM. However, by 9:00 Dan was bemoaning the choppy bay waters and looking ahead for a place to take refuge. Since the previously damaged “V-berth” window was once again leaking profusely, I was all for the abbreviated day. Dozier Marina in Deltaville offered just what we were looking for and by noon we had docked, registered, washed the salty residue from Quest, gotten the soggy towels into the laundry, taken the front rug out to dry and posted yesterday’s blog. Whew!!

Deltaville, once the wooden boat building capital of the Chesapeake Bay, is a principal pleasure boat center on the South Bay. This sleepy village springs to life during the busy summer boating months. The Dozier Regatta Marina is owned by the same family that purchased the Waterway Guide in 2002. The Dozier Waterway Guides are near Bibles to most of us cruisers and we wouldn’t be caught without the appropriate book for each leg of our journey. It was, in fact, the Waterway Guide for the Chesapeake Bay that gave us the information needed to locate the marina and make contact with them. Thankfully this is a nice, shielded marina as we may stay a couple of days until we get a weather window to finish our journey in the unprotected Chesapeake Bay.

DOZIER REGATTA POINT MARINA

QUEST QUITE COMFORTABLY SNUGGLED UP TO THE DOCK
WITH THE OFFICE AND BOATERS' LOUNGE IN THE BACK

Dan was super happy to kickback and enjoy the NASCAR race in Phoenix, AZ.  I think he even stayed awake (for the most part at least).

11/12/2011 THE FISCHERS ON INDIAN CREEK TO REEDVILLE MARINA IN VARGINIA

SATURDAY

TOTAL MILES TRAVELED TODAY:  72 NM

DOCKED AT: REEDVILLE MARINA AND CRAZY CRAB RESTAURANT IN VIRGINIA ($1.74 /FT W/P)

SUNRISE: 6:43 AM       SUNSET: 4:58 PM

HIGH: LOW 60S           LOW: FREEZING!

You know it’s time to “get out of Dodge” when you wake up to a frozen deck on your boat! The morning dawned bright and crisp with minimal wind, the perfect day for our exit from the Island Creek safe-haven that the Quest has occupied for more than a month now. We will miss the Fischers but it is definitely time to move on south. Thanks so much for your generous hospitality.

After wending our way out of Island Creek under the watchful eye of a bald eagle and carefully navigating the shallows (we saw 5’8”) as we entered the historic Choptank River we finally merged into the mighty Chesapeake Bay. The conditions weren’t great but much better than yesterday would have been. Dan altered our course to keep us closer to the western shore of the immense bay and reduced the speed of the Quest to find a more comfortable cruising atmosphere for our day’s journey. Towing the 16’ center console really adds a new dimension to our travels. Not only do you have to consider the Quest but now you are contending with the whipping of what is trailing behind.

We were securely docked and taking on some fuel before 5:00 PM. Unfortunately we came in just a little late to participate in the annual Oyster Festival at Reedville but made do with a tasty dinner at the Crazy Crab.

THE TOWERING STACK MARKING THE ENTRANCE TO THE HARBOR

THIS BEAUTIFUL RIVERSIDE ESTATE, FRAMED BY MAGNIFICENT
FALL FOLIAGE, WAS OUR VIEW ACROSS THE WATERWAY

Reedville, VA is home to the Atlantic menhaden fishing industry. This small, oily fish is currently used for fishmeal and fish oil that is added to livestock feed. The fish oil is also used in dietary supplement and lipstick. Who knew?




10/07/2011 DELAWARE CITY TO KNAPP'S NARROWS ON TILGHMAN ISLAND, MD

FRIDAY

TOTAL NAUTICAL MILES TRAVELED TODAY: 70 NM

DEPARTED ABOUT 8:20 AM

ARRIVED ABOUT 5:30 PM

DOCKED AT KNAPP’S NARROWS MARINA ON TILGHMAN ISLAND, MD (W/P/FD)

Each day is just seems to get better and better. We awoke to blue skies in Delaware and made our way into the C&D Canal that connects the Delaware Bay with the Chesapeake. The canal is at sea level and has no locks or tolls but this 12 mile cut is busy with commercial shipping vessels, military ships, sports fishers as well as pleasure boats.

 THE C&D CANALImage via Wikipedia

We were well into the lovely Chesapeake Bay before noon. We drooled over many boats zipping to the west shore where the Annapolis Boat Show runs from 10/5 to 10/10. We especially loved the sleek Apramare and the leviathan Silver Shalis. Larry Silverstein was the owner of the World Trade Center when it was demolished on 9/11. The Silver Shalis is 156’ long, 28.8’ wide and has a draft of 7.6’. Oh yes, she also holds 14,000 gallons of fuel. Cha-ching!

 Image via Wikipedia




THE CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE BAYS

ITALIAN MADE APRAMARE



SILVER SHALIS AND HER TENDER

Quest was docked at the Knapp’s Narrows Marina, just before the drawbridge, by 5:30. We dined at the adjacent Bay Hundred and enjoyed one of the best crab cakes I have ever eaten. The name came from 1670 when Talbot County had been divided into districts known as “hundreds”. Even this was taken from medieval times in Britain where shires were divided into segments that could provide a hundred fighting men, thus Bay Hundred.