Our first day in Portsmouth was sunny and cool, but became really nice by mid-afternoon. We walked into town for lunch at the Bier Garden German restaurant which was quite good. Our plan was to do lunch and then hit the Naval and Lightship museums. Both of those were closed, so now it’s Plan B. The visitor center was nearby so we went in for some info on the town. Portsmouth has a historic home area just across the street from the center so we used their map and went exploring. This ultimately led back to the main street where we checked out a few shops before going to Still. This place was a tapas restaurant located in the basement of an old house and styled after a speakeasy. Right after we got there they told us that today was a wine tasting and that they would be furnishing complimentary appetizers! The vintner was from Oregon and the food was amazing. We ordered a couple of more dishes afterwards and I can tell you without reservation to go here if you’re in town.
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| Confederate Memorial in the center of town |
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| Bier Garden |
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| The lightship - these were once anchored along the east coast |
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| One of the historic homes in Portsmouth |
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| Still - the speakeasy |
For day two, we took the ferry across the river into Norfolk to visit the Naticus Museum and the USS Wisconsin. This WWII battleship, which was completed in 1943, remained in and out of active service until 1991. Our tour guide was a Navy veteran and he did a great job on our tour through the command sections of the tower and bridge. Going into the various areas of the ship made you reflect about how amazing a time it was when these huge vessels were built and sent into battle manned by our Greatest Generation. One bit of trivia from the tour is that there is only ship in the US Navy that has a bathtub. Guesses? It’s the battleship Iowa. The ship was modified to provide a tub for President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s time on-board since his leg braces prevented him from using a shower! After the ship, we went into the museum to see the exhibits and watch the 3D movie about aircraft carriers. Then it was down to Waterside to enjoy the sun and warm weather, have dinner and then take the ferry back across the river.
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| Once the Admiral's cabin, this was converted to a missile control center for the Gulf War |
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| The wheelhouse - surrounded by 18" thick steel walls |
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| That's the bridge seven stories above my head |
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| Impressive |
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| Sunset over the marina |
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| Norfolk at night |
Wednesday was a get ready to travel day. Summer returned with sun and 80 degrees. I got routes planned for the next legs up through the Chesapeake Bay and finalized our reservation for Herrington Harbor where we will spend three weeks with our friends Tom and Teresa. This will be the time needed to get the boat ready for the second half of the loop. The afternoon gave us time to make a grocery run to a Kroger Marketplace nearby. We got all the supplies needed for the next week. Tomorrow morning we will leave Portsmouth to move north into the Bay and our first stop at Yorktown.
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| Another fiery sunset |
Thursday morning was nice and sunny but a little windy. The trip up the Elisabeth River went through more of the shipyards and there were many Navy ships all along the way. As we got closer to the Chesapeake Bay, it looked like this was the place where the Navy keeps the ships that are ready to go to sea. There were several aircraft carriers and other ships that I can't identify. There was a large freighter ahead of us as we went up the river and we caught up with it just as we entered the Bay. The winds and waves picked up as we headed up to the York River where our destination was located. It was called Wormley Creek Marina which was up a small, narrow creek off the river making the entry somewhat interesting. After getting in, we arranged to pick up a rental car so that we can tour the local historic areas. Our first visit was to Yorktown where we visited a Waterman's Museum and rode a trolley around the area. Our driver recommended coming back tomorrow to visit the Revolutionary Museum and to go to the Yorktown Pub for dinner today. The pub was a good place and we'll see about the museum. Track and photos - www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/1029409
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| Tucked in at Wormley Creek |
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| Model of The Betsey - sunk in the Yorktown River during Revolutionary War |
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| Victory Memorial on edge of the Yorktown battle field |
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| Who knew Yorktown had a beach |
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| Sunset on Wormley Creek |
I had to start the day by putting water in the tank so that we could shower and get off to the activities of the day. Breakfast was at a little diner called Pop's Drive In. I got country ham with red eye gravy and Regina had some sausage gravy to go with her biscuit. This place was great! From here, we went back to Yorktown to visit the American Revolution Museum. This is an almost brand new, very large facility that covers the entire revolutionary war from its beginnings in 1765 with the Stamp Act and the 1770 Boston Massacre to the Battle of Yorktown in 1781 and the Treaty of Paris in 1783. We spent three hours here and you could have easily done more. Definitely put this place on your list if in the vicinity. Newport News is just south of here so we decided to go down and see the waterfront. It got up to 90 degrees on this spring day so we sat out and enjoyed the sunshine for a while before finding a Mexican restaurant for dinner.
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| Morning in the marina |
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| Winged Victory in the museum lobby |
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| French cannon |
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| Of course, George is here! |
On Saturday, the winds finally died down but the temperature also dropped about 15 degrees. I visited the marina office to get more information on tide and the channel back out to the river for our departure in the morning. Afterwards, we got ready and left for Colonial Williamsburg. Breakfast was at Colonial Pancake House which was only about a mile from the visitor center. The town is bigger than Yorktown and by the time we were worn out, we had been there for 4 hours! The only disappointing thing was was that the Governor’s Mansion closed at mid-day and we didn’t get to go through it. Still the experience of going through many of the other buildings and seeing the craftsmen working was certainly very informative. When we finished touring, it was time to return the rental car and Uber back to the marina so we could watch the Kentucky Derby. Cinco de Mayo and the Derby on the same day! How often does that happen?? Tomorrow is a travel day so I have to download Navionics updates and get ready for an early start.
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| Governor's Palace |
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| Wythe House |
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| Parish Church |
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| Amazing garden |
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| The Magazine |
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| Walls of muskets in the Magazine |
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| Courthouse |
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| The Capitol |
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| The jail |
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| A jail cell |
Morning arrived with rain showers and no wind, but by about 8 AM the rain stopped. The skies were grey and the water was almost flat. As we got further north, there was a bit of light fog beginning to appear. In spots, it got thicker, but nothing like our day in the Gulf. I turned on the running lights and the radar just to be on the safe side. There were AIS targets showing up on the chart plotter which matched up with radar returns. However, as well as those targets, other returns were also moving out there. Shortly after turning into the Rappahannock River, we hit thick fog. Now those moving targets became much more of a concern and one of them was heading right toward us. I slowed down even more, used the horn for signaling and watched. Suddenly out of the blanket appeared a roughly 40’ cruiser that was about 50 yards ahead. I guess at this point the guy realized that he wasn’t out here alone and he really pulled back on the power! There were about four other cruising boats going the same direction as we were and we began to get each other in sight as the fog slowly began to lift. Finally about 3 miles from the marina entrance, it cleared and the rest of the trip was easy. Track and photos - www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/1032524
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| The Tides Inn |
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| Looking out toward the river |
Weather continues to be an issue. Yet another front is moving across the area so we have to wait for the next window to move on up the Bay. Because of this, we decided to spend a couple of days here because the Tides Inn is a really nice place to be waiting. We are well up in a narrow creek off the river, they have brand new floating docks and the Inn has an excellent restaurant. On our first day here, Regina utilized the free laundry while I reworked our trip on up the Bay and finalized reservations for the next stop at Solomons Island. On our second day, some new loopers arrived and we got to spend some time talking with them about their experiences. One universal truth is that anyone who is cruising on a boat has some stories about their adventures - good ones and bad ones! The Inn has bicycles that are available for guests to use so we took advantage and rode into Irvington to see the town. We really wanted to visit the Steamship Era museum here, but it is only open on weekends so that didn't work out. We had dinner at the Chesapeake Restaurant at the Inn both nights and this is another spot to keep on the list of great places to visit. All of the forecasts say that Wednesday will be a good day to continue north, so our plan is to head out in the morning.
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| Nice view but a grey day |
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| Regina found new Wellies! |
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| Back lawn at the Inn |
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| Playing chess |
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| We found the "landmark" corkscrew!! |
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| Beautiful here but ugly out on the Bay |
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| Tides Inn patio |
The day for leaving Tides Inn was cloudy with light wind and a forecast of possible patchy fog. We left at 8 AM and had a very smooth ride down the river to the Bay. At that point, the water got rougher with 1 to 2 foot seas. After passing the mouth of the Potomac River, all this started getting better and the waves went down to less than a foot. There was quite a bit of shipping traffic out today and without a doubt the biggest wave we saw all day was the wake off of a 1000’ long container ship! As we approached the Patuxent River, the water started getting rough again, but improved as we got out of the Bay and into the river. Solomons Island was the destination and we got tied up on a face dock at Zahnisers' Marine by 12:30. I had to wash down the boat to get the salt off and soon after that Pat and Barbara came by to see us. We visited for a while and then went to Island Hideaway for dinner before taking a tour of the town. Track and photos - www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/1035552
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| At the "On Watch" statue |
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| I don't know what these are, but there has to be a story |
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| Sunset over the Patuxent |
The weather on the Bay is not forecast to improve until Friday. So for our second day in Solomons, the plan is to go to the Calvert Marine Museum. But before going there, we’re checking out the CD Cafe for lunch. This place gets raving reviews and is very short walk from our dock. It was packed and our lunch was very good. Afterward, we walked up the street to the museum. I’m not sure how many times we’ve been to Solomons, but we never went to visit this place. It had the old Drum Point Lighthouse there which we climbed up into and checked out. Not sure I could ever do the job of a light keeper and live in a house in the Bay! Inside the building, they had old boats, live otters, fish, turtles, rays and the most amazing fossils from the cliffs that line this portion of the western shore. After two hours, we had seen most of the exhibits and our friends had returned to pick us up to go to dinner. Pat drove us a little ways up Route 4 and then down a little side road to a restaurant called Vera’s White Sands Beach Club. This place has been here for years and we have been told about how Vera was a real person with a huge flair for life. We picked our first crabs of the trip and relaxed overlooking St Leonard Creek.
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| Drum Point Light |
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| Stair down from the top |
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| Mechanical fog bell ringer |
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| Model of a megalodon shark |
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| Vera's beach |
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| The gang is picking crab |
Friday morning arrived and it was beautiful and sunny. We cruised our of the marina at 8:30 on the way north. Water on the Bay was virtually flat and the ride smooth. Interestingly, there were hundreds of fishing boats out. Many more than I have ever seen on all of our previous visits, guess it must have been a great day for catching something. It took about two and a half hours to get to Herrington Harbor South. We got fuel and got checked in for our stay. During this time, we will be in the slip right next to my buddy Tom. Track and photos - www.ramblr.com/web/mymap/trip/273527/1037360
We are going to be staying here for the next three weeks doing repairs, maintenance and resting for the second half of the Loop. Don’t look for any of the regular updates until we get moving again which will be around the end of May. Currently, we are almost half way through the Loop so far traveling just under 3000 miles.
