A bit about Tangier Island

From what I understand, it's doomed. They have been losing eight acres a day since 1850, mostly due to the land sinking and eroding. Rising waters of course aren't helping either. The inhabitants believe they have fifty more years. I think that's extremely optimistic.

As I type this we're waiting for high tide to recede. For two or so hours before and after high tide, we can no longer walk to shore without getting our feet wet. At its highest the water is up to our knees. 

Low tide. Pic from our boat to Mr. Parks house.

High tide. Note the water under the cross pier,
and the lack of green in front of the house.

Close up of Mr. Parks house

To be fair, right now we're experiencing abnormally high tides. They call them "nuisance tides" here. We've been assured this is unusual. I predict this will be the norm soon.

We did do some walking around. There are a couple of cemeteries here. If you glance at the headstones you'll see a couple of names repeatedly. Parks is one. Crockett (the town's founder) is another. Families, descendants of British explorers, have been here for generations. They even still have a British accent.

Given this is a tourist town mostly but chilly in the winter, a number of the restaurants won't open for another week for Memorial Day. We ate at the only open place called Lorraine's. Crab cakes were very good. 

So, if you want to see the place, time's a-wasting! I suppose you could always use scuba gear...

Cape Charles to Crisfield (um, Tangier Island)

Never made it to Crisfield. Not that we didn't try. We absolutely shouldn't have tried. 

All the weather info gave us a cautionary, but doable, flag. First, waves at 2 feet, but as you go north dwindling to 1 foot. Second, winds around 15 mph, right on the no-go line. Third, rainy. Fourth, colder, highs in the low 60s, which is about a 15 degree drop from the day before. If we stayed the day, however, we were probably going to stay for two, since Tuesday's forecast looked even worse. So we thought "go." All of that did make us pilot from the inside helm. Good decision, that.

This made the Albemarle crossing look like a cake walk. 

Things started out similar to how we came to Cape Charles, which was a fine, somewhat bouncy ride. Then the waves grew to closer to three feet. Moreover, to our port we saw very dark skies. We decided to give up then and head for an anchorage, about an hour away. So wished we stuck to that plan.

But the skies cleared, giving us just a little rain. We pressed on.

You can see the dark spot on the right
where the Raymarine is supposed to be.

Within the hour, waves grew. Cat-n-Dogs crashed through 4 foot waves, with some topping at 6 feet. Our bow would crest then slam into the wave behind it. Repeatedly. Gushes of water washed over the bow. The impact jarred the boat, our bodies, and our teeth. We went through that for fa couple of hours. And (of course) dodging the occasional crab pot.

The problem is once you're in it, how do you get out? If you turned around, are things better or worse? Are you closer to just press on or should you find somewhere to anchor? 

We decided to cut the trip shorter by veering to Tangier Island. It had been on our original destination days ago but we were talked out of it -- better to go to Crisfield, then take a ferry to Tangiers and save yourself the trip. Given that it shortened the day by an hour we jumped on it.

About 45 minutes from Tangiers the waves smoothed out a bit, to the 2 feet as predicted. From that point in the trip was trivial. We entered the island just at slack tide, making docking the easiest part of the day.

Bustling downtown Tangiers

Once safely tied to the pier we walked the boat to assess our condition. We did not make it unscathed.

Russ noticed some plastic bits on the deck, which he identified as part of our "all around" light. We knew the housing was cracked, but the LED light within worked just find, so we never replaced it. He opened the roof hatch above the fly-deck helm, then cried out, "Oh, no!" The radar array was missing. Once he tucked back down he saw it was still attached, just hanging by its cables from the top. 

Another small casualty was our bed, which is in the bow of the boat. The slamming flexed the platform screws so badly it slid off its base.

Many things on the fly deck got tossed about. The dock boxes slid (thankfully, they were on mats, which prevented them from going far), bikes twisted out of their bungees, the water softener escaped and rolled around the floor, and Russ's kayak, which had been tied to the roof with SeaSuckers, fell to the floor. 

The bent screws from the bed platform

A couple of lines, while secured to the railings, fell into the water and dragged behind us. It's just dumb luck they didn't end up in our props.

In fact, the only thing that went right today was our timing into Tangiers Island. We arrived at slack tide, just as the winds completely calmed. Docking was a joy.

So, here we are, at Parks Marina. We'll be here for two nights while we do our repairs and lick our wounds.

The pugs are not amused.

I need to say this: When we contacted the marina around 11 am this morning, the owner, Mr. Parks, wasn't expecting any boats because of the weather. Six boat showed up today, including us. We were just the first. Which meant we got the primo parking spot! So we weren't the only ship of fools on the seas today.

Norfolk to Cape Charles

...the great crossing of the Chesapeake Bay.

Weather is a tricky thing. You watch it for days, and you see consistent reports that something is coming, so you plan accordingly. And something is coming on the weekend. Conference completed we decided to head out first thing in the morning. Spoiler alert: it went perfectly.

We saw that the tides were going to change from low to high, so we could ride out the outgoing tide to get out of the river into the bay, then ride the incoming tide up the bay. The first part went well, but the second, not so much. Tides are slow, so even though we were heading north during a rising tide, it took it a while to do us any good. Progress was slow.

Last of Norfolk

Another reason for the hasty exit was the winds, which were calm when we walked dogs this morning. We made our coffees and headed out.

Seas were 1 - 2 feet, so we did a little bobbin' every now and again, but nothing major or particularly thrilling. 

Upon arrival the marina put us on hold. Apparently there was a large boat being launched and they wanted the channel clear to get it done. We had to wait fifteen minutes or so. Then we were given a go.

They had us dock in a corner, which was a little tricky to get into. As a choice I took stern in. I decided that would be easier to get the weird maneuver done now than back out, especially since everything was calm now. You never know what it will be like when we need to leave.

Land Ho! If you squint, that is...

Four days of activity!

Sunrise

This afternoon the Looper Rendezvous ended, which was four days of talks, chats, slide shows, presentations, food, and new friends. The show was held at the Sheraton across the water from us. We chose to stay in the Tidewater Marina since it was quieter. But that meant getting to conference via water taxi. Kinda nice letting someone else do the driving.

Three of those days had boat crawls, where boats could open up their vessels to any participating looper to tour. We were one of those boats -- had a LOT of folks stop by and look at Cat-n-Dogs. 

On the water taxi

We now have some plans for what's to come. Presenters covered from Norfolk, Va to Joe Wheeler State Park, AL, where (coincidentally) the next looper shindig will be held. We've yet to decide if we'll attend that one.

Plan to leave tomorrow morning and get to Cape Charles, then slowly toodle our way up the east side of the Chesapeake Bay.

Cat-n-Dogs at the crawl.
Russ is in the fly deck, I was below giving tours.

Chesapeake to Norfolk (Rendezvous!)

This marks a couple of milestones. First, we're out of the ICW. We won't see it again until we get back to the gulf.

Secondly, Russ calculated that we've traveled more miles thus far than there are to get to Canada. We've been doing the loop for over two months, starting to hit our stride.

The trip up here was only about seven miles. It took roughly an hour longer than it should have due to a train. The bridge is way too low to pass under so we (and the three other boats traveling with us) had to wait.

The terrain was quite different from the swamp of a few days ago. We went from lush green, trees, and ivy to shipyards, oil containers, and military gunboats. 

Docking was a little tricky, since we had to navigate through a number of fairways, with twists and turns to get to our slip. Then docked stern in. On the radio they told us it would be a port side tie, but when we saw the slip it was starboard. I had to hold position while Russ moved fenders and lines to the other side. It was good weather, but in general it's all getting to be a little easier to do.

Took a walk yesterday over the bridge.
Cat-n-Dogs is 2nd from the right. 

From the swamp to the jungle

Looks weird since I took the pic
through the isinglass

Currently the "back yard"

Dismal Swamp to Chesapeake

Another one bites the dust... states, that is. We say "farewell" to North Carolina and "hello" to Virginia.

From the map you can see it was a largely straight run through the remainder of the Dismal Swamp. Still narrow, and still quite shallow throughout most of it. The only real excitement in the day was passing a dredge, which has never gone well for us. This would be our third. It went without incident -- for us, anyway. The boat ahead of us did hit the dredge pipe, but suffered no damage. They just reported a "bump" as they went over it.

We locked through another lock to get onto the Chesapeake, which is largely still north of us. Both locks also have bridges near them that need to be opened for the boats, both around 10 feet high. That's done by one person. They hear you call and open the bridge, then drive (as you float) to the lock to lock you through. That's why it's only done four times a day, otherwise these poor people would be running back and forth all day long. Explained one lock master, we also do the grounds keeping and the lock maintenance. Essentially, they live there.

This little guy tried to hitch a ride
Look closely at the rope on the left
Polly, avert your eyes!

We're not far from Norfolk. Rather than push through we stopped here at Top Rack Marina to top off our fuel and spend a night. Maybe two. Thunderstorms are predicted for Saturday and Sunday, and our reservation in Norfolk starts Sunday. I'd rather be there by Saturday if we can. That way I can enjoy the storms (that never, ever seems to show up when we're that organized).

Navionics gave me this route.
Not a warm-and-fuzzy feeling when it tracks you
over land. Thankfully, it was really water.

At the Deep Creek Lock.
You can see the little house on the left.
That's where the lockmaster lives.

Elizabeth City to Dismal Swamp Visitor Center

From what I understand, the word "dismal" means swamp. Not that it's a particularly bad swamp. But it is called the Dismal Swamp. Kind of like Sherwood Forest, where "wood" means forest. English. Go figure.

We're here largely as a timing issue. The Dismal Swamp is bounded by two locks. Unlike the locks of the Okeechobee, which open on demand, these only open four times a day; 8 am, 11 am, 1:30 pm, and 4 pm. While they aren't really far apart, you can't travel quickly on the Dismal Swamp due to it's size and depth. It's crazy narrow and crazy shallow, so you go crazy slow. Like 5 knots, or less. As a result, unless you went through the first lock at 8 am, you won't get though the second by 4. And you'll be stuck on the swamp.

Locking at South Mills
Martha (As You Wish) took the pic

We just opted to get stuck. We left Elizabeth City around 10 am with the intention of getting to the first lock, South Mills, for the 1:30 pm lock through, then hang out at the visitor center.

They have a wall for boats to tie up on, but it only fits about three boats. There are six of us here now. So, we raft. That is, one boat ties up to the dock, another boat ties up to that boat, and another boat ties up to that. Like logs on a raft, I suppose.

The trip itself was beyond amazing. Bounded by beautiful cypress trees, warm day, sunny, just enough of a breeze to keep you cool. At one point Russ commented that they really needed a toll booth to charge boaters because the ride was so wonderful. Yes, narrow, yes, shallow (only once you pass the first lock), but stunning, quiet, and lush. Glorius.

We decided to take this path for it's history. It's one of the oldest canals in America. Surveyed by a young man named George Washington (you may have heard of him) but never got built. Washington bought the land and made the first 5 miles of the canal. We'll travel along it tomorrow. Back in the day it allowed a bunch of commercial traffic to get

Rafted on the swamp. We're on the far right.
Tied to us is As You Wish, then Bella Gato.
A couple of sail boats are rafted ahead of us.

to the southern states. Now, it's largely an option on the loop. 

Two more dead flies. Which brings our death toll to 29. All of them fed the fishes.