Wanchese, NC

Our last day of cruising in 2021 was Sunday, October 24. How sad! We had to leave early since we wanted to get to our destination soon so Archie could do his business on land.  He seemed a little less depressed this morning than he was the night before.  We pulled up anchor by 8:10 and headed out on a beautiful clear day.

We cruised for four hours on dead flat seas on the Albermarle Sound and arrived at Roanoke Island, part of the outer banks of North Carolina by 12:30. 

We headed for Wanchese which is on the south end of the island. Manteo, which is more widely known, is on the north of the island. We learned that Wanchese differs tremendously from Manteo.  The former is really a working town focusing on fishing and boat-building and is much more low-key.  Manteo is more oriented towards tourism and is very popular with boaters and beach-goers.

We were headed for Spencer’s Yachts where we would keep Zendo for the winter.  Spencer’s had been highly recommended to us by a fellow boater who has had a lot of work done there.  When Jonny called he discovered that their rates are 40% less than rates on the Chesapeake. So that’s why we’re here! 

As we made our way through the channel that leads to Spencer’s we passed some beautiful homes along the way. 

When we arrived at Spencer’s it was clear why they are so highly regarded as boat builders.  Their yachts, which are high end sport fishing boats, are practically works of art - sleek, streamlined and beautiful! Our little trawler was dwarfed by them.  Fortunately, for us they also work on boats that belong to mere mortals like us.

Once we arrived we switched into high gear packing and preparing Zendo to be hauled out for the winter. This is the first time that Jonny hasn’t winterized the boat himself and the first time that it will be hauled out of the water for the winter.  

We took Archie for a walk and discovered that this high end boat yard was in the middle of a very modest neighborhood.  There were dilapidated mobile homes nearby just a few blocks in from the waterfront.  The people we met were friendly and most had dogs so Archie was in heaven.

That evening we celebrated the last night of our cruise with one of Jonny’s delicious perfect manhattans followed by a cozy dinner of Chicken Nonna.  This has been a wonderful five months.  We visited family and friends all along the way and several of them came to stay on Zendo with us. We enjoyed visiting vibrant cities like Philadelphia, New York and Washington, D.C.  We traveled as far as Montauk on Long Island and spent lots of time on both shores of Long Island Sound and the Chesapeake Bay.  We also had lots of quiet time to ourselves in beautiful peaceful anchorages.  It’s been a wonderful trip and we are very grateful to be able to do it! Now we’ll be heading back home to Miami to our family and friends there and we are looking forward to that too.

Virginia Beach, VA

As always when we are not at a marina, we started the day with a dinghy ride to shore.  We passed the remains of these docks where seagulls happily roosted.

This time we went to the Phoebus area of Hampton. This tiny section of town had a number of shops with interesting sounding names many of which included the word, panache.  It seemed like an older part of town that was trying to be relevant but nothing was open on this Friday morning, October 22.

We were particularly curious about what this business was offering!

The skies were very overcast and threatening so we held off pulling up anchor until 11 a.m.  As we left we passed these fishing boats that were docked nearby.

We only had an hour left of cruising time on the Chesapeake before we entered the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW).  The bay was a little choppy and it rained some but when we got to the ICW everything calmed down.  We hadn’t cruised on the ICW for a few years because we had been leaving Zendo on the Chesapeake over the winter.

We passed through Norfolk (where the ICW starts at mile 0) and Portsmouth where we saw huge Navy vessels and other big ships on both sides of the Elizabeth River.

The ICW became quite beautiful as we left those two cities. We had forgotten that there was a lock to go through until shortly before we arrived at the lock at Great Bridge.  We had to linger for about an hour before going through the bridge and lock there.  Archie seemed to enjoy his first lock experience though he was tempted to jump off of the boat and onto the the lawn when we were level with it. Of course, as soon as we had to go through the lock, it started to rain more.  Jonny, gentleman that he is, took the forward line on the bow and allowed me to take the line under the aft deck roof to stay dry.

Traveling on the ICW is slower than other routes we’ve been taking due to the bridges that we have to wait to open and of course, the lock.  Traffic on the ICW is also an issue especially as the weekend approaches. This giant barge was a particularly unique example!

We were searching for a place to anchor with an area that we could take Archie to do his business. There were very few places and some had been silted in and really weren’t accessible anymore. As we approached another bridge we saw a fellow Heritage East owner who we knew who seemed to be stuck on the ICW.  It turns out that while he was waiting for the bridge to open and a number of other boats were circling nearby, he ran aground on a log in those narrow confines. He had already been waiting a few hours for a tow.  We were not in a position to help him so after chatting a bit we moved on.

It was difficult to hear each other because there were scores of jets flying overhead that drowned out overything.  There must have been a military base nearby but we never found out what it was.

It’s getting dark earlier now and we were looking for a place to anchor.  There aren’t a lot of places on the ICW but we finally found a good spot on Blackwater Creek which is in the town of Virginia Beach. It was actually an idyllic spot - a very secluded and sinuous creek surrounded by marsh grasses.  No other boats were anchored there and all we saw were a couple of very small, quiet fishing boats. We happily settled into this lovely spot.

Jonny then whisked Archie away down to the end of the creek about a mile and a half away.  There he took him for a walk by a little trading post that had a dock nearby.  That evening we had the second to last portion of the famous ravioli for dinner and enjoyed a very quiet and restful evening in a blissfully calm anchorage.

Hampton, VA

We woke up to a gorgeous sunrise on Thursday, October 21.

Instead of attempting the treacherous tire ladder, we headed over to the Deltaville Boatyard at Jackson Creek and tied up the dinghy there.  This is a busy marina with lots of activity even at an early hour. It had a large area for dogs so we threw the frisbee for Archie to give him some exercise. We walked around the area a bit though we weren’t close to anything too interesting.

On our way back to Zendo we passed a catamaran with the widest masts we’ve ever seen.  Jonny stopped by to ask the owner about them.  They don’t have a sail but they act as one as they fully articulate (turn in every direction).  We didn’t get to see it in action unfortunately.

We pulled up anchor by 9:30. The 15 knot wind made for a little Chesapeake chop, but it wasn’t too bad. We made good progress on yet another beautiful and clear day.

After an uneventful cruise, we arrived at our anchorage on the Phoebus Channel in Hampton, VA by 3:30.  This is a huge anchorage in a very large open area in a channel right off of the Hampton River.  There were several large sailboats anchored there and room for many more.  We found a spot that had plenty of space surrounding us. It wasn’t an idyllic setting by any means being somewhat exposed to the bay and with a busy elevated highway on both sides of the anchorage.  But Jonny didn’t want to venture further up the river where there were a few other, much smaller anchorages.  He was concerned that they would be full.

We took Archie in on the dinghy to Old Point Comfort Marina. It was located right next to Fort Monroe which was built for the War of 1812.  Lincoln planned the battle to retake Norfolk there during the Civil War.

Although we thought the fort was still operational, we later discovered that the fort had been decommissioned. Interestingly, the fort itself was surrounded by a wide moat!

The area surrounding the fort was like a lovely village with a church, beautiful green spaces and even a coffee shop.

All the homes are now privately owned.  The homes ranged from being quite grand and overlooking the water to more modest small two family homes.

We walked a little further and found an outdoor brew pub where we had some beers and talked by phone to Jonny’s cousin Robbie who lives in Maine.

Back on Zendo we had fish for dinner amid the rocking and rolling of our anchorage. Jonny went to bed early but I stayed up watching TV.  By the time I went to bed, I couldn’t fall asleep for a long time because of the rolly anchorage.  I thought Jonny was fast asleep but he got up and tried to sleep in the V berth.  Sometime after 2 a.m. I finally fell asleep.  This was NOT our favorite anchorage and I don’t anticipate staying here again!

Deltaville, VA

Wednesday, October 20 was a gorgeous, sunny day and we had a long day of cruising ahead of us. But first, we had a lovely walk on the grounds of Olverson’s Marina.

We planned to leave by 10 but Jonny was concerned that water was not flowing out of one of the through holes and he spent some time in the engine room trying to troubleshoot it. We finally took off at 10:20 and the water was flowing well - so no problem!

It was another beautiful day for cruising with not a cloud in the sky and only a little chop on the bay. We had mostly following seas and once we made a turn and were in the shadow of the shore, everything was smooth sailing.

I worked on the blog but unfortunately lost all my work once again because of poor connectivity.  This time I had the presence of mind to take a picture of what I had written so far.

Archie was like Velcro, cuddling up next to us or sitting on our laps much of the day. When he wasn’t next to us, he was nestled up in the furthest corner of the v-berth. The new flavored CBD chewies we’ve been giving him to help with seasickness seems to be working.

By 4:30 we found a nice place to drop the hook on Jackson Creek in Deltaville.

We took Archie on the dinghy to a public dock with no ladder.  All it had was a dilapidated tire hanging on the side.  We had to use it as a step ladder to get up to the dock and the tide was quite low so it was quite a climb and fairly treacherous.

But the neighborhood we walked through was attractive and we had a nice chat with some of the friendly residents. 

That evening we had wine on the aft deck but since it was getting chilly we had our lamb chop dinner inside the salon. There was a glorious moonrise which the photos don’t do justice to. Our trip is nearing its end and we’re sad, but happy to spend these special evenings on anchor in beautiful settings.