Hongo River, VA

We finally said goodbye to Robbie and our lovely anchorage in Onancock on Sat., May 26. But first we had to walk into town for the local farmer’s market where we bought some fresh local vegetables and back fin crabmeat to make into crab cakes for dinner that night.  

We walked Rob back to the harbor where he was meeting the local woman who had insisted on driving him to the airport in Norfolk.  We will miss Rob - he’s the easiest guest in the world and that’s saying something as he stayed with us for 2 weeks in our cozy vessel! Now Lynn has to get back to work as the one and only first mate!

We set off at about 9:45 and planned to cruise up the eastern shore of the Chesapeake to an anchorage.  The weather was OK but the bay was a little rough, though not the worst we’ve seen.   There were 2 foot following seas but once we turned north, it was a little rolly but mostly fairly comfortable.  We proceeded on a long pleasant passage on Tangier Bay passing both Tangier and Smith Islands on our port.  Somewhat surprisingly, we saw very few boats even though it was Memorial Day weekend. And Georgio hunkered does on the fly bridge comfortably ensconced in the boat bag.

We chose an anchorage on the Hongo River, a pretty wide open spot in a bend in the river. We were next to the tiny hamlet of Hoopersville, VA which was located on the very end of the narrowest peninsula you could imagine.  It looked like just a few widely spaced homes though the book said there was  a working marina there primarily for fishing boats.  The cell service was practically nonexistent.

We, however, were perfectly happy enjoying a delicious dinner of crab cakes, summer squash and salad.  We planned to “set sail”very early the next morning as the weather is usually better earlier in the day, so we hit the sack shortly after our satisfying meal.