Monday, July 2, 2007 - Cockrell Creek off the Wicomico River, VA

I got up at 0630 and made bacon and eggs for breakfast. The wind was blowing from the north stronger than predicted. We took Sailor to shore at the Fisherman’s Museum, loaded the dinghy and engine topside, and we were ready to depart by 0830. It took me a long time to raise the anchor because the chain was clogged with mud that was difficult to wash off.

When I had the anchor out of the water, Dora started to motor down the creek. Just as I had finished washing the mud off the deck, I felt us bump bottom. Dora hadn’t swung wide enough at one of the bends in the creek and we slid up on one of the bars extending out into the creek from shore. We tried to back her off but I was worried that if the skeg and rudder were dug in, we might bend the rudder if I used too much power. Instead, we lowered the dinghy and engine from topside so that I could carry the Danforth anchor out to the center of the creek and drop it. We pulled the anchor tight with the windless so we wouldn’t blow further aground as the tide rose and waited. After about an hour we felt Seascape start to rock a little with the waves. I pulled on the anchor with the windless while Dora gave bursts of power with the engine and we slowly slid her off the bar.

By the time we were free, it was too late to go to Tangier and catch the slack tide for docking. We decided to tie up at the Reedville Marina and spend the night and leave Tuesday morning for Tangier. The small marina is associated with a restaurant and the restaurant is closed on Mondays. There was a small sigh that said to leave the dockage fee in the mail slot at the restaurant ($1.00/foot).

There was a 65-70 foot Hatteras motor yacht from Vero Beach, Florida already docked in front of where we pulled in. He had used both 50 amp plugs in the power pedestals located fore and aft of his boat, leaving only one 30 amp plug for us to use. After we were secure, I walked over to the Hatteras and asked if he needed both 50 amp plugs since we were left with only one 30. He said yes and turned his back to me and walked away, with no explanation at all. I guess you should expect that from a rich ass hole from Vero Beach. It would be terrible if he could run only one or two of his air conditioners.

We were talking to a fellow on the dock looking at the boats and he invited us to come to a fried chicken dinner at the American Legion Hall. We hadn’t decided to go but on Sailor’s afternoon walk we passed the hall it looked like fun so we decided to stop for dinner. We tied Sailor to a tree and had a good Southern fried chicken with all the fixings. I bet there were 300 people there.