Viridian News & Views: From Deltaville, VA To Tangier Island, VA

Thursday, May 24, 2018

From Deltaville, VA To Tangier Island, VA - A Place Like No Other

The crew of Viridian docked at Dozier Marina on Stingray Point on the southern shore of the Rappahannock River Inlet on the western side of the Great Chesapeake Bay. Captain Mike, of Dash Away, is the president of the Monk Owners association, and this is where their rendezvous for 2018 was being held. The marina was full of trawlers, mostly Monks, and we got to meet a lot of interesting people over the three-day stay. During that period, the Crew of Second Wave was able to get their fuel filters replaced and have their fuel polished to remove any remaining gunk that would starve their engine and leave them stranded in rough seas again. A sea trial confirmed that all was back to normal.

One of the Monks, Friar Tuck, was having a fuel issue when we arrived. The prop shaft is a dripless type like the one we have on Viridian; however, the carrier bearing that is lubricated by the water from the transmission cooler seized up while underway in the tempest on Monday and started winding the coolant hose around the shaft. If this wasn't bad enough, the coolant hose was zip tied to the return fuel line, and it too was snatched away and wound around the shaft, yanking it away and ripping it apart. Now water and fuel were running free into the bilge and being pumped overboard as Friar Tuck continued on her way to the marina. We noticed an oil slick around our boat since we were docked next to her at Dozier. All this got fixed during our stay thanks to the local boatyards and all the expert marine mechanics in the area. We also weathered a thunderstorm that passed in the evening, leaving us with a north wind for our cruise to Tangier Island the next morning.

One of my sisters, Sally, lives in the Richmond area and drove over to visit us at the marina. We went into the little town of Deltaville and had a great meal at The Table restaurant and were so caught up in conversation we didn't take time to make any pictures. It was good to see family!

Friday morning, Viridian was ready to sail alone northwest to the tiny island of Tangier, VA. The wind was out of the north, and we told the dockmaster at Dozier we would be back if the conditions were anything like they were on Monday. Once we got into the bay we had two foot waves about 10 seconds apart. It was bumpy, but nothing like what we saw coming from Hampton to Deltaville. The island of Tangier soon rolled up on the eastern horizon, revealing the town's water tank and a few towers. Closer to the island, we spotted the green day marker that guided us into the inlet past the jetties and into the canal that splits the island in two. A small FBO airstrip runs north/south along the length of the island and Park's Marina appeared as soon as we rounded the turn in the canal.

Captain Parks, a lifetime resident of Tangier and retired crab fisherman, was on the wooden fixed pier riding his scooter and waving us in as we drifted in the swift current that ran perpendicular to where he wanted us to dock stern first. My first two attempts were aborted as the current swept us away before getting close to the pilings that made our primitive docking pier. We were ready to give up docking here and sail on by the island and dock in the town of Onancock on the eastern shore of the Bay. Captain Parks got his handheld radio out and said he would talk me in and for me to position Viridian CLOSE to the outer pilings before backing in. This was a new trick for me, and I wish I had had this lesson earlier because it would have come in handy in the Everglades situation. We followed his instructions and were able to dock stern-in with a running current and not get a scratch. Captain Parks is 87 years old and knows boats. It is all he did for 65 years in addition to raising a family and sending his children to college. He is quite the character and is full of all kinds of interesting stories.

Once we got secured we decided to walk into town and find the Chesapeake House Family Style Restaurant and have a nice meal. Tangier is unlike any place we have ever seen in the USA. There is even a strange accent carried by the locals that has been preserved since the 1700’s. The restaurant was in an old house on the main path through town. I say path because the roads were all 8 feet wide and only the paths through town were paved. The locals here all drive golf carts, scooters, side-by-sides and bicycles, very few vehicles here. There is no cell phone service and 90% of the income comes from the crab fishing business. There is a school building that has 1-12 grades, a couple of old churches, lots of cemeteries. (We found several graves in the front yards of homes.) The general store was full of mostly empty shelves and the whole atmosphere and way of life here was foreign to us.

Family Style Setup. We had this table and all we could eat to ourselves. This was another step back in the past. I remember when we used to eat like this every day with all the food put into nice serving pieces on the table. There was certainly nothing fancy about the food or the décor, but everything was done from the heart. After George and I finished our lunch, two men came in and sat at the other end of our table, and the waitress just moved the bowls we served ourselves from to their end of the table. Just like we were all family!

Our bicycles took us down every path on this side of the island. There was no bridge over to the other side across the canal, so we didn't get over there. There is a mail boat that goes to the mainland. People can hop on this boat and get groceries from the eastern shore and bring them back to Tangier. We mingled with the odd traffic of scooters and golf carts on the narrow paths and exchanged friendly nods with locals as they went about their lives. Not too many tourists visit Tangier and they don't make any attempt to cater to us, which makes this place even more special. What you see is what you get here. We were glad to be able to experience this place preserved in time. Although there are 21st century technologies all around, there is still a hint of times long ago as we caught snippets of conversations in a tongue that has survived the ages on an isolated dot of land on the Chesapeake Bay.

When we returned to our slip, several Looper boats had arrived, and Captain Parks was out there directing them in. It was very entertaining watching this activity since it is probably the most difficult docking anyone will ever do. Captain Parks sat on his scooter on the pier and talked every boat in. They all made several attempts but soon came to rest between the pilings.

One boat docking next to Viridian got away from the captain and carried away our Looper burgee flag and mast on the bowsprit. This happened when we were away exploring, and we found the flag and pole on our deck with a note of apology taped to it. These poles are easy to find and the captain and crew of Noah’s Ark promised to replace it.

That's the news and here's some views:

We are here

Today's Passage form Deltaville, VA to Tangier Island, VA

Tangier Island, VA

The approaching storm at Deltaville, VA

Viridian docked at Dozier Marina in Deltaville, VA

Sailing Northeast for Tangier Island on the Chesapeake Bay

Docked at Park's Marina, Tangier Island, VA

We knew we would like this place! Spanky closes everyday to go home for supper and opens back up at 5:00pm. We got there about 4:45 and waited with a drove of children that wanted ice cream, too.

Local Crab Fishing Industry

Typical Main St. in Downtown Tangier

Tangier Post Office

The Owner Closes for Dinner and Supper but comes back to reopen

More cats that people on the Island. Mr. Parks, the marina owner, and his wife had 32 cats. She died 6 years ago and Mr. Parks found homes for all the cats but he still had 4 or 5 hanging around his house.

It's all about the Crab

I thought this was sweet idea. If you can see the top card on this revolving card holder you see it says recipes for sale for .25 each. Proceeds go to missions. All the local recipes were hand written on inexpensive index cards. In today's world of pick your nice paper, pick your pretty font and hit the print button in the computer age we live in, this was a step back in the past. More importantly, this was something that God put on some woman's heart to do to carry on His work.

Tangier Lawn Mower. He says he's going to get around to it :-)

The Chesapeake House Restaurant

They were expecting a ferry of seniors from the mainland

Family Style Setup. We had this table and all we could eat to ourselves. This was another step back in the past. I remember when we used to eat like this every day with all the food put into nice serving pieces on the table. There was certainly nothing fancy about the food or the decor but everything was done from the heart. After George and I finished our lunch, two other men came in and sat at the other end of our table and the waitress just moved the bowls we served ourselves from to their end of the table. Just like we were all family!