July 10-11, 2014 Yorktown Anchorage

We’re antsy.  So we decided to leave.  Field Trip said they’d go too and a catamaran in a slip down from Field Trip also left.  The weather was ify with predicted rain and some thunderstorms.  But antsy-ness sometimes trumps caution.

Oddly, of the 5 weather sources I use, none were in total agreement other than there was some rain possible.  With such professional diversity one must relay on their gut instincts and mine rumbled, "go".

So we left. 

Field Trip needed a pump out and the marina guy didn't show up until 8:15.  But that gave us time to get ready to leave.  Basically that meant I had to get the Nav system up and running, and cut the power over.  Then take in all the lines except those we absolutely needed to keep the boat from banging around. 

Leaving our slip in Waterside Marina

I helped Field Trip over to the pump-out and while they were taking care of that Mary and I pulled in our lines and we slid out of the slip and met up with Field Trip in the channel.  We started down the shipping channel past Craney Island towards Hampton Roads where the Monitor and the Merrimac fought their famous 4 hour duel off of Sewell Point.



The shipping channel here is bordered by an almost continuous shoreline of commercial port facilities including coal dock 6 which holds some sort of record for the most coal loaded aboard a ship.

The Kearsarge underway

We made our way further into Hampton Roads where the Naval Base is located.  And suddenly we heard Warship 3 on the VHF radio announcing they were under way from pier 11.  Warship 3 is the USS Kearsarge and is  Amphibious Assault Ship (LHD).  Its huge!  Very cool to see it even though we were a few miles away.

Coast Guard Cutter that over took us

We also were passed by a coast guard cutter and shortly after, a tug throwing a huge wake so he must have been in a hurry.  It knocked us around some.

After we passed by the James River entrance and entered the Chesapeake Bay we caught a little rain as we moved north.   But thankfully no severe weather.

It only took us 4 hours to get into the York River.  As we ran up the river we noticed about a dozen coast guard boats zipping around and seemingly conducting some sort of drill.  As the skies darkened however they congregated near the Coast Guard training station an single file, began entering the channel leading to their base.  They never hailed us or made indications they would stop us.  Now if Curt and Marilyn where with us …

Anchorage at Point-of-Rocks 

Sunset at Point-of-Rocks anchorage

We anchored at a place called point of rocks very near the city of Yorktown.  It was about a mile dinghy ride to the main town and its marina and dinghy dock. The rain threat, and actual rain continued throughout  the evening though so we abandoned the idea of taking the dinghy down and running into Yorktown.  So no cocktails with Bob and Martha tonight.  Hopefully tomorrow the weather will improve!

July 11, 2014

This morning it was a bit cloudy with the remnants of the storms that blew through quite evident in the dark billowy clouds rolling bye.  The forecast looked good so we hauled the dinghy down and went into Yorktown with Bob and Martha who elected to give their dinghy a little run as well.

Yorktown from the dinghy

We tied up at the Yorktown town dock, town docks for $5.  The dock master told me that Norfolk, where we had  the day before, was hit pretty hard by 3 inches of rain and large hail.  It caused flooding down where we were docked.  So I guess it was a  good decision to leave!

We're anchored well in the distance from the Yorktown dock (that's us in the center barely discernible)

Benign creatures, or so they seem.

We also saw large congregations of jelly fish.  Evidently the come up the rivers in early July.  No swimming for us!

We walked the mile to the Yorktown Victory Center.  It’s a museum of sorts. They are constructing a new building to house the museum. Very nice but some of the exhibits were difficult to read because of the lighting.  Also the movie was sophomoric… in my opinion.  Interesting non-the-less.

We left there and took the free trolley through town to the Visitor Center which is on the Yorktown Battlefield.  The two visitor centers are separate and distinct.  It was interesting although rather limited.  We, of course were able to gain entry for free.  Senior parks pass!

The most interesting artifact in the exhibits was one of the actual tents George Washington used during the war.  Pretty cool.  

We boarded the trolley back to town and ate lunch.  We skipped the battlefield tour which was, from all appearances, a short walking tour around the immediate grounds of the Visitor Center which is on the border of the actual battlefield.  The bulk of the battlefield is a few miles away and covers an extensive area.  The recommended manner for touring is by car playing a audio CD describing the various stops along the route.

Waling up one of the streets in the historic area

Old church (Grace Church) dating from late 1600's

Restored Customs house

Grace church cemetery

We took a walk up main street to see  re-creations of many of the homes there.  Its very well done with recreations mixed in with actual structures from the period.

Nelson house

 After lingering in the Nelson House we walked to the Victory Monument and then took the free trolley for a third time back to the beach where we hopped in the dinghy and went back to the  boat.

  

2nd floor of Nelson house

Victory monument

The river though had gotten quite rough, the forecast being overly optimistic describing the winds and swells.  So we had a wet ride back.

Mary wasn't feeling well so I went over to Field Trip to discuss tomorrow whether they were planning on  joining us to go to the Corrotoman River and an anchorage there.  They wanted to go along so I came back to the boat, grilled lamb and hauled the dinghy aboard before calling it a night.

And tomorrow I hope we get up in time for our 8 am departure since our Oregon Instrument projection clock died yesterday.  Now we have no time projected on the ceiling!  Life can be rough.