York Town

 

Of all the times that we have been up and down this coast we have never stopped in at York Town on the York River, which is the site of the definitive battle of the American revolution. Now, that we have been there, I would recommend it to any boater passing through the area. The city has built a strong, series of floating docks into the river and you can tie to them for an amazing $5.00 for 4 hours or stay overnight for a bit more. Right across the river is Sara creek which has plenty of room to anchor in and the marina there allows you to land a dinghy in for a nominal fee where you can use the facilities. Also, this bridge was erected in 10 days! Every span was prebuilt barged up the river and set into place in under 2 weeks.

the bridge just up stream from the marina

York Town, was the last major east coast battle with the British during the revolutionary war. General Cornwallis became surrounded by Gen. Washington's forces and had to surrendered his army of 7000+ men to the Americans. There is a nice museum at the site of the battlefield and many different types of cannons located about the battlefield.

Mortars ready to fire on Yorktown 

A museum guide walks you through the battle field and gives you a true sense of what took place during the 3 week siege at York Town.

York Town itself is very touristy and many of the original houses in the old section have been well preserved. The main street still look as they did back in 1750...only with cars instead of horses. It was a pleasant day of walking through history for the two of us. http://www.nps.gov/york/index.htm

Upon news of the defeat of Cornwallis, the continental Congress voted to erect a great monument in York Town… then, it only took them another 100 years to actually fund it! But what a monument it's 98 feet tall and made of Connecticut granite topped with a statue named “liberty”. I was impressed.

 





 excellent stone work on the statues

The "Liberty" statue has a lighting rod on her helmet because the original statue was destroyed by lightning!

Well the trip is almost done and in two days we will be in Reedville. The Goose is staying there for a while until we return with Grand kids for a cruise up to Maine a little later in the summer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fort Monroe

We left Norfolk and traveled all of 5 miles across the mouth of the James river to the Old Point Comfort harbor where Fort Monroe is located. Fort Monroe is a pre-civil war fort that guards the entrance to the James river and the vital navel ports of Norfolk and Portsmouth. It is the largest stone fort ever built in the USA and encloses about 63 acres and has a moat!


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Monroe

The fort use to be an active army military command but now is open to the public. They have a very good museum built into the walls of the fort and many displays from the past. A very interesting stop if your into military history.  

view from the top of the fort

I didn't try to pick one up

This thing is huge!

Right across the mouth of the James is yet another fort, Fort Wool. This companion fort was built up on a shoal in the middle of the James and at one time was referred to as “Fort Rip-Rap” since an artificial island was created there by dumping stone into the water until they had an island big enough to build a fort on. It was used for over 100 years (until the end of WWII). The interesting thing about Fort Wool is even though it's the property of the national parks system and can only be accessed by boat, it is unstaffed and you can wander around at will to see the ruins.

They never finished Fort Wool (the rip-rap-island was sinking under the weight of the stone building)

Even though it wasn't finished it was still an impressive ruin to wander thru.

Both forts were great to see and made an excellent stop on the way north. Now, if we hadn’t picked up a crab pot in the process it would have been even better… Boy is that water cold!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dismal Swamp

Once out of Ocracoke we had a good sail up the Pamlico Sound… that is until the wind quit. For the next 3 days we turned into a motor boat, a wet motor boat. We took the outside passage between Roanoke Island and the outer capes of NC. And anchored in a wide spot in the channel beside of Roanoke Island. Then it became cold and as we motored up to Elizabeth City the rain started in and continued for two days. Elizabeth City was nice but wet.

Dismal Swamp

 

The dismal swamp was cold and (you guessed) wet. We did manage to pick up a souvenir from the swamp when Ralph hit a tree and a bit of it got stuck in the rigging. After a cold windy night at anchor the morning dawned with sunshine and warm weather. It was a short motoring trip into Norfolk and to a free dock on the Portsmouth side of the river. Norfolk is a major navy yard and we saw many, many navy ships there

Nuclear aircraft carrier at the dock

All of the museums in Portsmouth were free that day… what luck!

A quick ferry ride across the river to Norfolk and we toured the battle ship Wisconsin. They have opened  up much more of the interior of the ship and it was an excellent tour.

Next,  north to York Town.

 

 

 

 

 

On the way

 

 

 

After about 6 months of work, cleaning and rebuilding the Goose is finally a sailboat again. We had her short-hauled to clean the barnacles off and then we were off, headed north to Ocracoke NC on the outer banks.

Ocracoke is part of the outer banks of NC (think of cape hatters) and it has a perfect harbor to drop anchor in. the place is a tourist haven and can only be reached by ferry or private boat so it’s an interesting place to visit. We went ashore and stretched our legs a bit with a walk to the lighthouse and a jaunt around town. Seeing as we got in a bit late in the day the only shopping we did was to buy some ice-cream.

 

 

Work’s done and heading north!

Sorry for the absents for so many months but this working for a living get’s tiring. For the last 2 months I’ve been on a 7 day a week / 12 hours a day work schedule. That’s the bad news the good news is a lot of “stuff” got done to the Goose. Here’s a few of the changes to the old girl.

New wineglass box for Anna

 Re-chromed the ports (all eleven of them)


fresh from the chrome

Anna waxing the new ports

Rebuilt the fiberglass top to the dodger

Replaced the old “rusty’ porthole screens with fiberglass screens

Galvanized the 2nd anchor chain and both anchors. Upgraded the main anchor to a 110 lb monster!

 

And lots of deck repairs

 

 
 
























Rebuilt out cabin heating system

 

New dinghy I’ve named “Anna’s folly” (long story)
New batteries and upgraded to 1000+ amp hour storage capacity

Rebuilt the FW water tank
Replaced the radio, TV, added more LED lights
Upgraded the main bilge pump to a 3600 gph monster
Rebuilt the FW water tank

We didn’t get the whole list done but this year we did take a big bite out of several of the big projects that were on the list. Tomorrow Anna takes the pink car and heads to Ky. to see the kids, grand kids and the great grand kids. The next day my friend Ralph and I will start north to the Chesapeake Bay for a short cruise where we will leave the boat for the next couple of months.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Captains report

Well folks, I’ve went and done it.

The owner of this marina asked me if I would like to become an operator of their ‘Tow-boat U.S.’ boat that they have.  Deaton Marine runs the local franchise for Tow Boat U.S. and John asked if I’d like to take a week of sevice calls for the Franchise. I replied "sounds like fun!" The only hitch is that I would have to get my USCG Captain’s license. They agreed to pay for the cost of the course so I signed up for the next set of weekend classes at World Wide Marine Training.

Where I spent a month of weekends

For the next 4 weekends I sat and took notes about the different types of lights on ships, sound signals in fog, how to plot courses, take a 3 point fix and hundreds of other bits of knowledge that a captain needs to know. Then, after 5 tests, a CPR/first responders course, mandatory drug testing, another physical, going to another city to obtain a Home Land Security “Twic” card, 3 personal references from friends and a detailed list of all of my time on the water for the last 20 years… I was left with a pile of paperwork that stood over a 3/8 inch high! It’s amazing that anyone can become a captain when you have to jump through so many hoops to become one. Oh, did I mention the cost? Never mind, I don’t want to embarrass myself. Anyway, the entire packet has been sent off to the USCG for approval and in a month or so I should find out if I’ll officially be granted a Captain license or not. Stay tuned!

 

 

 

How things change

 

Two weeks ago it was snow and Ice now its 75 degs and flowers. I think I like the later.