Day 400
We left our T-dock at Somers Cove Marina in Crisfield, MD, at 7:30 am on Friday morning, 10/15/21. The weather was calm and our cruising waters were perfectly still – like glass – in the Tangier Sound as we headed back out into the Chesapeake Bay. Earlier that morning we experienced a beautiful sunrise through wisps of fog, which Steve had originally feared would delay our departure, but did not. As he manned the helm southward, Steve mentioned he was glad to be leaving Crisfield, as he’d found the whole area to be depressing, but I didn’t feel it was so terrible. It was true that I didn’t think I’d ever want to retire in Crisfield, but it was mainly the lousy weather we experienced most of our time there that put a damper on things.
Slowly cruising along, we passed Smith Island on our starboard and Cedar Island State Wildlife Refuge to port. We both exclaimed multiple times that this day’s waters were probably the absolute calmest we’d ever cruised. Just Heavenly! However, while super-calm conditions make for comfortable cruising, they also make extremely boring cruising, especially when you’re far out in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay with NO land or any other boats in sight for hours at a time.
We moved straight down the center of the Chesapeake and passed Deltaville and Exmore, VA, followed by Mathews and Eastville, VA. We then turned to starboard to cross diagonally back across the bay, from the eastern shore to the western shore toward today’s destination of Yorktown, VA. Our entire journey south this time has seen us zig-zagging the Chesapeake Bay. We passed Port Haywood, VA, to starboard as we passed Cape Charles, VA to port.
Eventually we arrived at the New Point Comfort Lighthouse on our starboard, where Mobjack Bay meets the Chesapeake Bay. We crossed Mobjack Bay on our way to the mouth of the York River, where we turned starboard to head up the river to our marina in Yorktown, VA. We passed yet more idle container ships and freighters at this point on the bay, anchored indefinitely, since they were unable to come into port for offload, thanks to the times and our current administration. What a mess! 🙁
The York River is large and wide at its mouth, like most rivers that spill into the Chesapeake Bay. In fact, the area was so expansive, it reminded me of Kentucky Lake. As we neared our destination, we realized the weather had really heated it up into the afternoon, with highs in the low 80s, to which we weren’t accustomed, but we enjoyed!
Legacy arrived at Riverwalk Landing Marina, in Yorktown, VA, around 2:30 pm that afternoon, to calm, perfect docking conditions. As instructed, we tied-up to starboard to an outside transient wall. Sadly, Steve discovered a leak in the exhaust on Legacy’s starboard engine – UGH! He called Wayne, at Zimmerman Marine, to please drive down and look at the problem on Monday, with hopes of an easy resolution, but we didn’t hold our breaths, as Legacy is a BOAT, after all…
Once secured and showered, we walked right across from our marina into historic downtown Yorktown and enjoyed an early dinner at Water Street Grille, right on the Yorktown River. Walking back to our boat at sunset was lovely. Since strong weather was due to hit the area later that night and into the weekend, our harbor master graciously offered to let us move Legacy’s tie-up to the inside of the transient wall, from the outside, so she’d be a little better protected when the waters got rough. Thanks, Riverwalk Landing Marina harbor master!
Position: N 37° 14.328, W 76° 30.417
Distance traveled: 72 SM
Total distance traveled: 5066 SM
Total marina nights: 376
Total nights at anchor: 23
Locks today: 0
Locks Total: 28