Chesapeake Bound

Here we are all snuggled in our anchorage (in pretty much the middle of the creek) with the locals whizzing around us and probably thinking "what the heck".  Oh well, it took us an hour to get in here so here we will stay.  We are in Chisman Creek on the Poquoson River, just south of the York River.

 Because of the threat of Tropical Storm Andrea and 50 knot winds we spent Thursday and Friday night at Atlantic Yacht Basin just before the Great Bridge Lock tied up to the wall.  Gary thought the stay was worth the price of admission.  They had six buildings of covered wells.  With one building being 200' long and another 250'.  Believe me, he thought he'd died and gone to heaven.  The boats in these buildings were Incredible. There was a 60' Chris Craft Commander 'Stardust' circa 1970's that looked like it came out of the showroom.  It was for sale and had belonged to Hogie Charmichael .  A 57' Chris Craft Connie also in showroom condition.

And this....'Scout' a 73 foot commuter yacht built by Defoe McGinnis in Bay City Michigan in 1930.  The condition was like it just came out of the factory. Shining paint and mahogany (brightwork) like a mirror.  Serious dollars went into restoring these boats.

Then there was 'Principia'....

a 1928 96' yacht ....it was also Pristine.
Then there were the Burgers, Selenes, Nordhavens, it was just unbelievable., these are high dollar yachts.  I'm sure they are used but probably not often.
Evidently this yard has been family operated since 1936 and has 158,000 square feet of COVERED storage!  It was a true gem of a stop.  The staff were so friendly and to stay on their transient dock was only $1.00 a foot.  Believe me this is VERY RARE!  I think Gary'd like to have a job there!  (Kidding)


This boat from Maine was on the dock near us.  Even the wealthy like those $1.00 a foot rates....



Anyway....we weathered Andrea (another non event)  just a few gusty winds last night ( not the 50 kt they were predicting) and a bit of rain yesterday and even though we got soaked coming back from the grocery store, "it's all good".

This morning we caught the 10:00 lock with two other boats and headed into the Elizabeth River in Norfolk.

We were surprised when we got to Norfolk, not anywhere near the traffic and naval ships we saw on our last trip through.....budget cuts????

As you can tell by the pictures the weather was not so good.  We got through Norfolk only to get a marine alert of possible 50kt. winds (again) with a storm that was moving East over the lower Chesapeake.  Gary made a quick 360 turn and we headed back towards Norfolk and up the Western Branch.  While I'm looking at the sky and thinking "OH, NO!!" my ever thinking captain is thinking "Head West, old man"!   

An hour later we headed up the Chesapeake with sunny skies and fairly calm seas.  

So another day under our belts.

Our goal by Monday is Solomon's, Md. where Jessica & Cory are sending our new camera YEAH!!!! 

Then Northward HO ...

I know many may wonder what our destination is.....to be honest...

We don't know!!!