Pamlico Sail & Power Squadron

The story of the Mann’s, Lord’s and Rebholz’s trip up the Chesapeake and James.

We are into day 12 of our Chesapeake/James River trip. So far boating has been good but hot. Our 1st overnight stop was at Midway in Coinjock. They were out of gasoline which then required us to go across the river to Coinjock Marina. Apparently they had been out from sometime. The Chef opened the restaurant for us (normally closed on Monday) because they “remembered Pamlico Mann”. Ed didn’t remember him however. All that had the fried scallops agreed they were the best they had ever had.

On to Norfolk the next day. Bridges caused us problems. Those that were ‘Normally Open” were apparently “Normally Closed” on this trip. So our travel time was an extra hour and a half.   Lots to do in Norfolk. We stayed at Waterside Marine, the rates were reasonable, the service great. There is a large mall with Nordstroms and Dillard’s within 6 blocks. A great Italian restaurant called Sirena Cucina on Granby about 8 blocks away. There is a free bus service on Granbyand some adjoining streets so you don’t have to walk. Take the Victory Rover Navel Base tour if you have any interest in the Military. You can also jointly purchase tickets to the tour Naval and the Battleship Wisconsin. We did go across to Portsmouth, an while it has good restaurants, it seemed a little over rated.  The showers and head are a long ways and not that great, but not terrible. Has a OK laundry.

Moving on to Cape Charles, the entrance to Bay Creek Marina is a little tricky. Stay close to the Red 2 and 4 markers. What a great top of the line Marina.  Big slips, most are 18 or 20 feet wide. The town is small and not a lot to do. Well, some of us didn’t have enough. There is a great old time hardware store and the Irish restaurant was very good. Ask for John. At the Marina is one large boutique  shop with lots of interesting, one of a kind items. They had free wine and chocolate tasting on the weekend. The Marina also has a great restaurant called Aqua that we recommend. Despite being jammed on the 4 th of July they handled the crowd well and the food was great. There is a beach to walk on but it was too hot so we settled for the pool. The shore and head here are great though depending on dockage they can be a long way away. Washer/Dryer are free but they only have one.

Next on to Doziers in Deltaville. This was to be our relaxing time, but it was so hot that we just tried to stay in the A/C. The marina has two courtesy station wagons, both without A/C so driving was like running in front of a blast furnace. The highlight was going to Cocomo’s for dinner. They have recently opened under new management. They picked us up in a stetched limo with air. The ride was great and I think the food was good too. J&W Seafood had great crab and shrimp. Judy made terrific crab cakes and we grilled shrimp twice. Good showers and head here. Washer/Dryer expensive, $2.00 each load washer and dryer.

Then on to Hampton, VA. We found out late that we had reservations at the Hampton Public Piers during the Backbeard Festival. Now that may not sound like a big deal, after all Blackbeard is from our neck of the woods. Well, he also had big ties to Hampton for this is where Lt. Maynard sailed from and where Blackbeard’s head and crew were returned to after Maynard won the battle at Ocracoke inlet.

First docking here is a challenge even without the festival(worse than Washington as finger piers stick out into the river). There is current, tide and winds to contend with. Add the festival and the temporary dock problems and it became a circus.

 All you Navy guys will love this. Apparently the city contracts with the Army to bring in some barges using an Army tug. Well, they got the barges here OK, just before we arrived, but then the fun began. The army decided that the 60 ft. tug they brought in was too big to maneuver the barges into the proper space, so the left after a lengthy discussions and called for another tug. Well, on their return the 60 ft tug blows an engine and the other tug, which is on it’s way has to stop and tow the 60 ft tug back to Ft. Houston. The tugs (one 80 ft and two small working barges) finally arrive at 8:30 pm. Now to get a picture of this the river here is about 2/3 the width of Broad Creek withMarinas on both sides and we are moving these two 80 ft barges into position 100 ft off the end of a dock. The piling that had been set to help anchor the barges proved no match for the tug, so now that it is leaning over it is more of a hazard. We they finally got the barges in position sometime after midnight, although we had all retired. The showers are private but the  head is shared with the public and since this was party weekend you can imagine. o washer/ dryer.

The festival itself was a mixture of the Ocracoke Festival (all related to pirates and sea music) and Summerfest. Lots of street vendors, 3 stages, reenactments of both pirates and British camps, several sea battles ( Blackbeard’s final) and like all good festivals, lots of beer and all that goes with it. The locals really get into this and lots of people are dressed in period costumes. They have acts going on all over including several on the docks. The parties on the docks lasted till 3:00 am although it didn’t impact us a lot. Today we will finish the Festival and do some shopping. Next is Two Rivers and Williamsburg – up the James River.

First real screw-up happens when John tries to leave the slip with a stern line attached. The boat immeadiately swings to port and into the sail boat next to us. No damage as we still had a fender out just in case the wind blew us that way. Moral-take your time and dont rush.

OK we forgot an important part.

“Daddy Duck – I think we have a problem.”

Now onto Two Rivers Marina at Governors Landing. This is a beautiful trip up the James River about 35 miles. The river is wide although there is a deep channel to follow. Twin Rivers has a Williamsburg address but its about 25 min to Colonial Williamsburg. The marina is very nice and they were very accommodating. They have golf carts to get arround the development which has 700 homes but is probably twice the physical size of Cypress Landing. The transient boaters have access to the ammenities incuding the golf course, pool, beach, fitness center and resturant. The resturant has a formal and relaxed dinning room. Formal requires a jacket, we think. Overall this was a great stop but you are a long ways from shopping, resturants or Colonial Williamsburg. We rented a car at Enterprize. The head and showers are very good, the washer and dryer are small but the good news was the $0.75 for the washer fell into an open box so you could recycle it.  Price of fuel seemed a little high and dockage was $2.00 a foot.

We left for Smithfield Station on Thursday. Again a nice ride and the Pagan River is very nice. The dregged the river in October 2009 so we had good depth except one location. Smithfield is a very nice marina. It is family owned with a hotel, excellent resturant and a couple of shops right here. They treat the slips as hotel rooms so you get all the same ammenities. Not sure about the washer/dryer and the shower is a long was away.

The city is small but very nice,  just 1/3 mile walk. The walk in passes a string of beautiful old homes (there is a self-guide walking tour). There is also 5 art galleries, so it is somewhat like Washington except for the buildings are smaller and not empty. 

Sunday we start the long trip back stopping in Coinjock Sunday night. 

John & Shelly Rebholz, traveling with the Mann’s and Lord’s

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 11th, 2010 at 07:11 and is filed under Cruising Tips, PSPS Cruises. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.