Manteo to Virginia

    

    We moved from Ocracoke to Roanoke Island (where the Lost Colony with Virginia Dare was established and subsequently disappeared from) and the town of Manteo for two nights.  The fog dropped in as we reached Manteo harbor, and we felt our way in just before dark and dropped the hook in what we hoped was equidistant between the town and the small island where the First Friday Festival was going strong with loud music and lots of cheering.  

         The next day (Saturday May 4) we awoke to a beautiful calm morning, with a view of the Elizabeth II, the replica of the boat that brought the Lost Colonists from England.  We moved Willie Dawes over to the town’s free dock, and walked uptown to the Ford dealership that professed to rent cars.  Well, they claimed to have no cars available and we strongly suspect they never have rental cars available, but the people were exceptionally nice, giving us water and discussing our options, and the retired owner gave us a ride back to the town dock.  

        We called an Uber and got a ride across the bridge to Bodie Island, to Kill Devil Hills where the Wright Brothers National Monument and Museum was.  Our Uber driver gave us a short tour of the ‘old’ houses on the seashore that have survived many hurricanes before dropping us off at the National Park.  It was an incredible museum - very informative - and we spent about an hour in the museum and another hour touring the grounds to see where the Wright brothers’ first flights actually took place.  Very cool, we were so glad we toured it.  

        We walked to a nearby restaurant for lunch and Ubered back across the bridge to Manteo.  Unfortunately their marine museum was closed, so we spent some time just shopping around in town and returned to the dock to find a strong SE wind whipping up Shallowbag Bag and the harbor.  We were on the lee side of the dock, so we just doubled our lines, but we helped a fellow cruiser who was being blown flush up against the dock by tucking in extra fenders.  We spent the second night there at the dock.

        Sunday dawned calm and pretty and we set off fairly early, as the SE winds were forecast to pick up again and Willie doesn’t really care for a following sea.  We made it into the Albermarle and Chesapeake Canal without a problem and found ourselves at Coinjock just after noon.  We’ve heard a lot about Coinjock - this is thee place to stay for people transiting the Virginia Cut.  The town in unincorporated and offers nothing for the passers-through, and the marina is basically one long face dock with a restauarant and small ship’s store.  But they certainly know what they’re doing - they line people up as close as possible to each other.  Our anchor was literally overhanging the swim platform of Miss Lillee from Texas in front of us, and the bow of the boat behind us was about a foot away from our dinghy.  By dusk the entire face dock was packed with cruisers, and there were boats rafted to some of them.  

        Most of us ate at the restaurant - it’s famous for their prime rib, and you must reserve the meal in advance.  They offer a 16 oz or a 32 oz steak.  Dan ordered the smaller one, and it’s given us two meals so far.  I’m not that fond of prime rib, but Dan said it was great.  

        Monday, May 6th, we finished the Virginia Cut without incident, fueling up at Atlantic Yacht Basin just before the Great Bridge (best fuel price on the East Coast!) and spent a relatively quiet night at the free dock in Portsmouth VA.  Relatively quiet because the ferry that shuttles people across the Elizabeth River blows its horn every twenty minutes for every departure from about 5:30am to about 11pm.  It was a new moon, and the high tide, which routinely washes over the dock, was up over the concrete steps.  This area is a geological subduction zone; not only is the sea level rising, but the land is sinking, and this is causing some major flooding throughout the entire Norfolk region.  

        Tuesday we moved to Rebel Marine, Willoughby Spit, where our friends folksingers Jeanne McDougal and Bob Zentz collected us for dinner at Wickers, a seafood restaurant that began life at Jeanne’s grandparents’ house.  On the way we watched a submarine leave Norfolk.  This area is very, very busy with military ships.

        Today (Wednesday May 8) we toured the museums in Yorktown.  This is the town where Cornwallis surrendered the British Army to the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War.  It would be a few years before all the fighting stopped and the country of USA was recognized as official, but this place was where the end began.  There’s an excellent American Revolutionary War Museum, and a smaller but no less superb Waterman’s Museum, both within a short walk of the free town dock.  We capped our day there with dinner at the Yorktown Pub.  

From the Waterman's Museum - a local artist makes these models 

Revolutionary War Museum.  We watched the daily cannon firing.

        Now we are anchored in the quiet, well-protected Sarah’s Creek, across the York River from Yorktown.  We’ll continue our way north up the Chesapeake tomorrow.