Day 101: Onancock, VA

Holy Trinity Episcopal Church

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Linda & the Brick inside Holy
Trinity Episcopal Church

We awoke to light rain this morning and stayed awake during the light rain all morning.  Once the rain left around 2:00pm, we went for a walk to see the town.  We visited Holy Trinity Episcopal

Sunset on the Onancock Creek

Church for some pictures then strolled to The Blarney Stone Pub for a light lunch.  Afterward we headed back to the boat and did a light load of laundry.  Brian also made some calls to arrange our slip and a dinner at The Tides Inn for our twenty-seventh wedding anniversary this Friday.

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.

Day 99: Somers Cove Marina to Onancock Town Wharf and Marina, Onancock, VA (23.6NM, 3.0 Hours)

Onancock Wharf & Marina

The rain continued this morning until around 8:00am.  Yet, the wind continued to blow from the northeast at 10-15MPH with higher gusts (small craft warnings were in effect for waves 3-5 feet and higher).  Currents on the Chesapeake Bay were flowing south. So, we said to ourselves, “What, me worry?” and decided to make a run for Onancock (pronounced Nancock).  We topped off with fuel then headed out not far behind another trawler heading north.  Once we passed the no wake zone buoy we

Exterior of Mallards: Formerly
Hopkins & Bros. 

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Inside Mallards: Old mercantile
counter

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Inside Mallard's: Steamboat
ticket window

trotted up to 18,000 RPM (10 - 14 knots depending on whether we are climbing a wave or sliding down the other side).  All-in-all it was a great ride for us.  But the trawler that preceded us out radioed back to Somer’s Cove Marina that they were returning.  We had the advantage actually of being able to run close to marshes and the shallow waters of Great Fox Island, Little Fox Island, and Watts Island to try to reduce the size of the waves we’d experience as we headed south.  We also had the current with us.  Once we got into the protection of the Onancock Creek everything went quiet.  It was like night and day.  The water was smooth.  The wind was light.  We idled up the creek and enjoyed the views.  After docking and checking in at the Onancock Wharf and Marina, we had lunch at Mallards At The Wharf restaurant next door.  It

Sunset on Onancock Creek

was so pleasant, we elected to eat outside and were joined by many others shortly after.   Hopkins & Bros. was founded in 1842 as a waterfront store, warehouse, shipping business, steamboat ticket office, and occasionally a bank.  Some Marylanders were sympathetic to the Confederacy at the start of the Civil War and the owner Steven Hopkins had to take an oath of allegiance to the United States to continue operations.  Although the location of the 1842 building has moved and the outbuildings have been removed, the business operated until 1965.  The remaining buildings and all of the business records were donated to the Virginia Historical Society (VHS), Eastern Shore.   The building has been leased from the VHS and has operated as Mallards since 2010.  We gave Splash Down a well deserved washing when we got back from lunch.  Then we walked the town and had dinner at the Charlotte Hotel and Restaurant.  They had great gluten-free food options.  Returning to the boat, we looked at the weather and decided to stay put for a day or two and not beat ourselves up trying to get to the western shore.   There is much more exploring to do in Onancock.