Ken and Karen’s travel adventures
Monday May 17, 2021.
Temp: 70/51, Humidity: 41/86%, Top Wind: E11 mph, Precip-none, Miles Traveled: 48
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Onancock (oh-NAN-kok) is a small town on the Onancock River at the bottom of the Pocomoke Sound. And I thought Washington state had some weirdly named places. 🤦♀️. It was founded in 1680 and is one of the oldest towns in the United States. That was our destination for today, so we pulled lines at about 8:00 and headed out of Cape Charles.
Saturday May 15, 2021.
Temp: 69/49, Humidity: 20/60%, Top Wind: SE10mph, Precip-none, Miles Traveled: 28, + 5 on foot
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What a beautiful day on Chesapeake Bay! This is a big body of water, especially wide at the southern end where we are. We had very calm water today. YAHOO!!!! It’s about time! 👏🎉. Just look at this! Smooth as glass.
Friday May 14, 2021.
Temp: 69/46, Humidity: 24/93%, Top Wind: NE9mph, Precip-none, Miles Traveled: about 6 in Stuart, and 4 on foot.
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It was such a quiet and still night! Sooooo nice! We woke up to very bright sunshine blazing through the windows of Island Girl. It was beautiful. Our first mission today was to get up to the Glazed Doughnuts shop while there were still some donuts to be had! They have lots of big expensive donuts. 🍩😋. It was another one of these places with a little sign that you might miss if you aren’t looking for it.
Thursday May 13, 2021.
Temp: 67/47, Humidity: 32/86%, Top Wind: NE13mph, Precip-none, Miles Traveled: 14
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This geographical area of the southern end of the Chesapeake Bay is known as Hampton Roads. It has had this description for hundreds of years. In fact, here is a civil war map of a historic battle between Union and Confederate ships in 1862. At the top of the map is Hampton where we are headed today, where the rivers flow out to the right into the Chesapeake Bay. At the bottom right is Norfolk and Portsmouth on the Elizabeth river, where we are now. On the top left is Newport News on the James River.
The term ‘Hampton Roads’ is a centuries-old reference that originated when the region was a struggling British outpost nearly 400 years ago. Designated in the 17th century as the name of the largest natural harbor where the James, Nansemond and Elizabeth Rivers pour into the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Signifying the safety of a port, “roads” in nautical terminology means “a place less sheltered than a harbor where ships may ride at anchor”.
Wednesday May 12, 2021.
Temp: 59 (at 4:00am)/50, Humidity: 38/70%, Top Wind: N14mph, Precip – Rainy morning, Miles Traveled: 4 miles on foot
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Our mission today was to go visit a Battleship. We’ve never seen a battleship, so I really wanted to go check it out, and it’s literally RIGHT HERE, like two blocks away! The day started out cold and rainy, and it actually got colder as the day went on. The sun finally broke through the clouds about 7:30 this evening, so tomorrow looks to be a brighter day.
This is the USS Wisconsin, an Iowa class ship from the World War II era. Look at how loooooong she is!
Tuesday May 11, 2021.
Temp: 68/55, Humidity: 38/87%, Top Wind: NE 7mph YES!!! Under 10mph!!!, Precip – some rain, Miles Traveled: 20
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What a peaceful night! This little free dock was a gem. The night was calm and quiet, with no wind or waves bouncing us around, no traffic noises, and no critters on the boat. I thought we might have racoons or something, but the garbage cans up by the bathrooms didn’t have covers on them, so I guess rascally critters aren’t even a problem here. I’m so glad we stopped here! We were up and pulling our lines to leave by 6:45. The view of the canal as the sun started to peek over the tree tops was serene.
Monday May 10, 2021.
Temp: 73/54, Humidity: 61/89%, Top Wind: SW15mph, Precip – some rain, Miles Traveled: 9.5
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It was warm last night, only getting down to about 70 outside. We slept with one window open and the fan running. I started out with the hatch over our bed open , but with the threat of rain, didn’t think that was very smart. It did sprinkle a little over night, and everything was wet outside in the morning. At least we were dry, if not a bit sweaty, inside. I got up before 7:00 and checked the weather. Still looking like thunderstorms early afternoon, and wind anywhere from 15 and up with higher gusts once we get out of the swamp. I went back to bed thinking… what’s the hurry? We don’t HAVE to go anywhere, so why are we stressing over it? And it’s free to stay here! So even though we don’t have power to plug into, we have great batteries and a generator for living without shore power. We both looked at the forecast again, and finally decided to just stay. We kind of had a deadline to make the decision, because there would be boats coming north about an hour after the 8:30 lock opening. The catamaran sailboat that was on the wall had departed, so there was an empty wall spot. If we were going to stay, we should un-raft from Seeker, and go grab the spot on the wall. I texted Ann on Hallelujah! since I could see that they were coming. She said there were SEVEN boats coming that locked through together! YIKES! We would definitely have boats rafted to us. The sailboat Monarch decided to peel-out before the flotilla arrived, so that left another open spot on the wall. We went ahead and untied from Seeker, and made our way over to the end wall spot. That way if we ran our generator, it was pointed toward the trees. While we waited for the boats, I tried another flower portrait, and at least this time there is a stem attached to the flowers. 😉
Sunday May 9, 2021.
Temp: 80/45, Humidity: 41/100%, Top Wind: E15mph, Precip? no, Miles Traveled: 65
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I think it’s our last day in North Carolina. Do you think Virginia might be less windy? LET’S HOPE SO!
We got up at 6:00 and were off the dock before 6:30. It seemed nice and calm in the marina, so we were happy that we had waited until today to leave. We had cloud cover, and the sun was just coming up.
Friday, May 7, 2021.
Temp: 65/52, Humidity: 26/89%, Top Wind: BIG -29mph, Precip:yep -some rain in the evening, Miles Traveled: none
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It was cloudy and the wind blew a lot today. We didn’t do much of anything except hang out on the boat. In fact, I’m pretty sure Kenny didn’t even set foot on the dock once today. It was just kind of a crappy day. Unfortunately, the wind was blowing from a direction that the waves were blowing into the marina at us, so we were moving around a lot. It was not a calm and peaceful day on the water. 😏. But there really wasn’t anything else to do, so we just spent the day at home.
Thursday, May 6, 2021.
Temp: 65/58, Humidity: 49/81%, Top Wind: N13 mph, Precip: none, Miles Traveled: 19.9
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It was a nice calm relaxing morning today. The water was calm here in the marina which is a change from what it has been. Looking out at the sound, it looked pretty calm out there, too. However, the wind was from the north, so it was blowing over the top of us and the sound wasn’t really as calm as it looked. We knew that, so we took our time this morning, since the winds were supposed to calm down as the day went on. So – let’s have some yummy goodness from our purchases yesterday! 😋
