We are so excited and nervous for our first big trip!! We are heading about 22 miles south to the town of Poquoson VA. The marina is called Whitehouse Cove. The weather window is perfect for the next 3-4 days! Hopefully we practice many different things to figure out if we like this.
I went to the grocery store this morning to make sure we had enough food for a few days, just in case we don’t find any restaurants. We are really looking forward to having some fresh seafood tho! Hoping that we can eat out the next few nights!
Blue Odyssey left the marina about noon. We had a good departure except for the “chad line” incident. I call it that, because after our 1st day attempt/failure at docking, Chad spent some time thinking about ways to make it easier/more efficient to keep the stern close to the dock while backing into our slip. He ended up adding an extra line midship, on the starboard side and it really is a big help when we are docking – we discovered not so much when leaving. My first mate, told me the boat was free for departure so I slowly started pulling away from the dock. Suddenly the boat turned starboard!! Wait what is going on?? It should just be going straight ahead..I knew I had checked the rudder before turning on the engines, the thruster isn’t acting up. Hmmm…OHHHH, The chad line was still attached!! The stern went port and we missed hitting our neighbor boat by about 2 inches. Luckily we were barely moving so it wouldn’t have been a hard hit but still not a confidence booster! Once we untied the chad line, we were able to cruise out of the marina without issue. Lesson learned!
We had a great cruise! 5 minutes after leaving the marina I spotted a few dolphins right in front of the boat. If you have spent time with me – you might know that I LOVE dolphins!! I can’t watch them enough! Chad was on the flybridge and got a few great videos…hoping I can figure out how to include. Such beautiful creatures!!
The Bay was like glass for most of our trip. We thought there was one “scary” cut to take…ended up not being scary at all. It was well marked and we are in King Tide – something that happens during a full moon 2x per year and it is VERY high! We were basically land locked in the marina our first night because of the tide…the lowlands literally flood to the point you shouldn’t drive through the water. Actually really amazing!
Sitting up high and driving from the the flybridge is amazing! We saw stingrays and all kinds of fish. I was surprised how much sealife there is so far away from shore, but then realized we were in fairly shallow water. Part of the cruise we could hardly see land and it was 50 feet deep! I still can not believe we are doing this!! It is so exciting and fun! It took us about 3 hours to get to Poquoson and the Whitehouse Cove Marina.
Chad talked me into taking a dinghy ride to explore the area…I was nervous about it with my boot but am SO glad we did!! Love our new dingy and the electric motor! It is so quiet and easy to go anywhere! We saw a snake swimming in the water too – kind of freaky but made me wonder if alligators come this far north! Alexa says no but they are close…about 50 miles south!
After our dinghy ride, we were cleaning up from the day and a cute family came to see us. They had seen our Skol flag and just had to stop to say hi. The mom, Jennifer, is a huge Viking fan and was so excited that there were other fans in the area. We chatted for quite awhile – during which one of her girls literally caught a fish..without a fishing pole! The fish jumped onto the dock right where the 7 year old was standing and she caught it with her hands!
We finally got some fresh seafood at the marina restaurant, Surf Rider. Crab dip, fresh oysters and a scallop, shrimp and crab broil! Plus a huge Rum Runner to share, while looking out the windows at the boat – it doesn’t get much better!
Very exciting adventures so far! That Chad line is interesting. I never tried it but if you master it I have heard it can be a life saver in tougher situations.