OBX - Nov.19-23

This was guys' weekend at the OBX. Only two guys - Gary & me - but we managed to make a weekend of it. Our first look at the beach after a big nor'easter that had hit the week before was pretty shocking. The town of Duck was out clearing everything from hurricane fence to full trees to part of an entire dock that washed ashore from parts unknown. You can see in this photo of Gary both good news and bad. The good news is that we now have two or three steps buried under new beach. The bad, however, is that the snow fence that may have helped build up that beach is gone. Only the support posts remain behind Gary.

Despite the carnage on the beach, we managed to get in a good guys' trip, filled with food, drink, football, bars, and cigars!

November 6-9
Urbanna & Deltaville
solo

My last sail of the season was to move the Goober from home port in Urbanna downriver to Deltaville where she'll undergo some repair & upgrade this Winter. I arrived in Urbanna Friday night and spent a freezing night on the boat. On a 3:00am trip to the head, I discovered that deck shoes are no longer non-slip on a frosty deck - OUCH!

I spent all day Saturday and the world famous Urbanna Oyster Festival. Patsy and I had attended this back when we lived in Richmond, but I'd forgotten what a huge event it is. The streets were jammed with thousands of people attenging the oyster shucking contest and...

a huge parade.

Almost every slip at every marina was in use and I counted close to 75 boats at anchor in the creek. For a sleepy little town with a population of 538, the place was packed!!
Even the dinghy fleet had trouble finding a place to tie up!
After walking all over town checking out all the sights - and eating oysters in more ways than I'd ever thought possible - I came back to the boat for a shower and a little down time. I was concerned about the crowds and getting dinner, but being a single willing to stand at the bar got me in Cafe Mojo for a nominal cover. I ate more oysters - what else?! - and listened to a really good band.

I ran into a few people that I knew. Ann Katherine and Graham (who bought my Flying Scot) were there from either the family place in Deltaville or their home in Richmond. I also ran into the Castellos who keep their boat in Deltaville.

The next morning I got some breakfast, read the paper, and packed up for the move to Deltaville. The weather was forecast to be mild (lower 70s), but as I left about 10:30 I had to break out the fleece! Unfortunately, once I got on the river there was little to no wind, as you can see from this picture as I passed under the Rappahannock River bridge.

The breeze did pick up shortly after this, but was dead in my face, so I ended up motoring all the way to Deltaville Yachting Center, the Goober's Winter home. When I arrived and attempted to dock where instructed, I discovered that there were no slips there, so I took the first one I saw that didn't look inhabited. I found a marina employee and got the OK to stay where I'd tied up. I also got instructions from him on how to get in the head and where to dump my trash.

I was also in need of a place to eat and asked him about a nearby restaurant that I might be able to walk to since my truck was still in Urbanna. He was not very encouraging because [a] the nearest place was over a mile away, and [b] it was Sunday night. I said I could take my dingy to one of the nearby marinas and that ended up being the answer to my problem. I motored over to Cocomo's for some great local fish. I liked it so much that I motored over there the next day for a late lunch.

Monday morning I woke up to sunny skies, but they were soon blocked out by a thick fog.

I met with Lew to get up to date with him on my repairs and to get a ride back to Urbanna for my truck. The rest of the afternoon was spent in getting a bunch of stuff off the boat for the Winter and meeting with Scott, the electronics wizard who's going to be working on my wind gauge & auto-helm and installing a new chart plotter for next season.

After packing up the truck for the trip home, I headed back over to Urbanna to double check that I'd not left anything on the dock. The crowds and the boats of the past weekend were all gone and as I stood at my slip looking out over the creek, I found myself missing Urbanna. It was somewhat of a strange sensation because I've only been there a year. We haven't exactly set down roots there yet, but I guess it's "home" now and neither I nor the Goober will be there for some time. Perhaps it's not missing Urbanna as much as it is missing sailing.

OBX - October 16-30

It's getting more difficult to write here about going to the beach, because we usually don't do anything worthy of note. It's a time to get away from home, relax, try some new restaurants, read, sit on the beach, ride my bike, and the like. Not exactly stirring blog fodder! But then, that's pretty much exactly what we go for!

We did have some beautiful weather (along with some not so beautiful) including this spectacular sunset. While October is not exactly prime weather for working on your tan, you do get one huge advantage over vacationing from June to August: no crowds!
With no crowds and great weather on occasion, there's nothing nicer than sitting on the beach with a cocktail and a good cigar as the sun sets behind you!

So while this won't show up on the Travel Channel under "adventure tourism," it's just a perfect vacation as far as we're concerned!