Sandy Point to Yorktown

Day 5, Thursday, April 20, 2017 

You can monitor my trip at the link: Little Star's Progress Live

We awoke to a gray breezy morning.  The air was cool and so we dressed for another cold ride.  The weather forecast called for 10 to 15 knot winds from the south so it looked like another choppy day as we continued our trek south.

Tiny crabber heading into Reedville

We fixed sausage, eggs and toast for our breakfast.  I still haven’t mastered the art of making toast with our new toaster, however, I didn’t create the blue cloud of smoke that we enjoyed yesterday morning.

In our pre-trip walk around, Jim tested the windlass and low and behold, it worked.  Before I went to bed last night, I sprayed “PB Fabulous Blaster, Penetrating Catalyst” around both shafts of the windless knowing that it would do no good at all.  I had looked up a u-tube video on how to repair a jammed windless and decided that we didn’t have the tools and facilities needed to do the job.  So, you can imagine my surprise when I heard it come on when Jim stepped on the switch.

We pulled anchor at 9:00 and headed for the Reedville Marina where we pumped out our holding tank and took on 15 gallons of diesel fuel.  Jim keeps meticulous records for the 16 hours that we have traveled over the last two days, we averaged a bit under one gallon of fuel per hour.  Jim commented that we had consumed fuel at a slightly greater rate than usual and he attributes that to the rough water that we encountered yesterday.

Menhaden processing plant

On our route into Reedville, we passed a large fish processing plant around which were moored probably15 large fishing vessels. I understand that they catch menhaden fish that are used to extract omega 3 fatty acids.  The industry has been under attack for almost eliminating the menhaden population in the Bay.  I also saw an article about the terrible smell that used to be created by the plant.

One of the menhaden fishermen

Out in the Bay, we headed south in a relatively light breeze.  Both Janine  and I  had dressed for the cold this time and were pleasantly surprised by the fact that the light wind became nonexistent as the sun came out and the air warmed. By late afternoon, I had shed my warm clothing in exchange for shorts and a t-shirt.  It turned out to be a really pleasant day. 

Or goal was Sarah Creek which is right across the York River from Yorktown, VA.  As we headed up the York near the entrance to Sarah Creek, we

Motoring along on calm windless waters

encountered probably 6 or 7 US Coast Guard boats all obviously patrolling the area.  They all had their blue lights flashing warning us to stay away.  We kept edging further away finally moving out of the channel.  Jim had heard that the waterfront near Yorktown was nice and we wanted to check it out but the patrol boats were obviously blocking our way there.  I finally got on the radio and hailed the boat closest to the waterfront and he told me that they were from a training

Coast Guard trainees

facility and were just practicing. 

We checked the guide book and the beautiful water front had docking facilities so we called them on our cell and they acknowledged that we could stay there for up to 72 hours.  We pulled up to the dock and while we were securing our dock lines, the dock master came up and

Little Star docked with the Coleman Bridge, Yorktown, Va in the backgrouind

offered that we would be more secure inside of their breakwater so  we maneuvered Little Star up against the dock in the inside of the facility.  They then realized that the shore power line would not reach so we released our lines, rotated the boat around and back into an area where we could get power.

Jim prepared his famous “Dark and Stormy” cocktail which is a rum and ginger beer drink. We accompanied the drink with Tillamook cheese and crackers.  After cocktails we took a short walk down the beautiful sandy beach to the Yorktown Pub where we dined in amongst a raucous group of locals.  I had a wonderful prime rib sandwich, Janine had an oyster po’boy sandwich and Jim had a barbecue pulled pork dinner.

Back at the boat, we spent the remainder of the evening planning our next 6 days of travel before hitting the hay at around 9:00. 

It was a great day!