Verkennen

Yorktown Fife and Drum Corp

While anchored in a creek off the York River we took advantage of a rental car weekend special and were able to visit Jamestown and Yorktown to get our fill of American History. The living history sites at both towns were interesting and fun as were the accompanying museums.


"Revolutionary War surgeon"

We also toured the battlefield at Yorktown, some revolutionary war era homes and the excavated sites at Jamestown.


Replicas of the Jamestown settlers ships

The local concert band was performing on the grounds of a church in Yorktown so we packed a picnic dinner and proceeded to the church yard with our chairs. We couldn't figure out where we'd sit because the entire grounds were a cemetary. To our surprise everone just set up in and around the gravestones. Paul called it 'Tunes and Tombs.' (ever the comedian)

Having planned to go to the eastern shore for a small town 4th of July celebration at Onancock, we were disappointed to have to detour up to a boatyard in Reedville, Va. for some needed repairs. We had to pull the boat out to replace a prop shaft and motor mounts which had caused us to lose forward and reverse. (slight inconvenience) Paul fixed it enough to get us to the boatyard and now we're on the hard waiting for parts and doing yet more 'boatwork.' There is a silver lining however. We had planned to pull the boat here in August because of their reasonable prices. As Paul was working below on the engine while still at Yorktown, a friend whom we had met 2 years ago on the rivers called to see where we were located. He mentioned another boater who lives in Reedville and said to call him if we ever needed to look for help in the Chesapeake.

We did call, and Walter and Mary have been wonderful to us. They have a lovely home up the creek from the boatyard and they welcomed us with open arms, driving Paul to a machine shop twice, loaning us their car to use, letting us use their shower, and taking us to a concert and picnic in the park and to dinner at their house. We will be enjoying a small town 4th of July celebration after all, here with them in Reedville, so our detour (and living on the hard) has been made much more tolerable than expected. We have been very blessed by other boaters we've met along our journey.


Virginia tobacco field at Jamestown settlement

Hampton Light

Our last 50 miles on the ICW were again a great study in contrasts. For two days we glided along the serene Pasquotank River and Great Dismal Swamp Canal, before popping out into the busy and congested Elizabeth River and Norfolk area. Halfway between the locks on the canal we docked for the night at the Dismal Swamp Visitor's Center. All the cruisers gathered on the shore for a pot-luck and we were unexpectedly serenaded by a bagpiper.





At the Deep Creek Lock the lockmaster also serenaded us, only this time it was with a conch shell. He collects the shells from cruisers returning from the islands. While our boat was slowly descending he gave us some horn blowing lessons.



Soon the quiet, peaceful Dismal Swamp Canal ended and we were near mile '0' on the ICW and the bustling port of Norfolk. At one point, while waiting for a railroad bridge to open, we had 2 tugs and barges, 2 megayachts, 3 powerboats and 7 sailboats circling around each other in front of the bridge for 20 minutes.
From our anchorage in downtown Norfolk we had front row seats for the constant passing of tugs, ferries, tall ships, freighters and Navy ships. Fortunately the channel is wide and it was easy to manuever through all the traffic.



Now we are anchored in a creek off the York River in the Chesapeake enjoying the relative peace. We've traveled over 1200 miles at an average of 6 miles an hour for the past two months - it feels good to be in our destination for the summer. We expect we'll still see contrasts but that only helps keep the cruising interesting.


The official Chesapeake greeter?

Elizabeth City lived up to its reputation and we found it most welcoming. 26 years ago the 'Rose Buddies' were formed to greet new cruisers to the town. Women are given a rose and the town hosts a wine and cheese party at the park by the docks. The town has 14 docks at which you can tie up free for two days. Several of us took up the 'Farm Fresh' grocery store on their ad to pick up boaters and return them to the dock. Such a nice deal and a break from carrying our purchases through town. There is a very nice Art Gallery here to browse and a wonderful Museum which has no admission fee. We spent two hours wandering through well done historical displays of the Albemarle region.


Museum of the Albemarle Shad Boat Display

We have found it interesting to learn the history of the areas we've been visiting and surprised at the facts we had never considered, especially the early settlement of the southern colonies and their role in early America.
Elizabeth City is our last town in North Carolina and tomorrow we go through the Dismal Swamp and into Virginia, where more history and adventures await us.

One of several of Oriental's dragons

Half way up the coast of North Carolina, Oriental and Ocracoke are two small coastal towns with very different flavors. On the mainland and the ICW, Oriental is by far the friendliest town we have seen. With a large population of sailors and retired cruisers we had a constant stream of people at our boat whether at the marina or the free town dock.
40 miles across Pamlico Sound lies the little town of Ocracoke on the Outer Banks. Accessible only by ferry or private boat it is more isolated than Oriental and has its own unique atmosphere. All of Ocracoke Island is National Park except for the village so there are miles of undeveloped beach and than lots of wonderful small cottages with screen porches tucked all over town.

Ocracoke cottage

Fishing still provides an important livelihood but the town is mostly tourist oriented which makes the narrow streets crowded with cars, bikes and pedestrians. We biked all over town and to the ocean, enjoyed a night program at the lighthouse, and listened to a marvelous, well known storyteller at the tiny local theatre. We laughed for 2 hours. Coastal folk music is a huge part of this island and we enjoyed 2 performances, one by locals 'Molasses Creek' and another by a visiting group 'Mandolin Orange' who stayed on after the Ocrafolk festival.
Even after 5 days we were very tempted to stay much longer in this delightful anchorage, but we have more towns to see and experience, although we look forward to returning to North Carolina in the fall.

Silver Lake anchorage in Ocracoke