April 14, 2019 - April 21, 2019
We had stopped In Hampton on the way down the bay last fall and had visited most of the “places of interest” then. It’s a nice walkable town with cute shops, restaurants (our favorite is right next to where our boat was docked), a beautiful antique carousel, an air and space museum, and an informative history museum. Our main goals during our two and a half days in Hampton were taking showers, buying provisions, and eating lunch out. The marina was not busy; only two other boats were anchored on our side of the marina. We must be well ahead of the crowd of cruisers heading north.
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| We docked our boat at the Hampton Piers. |
We decided to leave Hampton and head across the bay to Onancock on Tuesday given the great weather conditions. Bad weather was predicted for the rest of the week and Onancock is a spot well protected from high winds. Our first year of cruising we waited out Hurricane Michael there. On Tuesday night we anchored our boat out in the creak that leads to Onancock as our trip across the bay was lengthy and it was well past the closing time of the marina. We arrived in Onancock before lunch on Wednesday, unloaded our bikes, and road into town for lunch at Bizzoto’s Restaurant. After a terrific lunch we explored some of the shops in town. One of our favorites is North Street Market which features a gallery, gourmet foods, wines, kitchen essentials, and local crafts. We bought a new tea pot since the one we had (probably 25 years old) had ceased to whistle.
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| From our cockpit we had a lovely view of the creek. This picture was taken at sunset. |
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| During our stay pollen dust covered everything. It was almost plague proportions. This is a picture of pollen on the water. |
On Thursday we rented a car and drove to Cape Charles, a town we have wanted to visit by boat but never have. I’ll tell the story of our visit in pictures.
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| This view is from the back porch of The Shanty where we had lunch. It shows an entrance to the large marina. |
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| This is where we were seated for lunch. |
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| These houses lined the road next to the beach. |
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| ...and the requisite Irish Pub. |
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| The main street was lined with shops, restaurants, and an old fashioned hardware store. |
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| The beach was wide and enjoyed by many on this 80 degree day. |
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| When we approached this sign a couple asked Bob to take a picture of them in front of the sign. Then the man proceeded to get down on his knee and present the lady with an engagement ring and ask her to marry him. Bob got a great picture of the event for them with their cell phone. |
It was a long day and we got back to the boat around 6:00 pm and were greeted by two hungry cats.
The rest of our stay in Onancock was uneventful. We were able to take several bike rides to explore the area, catch up on some cleaning tasks, and visit Bizzotti’s once again. One night we experienced winds gusting up to 50 mph and torrential rain. We were glad to be in a protected creek.
On Monday we will continue our travel up the bay.
Thank you for reading my blog.
