Urbanna

Leaving York River Yacht Haven Mischief set her sights on Mobjack Bay and the East River. The plan was to anchor on the East River for a few days and enjoy the peace. It was HOT! At anchor we try to run the generator as little as possible and so there was no air conditioning. Ugh are we spoiled. To keep cool Mitzi insisted on taking the dingy to shore to walk around. One time she couldn’t believe her humans even tried to take the dingy up Put in Creek, honestly that’s it’s name, to go to a town called Matthews. A little over half a mile from town we grounded. So much for a short stop in civilization.

After a few days the heat got to us so it was time to continue slowly north towards Annapolis. On the way out we had a possible health issue. Compass Marina which normally doesn’t allow short term transients allowed us to dock there. A big THANK YOU to them!!!! A live aboard couple there kindly drove us to get checked out since Uber, Lyft, taxi’s etc don’t operate in rural Virginia. Fortunately it was not life threating but still took a few days to recover from.

The plan leaving Compass Marina was to go to Urbanna, VA. A quaint town our friends Hope and Kevin had mentioned. This where an important lesson was learned. The Chesapeake can be challenging. Do not head north when there is North wind, nor south on South wind. The fetch is long, so the waves build, the sides are close enough to reflect the waves and make big confused sea states that are very uncomfortable. So much to learn – new tides, new wave patterns, current due to outflow of major rivers… At least this will keep our brains active learning.

On the way up the Rappahannock River we stopped at Regent Point Marina for a night. A nice marina with a channel barely deep enough and tight docking for transients. We did see another Catalina 380 there, that’s always fun to see a sister ship. The next day Mischief finally made it to Urbanna, VA and docked at Urbanna Town Marina. What originally was planned, there’s that silly word again, for a few nights stay turned into almost a month stay. The people at the marina made us feel very welcomed and it has a great community feeling. The marina host bi-monthly music nights with hamburgers and hot dogs provided, almost nightly happy hour gatherings often with snacks, dingy drifts, very dog friendly – definitely Mitzi approved, and just a nice place to be. Staying there longer allowed Nancy to fly back to Kemah to participate in the Carol Becker Regatta with TASS while John and Mitzi guarded the boat.

Like most towns on the east cost there is a ton of history there. One of the first and oldest maps of the New World from around the middle of the 1700’s is there in a small museum.

“The map John Mitchell produced, which became known simply as “The Mitchell Map,” was recognized over time as an exemplary work of cartography and research, and the map became widely used in a variety of official diplomatic, legal, and administrative forums for reference on boundaries and land features, most notably at the Treaty of Paris, but even in some American legal proceedings as recent as 1932.* https://urbanna.com

There are many good restaurants within walking distance, an IGA grocery store where you can be sure you won’t go hungry but maybe not get everything people from the “big city” want, and several stores that remind of a simpler time.

One of the many great things about sailors is their willingness to help others whenever needed. A small sailboat just off the marina started taking on water. It was amazing how fast several us from the marina put dinghies in the water to go help. It took awhile but the boat was finally towed to a sand bar, bailed and then towed back to his slip.

Eventually it was time to leave and so onward north we sail.