Onancock, VA

Miles today: 35

Total miles: 7,198

We were finally able to leave Deltaville after a 2.5 week stay to wrap up the sale of Mara Beel! I will write details about exchanging our beloved boat for a smaller, trailerable tug in a future post, but for the moment you should know that we will be picking up Mara Beel II soon in Georgetown, MD. We are very excited!

In the meantime, we did not want to backtrack to complete this section of the Great Loop, and our great friends John and Pam on Short Vacation have been wonderful in taking us aboard to cruise up the Chesapeake on their 44' DeFever. We have settled into the forward cabin quite comfortably and love this generous couple- putting up with the 2 of us in close quarters for 10 days is no small feat!

So, here we are at Onancock on the EasternShore of the Chesapeake along with Tom and Coletta on Greek's Folly and Art and Pam on Tinacious. The bigger cities like Annapolis and Baltimore are on the Western Shore. While those places have a lot to offer, we prefer the quieter, laid back small towns across the Bay. Onancock, nestled on Onancock Creek about 5 miles off the Bay, is one of those special places. We have never met friendlier people anywhere! From the moment the dockhands caught our lines we felt welcome and appreciated. The best example of this spirit is when we gained 2 more folks for the dinner I planned to cook on board. I needed another Boursin cheese for my sauce. Six of us set off on our bikes for Walmart, which proved to be too far away and on a busy highway.  (We did, however, find Scoops ice cream shop.) Someone at the marina learned of our need and contacted a local wine and cheese shop which had closed for the day, but had no Boursin. The request was then relayed to Terris, owner of the Blarney Stone Irish pub,  who produced the necessary ingredient AND delivered it to our boat! Amazing! Dinner was saved! We enjoyed  delicious appetizers and a meal there the following day.

Onancock Wharf Marina and Greek's Folly

Pam is ready to ride!

Heron sculpture

Can't beat ice cream on a hot day!

Mark

Tom and Coletta

Pam and John

No words needed!

Historic Hopkins Bro. Store and Museum

 Downtown Onancock is just a short walk or bike ride from the waterfront. We girls found several shops to visit. Thursday afternoon featured a mini-concert in the town square presented by musicians on a tuba, a banjo and a violin playing old-time tunes- great fun!

Enjoying the music.

 

Tom and Coletta show how it's done.

December Doings

Mara Beel has been sitting in salt water for a month now, for the first time in her life. Time to have her bottom cleaned. Salt water promotes the growth of various forms of marine life on the hulls of boats. This stuff needs to cleaned off regularly so it won't slow down the boat or damage the bottom paint. Some intrepid boaters have the gear to do this themselves. We don't have the expertise or the equipment, so we had divers tackle the job yesterday.

The divers said our hull and zincs are in great condition, and thought our props were brand new- that's a minor miracle considering all those logs in the Mississippi!

We took a long walk through Hammock Park and found more trails to explore.

We were part of the gang of 17 that gathered for BBQ at Ozona Pig Wednesday night, a "see you on the water" to several boats that left the next morning.

Photo by Patsy Conrad

Last night we hosted dinner on our boat- Jim and Mimi and Patsy and Tom joined us for Mimi's jumbo gulf shrimp, Patsy's fresh green salad and my pasta.

Sunrise was spectacular today.

Heading South

 In the laundry room at the Leland Marina we met a couple from Chicago who are heading back there on their sailboat First Look. (In fact, they found the missing sock from our laundry). Yesterday the wind finally subsided, so we all cast off and headed south, back to Frankfort.We both spent the night in Jacobson Marina in Frankfort- a friendly marina with great facilities including a pool and hot tub.

We like this town a lot- it has just enough shops to be interesting without being a tourist trap. The beach and bike path are easily accessible and top notch. The nearby streets are lined with Victorian era houses that are well-maintained.

Mark and I rode our bikes a few block to the grocery store to pick up a few things since we had invited Bob and Kathy to our boat for dinner. We had a wonderful evening together sharing stories and experiences- wine might have been involved. We all plan to move on down to Manistee today and hopefully cross the Lake to Manitowoc, WI on Friday or Saturday.

Kathy and Bob

Boating = Friends

One meets the nicest people on boats! By most accounts, people are the best thing about "doing the Loop". We have barely begun our travels, and we have made many new friends and admired their boats.

Last week we were fortunate to have Ken and Pat for dinner at our house. They started the Loop from Red Wing, MN a year ago, and stopped overnight in Muscatine then. We ran into them again in Marathon, FL, last winter on board the 20Bucks$. They have a wonderful blog chronicling their adventures.

On Friday we met Joel and Debby as they stopped in Guttenberg to have lunch with us. They were then 6 days out on their adventure, on Water Music.

After a fun lunch we wistfully watched them sail off. One of these days it will be our turn!

Yesterday we drove up to Sturgeon Bay and the Mara Beel. We detoured to Manitowoc for a brief visit with Clay and Sally, and their friend Bob. They were our "dock neighbors" in Sturgeon, but they started out on their Loop last week. You can follow their trip on SaSea Sally via their blog.

So fun to talk with 3 other couples living the dream! Since the Upper Mississippi is not actually part of the Great Loop route, we don't see a lot of Loopers up here- but when we do, it is special!