Voice 1: Captain if you are planning on crossing the channel you will have to hurry up because you’ll soon be crossing my bow.
Voice 2: We are trying to stay outside of your way and also stay clear of the creek.
Voice 1: Well, my ship is a lot more intimidating than that creek given that we are headed straight at you.
Headed down the Chesapeake from the Piankatank River toward Norfolk the talk on the radio increases dramatically, as does the number of fishing boats, power boats, sailboats and navy ships and helicopters about. I find some of the conversations on the radio very funny, like the one above. Others are daunting, such as hearing a call from a “navy warship” or “stay outside the channel of the outgoing submarine”
but not seeing anything larger than a pelican around. We have become vhf radio voyeurs of sorts, intrigued enough by a 15 second hailing call between two skippers to follow their conversation to another channel – “sounds like a bunch of power boaters, except who would name their power boat slow dancing” comments Rick this morning.
I just heard the comment “Coast Guard, that last transmission you made was so garbled that nobody out here could make heads or tales of it”…”ditto out here” says a second voice. This has been our comment to each other more than once as we here one coast guard broadcast after another.
We had a great experience hauling the boat at Pleasure Cove Marina, a really friendly operation on a beautiful river with a very wide travel lift! It’s always something to see the operators maneuver the boat to lift it as if it was as small as a dingy. Rick and Kenny replaced the propellers and by 1PM we were back in the water; we have found that we gained over 1 knot in speed. COWABUNGA!
Speaking of speed, from there we flew down to the Piankatank River over a 3 day period – with strong N winds gusting up to 34 knots, Dfly traveling at more than 13 knots at times with less than 1/2 of the gib up. These winds also brought waves that were pretty big & I found myself playing over and over in my head the advice of last years Caribbean 1500 fleet doctor regarding “mal de mer.”: drink water, drink water".
One evening, while tucking into Dymers Creek we were welcomed over the radio by Jack & Jo on “Bodacious”. We enjoyed appetizers and sundowners with them and shared our stories of the Turks & Caicos as it is their destination this winter, and learnt that they travel the country in their RV all summer and on their powerboat all winter. They don’t miss having a “house” at all. Speaking of houses, McMansion-itis has certainly surfaced in these gorgeous rivers and creeks, each one a bigger monument to its owner than the last.
On a bright sunny day we parked Dragonfly in her reserved spot in beautiful Wilton Creek – a really glorious creek surrounded by trees radiant with orange, yellow and green, where the only activity outside of our dingy was the birds swooping and the fish splashing. Arriving here where Rick’s dad lived for so many years continues to be a major objective during our journeys. We thoroughly enjoyed visiting with Bill, Blair, Paul, Betty, & Jimmy in Deltaville— catching up on kids and jobs, swapping stories, laughing at all their funny anecdotes. Bill and Blair offered us the use of their Miata (recognized that dull look in my eyes and knew that I needed a fix) and we made the most of the sunshine by zipping up to Richmond (w/ the top down) to visit Kyle (Rick’s sister), Gregg, William and Louis. I think the other drivers knew we were from a colder climate as the other convertibles on the road were closed tight. We actually spent a night ashore, away from Dragonfly – another first! And Rick actually played Chinese checkers with the kids – another first!
That brings me up to date – we’ll spend a few days in the Norfolk area. Today we’ll make plans for our next leg which looks to start on Friday. Next major goal: catch sight of the Florida Keys!
