Day 100: Onancock, VA

It hadn’t started raining when we first got up this morning. So we took the opportunity to get a ride into town to get some groceries. It was a very slow morning for the marina.  Charles, the dockmaster, was more than happy to take us the two miles to the store since no boats were expected to arrive or depart due to the bad weather on the Chesapeake Bay.  When we returned, in a downpour of course, Brain stepped over and invited the crews of Lorie Lynn and Sea Pearl, the only other transient boats at the marina, for docktails at 5:30pm.  The rest of the day, we sheltered on the boat listening to the rain, reading and watching Netflex.  The crew of Sea Pearl couldn’t make it to docktails unfortunately.  But, the crew of Lorie Lynn, Lorie and Dr. Ivor Van Heerden, and their guest crew members Rick Knight and Miriam Little made it.  Ivor is originally from South Africa, has a doctorate in marine sciences, and was deputy director of the Louisiana State University (LSU) Hurricane Center.  Lorie is from the United States, and Rick and Miriam are from Scotland.  Both Ivor and Lorie are avid sailors having crossed the Atlantic and Caribbean several times by sail.  They met Rick and Miriam on a voyage to Scotland.  Both Rick and Miriam flew to the United States for a sail cruise on the Chesapeake Bay.  We had a great time talking of recent trips, the weather, the pending Scottish vote for independence (18 Sept 2014), and the sailboat Ivor modified for ‘blue water’ sailing.  Shortly after our guests left, we were relaxing when we heard a thump on the forward hull.  Dashing out in the rain at night, we looked for items in the water.  We didn’t see anything.  We check the lines and cleats thinking that a line might be too taught and pulled a cleat out.  Everything was normal.  However, we did notice the water level of the creek was nearly over the marina’s bulkhead.  Some docks were completely covered with water.  Looks like tomorrow will be another day like today.