October 15, 2020
We left the anchorage at Tangier as soon as Jeff had his coffee, because I was eager to get going. We were supposed to have good wind in the morning, dying in the afternoon, and we were heading all the way back west across the bay and a little bit south. As we came around the corner, we quickly found out that we really did get a lot of protection from the island. The waves were choppy 3 footers, putting green water over the bow, and I got a bit wet going to secure Fluffy at bit more tightly to the transom!
The wind was up over 20 knots, and we were sailing fast close hauled. It was cold, but Renegade has a complete cockpit enclosure with the sides zipped the enclosure heats up like a terrarium. It was a quick, exciting sail. The forecast showed several days of high wind, so that was why we were heading across, seeking shelter in the river. We motored right around Stingray Point and thru the famous Fishing Bay, for even more protection all by ourselves in the next bend of the river. It was gorgeous, totally protected, and back in the land of cell service. (Thinking back, the lack of cell signal might have been a factor in me being eager to vacate Tangier that morning).
There were two other boats that joined us, a different one each night, so we had something to watch in the evenings as they came in. We also took a long dinghy ride to Fishing Bay Marina, where we tied up to bike to the grocery store. It was small, but had most of what we wanted. In fact, it’s lucky they didn’t have everything, because we could barely carry what we bought. I’ve been baking bread, so 5 pounds of bread flour was just the start. The two or 3 mile ride to the store was fun, and the ride back was about a half mile too long! There isn’t much of a town in Deltaville, so the market was it for sight seeing. I’ve since heard we should have gone to Urbanna, one river north, because it’s super quaint. Maybe next time.
It’s been in the 60’s during the day and 40s at night. Burr! We tried the reverse A/C heat for the first time here and it WORKS! In such a small space, I guess it’s easy to heat it up quickly. That’s a treat on a cold morning. In the evening, with the terrarium keeping things toasty all day, we haven’t needed the heat.