Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving in Deltaville, VA. –not what we planned, but in addition to being thankful for our friends and family, we’re thankful for our home on the water and the many great people in this small community that make their living from boaters. These past few weeks have been full of projects, mostly completed, but not quite yet. I’ve been thinking of a quote by Hillary Clinton while she was still First Lady. “It takes a village” is a reminder that educating our children involves all of us. As a former educator, I know how important these words are, but right now, this quote reflects what has been going on on our boat.

Crews who have been working on our boat include canvass, sail makers, air/refrigeration, rod rigging, line rigging, electronics, and plumbing. Having professionals available has enabled us to check all equipment, making repairs and replacements as necessary. We’ve replaced the Hot Water heater and replaced our new inverter for a larger one. We’ve added lighting, stereo and speakers, and CruiseNet (a wifi extender). Our new chart plotter was installed while the boat was on the hard, and we later decided to upgrade to the newest radar as well. Our electronics guru is having a heck of a time getting the Furono NavNet 3D chart plotter to work correctly and to synchronize with the other equipment on the boat. One nice feature of the chart plotter is we can view and make points/routes on our flat screen TV in the cabin. We’ve also used this time to get to know our boat. She’s quite a change from a 30’ Catalina and this area is quite a change from Lake Texoma.

Deltaville is located at the end of Route 33 on the Rappahannock River and the Chesapeake Bay. Over thirty marinas and boat yards surround the narrow finger. At the end of the finger is historical Stingray Point. On July 17, 1608 John Smith and his crew were fishing in the shallows of the Chesapeake Bay, spearing fish with their swords. Smith unknowingly speared a cow-nose ray; as he attempted to pull it off of his sword, its barbed tail sank into his wrist, causing immediate pain and considerable swelling of his torso and arms. Smith, fearing death, instructed his crewmembers to dig him a grave. But in a few hours he recovered enough to eat the stingray for dinner! Smith named the location "Stingray Point" after his painful experience.

In addition to the marine experts in Deltaville, many fishing boats go out daily. A local fish shop does lots of business plus the local restaurants offer fresh catch everyday including grouper, rockfish, oysters, scallops, crab. In fact, today at the Galley Restaurant, we enjoyed fried oysters along with Virginia ham and turkey. But the fish variety and numbers are far less than when John Smith was exploring and charting these waters. Efforts are being made to sustain the fish, mainly by taking better care of the Bay.

I missed posting for a great but different holiday. This marina takes Halloween seriously. The slice of pizza and the Miller beer are Jack and Craig, the owners of Regatta Point Marina.




Happy Thanksgiving and keep your fingers crossed for our heading south next week.