Turnaround

I named this post Turnaround for two reasons:  one is a turnaround in plans and the other is a turnaround in directions.

I decided a couple of days ago not to fly back to Arkansas to personally rent out a house.  One of my lovely brothers has agreed to show it for me and the rest I can probably do long-distance.    We are ten long days from where the plane would take off and we don't want to rush.

The other turnaround is in direction.  We are at Chrisfield, a little town in Maryland that is just north of Virgina on the east side of Chesapeake sound, about half-way up the long sound.  When looking for anchorages and at the time of year, we think this is as far as we should go.   Most of  the anchorages, looking by google earth, have homes around or near them.   We're used to finding places that are mostly just nature and us and we want those again.   Also, it's getting chilly here.   We are using our beach towels as blankets, 'cause we don't have one and aren't near a place to buy one.    Plus it sometimes feels cosier to eat down in the boat rather than in the cockpit.   Time to move south, don't you think?

Now to the good parts.   I may have written that we motored in some high winds our first day on the bay and ended up over in an anchorage near Yorktown, lower on the east side of the bay.  These first few pictures are from a walk we took there, then a dinghy ride, and then that night with the moody weather.

We had heard from the lock tender that a place called Tangier Island was a "must visit."   So after two nights at that first anchorage area (we moved three times), we started north.  With the wind on our nose, we motored NINE hours.  We wondered along the way, "WHY?"   And also saw this little lighthouse.

About six that evening, we saw LAND.

Tangier Island (s) is a batch of land about 4 feet high right in the north-south, east-west middle of Chesapeake Bay.  They are losing ground each year and realize that the islands will be inundated a few generations into the future.

Now we know "WHY."   This place is the best stop yet.

The islanders make their living as "watermen," catching and selling crabs and by catering to us tourists.

We stayed at a marina run by an 82-year-old man, Milton Parks where we paid $30 for each of the two nights we stayed there.  He had spent 41 winters with the dragon boat fleet (they used to drag for crabs they way they still drag for oysters.)

 A couple from Maryland and their two children had made this their second stop on a two-year journey.  They were on a beautiful 40 foot sailboat named Quartet.

The houses are all close and small.  Several had the family graveyards in front of their house.  They all came from the same place in England and continue to speak with a Restoration English dialect.   Very fun to listen to and try to understand.

We only saw two pickup trucks on the island.  All of the "streets" look like this, to us a bike path.  They use golf carts and bicycles to get around.  So much fun to see several women on bikes, stopped by a friends house to gossip

We followed one bike path 'til it turned into a sandy path.  Ditched our bikes and walked out to a beach.

Looked back to town from the path.

We ate dinner at one seafood restaurant and lunch at another.  The specialty here is soft-shelled crabs so I had my first (except for one a long time ago in New Jersey - Don't think I forgot, Jerry).

After lunch we took a new friend's advice and dinghyed around to the south of the island where there's only a crescent of sand.   Wonderful to see and to play in.

At the end, birds gulls and pelicans hung out by the hundreds.

All the boats around were what they call "dead rise."  The ones they go harvest the crab  pots with.

One evening, I thought I saw these gulls walking on water.  But the tide kept going out and it turns out they were walking on land.

Our last night here we saw the  full moon and visited with people from the two other sailboats here.

Now, once again, we motored (wind on our nose) two hours over to a town in Maryland:  Crisfield.  We have now decided to stay here two days.  It's cheap and the nicest marina we've stayed in and we can regroup a little.