The Peripatetic Summer of 2004

Gunkholing in the Chesapeake
Second Section Activities
August 7-9 Boat trip across the Bay continued
August 18 - Dental visit
September 3 - Aunt Eleanor's funeral

There is a rhyme about the timing of hurricanes in the hurricane season. The majority of hurricanes are in August and September
June - Too Soon (first month)
July - Standby
August - A Big Gust
September - Remember
October - It's over ?
November- The Ender (the last month)

As I said at the beginning of this section, hurricanes had kept us in port up to the beginning of August.

Bob at the wheel

We are coming into Tangier. Tangier is really a cluster of marshy islands in the Chesapeake Bay about fifteen miles from the Eastern Shore. Tangier has been eroding away for years. The island now is only about a mile wide by three miles long. The land is flat and marshy with the highest point on the island at about seven feet above sea level. Island residents are clustered in three communities known as "ridges". The waterline of Tangier is very low lying and marshy and the edges of it are exposed at high tide.

Planes over the airport

Coming around into the channel

There are two entrances to Tangier harbor - the Chesapeake Bay side (west) and the Tangier Sound side (east). The Chesapeake Bay side has the deeper and more reliable channel. Unfortunately, there used to be a low power line across the channel which meant that most sailboats could not use it. But the overhead power line has been put underground, so it isn't an overhead hazard anymore.

[Don't anchor in the channel - - If you cut the power line everyone on the island will be mad at you.]

RosalieAnn at Parks marina

We yell across to the dockmaster at Parks who is on one of the other boats (they don't answer the radio any more than the marina in Reedville does), and she puts us alongside of the little house with the bathrooms. This is perfect for us, as I don't have to climb over the lifelines. Also we are not aground at low tide as I think we would be if we were in a slip.

Parks marina bathrooms

The marina is not fancy, but the charge for a boat over about 35 feet is only $25.00.

We have come 16.9 nm at an average speed of 4.4 knots.

Tangier Island was visited in 1608 by Captain John Smith, who gave it the name. A part of the island was patented by Ambrose White in 1670. It was settled in 1686 by John Crockett and his son's families. In 1814, it was the headquarters of a British Fleet ravaging the Chesapeake Bay. From here the fleet sailed to attack Fort McHenry. Tangier Island has been mostly isolated from the mainland for many years and the men have made their living from the water. Now, most of their business is crabbing, particularly soft crabs.

There is a mail boat that comes each day from Crisfield, and there are now tourists that come on ferries from Crisfield, Reedville and Onancock in the summer and hunters that come in the fall and winter. In the summer people come on their own boats, and some come in their own planes. The island women do a considerable business housing and feeding the tourists.

There's a boat up at the other end of the marina which is across the ends of the slips up there. We find out later that this is a common practice.

Parks Marina with boat across the end of slips

Bob petting the cat on the docks

Curious cat

Marina cat lying next to Bob in the cockpit

I decided that we should have lunch in town,

"Billboards" advertising restaurants

so we walked up to FIsherman's Corner

Fisherman's Corner Cat

Fisherman's Corner

specials board

and we both had

Tangier crab soup and apple pan dowdy

The apple pan dowdy turned out to be apples and granola and ice cream in a tall glass. I used the bathroom, and took my picture in the bathroom mirror. There are crabs stenciled all over the walls.

Me taking my picture

These are the trashcans that they have on Tangier. It took me a couple of seconds to realize that this nice lighthouse model was really a trash can. I was even more surprised to see one out on the marshlands. There are a lot of trashcans around, and the island is very clean.

Lighthouse trash can

Then we walked out in town, past the recipe fence. If you want the recipe for some of the local dishes, you find it on this fence, take it out of the bag and put money in to pay for it. You get 10 for $1.00

Recipe Fence

Cat silhouette on the railing

(I bought a map from a box on a fence for $1.00) and got a tour on a golf cart tour vehicle for $4.00 each. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the actual multi-passenger golf cart. While you can undoubtedly walk all around the island (there are only two roads lengthwise and it is impossible to get lost), it is relatively cheap to do the tour, and you get the information about the island that you might not otherwise get or think to get. The two streets are Main Street, and Ridge. Ridge is on a ridge which is about 5 feet higher than Main Street. In between Main and Ridge is a swampy area crossed by four bridges.These are the photos I took on the tour.

Lane between houses

Bike rental sign

This sign advertises bike rentals by the day, overnight or by the week - Best Deals in town. The guy that we met that was staying at the Chesapeake House had two boys who were having a really good time riding their bikes. I also saw some tourists riding bikes, and of course there were islanders who rode bikes. There was a bike rack in the graveyard next to the church.

marshland

Water Tower and trash can

School House Bridge

Tangier All Age School

This is the only school on Tangier and it teaches all grades through high school. Our tour guide said that the high school graduated 6 students in June. She added the most of the teachers were 'from' Tangier..

water between Ridge and Main

Probably not a problem for visitors, but this IS an island and subject to storms. Hurricane Isabel wiped out a lot of the docks - many of the docks you see in town that look new ARE new, as they've been rebuilt since October 2003. Subsequent hurricanes have also led to significant floods. The school had to be raised up above the floor level where it is in the photo. Mr. Parks said that his house was already high enough.

Sign at Wanda's

Wanda's is a gift shop that is primarily notable because she has a soft shell crab exhibit showing the stages of the crab molt and how they are harvested. It's something that is easier to see in person than to really understand by reading about it. This is a seasonal exhibit which she runs with her son Teddy. Teddy's crab shedding shack is behind the store.

Sign describing soft crab process

Blue crabs live 2-3 years. They grow by shedding (molting) the hard shell (exoskeleton). The molting takes place more than a dozen times during their lifetime. When the blue crab comes out of the hard shell it is very soft. That's why it is called a soft-shell crab. About two weeks before the crab sheds the hard shell it becomes what watermen call the 'peeler crab' The watermen search for the peeler crabs, and bring them home and keep them alive in soft-crab 'farms' until they shed their hard shells. The peeler crab goes through three stages before they actually shed. The first stage is called the "green crab stage". At this stage, the crab starts changing color and becomes less spry than the average crab. The second stange is the "rank peeler stage". The crab's color changes to a deep red color. The hard shell starts cracking under the pinters. The third and final stage is the 'buster crab stage' The crab now actually bursts its hard shell and frees itself in a matter of minutes. At this stage, the crab has to be removed from the pen because the crabs who still have shells will eat the soft-shell ones. The Chesapeake produces more blue crabs and soft-shell crabs than any other body of water in the world.

Gladstone Memorial Health Center

Large Sat dish and graves beside cart path

The water table is too high on most of the island to allow for burial in the ground. So some burials are done at the surface of the ground (as is also done in Key West and New Orleans among other places - but on Tangier the graves are much less elaborate). There are a lot of graves in people's yards - anywhere that the land isn't too marshy.

Church with bike rack and historic marker

The Methodist church and parsonage are some of the biggest most prominent buildings on the island.

One of the few cars behind the historic marker

The informational sign outside of the church on Tangier tells part of the story of the Rev. Joshua Thomas. The Rev. Thomas was responsible in great part for the predominance of the Methodist church in Somerset County and Tangier Island. Rev. Adam Wallace's 1861 biography, "The Parson of the Islands" describes Joshua Thomas as being of a "natural roughness, a polished diamond of the first order, to whom lawyers, judges, doctors and preachers gave more heed than they would to the most cultured man in the community." He was a fisherman, who was converted to Methodism in 1805. He became an official member of the circuit (which included Tangier Island) as an exhorter.

When the British Fleet headquartered themselves here during the war of 1812 (occupying themselves in ravaging the Chesapeake Bay), Brother Thomas, as Joshua was now known, conferred with the British Admiral on several occasions. Brother Thomas influenced the Admiral to spare the trees around the Methodist camp ground and to use a vacant house as a headquarters rather than seizing a neighbor's home. Before the fleet left Tangier (which was bigger then) to take Baltimore (Fort McHenry of "Star Spangled Banner" fame) Brother Thomas was asked to exhort the soldiers.

At the appointed hour, some twelve thousand men were lined up in columns to hear Joshua Thomas preach. He warned them of the danger and told them God told him they could not take Baltimore and would not succeed in their battle. I don't know how much of the defeat of the British at Ft. McHenry was due to this 'pep talk' that the Rev. Thomas gave them, but I understand some of them came back to Tangier and asked for his absolution.

Parsonage for the Methodist Church

Golf carts and motor scooters

One of the few regular vehicles

Local Shop

What Not Shop

Cat lying in the 'street'

Cat that walks by himself

Looking across to the back of the rectory

Bob got some ice at the grocery story (we aren't running the refrigeration just for this weekend).

Grocery store

There is a LOT of current in the marina when we get back. We can see the water rushing past the pilings. The fenders have gotten out of position, and Bob tries to push the boat away from the pier so he can put them into position, but he can't do it by himself. After I take the picture, I go to help.

Bob tries to push the boat out to fix fenders

A power cat is tied up at the end of our dock, and a big power boat named TIGGER comes in who has been promised that spot.

They tied up to the pilings across the ends of the slips (the 3 pm boat leaves so that he won't be blocked in)

Tigger tied to the ends of the slips waiting

to wait for him to vacate the space - he was only going to be an hour, but his hour is up and there is no sign of him.

I've decided to eat dinner at Crocketts family style which is up past the church. Mr. Parks tells us that she doesn't seat anyone after 5:15, so we start at 4:30 and hike up there as fast as I can.

Bob walking along the street

Drawing of Chesapeake House

Chesapeake House sign

Crabcake posing for his picture

This is a cat named Crabcake. Crabcake lives on Tangier Island several houses down from Hilda Crockett's Chesapeake House. From November 1 to April 30, Crabcake stays around his home. He eats and sleeps at home. But from when Crockett's opens May 1, until they close Oct 31st, Crabcake sits outside of Crocketts every day, even though he doesn't get fed at Crocketts. He must be there because he enjoys the attention and all the petting that the tourists give to him.

Inside Chesapeake House

menu

Dinner is $17.00 each for all you can eat. They start out putting the cold dishes on the table (cole slaw, potato salad, pickled beets, ham, and applesauce), and then add rolls, green beans, corn pudding, fried clam fritters, and then you ask for either one or two crab cakes (which are round).

crabcake

It finishes up with home made pound cake. One of the guys at our table flew in his private plane, and he came down to see our boat after dinner. He is staying at Crockett's B&B

Crockett's Guest House

because Shirley's Bay View (over by the airport) is full. We saw both of the Crocketts Guest House and Shirley's on the island tour.

Shirley's

We walk back more leisurely,

Cats

One of the Crockett Family's House

flower

chicken

Tangier Island is small and is shrinking from erosion. So all the land above water is used to the maximum - chickens, bikes, cats and graves all share space in the tiny yards of the houses on the island. Bike rentals and crab shedding demonstrations can also be found in the yards of houses

cats chickens and bikes

Sidewalk lined with annuals

House with no driveway

and I stop and sit on the bench by the church.

Methodist church after dinner

The Rev Swain wrote A BRIEF HISTORY OF TANGIER ISLAND, VIRGINIA Originally written by Reverend C. P. Swain in the 1890's, it relates the history of both the people and the Methodist religion on the island. From 1808 through 1858 up to 10,000 people swelled the island each summer for Methodist camp meetings.

In a letter to the Richmond Dispatch, July 30, 1899, Rev. Swain wrote:

"In 1835, when there were only a few people here, they built a small framed church, 18 by 18 feet. In 1842 they enlarged the building to 22 by 26. In 1860 the house was again enlarged to accommodate the ever-increasing congregation. In 1870 a new building was erected, 36 by 50, at a cost of $2,400, and made to cover about 2,000 square feet of ground floor and to seat 600 people. In 1896 it was found that a larger building was needed, and the present structure, modern in its construction and conveniences; Lighted with gas and heated with steam, was erected at a cost of $10,000, about $7,000 of which has been paid in cash, and the rest is all subscribed."

According to the sign on the church foundation wall, this church was renamed the Swain Memorial M. E. Church in 1900 the year after the above was written. I presume he had died before the church was named after him, but I can't find any information out about that. The marble memorial was erected in his memory by the citizens of Tangier.

Swain memorial

The kids are riding bikes and they have ice cream after dinner at Spanky's.

Spanky's

The power cat is gone, and TIGGER is tied up with their bow sticking across in front of ours. They intend to go to St. Leonard creek tomorrow.

Ducks

Fishing boat at sunset

Sun sets over Tangier Island harbor

Hilda Crockett's Chesapeake House doesn't seat you for dinner after 5:15 pm. So no matter how slowly you eat, you are done by 6 pm. About all there is left to do in town is walk around, and then watch the sun set. Tangier is fairly flat and you can see the sun set from just about anyplace.

Sunday August 8, 2004

Tigger and RosalieAnn at Parks Marina

We really can't leave until TIGGER does. There is a boat behind us so we can't back up, and the wind is blowing us toward the dock. The lady from TIGGER walks out in town to take some photos, so it is fortunate we are in no hurry as we are only going to Crisfield today.

Parks marina boardwalk

The evening before I saw the people on one of the other sailboats in the marina feeding the ducks. So even though Bob said not to feed them, I threw them a few crumbs in the morning.

After TIGGER leaves Bob takes off the lines (the boat doesn't move from the dock as the wind keeps us alongside)

As we left the marina

and we motor east out the channel toward Tangier Sound. The depth sounder does go off (it is set for seven feet), and Bob sees as little as 6 feet.

Municipal dock

A man stands by the crab shedding troughs

Anchorage

The harbor in Tangier has a very swift current in it, and it is a very busy harbor. Not only are there fishermen who run around in the harbor, but there are the ferry boats from Crisfield and Reedville that come in and turn around. Also, there are depth problems at some places even in the channel. Anchoring needs to be out of the channel. The channel bends at this point. There is a power boat and a sailboat both anchored here.

Tangier harbor going east

Tugboat in Tangier Sound

When we get to Crisfield, we are back in Maryland. It doesn't take us very long to get there even though we didn't even tried to sail as the wind is under 5 knots

Old Fertilizer Plant stack

Janes Island ATON and power boat

Marker-the beginning of the channel to Crisfield

Old house on point

The entrance profile of Crisfield has really changed. The brick building which in the past was a useful landmark to find the harbor entrance is barely visible because they are building a big condo right by the entrance channel.

Large new condo building by harbor entrance

Coming in past Evan's Crab house

Crisfield is a tiny village of less than 2800 people on the Delmarva peninsula. In Maryland, on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay, Crisfield is the southernmost town before you get to Virginia. The town was originally called Somer's Cove after one of the settlers in the area. They started out as farmers, but soon became watermen. The harbor and marina are still called Somers Cove. Because of the low lying marshy land, billions of oyster shells were used in the foundations for local roads, buildings and railroads. Some places in Louisiana use oyster shells in a similar fashion. A businessman named Crisfield got the railroad extended as far as Somer's Cove so that their product could be shipped quickly. Some stories go that the town was renamed in honor of Crisfield to appease him when he fell through a rotten pier.

We tied up in Crisfield after a trip of 12.4 nm. A boat named EXODUS comes in after us and is across the dock. There are many empty slips in the marina, but I suppose it is Sunday and everyone has to be back at work on Monday.

Somer's Marina

Crisfield calls itself the crab capitol. Although Annapolis is "Crab Town" in CB lingo, the real crab town in Maryland is Crisfield. The street signs in Crisfield all have an outline of a crab on them. This one was on the corner next to The Cove Restaurant. I don't know the significance of Charles Adams Corner.

Street signs

Water tower

Most stuff in Crisfield is closed (like the little museum). I took the laptop up to the marina office and used their email line. Then we walked up

and ate at the Waterman's Inn which was closed when we were here before (i.e. on Monday and Tuesday),

Window box with shells and eating utensil 'flowers'

We had a choice of the Early Bird Dinners or the Blue Plate Specials. We took the Early Bird (before 6) for $10.95 each. Bob had steamed shrimp, a crabcake, lima beans and a salad, and I had a crab cake, broiled Tilapia, ratatouille and wild rice. We both had dessert - I had creme brulee and Bob had a chocolate volcano.

Museum sign

We walked around to the other side of the marina to where the (closed) museum is, and took some photos there.

Map from bulletin board near museum

Posted walking tour map

The escorted walking tour (which I have not taken) leaves from the J. Millard Tawes Museum M-Sa at 10:00 a.m. It goes by a working boatyard, makes a stop at Metompkin Seafood where crabs and oysters are processed, and visits the depot area where the boats leave daily for Smith and Tangier Islands. Afterwards, you can talk to Binky Dize at the crab shanty in back of the museum and see crabs shed. Binky's there most days from noon to 1 p.m. Tours are $2.50 each. Children under 6 are free, and 6-12 are $1.00. On this map it says:
"Look both ways before crossing the streets. Some of our citizens are more accustomed to driving boats than motor vehicles"
"Stay together and stand in the designated areas while in the packing houses. The owners are always looking for extra employees!!"
"Enjoy yourself and remember - DON'T BE CRABBY OR A WATERMAN "WILL GET YA!""

I took a photo of the two flagpoles to illustrate the difference between a flagpole for the US flag and the Maryland state flag. A US flagpole should have an eagle on the top. For a Maryland flag, you need to have a gold cross bottony on the top.

Maryland flagpole on the right

After we got back to the boat, I went for a swim, but the water in the pool was quite cold, and I couldn't stay in it long.

Bob on RosalieAnn in Crisfield (Somer's Cove)

Sunset from our boat

There isn't much night life in Crisfield. The nicest thing to do is dine where you can watch the sunset, have an ice cream cone from the pavilion at the end of the dock, or from the deck of your boat.

Monday August 9, 2004

It looks like the predicted winds are from the SW and will be good for getting back home today and there are possible thunderstorms again tomorrow. So we cast off relatively uneventfully about 0900.

The Crab Place Truck

Crisfield boat

J. C Tawes and Side Street Market

Tangier Cruise boat

Pavilion at the end of the dock (good for watching sunsets)

Sign - Thanks for visiting Crisfield

After we motor out of the Crisfield harbor and down the river, we turned south toward Tangier as Bob thinks that going through Tangier rather than north around Smith will give us a better angle on the wind to get from there to the Potomac. So we motor though Tangier harbor, this time from east to west.

As the saying goes - don't take your boat "where the standing bird has a dry butt."

Waterside of Tangier

Tangier harbor

Parks Marina from the harbor

The menhaden boats are out in force,

and we see some schools of menhaden on the surface between Tangier and Smith Point. But they lied about the winds again. Nothing we can do gives us any wind for sailing. We had chicken for lunch, and I ate the last nectarine and Bob had a banana.

We got in to the marina just before 4 pm after 36.5 nm at an average speed of 5.2 knots. We got fuel first (50 gallons - we carry 100 gallons) before we went to our slip. We've used the engine about 14 hours on this trip.

Courtney's from to Smith Creek

After we get the boat unloaded, we go down to Courtney's for dinner (Scheibles is closed on Monday and the Spinnaker rebuild after Hurricane Isabel has not been completed).

For the rest of August, although I had another visit to the dentist, we spent some time eating hard crabs locally at a local crab house - the Drift Inn

Drift Inn

Hard Crabs

September 2004

9 September 2004

Our first trip in September was to the funeral of Bob's Aunt Eleanor. A sad occasion, but we could connect with family

We took another trip up to Baltimore in September to the dentist, and then we went to another local crab house - Seabreeze (next to another crab house on the Patuxent, Sandgates)

Seabreeze placemat - instructions on eating hard crabs

Seabreeze pier on the Patuxent

Seafood dinner at Seabreeze

Sandgates sign out on the highway

On the way home we stopped for fuel at

Ridgells -the only full service gas station in the county

October 2004

October 6-9 Boat trip to the Southern Bay after which we hauled the boat.
October 16 - Oyster Festival
October 19 - Trip to Great Bridge

Bob wanted to put the boat up in the yard before the Oyster Festival the third weekend in October. But on the 1st of October I had the last dental appointment (periodontal) for this fall, and it looked like we'd have a bit of good weather to go out before we put the boat up for the winter and head south by car.

5 October 2004

We moved onto the boat and started to get ready to leave, but the winds (20-25 knots) had the boat heeling in the slip, and it made me very nervous. I convinced Bob to wait until tomorrow to go. We ate lunch at Courtneys since Schiebles is closed M-W in the off season. I had a grilled cheese sandwich ($2) and the soup and salad bar ($6.95 - the soup was vegetable or clam chowder). Bob had a hamburger and cole slaw from the salad bar. They don't take credit cards. There was a group of 4 women and 2 men that came in after us and wanted to sit together. But a group of 3 had taken the table for 8 (you seat yourself), so they had to make do with a smaller table with not quite as much room.

Matties

We watched TV in the afternoon, and then went to Mattie's for dinner. Bob had the special (meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy and corn for $6.95), and I had Alaskan king crab legs, baked potato and cole slaw $12.95. The same group of 6 that we'd seen at Courtneys also came in to eat.

I got the heater out because it was going to be cold at night, and was glad of it.

6 October 2004 Deltaville

Started the engine and cast off a little after 8. Bob started to back out before I had really undone the last line to the pier, and consequently, when I went to throw it on the pier, I missed and it went into the water (which meant that when we got back, it was wet). The marina is very calm.

By 9:30, the wind had picked up to 11-14 knots in the Potomac - we were past Point Lookout and are doing about 6 knots. We have decided to go to Jackson Creek off the Piankatank. We've never been there. So I called and made a reservation at the Deltaville Marina. Bob had the sails up. We motor sailed around Smith Point at 10:30 doing 7 knots.

Smith Point behind us with our wind generator

We hear a lot of chatter on the radio from the rescue boat out of the Little Wicomico/Smith Point. The wind has dropped a bit, but we are still doing 7 knots - I guess the tide is pushing us. By noon, we've done 25.6 nm (nautical miles). We see lots of menhaden boats when we pass the Great Wicomico,

Menhaden boat with little boat on side davits

Bridge over the Rappahannock

Spider off the point

and hear on the radio about a fishing boat that has collided with another boat.

Jackson Creek

We get to the Deltaville Marina after 44 nm at an average of 6.4 knots (which took us about 7 hours).

marina from the creek

The entrance to Jackson Creek is very interesting. You run almost up onto the shore and then run alongside the shore until you get into the creek.

photo of photo on marina wall showing entrance

Map of the marinas -#10 is Deltaville Marina

RosalieAnn at the dock

There are several anchorages in the creek (heard one cruiser talking to another one and he said that the anchorages were in Skipper Bob's book)

Anchorage from our dock

and it is much easier to get here than to get into Fishing Bay as it is closer to the Bay. I went up to pay - 95 cents/ft and $3 for electricity. They have very nice bathrooms,

and a cruiser's lounge. I got a key for the lounge with a $10 deposit.

At 5 pm, the dock master took us up into town, and we walked around a bit

Philippi Christian Church

The dominent building on the Deltaville main street is the Philippi Christian Church (17276 General Puller Highway, P.O. Box 555, Deltaville VA 23043) so naturally I took a picture of it. The sign on the front says it was founded in 1871. The church is apparently a center of community affairs, but I couldn't find anything out about the building itself.

PWC on a stick

Library

I walked by the library and tried to take a photo, but it was difficult because it was almost completely in shadow. The library was having a book sale. It is at 35 Lover's Lane.

The public library in Middlesex County, Virginia traces its beginning to 1915 when fifteen ladies formed a book club for the purpose of exchanging and enjoying the pleasures of reading together. The books were signed on the fly leaf when borrowed and returned, and some of these original books are still on the shelves of the Middlesex County Public Library today. The formal establishment of the Library took place in 1927. It was housed in the Middlesex County Bank building in the town of Urbanna. A library funded by the U.S. Works ProgressvAdministration (WPA) was formed in Deltaville during the 1930's but was discontinued in the 1940's. The Deltaville Library was reorganized by volunteers in the 1950's and was incorporated in 1985. The two libraries were merged in 1987 as the Middlesex County Public Library, Inc. (MCPL) and is one of eleven independent public libraries in Virginia.

Sno Shack

They advertise 32 flavors of shaved ice, pickles and chili cheese hot dogs.

Bob walking by sign for Yates Gallery

McWillie's entrance and sign

before we went to Taylor's to eat. Taylor's Restaurant and McWillie's are run by the same people and they are next door to each other. Actually you enter the door for Taylors and you have a choice - go left into the restaurant or right into McWillie's.

Taylor's Restaurant

It seemed like this would be a perfect fit for us - a down home basic restaurant. The restaurant is a long low building on the street. Inside there is green oilcloth on the tables.

We each had iced tea ($1.25 and they put a pitcher on the table for us) and they brought fresh yeast rolls and hushpuppies to start with. We passed up the specials which were Early Bird 4p-6:30p Spaghetti with Meatballs and Garlic Bread for $6.95 and Dinner Feature Spicy Seafood AuGratin with 2 sides for $12.95.

Fresh yeast rolls and hushpuppies

Bob had chicken,

Bob's fried chicken and 2 sides $8.95

and I had the fried crabcakes ($14.95) and there were two of them. I had broccoli with cheese (sharpish cheese and not the blander stuff, but soggy broccoli) and mashed red potatoes as my sides.

Fried crabcake dinner ($14.95)

We each had piece of apple pie ($3.50). Bob brought home two pieces of chicken and I brought home a crab cake for lunch the next day.

Apple pie ($3.50)

Then the old lady that was there (Miss Marie) took us back to the boat. I gathered she wasn't usually a driver (She missed the turn and had to turn around), but one of their waitresses was off with a sick baby and the usual driver was filling in for her. Taylor's is one of four local restaurants that will come and pick you up.

After she dropped us off, we walked around in the dockyard next to the marina and saw ZIG ZAG (another CSY walkover like ours) there again (or still from when we saw her in 1999), and also a new walk-over (to me) called FAITH.

I took the computer up to the lounge, but it was open, so I didn't need a key. I logged on via the phone line and did email, and while I was there a guy came in and said there was a wireless network. So I logged off, and used that for the rest of the night. I found later that I could use it at the boat.

October 7, 2004

Going to Mobjack Bay

Bob was impatient to take off this morning. He tried to use the men's bathrooms and the combination wouldn't open it, but the dockmaster told him that the door sticks - it wasn't someone with it locked from the inside. The dockmaster came down to the dock and gave me my $10 back from the key deposit.

All the lines on the pilings had to be untied as there were no cleats on the dock, so Bob got off the boat and untied them while I held onto one of the pilings so he'd be able to get back on. That was pretty easy as there was no wind or current. We cast off about 0830. I stood on the deck and took photos of the entrance channel. We followed another sailboat out. By 0925 we'd been 6 nm.

Sailboat leaving ahead of us

Following the other sailboat around the corner

There isn't much wind, but the anemometer at the top of the mast seems to be stuck. Bob gets out of the cockpit to go look at it, and it immediately unsticks itself and starts to go. We do have some wind, so we motorsail.

The new side curtains that Bob made are really nice and clear (the old ones had gotten cracked and moldy and scratched). A Navy Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) Vehicle passes making a lot of noise. When it stops, we can see the big fans on the back

Bob in the cockpit

Wolf Trap

When we pass Wolf Trap Light [which was an active lighthouse in 2004], I get a good photo of it. The light marks the Wolf Trap Spit Shoal where once, in 1690, the 350 ton English merchantman HMS Wolfe ran aground. Wolf Trap is also the name of a concert venue near D.C. We have last night's dinner (crab cake and fried chicken) for lunch. It's still mostly a north wind, so we are still going south. We pass New Point Comfort, and go into Mobjack Bay. I don't have the narrative for this section of the trip. Mobjack Bay has four rivers that feed into it. From the north going counter clockwise, they are the East River, the North River, the Ware River and the Severn River.

There are not many marinas in this section.

Shores of the Severn River

I remember we went down to the Severn River Marina and it was not a marina that got many transients.

From our boat

Severn River Marina

walking down the pier

We went to Dolphin Cove for dinner.



I do not know how we got there. Someone must have given us a ride.

Sunset

October 8, 2004 Back to Deltaville

Mobjack Bay in the morning

French boat anchored at Severn entrance

We left the marina about 8 and I spent some time with the two cameras (the repaired Toshiba and the new Kodak) taking photos of the New Point Comfort lighthouse so I can see the difference between them.

Toshiba photo

Kodak photo taken from the same place at the same time

The new camera is much better.

Old lighthouse at New Point Comfort

New Point Comfort is the tenth oldest lighthouse still standing in the United States. It is just north of the entrance to Mobjack Bay. It is not an active lighthouse.

We are passing a LOT of fishermen out by the points of land, like out by Gwynn Island. There's no wind - the water is glassy - and no waves. Perfect power boat weather. I can hear the Gwynn Island bridge opening for someone (that was another place I considered going)

We eat lunch. I try to take a picture of a sailboat going south, but miss it, and just get this picture of Bob in the cockpit.

Bob in the cockpit

Compare this picture with the bimini up with the next to bottom picture after we stowed it. The boom which is in the bottom picture is not visible in this shot, as the boom is above the bimini.

Because we'd gone the safe way on the way down, today when I plotted the route, I cut some corners, so we were at Broad Creek more quickly that I had estimated that we would be.

When we enter Broad Creek, I call on the radio, and the marina doesn't answer so I call on the phone. She said she'd gone to the bank and she'd be there by the time we were to help us tie up.

She didn't realize that when I said we were entering Broad Creek we actually WERE entering Broad Creek (she says people usually call from farther out and say they are entering the creek when really they are still out in the river).

She said she saw our mast coming in from her car and she had to run down the dock to get there before we did. She could have relaxed a little because I suggested that Bob turn around and tie up facing out so it will be quicker to get out tomorrow and that takes a couple of minutes.

RosalieAnn in the marina

It's very shallow and we are stirring up mud. We've learned to hand the midships spring line to the dock person first. We tied up by 1456 after a trip of 32.2 nm at an average speed of 5.1 knots (because there was no wind).

After I check in, I log on with the computer, and then find that they have a wireless network which I can access from the boat. We call and the Boathouse Cafe comes and picks us up for dinner.

Boathouse Cafe

That's right on Broad Creek, and would be a short dinghy ride, but it is a long way around by car.

condiments

I failed to write down what we had to eat, but I can see from the photos that Bob has scallops and wild rice,

Bob's scallops

and I had a pasta dish

Pasta

Blueberry pie

. We also had blueberry pie

Sunset from the marina

October 9, 2004

Sometime during the night a big catamaran came in and tied up in front of us.

RosalieAnn at the dock

I heard the marina lady talking to him on the phone yesterday afternoon. He got stuck in Norfolk when the Gilmerton Bridge got stuck and then there was a train.

Because we want to get all the way home today and Bob thinks it will be calm enough to take the sails off (which we have to do before we haul the boat on Wednesday) and it won't be calm enough any other day, we want to leave early.

So we pushed off about 0730 (with no problem) and motored out of Broad Creek into the Rappahanock

Crabbing in Rappahannock

We see lots of fisherman in the river (including the crab pot boat above).

There is a lot of dew and condensation on the bimini, and again lots of fishermen out around the points like Windmill Point and Smith Point.

Spider

Fishing boats around the spider

Smith Point

Fishing boats

By noon, we are turning into the Potomac around Smith Point. But Smith Point is about a hour from Point Lookout, and Point Lookout Marina is not right at Point Lookout.

Bob decides that we can take down the bimini while we are motoring, and then that will be done so we do that. We are motoring a bit faster (higher rpms) than we normally do.

To take the bimini off, we have to untied it from the boom crutch, and then unzip the pockets for the frame. To collapse the frame, the boom first has to be moved all the way to one side.

Then the boom is brought back to the center, and the bows of the bimini frame are lashed together so they lie flat on the cabin top forward of the cockpit.

Bob at the wheel without the bimini

It feels funny to be out in the sun in the cockpit. Bob puts a hat on to protect the skin on his head.

Pound nets in Smith Creek

Chart of Smith Creek

When we arrive at the marina, we get fuel to fill up the tank and then tie up - today we went 4.14 nm at an average speed of 5.5 knots. The total trip was 154 nm.

We do take the sails off the boat and stow them, but then I am too tired to unload the boat (I have to go down Tuesday and do that). Bob suggests going to the newly opened Spinnakers for dinner, but I'm too tired for that too. We stop in Callaway and get A&W hamburgers and root beer floats.

13 October 2004

We hauled the boat for the winter.

16 October 2004 - Oyster Festival

Welcome to the Festival

When you come through the entrance gate (admission this year is $5.00 a person with children under 12 for free), you walk down between a booth selling t-shirts and sweat shirts advertising the Oyster Festival on one side, and on the other side raw oysters in jars. Then you come to the cross street. A booth, which sells beer is on the far right corner. Beer is normally a large part of the beverages drunk at the Oyster Festival although wine, soft drinks, spiced cider and water are also available.

Most of the family converges on Leonardtown for the Oyster Festival which is the third weekend in October. Unfortunately this year, one of my daughters had a minor operation the night before the festival, so her family couldn't come, and daughter #3 couldn't drive in from TX in the time available. So only one of my children (on the extreme right in the expanded picture with the crab earrings) and two of her children (her two sons) and her husband could attend the Oyster Festival with us. The guy on the left with the beard and baseball hat is my oldest grandson. My granddaughter (my daughter's daughter) is in college in upstate NY.

Daughter #3's in-laws came and ate with us even though she wasn't there (her MIL is on the left, and her FIL is shaking hands with my grandson). They also brought with them their third son (my daughters BIL) and his new wife (not pictured). The middle person in the picture is a friend of my grandson, and the guy in back in the white jacket is my daughter's husband (my SIL).

Grandson and daughter (in expanded picture)

The first thing I usually get though is not beer, but is seafood chowder. Then we walk through behind the bandstand (which had the St. Mary's College Jazz Band playing on Saturday morning) and secure a couple of picnic tables for our group. At various times, you could also hear the blues, and bluegrass music.

Bandstand

musicians

This was a quite windy day, and much colder than expected, so almost no one was dressed appropriately.

Daugher's inlaws

One of the first things that happened was my SILs beer blew over, soaking my grandson's friend's jacket.

I loved our local stuffed ham, and I normally get at least two stuffed ham sandwiches because this is about the only time that I get to have stuffed ham because my husband doesn't like ham at the best of times.

Stuffed ham sandwich

Southern Maryland stuffed ham is difficult to make - you take the bone out of a ham shank and stuff the cavity with kale and other greens and spices, and the bake the ham. Then when sliced, each slice has some of the greens in it.

This year you could get them on white (pictured), wheat or potato rolls. I ate the white bread one, and took the potato roll one home for dinner. My husband got a bbq sandwich from the Jolly Gents booth for his dinner. (The Jolly Gents is a black social organization in the county, and I always get their bbq at the fair and/or the Oyster Festival. They have beef, pork and chicken sandwiches and also half chickens and the like.)

Pit beef booth

Crab soup, popcorn shrimp and french fries

Soups at the end of the fairway

Grandson eating oyster stew

Eating oyster stew

My grandson went through the crafts buildings with his mom and he was interested in the paintings that one of the ladies was doing. He started asking her questions, and she showed him how she was doing it - she painted a rose on a paper bag with his name on it and gave it to him. His mom said it was too bad that she didn't like any of the items she was painting enough to buy them.

Big bounce house and train

My daughter also gave my grandson some money to spend, and he went with his dad to the games and rides section where he won (or bought) this inflatable dragon. His mom deflated it and put it into the paper bag for the ride home.

Prize and grandson

He also went with me to buy a funnel cake. That's one of my favorite things to eat at any fair or carnival.

I think I've found a new favorite though - my daughter got carmel apple, which wasn't the usual candy apple type thing. Instead it was slices of apple in a cup with carmel drizzled over them making them a crisp sweet-tart finger food that is easy to eat.

There is an oyster cookoff each year. There are awards for 4 different categories, and then a grand prize is awarded. This year the grand prize went to something called Creamy Oyster Jalapeno Soup cooked by Tom Forman, 79 of Carrollton TX. He is the man in the hat with the brim whose head is behind King Oyster's oyster shell encrusted septre. The Grand Prize includes a big silver platter and $1000.00

The cooking used to be across the street in the home ec. rooms in the middle school. But it's gotten too big for that now. While the contest is going on, you can go and sample the dishes and vote on which one you like best. In addition to awards in the 4 categories, there is also a People's Choice award. The first place Main Dish was Candy McMenamin's Pecan-Encrusted Oysters with Asiago Grits.

The among the other winners were Shirley De Santis in the Hors D'oevres category for Oyster with Pancetta and Gorgonzola Cheese. She came from Bethlehem PA for the contest with her husband Alex who got third place in Soups with Oyster 'n Red Pepper Soup. Shirley has been competing off and on since the first contest 25 years ago.

Cookoff Awards

After the Cook-off Awards is the shucking contest. First there are two amateur heats - you can sign up on the day. These two people were complete amateurs and they stopped them after 10 minutes.

Amateur shuckers

The heat is started with each person with their hands in the air. Then a horn is blown, and they start shucking. When they finish, they put their hands back in the air and their timer stops the stopwatch and records the time.

After each heat, the oysters are inspected for cleanliness and to see whether the oyster has been cut and time penalties are assessed for faults. Then the shucker takes his oysters and goes up to the fence around the ring and hands them out to the crowd for free. The prime place to be during the oyster shucking is the bottom row in the grandstands so you can get to the fence to get your oysters.

Plate of raw oysters

Because the bottom row of the stands is low to the ground, you have to look through the railings to see the stage. Therefore, it is strictly enforced that no one is allowed to stand at the fence (blocking the view of the people in the stands) during the shucking.

King Oyster and a timer for the shucking

King Oyster (This year's King is Patti Willenbourg, past president of the Lexington Park Rotary Club) wanders around the fare talking to people and giving out awards. The festival began as a way for the Lexington Park Rotary Club to honor the life and work of the watermen. This year it raised about $50,000 to support various charities. Here King Oyster is on the shucking stand before the shucking contest starts with one of the timers.

Sometimes it's really too hot to wear this robe, but not today. The extra warmth is welcome.

2002 King Oyster on the main road

We left about half way though the preliminary heats which are held on Saturday because it was so cold and windy, and my SIL was concerned about an approaching storm for the drive back to their house in Ellicott City.

The top shucker this year was Scott Styles, the owner of a direct mail business in San Antonio. His corrected time for opening 24 oysters was 2 minutes 48 seconds. He beat Cathy Miliken, a NC nurse, who was the women's champion in a 'shuck-off'.

This was Scott's fourth national title, and for winning he gets a trip to Galway Ireland for the international championship. He placed third the last time he went to the Irish contest, and hopes to do better this time. I understand that the oysters that are shucked in Ireland are a bit smaller and require a different technique than ours.

19 October 2004

Someone with a sailboat like ours is repowering, while docked at Atlantic Yacht Basin in Great Bridge. They were selling some of their used engine parts. Bob wanted to buy the heat exchanger, but he did not trust a shipper to get it to him undamaged (plus it would be expensive because it is heavy), so he said we'd come down and get it.

I plotted the route and figured it would take about 4 hours each way - it is a little less than 200 miles.

I did the route two ways - one the quickest way which I thought would be down 301 and then I-95 to I-64, and the other via US 17.

Because we had a total of about 400 miles to go, we had to leave early. We got underway at around 0800,

and by 0832, we were paying our toll to go across the Potomac River at the Governor Nice Bridge in Morgantown MD. The toll, which is only collected going south, is now up to $3.00.

As we went over the bridge, I looked down at the Aqualand Marina on the north side for the first time. I didn't take any pictures though.

Getting Lost in Virginia

The first part of the trip in Virginia was quite straightforward. Follow US 301 past Dahlgren Proving Grounds and through King George until you cross the Rappahannock and come to Port Royal. At Port Royal, you have to decide whether to go on down 301 or get onto US Route 17.

Since I wanted to go by different routes (even though it was rainy and overcast, and hard to take photos while underway in the car), we continued on US 301. Soon we were traveling through the US Army Military Reservation Fort A. P. Hill. The highway at this point is a dual divided highway but is not limited access. Still, there wasn't too much cross traffic while we were going through the base.

Around Bowling Green, there is a bypass. Again you have to make the decision whether to continue on US 301 or to cut across on VA 207 to I-95. We don't like I-95, which Bob says is an excuse for Virginia drivers to go 70 mph. OTOH, 301 from this point is narrower and goes through some small towns. But I thought that it would be more relaxing and shorter to go on 301 (even if we had to go a bit slower), so that's what we did.

We went past tiny hamlets like Doggett's Fork, Dawn, and Frog Level and everything was going fine until we came to Crosses Corner. There we saw a sign which seemed to point to a road on the right and said "301". So Bob turned on it. The road got narrower and narrower, and crossed railroad tracks. We hadn't seen a 301 sign (or any sign) for some time and we were proceeding slowly behind a garbage truck.

I had (and I hope it is temporary) lost the connector to attach the laptop to the car battery, so I was not using the GPS tracking system. When I fired it up, I discovered we were actually on VA Route 657 coming into Browns Grove. It seemed easier at this point just to cut over onto I-95, and it wasn't too long after that before we were on the Richmond Bypass I-295 and then I-64.

We made pretty good time except for that unexpected detour. At 10:02, Bob made bathroom stop at the interestate rest stop near where VA 33 comes in from West Point (Virginia). By then we'd been on the road 2 hours and had traveled 112 miles. After I put the computer away and wrote the mileages down, and he had been to the restroom, and gotten back to the car, I went in.

The leaves were turning, but the skies were dark and it was rainy and misty the whole day. Also I-295 and I-64 are concrete roads and riding over the joints was very jarring.

Crossing Hampton Roads

As we got into the Hampton Roads area ("Hampton Roads" is the historic name for the five-mile wide, and ten miles long part of the James River before it empties into Chesapeake Bay, plus the Elizabeth River and the Nansemond River where they empty into the James River. The Peninsula cities of Newport News and Hampton are linked to the South Hampton Roads cities of Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, Suffolk and Virginia Beach by two separate four-lane Interstate highway bridge-tunnels), we saw signs which indicated that there were construction delays on the I-64 bridge tunnel crossing into Norfolk. We had already entered a construction zone.

So instead of going around Norfolk on the east via I-64 as we had intended, we took I-664. This is a 20.7-mile-long north-south freeway from the city of Hampton near the Hampton Coliseum to I-64 in the city of Chesapeake and it includes the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel which is free.

Then we rejoined I-64 (I-64 and I-664 together are designated and signed as the Hampton Roads Beltway) and went down VA Route 168 like I had planned except for coming from the other direction.

Doing it this way meant we crossed the big high draw bridge (which requires 24 hours advance request to open) across the Elizabeth River which is just before the turnoff to the Dismal Swamp Canal.

We could see the first marina on Deep Creek from the bridge. We saw some boats going down to the Virginia Cut, but none doing the alternate Dismal Swamp route.

On the banks of the Elizabeth River at this point are numerous coal yards which I have previously photographed from the river.

We got to Great bridge after 193 miles at 11:28 which meant that it took us 3.5 hours including the one rest stop.

Lunch and a Visit in Great Bridge

We told our friends we'd be there by 1300, so we had time to eat lunch before we tried to find their boat in the yard. Traffic was frenetic in Great Bridge, and I had a hard time seeing where the restaurants were in time to decide to get into the correct lane to turn into one so we went back to El Toro Loco Restaurante Mexicano and Cantina which we had liked when we ate there in the spring.

They seated us immediately and the waitress had the chips and two kinds of salsa dip on the table before we were even seated. Bob took off immediately for the bathroom so I ordered iced tea for both of us.

When I looked up, I noticed that I could see our reflection in the glass overhead. It was backed with something red, which I initially thought was glass that was cracked, and then thought might be fabric with cracked glass underneath. But I eventually decided it was film overlay which had cracked on glass. I took a photo. What do you think?

Bob had lunch #3 which was a burrito, taco and Spanish rice for $3.85. I had a chicken quesadilla with rice and guacamole salad for $4.75. Then I had a Helando Frito for dessert, which was a flower tortilla shell filled with fried ice cream (with coconut) and whipped cream and chocolate on top ($2.95). Total lunch including tip was $18.67.

We were finished our lunch by 12:35 and then went down and talked to our friends and picked up the heat exchanger.

We left the marina at about 2 pm. As we came out onto the road, Bob commented that it was about time for the bridge to go up, and sure enough - there went the warning horns. We stopped behind a police car and watched a southbound sailboat and several power boats go through the bridge. No one was coming north.

After the bridge went back down, we retraced our route back across the Elizabeth River (photo below).

Rainy days can be good for pictures, but not while someone else is driving you in the car as fast as possible over bumps and with wipers that don't wipe well on the passenger's side. On the way back it was even more nasty.

We turned off onto Rt 17 from I-64, but apparently the bridge over the York River at Yorktown was stuck open. At least after we'd been sitting there for half an hour (from 3:07 to 3:30 pm) and listening to the recorded message on AM channel 0530 which kept repeating that the bridge was going to open at 2 and to expect about a 20 minute delay that was my conclusion. So we went up the shoulder to a cross street, and went back to I-64.

I still wanted to go up US 17, although I had given up on getting to either Killmarnock or Gwynn's Island. So I figured that the shortest way would be to take VA route 33 through West Point. We turned into Rte 33 at about 4 pm.

I did get some reasonably good pictures of the paper mill in West Point from the car

At about 5 pm, we got fuel (diesel) south of Tappahannock (Bob says as we go north it gets more expensive). We also used the rest room.

We also stopped 5:30 for dinner at Riverbank Cafe and Seafood. Oysters in the shell were 25 cents a piece.

I had a shrimp basket for $4.95 and an a la carte side and

Bob had a steamed shrimp dinner with two sides, we drank tea and then I had a bread pudding for dessert and the whole thing cost $25.06 including a $4 tip. We walked in at 5:35 and were finished dinner (which the lady cooked fresh to order) by 5:55. (They closed at 6 and so we ate fast and I got the bread pudding to go)

We got home at 1946 (7:46 pm) after a trip from Great Bridge of 5.5 hours. That includes waiting for the Great Bridge bridge, a half an hour stuck in traffic near Yorktown, a 10 minute gas and rest stop, and a 20 minute dinner stop. It was too dark for me to see the mileage.

After our cruise to Bermuda, we again started south for the winter.

Migrating by Mercedes

Bob's brother Dave persuaded him that he should take a cruise to Bermuda. Bob had never been on a cruise ship before, and my experience was limited to crossing and re-crossing the Atlantic from NY to Europe on the Nieuw Amsterdam in 1950 when I was 12 years old. We are accustomed to cruising on our own sailboat which is about 48 feet (depending on whether you count the dinghy davits). Much smaller than even the smallest cruise ship. I found that it was cheaper to take a cruise ship than it was to fly and stay on land. We didn't stay as long as I would have liked, but we still had a good time. By this time I was using a digital camera

Embarkation: Our documents told us that embarkation could begin at 1 pm. Our daughter dropped us off at the McComas Street terminal about 1:20. After we gave our luggage (3 small suitcases) to large persons in reflective vests, we joined the longest check-in line for US citizens that were not Latitude members. I had retained a large fanny pack (aka bum bag) with 3 cameras (I ended up taking over 750 digital photos of Bermuda and the ship) and a bag with a computer and Bob had a small bag with his razor and medications.

The line moved fast enough that I did not become uncomfortable (I have osteoarthritis in my back and cannot stand for very long without a lot of pain). Since it *was* November, the temperature in the building was reasonable. The lady that checked us in said people were waiting for her at noon already. Even though we pre-registered and had passports, she still had to have Bob's driver's license to get our home address which was not in the system.

Note: in the summer this metal building will heat up and it may become unbearably hot. According to the lady that checked us in, she has sometimes just had to leave because she could not stand it.

She told us that we would need our photo ID to board, and that turned out not to be true and resulted in a lot of unnecessary shifting around. This was a theme - the ship people were always saying that we needed a photo ID to get off or on along with our NCL card, but no one ever looked at the photo ID, and why should they? since when they swiped the NCL card, our photos came up on the computer screen. It was explained to me later that the photo ID was in case the computer swiped card did not work. If I had known that it would have made things easier.

We did have to go through X-ray and Bob had to be wanded as he was wearing a large bronze belt buckle which set it off. We went through security every time we returned to the ship. But the personal X-ray doorway was turned off, and no one ever looked at the items that were passed through on the belt, so eventually we stopped putting things on the belt altogether.

We entered on deck 5 and were directed to the aft elevators to get to our cabin on deck 9. There was only one elevator in operation. When I asked about it, I was told that they were using the other elevator for luggage, but this was obviously not true as the elevator showed that it was on deck 9, and it was not on deck 9 when we got there. Indeed this elevator did not work (was continuously on deck 9 for two days) and when it did start to work, the other elevator went out. I found this to be unsatisfactory because not only did all the passengers with mobility problems have to use this elevator, but also the crew had to bring various carts with equipment all on this one elevator because Monday, the forward elevators were out of service due to rough seas.

We booked the lowest rate cabin, and were upgraded to a Superior Inside Stateroom which has two lower beds that can be converted into a queen-size bed, bathroom with shower, spacious closet with mirror, television for in-house movies and CNN, hair dryer, individual air-conditioning, direct-dial phone, music console, and personal safe (which we didn't use). Average size 154 sq. ft. On Riviera Deck (deck 9). We were upgraded from a Deluxe Inside Stateroom on deck 4 which was about the same amount of square feet. The cabin was right around the corner from the elevator. I found this to be a perfect location - close enough to the stern decks for quick access and also close to the elevator and stairs.

However, when we entered, we found an ashtray full of cigarette butts in the cabin, and it smelled of stale cigarette smoke. Very unappetizing. Bob suggested that I clean the ashtray myself, but this would have merely transferred the smelly stuff to the waste basket. He refused to let me call housekeeping, so I took the ashtray and contents outside and set it on the housekeeping cart which was outside in the corridor. There was no 'plan of the day' information, so we did not know that we could have gotten lunch.

I found the cabin quite acceptably large, with two good sized closets (a bit bigger than on our boat) but with very little drawer space (much less than on our boat - only 6 drawers altogether). There was more room to move around than on our boat which basically has room for only one of us to stand at a time. But I found the decor of the cabin ugly. The carpet was grey and was stained and spotted, and the bedspreads were tan (one of my least favorite colors) with green and brown and teal stripes.

The beds were reasonably comfortable. The foam mattresses tended to shift around on top of the springs. We did not try to make a queen out of them. I didn't see a room steward to ask about it, and we were afraid that one of us would have to climb out over the other one to go to the bathroom. The shower was quite nice, with a shower head that could be adjusted in height and removed to be hand held.

Shower head

This meant that when it was rough and I couldn't stand up reliably, I could sit on the toilet and stick my head into the shower and wash my hair. There was quite a bit of cupboard space in the bathroom.

Bob sitting by the TV

There was a safe (which we didn't use), direct dial phones (ridiculously expensive either to call out ($5.95/minute) or for people to call us - $7.95 a minute), piped-in music and satellite TV which had only CBS, ESPN, TNT, and some tapes (without commercials - hooray) of History Channel presentations like for instance one on the America's Cup.

Bob at the emergency drill

We read the information that was provided, but it did not tell us how to get the loudspeaker announcements in the cabin and it was a couple of days before we figured out how to do that. Although maybe they were turned off from above, because we didn't get any at debarkation either). Our luggage arrived about 3 and we unpacked.

Dock from the ship

We went out on deck to observe when the ship left the pier. We would have liked to go to the Top of the Crown or the Pasta Cafe to see the harbor passing by and be out of the quite strong wind, but there was a group playing live music in there and it was WAY too loud for us (although the music was quite nice if it had been about 10 dB less). The decks were wet and there was no place to sit that we could see what was going on on that deck (deck 11). I had mistakenly worn only a thermal vest instead of my winter coat and even the vest was too hot in the Top of the Crown, but it wasn't enough out on the deck. This deck also had the running track. After the first day, we never went up there again.

People in hot tubs

We went down to deck 10 and tried to get something to eat at the Cafe Italia, but although the buffet seemed to be ready, they said we couldn't eat until 4:30, so it would be 10 more minutes. After 10 minutes, we got a little bit to eat.

We ate here one more time during the cruise, but Bob doesn't like to eat outdoors. The hot tubs, beauty shop and fitness center were also on this deck, but we didn't use any of those things.

Dock area in 2004

Factories near the dock

Baltimore skyline in 2004

Industrial area Baltimore harbor

Maryland Transportation Authority Police

Coast Guard

Parking lot from the ship

Leaving the dock

Baltimore in our wake

Fort McHenry

A cold sunset

Skyline at sunset

I finally gave up because of the cold, and went down to our room. I had wanted to see us go under the Key Bridge and I really wanted to see us go under the Bay Bridge, but I couldn't stand out on the deck any longer. I think we saw the Bay Bridge on the bow camera (which was broadcast on the network to the TV in our room), and Bob said he saw us go through the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel at about 2 am - also on the bow camera.

Flowers on the dinner table

Dining table reflected

We went to dinner and I took a photo of the flowers on the table and our reflection in the mirrors on the ceiling. When it came time for dessert, one of the ladies said she didn't want any dessert, so they gave her

Nothing - a dessert plate

I found that there was much more vibration from the engines than I expected (all over the ship-not just in the cabin). But, I was impressed to see them maneuver the ship with the thrusters which appeared to be both on the bow and stern. No tugs were used, going into or out of port although they stood by in case they were needed.

Tug that wasn't needed in Hamilton

Dave tells me that this ship has no stabilizers. The water got a bit rougher when we went out into the Atlantic - not surprising to me since I know up close and personal (so to speak) what the waves are like when there's as much wind as we were having. It just looked like there were some rollers, and maybe cross waves of 5-8 feet with tiny white caps every so often which I would not have said was rough. When I would take the GPS out on deck, it would show that we were doing 19+ knots so the rough weather did not slow us down.

I did not consider that it was rough as I define rough. Rough to me is green water over the bow. Bob has taken movies of the seas breaking over the carrier deck of the USS Essex (60 feet up) in the North Atlantic which broke the keel of the ship in 3 places and resulted in it going to the scrap yard. That's rough!!

I found the motion of the ship quite unpleasant. It also made me walk like a drunk - I was tacking from side to side if I didn't have something to hold onto. They shut down the forward elevators due to the weather, and in some cases we were not to open the doors to the deck because of wind. Someone broke off one of the grab rails in one of the elevators, but that was fixed eventually. Neither of us are prone to seasickness, although if I tried to read or write for any length of time, I would get a headache, so I spend a lot of time sleeping. But we did NOT miss any meals.

We ate all our breakfasts on the ship in the Yacht Club. I really liked the decor here - there were brilliant blue paintings of sailboats - very saturated color.

Yacht Club

The buffet was decorated with melons and other food carved into shapes and there were up-to-date labels which explained what the food was if you couldn't quite identify it. There were also sort of comic statues - a chef, a unicorn, a man at the wheel of a ship etc.

In addition to the rolls, pastries, toast, bagels, English muffins, pancakes, hot cereal, cold cereal, bacon, sausage, corned beef hash, fries, salmon, herring, two kinds of scrambled eggs, cold cuts, baked beans and yogurt, there were omelets and waffles done to order, various kinds of fruit including figs, cheese blintzes, and cream cheese rosettes on cucumber slices. And probably some other stuff that I've forgotten. We could chose from about 6 different juices, hot tea, ice water, coffee and decafe to drink.

I had originally signed up for two ships tours - one was a night glass bottomed boat trip which was supposed to be at 9 pm. I figured we could eat dinner and then go on the glass bottomed boat trip. But when I got my tickets, they'd changed the time to 5:45 pm, way too early to have finished dinner. The other tour was for a King's Wharf tour Friday morning when we were leaving at 11 am. I assumed there would be little else we could accomplish in that time. However, I got an email back from NCL saying that there was no room on this tour. Then when I got my tour tickets, I found I'd gotten it after all.

So I just canceled both trips. And as it turned out, we didn't follow the published port schedule anyhow- it was too rough to go in to St. George on Tuesday, so we went to Hamilton instead. And then instead of going to King's Wharf on Thursday, we went to St. George, We never got to Kings Wharf at all and we just left at noon from St. George.

NCL has Freestyle Cruising. This means that there are no dinner reservations for a set table at a set time. In 2004, you could also get a dining coupon to have a meal ashore. I was very unhappy to discover that I was limited to one dining coupon to dine ashore. I had assumed that I could have as many as I wanted. Not so. Originally I had intended to eat dinner Tuesday at the Carriage House in St. George, lunch Weds in Hamilton, dinner Weds at the Hog Penny, and lunch Thursday at the Frog and Onion at King's Wharf. The changed schedule made mincemeat of that idea.

This is what we did in Bermuda.

November 16, 2004

Ft St. Catherine from the ship

1552-2941059-St_Davids with surf_from_the_ship

Rough water

Commandant's house from harbor

The entrance to St. George harbour is very narrow and in a rough sea state is impassible for even small cruise ships. The ship (NCL Crown) that we visited St. George on in 2004 was unable to get in to the dock when we first arrived because of rough seas, so the ship docked in Hamilton.

Fast ferry from the ship

Front_street

Scooter and moped parking in Hamilton

Front Street

Crown in Hamilton - Dingy off the side

From the Visitor's Center we purchased two 3-day bus passes ($28 @) which are also good on the ferries. At the same time, we got a Bermuda Heritage Pass. I've seen some websites that say these passes are $35, but we were only charged $25 @. The Visitor's Center only takes cash (although they will take US $$). No plastic.

Ferry Terminal and Visitor's Center/ C of C - Hamilton

We walked around to the ferry terminal and took a ferry to Somerset Bridge

Ferry wake

House from the ferry 2004

Ferry logo

I talked to the ferry assistant, and he said he worked a 14 hour shift. He was lying on the bench at the front of the ferry eating a candy bar in spite of the fact that there is no eating on the ferry.

Bridge from the Ferry

Ferry dropping us of in Somerset

Somerset Bridge ferry landing building

Somerset Bridge is a tiny drawbridge only 22" wide and is one of Bermuda's sights.

Bob in 2004 looking at the bridge from the bank

Crossing the Railroad walking trail on the way from the ferry landing to Somerset Bridge

Chains across the Drawbridge and Locks on the gate

Looking off the bridge toward the ferry landing

Bridge house aka Sandy's Rectoryin 2004

Next to the Somerset Bridge is Sandy's Rectory which was built about 1740 by Chief Justice John Tucker. The historical record says:
"Tradition has it that artisans were brought from England. A fanlight above the folding doors between the two parlours is said to have been copied from the embroidered design of Miss Kitty Tucker's petticoat, the daughter of Chief Justice Tucker. The house was passed down to the eldest of the six sons, Henry (als "Somerset Henry"). He married Frances, sister of St George Tucker of Williamsburg, Virginia. Henry started The Somerset Bridge Club, an intellectual society and was a member of the Assembly. He was implicated in planning the gunpowder plot, where powder was removed from the Government magazine on 14 August 1775, for use by the American revolutionaries. Henry's father-in-law was Colonel Henry Tucker." ( Bermuda Historical Quarterly Vol XXV, No 1, 1968).

From the bridge to Ely's Harbor

and then we walked up the hill to the bus stop

Somerset Bridge Post Office

and caught a bus out to King's Wharf.

North shore from the bus

The Dockyard area was originally a Royal Naval Base. One of the outstanding buildings which every cruiser who docks at Kings Wharf sees is the Clocktower which was originally The Great Eastern Storehouse. The two 100 foot tall towers make a great landmark.

Clocktower mall 2004

The Great Eastern Storehouse, with 3 foot thick walls was built in 1856. The clock on the south tower was cast in England in 1857 by John Moore and Sons. What seems to be a single hand clock on the eastern side of the north tower is a rare "tide clock." In Royal Navy days, the hand was set daily to indicate the time of high tide. The towers are still easily identified from a distance, making them an excellent reference point for mariners although they can no longer identify the state of the tide. Opened in 1990, the Clocktower Mall is one of the Bermuda’s most innovative examples of preserving a historical structure while putting it to modern use.

Resolute on the Marine Railway in the Dockyard

I have shopped at the Clocktower Mall, but I didn't go there on this trip. We stopped at the Craft Market in the old Dockyard Cooperage which is the first place I would take someone to shop in Bermuda.

Cooperage in 2004

Most of the other shopping is of UK imports - kilts from Scotland, Irish sweaters and linens, Wedgewood china, and also watches, jewelry and perfume from Europe. I like to buy things that are not only good bargains, but also actually come from the place that I am visiting. Here you can watch while wood turner gives weekly demonstrations of his art, making bowls, candlesticks and trinket boxes on his lathe. A jeweler creates elegant adornments from wire and semiprecious stones. In another corner, a doll maker deftly fashions dolls and ornaments out of banana leaves. Elsewhere, someone paints floral patterns on china or sea glass, while someone else knits wool hats and shawls. I got an iris pin and an iris cross stitch for my mom, and a hair ornament for my daughter.

Iris pin

In addition I think it is cool to be in a place where in the 19th century, skilled barrel makers in the cooperage (a cooper is a barrel maker) were amongst the busiest of workers at Royal Naval Dockyard. In those days, most perishable goods were preserved in salt and packed in wooden barrels. Liquids were kept in kegs. Thus barrels and other containers were in high demand.

During the cruise-ship season, the Craft Market offers a two-hour session of free tastings. On Monday and Thursday from April to October, Bermuda-made rum, beer and other products are served in the cooperage atrium, and during the market's winter program (November to March) visitors may participate in some of the craft activities and keep what they make.

Then we used our Heritage passes (instead of paying $10 admission or $8 for seniors), for the Maritime Museum

2004 Entrance to Maritime Museum

Bob at the entrance of the Maritime Museum

2004 - Neptune in the Maritime Museum

and we climbed the hill and toured the Commissioner's House (which was not open in 1995)

Bob through the archway

Stone building

Sheep or goats on the Maritime Museum property

Anchors at the dockyard

From Commissioner's house over top of Keep

and toured the Commissioner's House.

Cannon and flagpole in front of the Commissioner's house

From the front door of the Commissioner's House - Bermuda

2004 Looking down on the Entrance steps

Inside the Door of the Commissioner's house

Real cedar corner cupboard

Board room in the Commissioner's house with Bermuda Cedar furniture

Cutaway depiction of a cruise ship

Exhibit on the Yacht Racing

There was a wonderful doll house full of carefully crafted tiny cedar furniture.

Dollhouse with cedar furnishings

Closeup of the dollhouse library

Closeup of doll house furniture

We walked back down to the entrance. Bermuda has a REAL Water Gate The watergate is an actual gate over the water.

Watergate from inside

There is a canal or slip and the gate (above) cranks down across it. This enclosed waterway once served to transport ordnance stores from ships anchored in Grassy Bay to storage houses within the Keep, safely allowing for ship repairs or refitting in the outer Dockyard. The sea gate enabled gunpowder and shot to be lightered out to the waiting warships with minimal risk of explosion occurring.The canal goes from the watergate to the keep pond on the inside of the Naval Base. The hanging portcullis gate operated by pulleys and a winch maintained security.

The Keep Pond is now the residence of the dolphins of Dolphin Quest. (UGH). I thought what the Dolphin Quest has done to the Watergate area was horrible.

Dolphin pens

Dolphin pens

Then got the high speed catamaran ferry back to Hamilton.

Restaurant from ferry landing

Clocktowers

For dinner, we walked up to the Hog Penny and had the Upper Crust Supper ($46.00 including service charge for a 3 course dinner).

Front of menu

Drinks menu

Interior with insets - too dark for a good picture

Hogge Money explanation on the menu

and had the Upper Crust Supper ($46.00 including service charge for a 3 course dinner). I had French onion soup and Bob had salad, I had Beef Wellington

Beef Wellington

and Bob had salmon phyllo, and we both had the Granny Smith apple pie with ice cream and drank iced tea.

Granny Smith Apple Pie

Norwegian Crown in Hamilton at dusk

Hamilton store at night

Motorscooter parked at night

Mosaic in Hamilton

17 November 2004

Motorcycle parking in Hamilton

Wednesday, we started out with our own walking tour of Hamilton. I was looking for a place to eat dinner and also shopping

Port Of Call Restaurant

Flannigan's menu

Black Seal shop

Kirk's and Rock On

Women's leather handbags

Crisson with lions guarding the Rolex watches

Bob outside of Crisson's

Alley between stores from Front to Reid Street

Bermuda House Lane (one of the little lanes in Hamilton)

We walked along Front Street,

Cenotaph

and saw the Cenotaph and the Government Buildings,

Cabinet Building and Senate Chamber

Police station in Hamilton

Restaurant patron

Water Catchment in Hamilton

Chancery Lane

and then walked back to the bus station

Water fountains at the City Hall in Hamilton

Vane face on the tower

Whole City Hall

Front of City Hall from temporary bus station

and hopped a bus out to the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute. Actually, we hopped the bus but it let us off several blocks away - in Paget Parish because there's no outbound stop nearer to the BUEI. On the walk we went past the statue of Johnny Barnes

Johnny Barnes

who waved to passing traffic at the Foot of the Lane roundabout in Hamilton, Bermuda, from roughly 3:45 am to 10 am, every workday, rain or shine. He was known for waving and saying "I love you, God loves you," to passing commuters during the morning rush hour into Hamilton. We also passed a boatyard

Rance's Boatyard

and took a picture of a kisskidee bird.

Kisskidee

Outside of the BUEI Building

(Non-Heritage pass admission $10.50 or $8.40 for seniors). Completed at an overall cost of over $16 million, it was officially opened on July 10, 1997 by His Excellency, Thorold Masefield , Governor of Bermuda. It is Pembroke Parish on the northern side of Hamilton Harbor . According to Bermuda Online "It is a major - a "must see" - cultural, sightseeing and scientific attraction for locals and visitors.

I personally felt that it was more expensive than it was worth. There were a lot of unconnected exhibits, some of which were sponsored by commercial interests and might not be completely accurate and unbiased. The BUEI website was EXTREMELY difficult to find information from as to where it actually was and how to get there by bus.

Velocity sailboat in front of the BUEI

Outside of the museum is the ship VELOCITY that Bermuda entered in the "Around Alone" race in the 2002 – 2003 school year, 18 Bermuda schools followed Alan Paris on his historic 30,000 mile single-handed circumnavigation.

Entrance to the museum

On the porch is this exhibit of SCARAB I, a deep water diver. You enter at the first floor level - they number the floors like they do in Europe so the first floor is really the second floor. What we call the first floor is Ground Level. On the first floor is an auditorium for large presentations and the gift shop where you pay your admission

Bob waiting for me to finish playing with the exhibits

First Floor exhibits on Bathysphere

On the first floor were exhibits explaining the Sea Mount that Bermuda is on, and various kinds of diving, including SCUBA, which seemed to be sponsored by a local dive shop. The lady in the picture is watching a movie about diving bells like the one to her right.

Then we got into what was basically a tricked out elevator, and 'dove' to the depths of the ground floor

Exhibits at the BUEI in the Shipwreck area

Exhibit in the Shipwreck area

Ship diagram

There were many exhibits depicting the lives and circumstances of the old ships and the men who sailed on them.

Important Note: If you exit from the museum, like to go to the bathroom - you won't be able to get back in again. The doors are set to be one way.

Shipwreck Map of St. Georges

Shipwreck listing north of St. George

The ground floor shipwreck gallery has a lot of information about treasure hunting around shipwrecks, and it has this map which shows the locations of the shipwrecks on the reefs around Bermuda.

In addition to the information on shipwrecks and diving, there was a large collection of shells. In 1968, Jack Lightbourn and his friend Arthur Guest were inspired by the fact that they hadn't found any new species in three years to try dredging and trapping in deep water – in depths of 300’ to 400’ and in depths of 800’ to 1,500’. Their efforts were immediately successful to the extent of adding during the next 20 years, 300 new species to the Bermuda listing, 10 of which were new to science. Of these 3 are named after Jack as follows: Pterynotus lightbourni, Fusinus lightbourni and Conus lightbourni. It was during this same period that Jack started to collect foreign shells comprising of cones, cowries, murexes and many other miscellaneous species. Jack and Arthur had from the beginning decided to pool the Bermuda species, which resulted in this collection numbering some 756 species – the largest ever in Bermuda

In his will, Arthur Guest left his entire collection to Jack, who in turn presented the large Bermuda collection to the Bermuda Zoological Society as a gift from Arthur and himself. Jack also presented a quantity of his collection comprising 1,200 shells of 1,000 species to the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute. Of these, 110 are from Bermuda, the remainder are foreign.

Shell Collection

After we viewed the exhibits, I got a recommendation for lunch from the guy at the gift shop and we took a bus out and stopped for lunch at the North Rock. This is the only brewery on the island that serves most, if not all, of its product on the premises. The setting is a smoky, and sometimes rowdy, replica of an English pub, complete with ceiling beams and paneling which is where locals spend their time in the pub section where views of copper-sided fermentation vats are visible through plate-glass windows. That's where we had lunch - not in the dining room.

Brewery

Pub

I had the Bermuda fish chowder which I would swear had beef in it and a side salad. I later found out that Bermuda fish chowder is a dark and spicy.

Bermuda fish chowder

Bob had a beef panini sandwich. Lunch was $31.50.

Bob's Beef Panini Sandwich

We took the bus up Collector's Hill and visited Verdmont. Although the Bermuda National Trust says that Verdmont is "easily reached by the #1 bus from either Hamilton or St. George's" that's not really true. It is really very difficult to get to on the bus. You have to get off the bus and walk up the hill. The buses run every half hour.

The 1710 Georgian-style house, with its 4 huge chimneys, never had electricity or any other modern amenities installed. No plumbing or running water, no electricity, no air conditioning, no ceiling fans and no heating (other than the eight fireplaces), even though it was a private residence until 1951. It was once the home of Hon. Thomas Smith, the customs collector (which is where the name Collector's Hill comes from.) I didn't regret not taking pictures inside except for not being able to take pictures of the children's dollhouse. Each room had a list with the provenance of all the furniture and other items in the room. Outside there are also rose and flower, herb and mixed period gardens.

Verdmont front walk

Entrance walk from inside Verdmont

Old glass in Verdmont House window

Their website said: The Verdmont Museum is a treasure trove of antique cedar and mahogany furniture. There is a fine collection of English and Chinese porcelain on display, portraits of former residents and a children’s playroom complete with original furniture and toys. While there, check out what is, arguably, the finest cedar staircase in Bermuda. In 2003, Verdmont was given a major award by the American Society of Travel Writers (SATW) recognizing its restoration. It is at the top of Collector's Hill, Sayle Road junction, Smith’s Parish

Verdmont front garden from upstairs

Attic rafters in Verdmont

Then we walked back to the bus stop. Since there was no room to stand on the side of the road at the bus stop for the bus in the direction we wanted to go, we sat on a wall on the other side of the road. When the bus came, Bob sprinted across the road to the other side to give me a chance to get over there.

Shore from the bus

On the way to Grotto Bay by bus

Same as above- note car driving on left and ped Xing

From the bus looking at the front of the hotel

Sign out front

Golf course from the bus

We took the bus out through the golf course, past the caves to the Glass Blowers (opposite Grotto Bay) and discovered it (like the Perfumery) had closed. I knew that the Perfumery had closed. So we started back for Hamilton, stopping on the way (at 4 pm) at the BAMZ (Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo) which is also on the Heritage Pass. Regular admission $10 or $5 for seniors. They were feeding the turtles at the outside tanks

Green turtles being fed

Green turtle

Harbor Seal Tank

We went to the Zoo first because that closed at 4:30

Galapagos Tortises

Bird eating food of Galapagos Tortoise

Golden Lion Tamarins

Turning his back on us

Flamingos in the zoo

Scarlet Macaws in the zoo

Peacock begging

Flowers in the Zoo

Sign on Oscar's cage (Oscar is an alligator)

and then we went to the Museum

Giant Pacific Clam Shell at the entrance

Exhibit on roof making from coral rock

Display in the Museum on island living

Display in the museum on invasive species (Bad Seeds)

Display on the disease that attacked Bermuda cedar

Roadside Geology exhibit

and after that the Aquarium

Scorpion Fish

Aquarium tank with fish school

Local lobster

Aquarim FIsh - Bermuda

Octopus

Aquarium

Reef Tank in the Aquarium

When the BAMZ closed at 5,

Road outside the museum and the porch

Rainbow

we got a bus back to Hamilton

Zoo sign and road with cars driving on left

Boats

2004 from the bus stop

Map of the village from Bermudatourism.com

Current flowing under the Flatts Bridge 2004

School kids getting on the bus

Motorcycle rider in the rain at a stop light from

and finished the walking tour and also did some shopping at Trimminghams on the way back to the ship.

Since the dinner coupons for the dining out in town were supposed to be a value of $50, I thought that I should really get our money's worth out of them. There's no point paying $10 for a $50 coupon and then buying a $20 dinner with it. That's why we didn't use it at the Hog Penny. The most expensive option would have been Tom Moore's Tavern, which NCL has mistakenly located in Hamilton. It is NOT in Hamilton in Pembroke Parish. It is in Hamilton PARISH which is a different location altogether. The problem with Tom Moore's would be that we would have to get a cab as the buses stop running out there at 6, and they don't open until 6:30. So that would not be economical.

We'd stayed at the Hamilton Princess on a previous visit and I figured that would be the best use of the coupon, and I was right.

Fireplace in the Fairmont Hamilton Princess

Dimly lit dining room

Posted menu

Decorative plates at Harley's

I had a 16 oz. prime rib which was delicious (but I couldn't eat it all and I couldn't take it back to my room and keep it for lunch the next day), which was listed on the menu at $29.50.

Soup, water glass, inset of prime rib and counter

I also had a Waldorf salad which was delicious and for dessert

chocolate mousse with ice cream which listed for $8.50

Bob a shrimp pasta dish ($29.00) and fish chowder. I can't remember what he had for dessert but it would have been $8.00.

We drank tea, and everything including the tips were included.

Rosedon at night walking back from dinner

Primavera at night

The next morning the ship left and went back to St. Georges

November 18, 2004

Thursday, since the seas had calmed, the ship motored around to St. George,

CSY Pilothouse on a mooring

St George's channel

Ship entering St. George

The channel to St George's is very narrow. On a subsequent trip this ship got stuck in the inlet, thus trapping all the ships that were docked there in the harbour

Little lighthouse on a little coral island as an aid to navigation (ATON)

Rocks along the channel

Channel marker

Lagoon

Ship coming into St. George

Sailboats med-moored along the waterfront

Boats tied to the wall in St. George

Looking at St. George over the bow

Pink Bus on the bridge from NCL Crown 2004

Cruise ship dock from the NCL Crown 2004

Glass Bottomed Tour Boat

Duck by a bollard

Pilot boat

We got off and did a little shopping.

Old Armory Building, 1 Water Street

Long House

Back of Four Star Pizza

Dowling's Shell station

Sign on the building

Then we got a taxi with 6 other folks ($4 for two)

Bob waiting for the taxi with a cat

Mini bus at the bus stop

to Ft. St. Catherine (admission $5 without the Heritage Pass).

To Ft St Catherine exhibits

Flag over the fort

Side of Fort

Fort Walls outside the fort

Bob walking into Ordance area of Ft St Catherine

View of main turret

Stairs to the Fort Walls

cannon on fort wall

Looking out to sea

Passageway

Compass Rose

Gun deck of the fort

Cannon

Shell lift

Shell lift closer

The exhibits in the interior were new to us.

Ammo handler

Shell handling

Mechanism to move shells

Model of the interior

Entrance to the Cook House

Cooks

Crown Jewel Replica Exhibit

Achilles Bay beach from Ft St Catherine

When we finished climbing around on the fort, they called the mini-bus for us ($3 each)

Cat on the wall

Old Club Med building and St. George golf course

Golf course from Ft. St. Catherine

Cat crossing the road

.. and we had an interesting ride back to town which included stopping to pick someone up at the condo.

Condo units from the minibus which were built on the site of the hotel where we stayed in 1963

There's almost no place to stay in the St. Georges area except for these condos, which are rarely available for rent. If you want to go down to town, you can call a mini-van which costs about $3 per trip.

There are three outdoor pools (one heated) and three tennis courts. The private beach and beach club are a mile away. The beach club is open seasonally and offers a restaurant, beach chairs, and water-sports equipment rental. The resort also offers on-site moped rentals. Griffins is the resort's on-site restaurant and bar and there is a mandatory $50/person (over 18) charge for the restaurant when you rent these condos. This can be used as a credit toward food & beverage purchases throughout the week. Each unit is air-conditioned and has ceiling fans and cable television. 1 & 2BR units have stereo with CD player. Laundry services are available on site. There is a housekeeping charge of $9/per person twice a week.

We ate lunch at Freddie's

Menu board

(I had the souper sandwich for $9.95 (the sandwich part was egg salad),

souper sandwich for $9.95

and Bob had chicken fingers

Bob's chicken fingers

Check

-total $21.01). We took the bus back towards the BAMZ and stopped at the Railroad Museum (admission free-donation requested).

Looking out from the Railroad Trail near the RR Museum

Sign on the Railroad Trail

Sign on the Railroad Museum

Exhibits in the museum

Silver Table

Showing how close the building is to the road

Former Railroad Bridge no longer on Trail

After we got back to St. George, we looked in the newly refurbished (after Hurricane Fabian) Town Hall especially the cedar woodwork (although we didn't see the free Bermuda history show this time)

Ceiling and light on the first floor

Bob in the Town Hall

Certificate in the Town Hall

Clock above the door in the Town Hall

Door to the City Hall in 2004

Plaque on Town Hall

Horse drawn carriage in King's Square

and made it to the Bermuda National Trust Museum at the Globe Hotel (admission $3 without the Heritage Pass).

Rum Runner Museum sign

We just had time to see the video tape before they closed.

Photo taken while watching video tape

Back of bench in the room where video tape shown

November 19, 2004

Friday, we walked around St. George and looked at some more historic buildings following somewhat the Fromer's Walking Tour

King's Square

We begin the tour at King's Square AKA Market Square or King's Parade, which is the center of St. George is only 200 years old. This was formerly a marshy part of the harbor. Next to the harbor and the war monument is a branch of the Visitors Service Bureau. You can buy a bus pass or a Heritage Pass here (cash only)

St. George Visitor's Center and War Memorial

Stocks in the Town Square

Also on the square there is a replica of a pillory and stocks in front of the Bank of Butterfield. Frommer's walking tour says You could be severely punished here for such "crimes" as casting a spell over your neighbor's turkeys. From the square, head south across the small bridge to:

2. Ordnance Island, so called because the British army once stored gunpowder and cannons here.

NCL Crown from Ordnance Island

A replica of the Deliverance, the boat that carried the shipwrecked Sea Venture passengers on to Virginia is here

Sign depicting the Deliverance spaces aboard

2004 photo of the ship

along with a ducking stool, a contraption used in 17th-century witch trials and which is used in reinactments by the Town Crier today.

Ducking stool

Also there is a statue on the island to .Sir George Somers, and also the dock where you can get the High Speed ferry to Kings Wharf.
Retrace your steps across the bridge to King's Square. On the waterside stands the

3. White Horse Tavern

It was once the home of John Davenport, who came to Bermuda in 1815 to open a dry goods store. Davenport was a bit of a miser; upon his death, some £75,000 in gold and silver was discovered stashed away in his cellar. Across the square stands the:
4. Town Hall (1802) (which we visited yesterday)

Souvenir Shop next to the Town Hall in 1995 and 2004

This is the meeting place for the St. George governing corporation. It has antique cedar furnishings and a collection of photographs of previous lord mayors. It was renouvated after Hurricane Fabian and also has photographs of the damage that occurred then. One of the best budget attractions in Bermuda is Bermuda Journey, a multimedia audiovisual presentation, which is shown here several times a day. We saw this in 1995. From King's Square, head east along King Street, cutting north (left) on Bridge Street. You'll come to the:
5. Bridge House (1690s)

Closeup of sign

This building at 1 Bridge Street was formerly the home of several of Bermuda's governors. Now there is an art gallery and souvenir shop there. It is furnished with antiques. Near Bridge House are some things not included on the walking tour.

Buckingham

Buckingham has a bust of Irish poet Thomas Moore located in a triangular walled garden east of King's Square

THOMAS MOORE 1779-1852 IRISH POET AND LYRIST BYRON'S FRIEND

A 3' high life-size bronze bust of Irish poet Thomas Moore rests on a 3' high stone base. The curly haired poet is is shown from the mid-chest up. He is wearing a double breasted coat buttoned left over right, a neck scarf, and a bow tie. He is facing slightly to his left. A bronze plaque on the front of the base is inscribed:

THOMAS MOORE
1779-1852
IRISH POET AND LYRIST
BYRON'S FRIEND

THAT LITTLE BAY WHERE WINDING IN
FROM OCEAN’S RUDE AND ANGRY DIN

THE BILLOWS MISSED THE SHORE, AND THEN
FLOW CALMLY TO THE DEEP AGAIN.
Also Reeve Court is listed as a Bermuda National Trust building

Reeve Court

Return to King Street and continue east to the:
6. The 1620 Old State House

Old State House

The State House is at the top of King Street on Princess. This oldest stone building in Bermuda was originally the home of the Bermuda Parliament which first met here in 1620. Now it is the Masonic lodge. They pay the government a "rent" of one peppercorn annually for the use of the property - the payment is made at a yearly ceremony. Continue your stroll down Princess Street until you come to Duke of York Street and the entrance to:
7. Somers Garden (1920)

Somer's Garden

Monument in 2004 with inset from 1963

I've always thought the story about the heart of Sir George Somers, the admiral of the Sea Venture, being buried here was at once charming and macabre. The gardens, which were opened in 1920 by the Prince of Wales, contain palms and other tropical plants.

First and third visit to Somer's Garden 1963 and 2004

Walk through Somers Gardens and up the steps to the North Gate onto Blockade Alley. Climb the hill behind the garden to the structure known as "the folly of St. George's,". I didn't walk all the way up the hill to the unfinished cathedral, but I did get these pictures
8. Unfinished Cathedral (1874)

View from the road

Entrance pillars

This was to replace St. Peter's Church. Work began on the church in 1874, but ended because of infighting and financial difficulties.
9. St. George's Historical Society Museum

Historic Society Stairway

At Featherbed Alley and Duke of Kent Street, is the Mitchell House built c.1731 which is an example of 18th-century Bermudian architecture. It is now the St. George's Historical Society Museum. In both 1963 and 1995 we visited this museum. This is called the welcoming arms stairway. It is very photogenic, and I have pictures of it from both dates and some pictures inside of the collection of Bermudian historical artifacts and cedar furniture from the 1995 visit to the Historical Society Museum. But this time when we went it was not open.
10. Featherbed Alley Printery was also closed in 2004 because it is the same as the Historical Society Museum. We didn't see it in 1995, because it was being renouvated, and I don't think we saw it in 1963 either. If we had been able to see it would be a working replica of the type of printing press invented by Johannes Gutenberg in Germany in the 1450s. Go up Featherbed Alley and straight onto Church Street.
I took some photos along the way of some churches

Church

Church

And we passed Whitehall

Whitehall gate

Church steeple

At the junction with Broad Lane, look to your right to see the:
11. Old Rectory

Old Rectory c. 1699

The Old Rectory is at the top of Broad Alley, behind St. Peter's Church. It used to be that you could go inside and tour on Wednesdays from noon to 5 pm, but that was no longer possible at the time we were there because it is rented to someone. It is a National Trust property which was built c. 1705 by a reformed pirate. After seeing the Old Rectory, go through the church's back yard (where you will see the St. Peter's Church Thrift Shop sign) ,

Alley behind St Peter's (Church thrift shop)

opposite Broad Alley, to reach:
12. St. Peter's Church c 1713. You will be coming in through the graveyard.

St Peter's graveyard

In the churchyard, you'll see many headstones, some 300 years old. The assassinated governor, Sir Richard Sharples, was buried here. There is also a section for slaves

This Stone is erected in memory of THOMAS J STIRLING, Surgeon

This stone is for Thomas J. Stirling. It says:
This Stone is erected
in memory of
THOMAS J. STIRLING, Surgeon
of
Halifax Nova Scotia,
who Died on Board the
mail Boat Roseway.
off St. George's
27th February 1846.
Aged 32 Years
The main entrance is on Duke of York Street. The present church was built in 1713, with a tower added in 1814.

St. Peter's Church from Duke of York Street

Bob in St. Peter's church 2004

Organ inside the church

St. Peter's is believed to be the oldest Anglican place of worship in the Western Hemisphere. .In addition to the organ, there is an alter of Bermuda cedar and a lot of other woodwork also made of cedar in the church, including the stairway to where the slaves used to si

Chandelier in the back of the church

Balcony

Pulpit

closeup of wood

Interior walls

Looking down the stairs in 2004

Across the street is the
13. Bermuda National Trust Museum

Museum from the steps of St. Peters

When we were here in 1995, this was called the Confederate Museum.When it was the Globe Hotel, this was the headquarters of Major Norman Walker, the Confederate representative in Bermuda. Bermuda gave a lot of help to the CSA during the Civil War. Go west along Duke of York Street to

Scooter rentals near St Peters

14. Barber's Alley & Petticoat Lane--Barber's Alley honors Joseph Hayne Rainey. A former slave from South Carolina, Rainey fled to Bermuda with his French wife at the outbreak of the Civil War. He became a barber in St. George and eventually returned to South Carolina, where in 1870 he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives -- the first African American to serve in Congress. Nearby is Petticoat Lane, also known as Silk Alley. I took a picture of Bob by the sign when we were here in 1963. According to legend, the name dates from the 1834 emancipation. Two slave women who were freed at this time and who had always wanted silk petticoats because of the rustling sound they made. They walked up and down this lane to show off their purchases.

Continue west until you reach:
15. Tucker House

Tucker House

I intended to go to Tucker House, but we didn't have time. It was on the walk up from the cruise ship dock. It was the family home of President Henry Tucker who was President of Bermuda c 1776. His was a prominent Bermudian family, whose members included an island governor, a treasurer of the United States, and a captain in the Confederate Navy. The building houses an excellent collection of antiques, including silver, portraits, and cedar furniture. One room is devoted to memorabilia of Joseph Hayne Rainey who was the first black member of the U.S. House of Representatives and who once rented space on this property for a barber shop. There is also a period kitchen, and an exhibit based on the archaeological excavation of the site. Open 10-4 Monday through Saturday.

Diagonally across from the Tucker House is the Carriage House, 22 Water St., Somers Wharf (tel. 441/297-1730), a former waterfront storehouse and also where the Carriage House Museum is or was that we visited in 1995..

Carriage house in 2004

The end of the tour is at 16. Somers Wharf, a multimillion-dollar waterfront restoration project.
We finished up our shopping before going back to the ship

Shop window

English Sports Shop in St. George

and then the ship left at noon.

The back of a range marker

Exit Channel

Town Cut -Gates Fort (R) and Higgs Island (L) 2004

On the way back, the sea was almost as smooth as glass and there was very little motion. One would almost not have known that we were on a ship. Bob was jealous because he says the sea is never that calm when we are out there.

After our cruise we went Migrating South by Car

Our next visit to Bermuda was in 2007