Beyond The Fog Lies Clarity

Hampton to Deltaville  |  5.8 Hours  |  41 Miles  

We anticipated some early morning fog for our trip to Deltaville and Mother Nature did not disappoint. Warm, humid air settling over the cool water gave us thick advection fog. It was difficult to determine where I was this morning as all of my reference points were veiled. Paradigm Shift was barely visible even though they were only 200-feet or so away. We delayed our departure time, hoping for it to lift. Even the gulls were grounded. Two found a comfortable resting place upon our secondary anchor. By 8:30, we could finally see beyond our bow and decided to raise anchor. Glenda shared this thought of the day: "If you want to see what the fog hides in itself, don't wait for the fog to disperse! Instead of waiting for something to happen in this short life, do something immediately! Enter the fog!" We followed Paradigm Shift and entered the fog together. 

Our radar was on and I was standing on the side deck keeping a look out for anything that could ruin our day -- crab pots, channel markers, other boats. The fog actually thickened and we struggled to maintain sight of Paradigm Shift. The pelicans, however, were active. Along the way, a small bird hitched a ride for a while on our bow rail. It was a pretty rotten morning. Contributing to the staying power of the fog was the fact that there was nary a breeze to move it along.

Slowly the sky began to clear. The sun burned off the fog from high to low. Suddenly, it all became clear. By 12:30, we were enjoying a beautiful day on the Chesapeake Bay. We were also reminded of every Bay boater's nemesis, the biting flies. Both Barry and I grabbed a swatter and attempted to squash the flying vampires before they could take a bite out of our legs. I spent some time on Fiberglass Beach (swatter in hand) to freshen up my tan which was starting to fade after a week of rain and clouds. I knew we were getting close to the Rappahannock River when I saw the green marker for the Piankatank River and a few sailboats crossing west to east across our path. 

Paradigm Shift had pulled away from us and made the turn into the Rappahannock. As we made the turn, I began stringing up all the lines required for docking in our home slip. With the Norris Bridge on the horizon we turned off at Broad Creek channel. Paradigm Shift had another hour and a half to get to their home slip in Urbanna. 

We turned into the Stingray Point channel and passed a long line of familiar boats. A blue heron was checking out the seafood selection on the lunch menu. Our fenders were in position and we eased onto the pumpout dock. It has been far too many days since our last pumpout in Southport. Our red light has been flashing, warning us that it was time to take care of business. While I filled up our water tanks, Barry took off for the parking lot to check on his Escape. We knew the battery would be dead and wanted to get a charger on it as soon as possible. While the charging was occurring, he came back and we completed our pumpout then eased back into our summer home -- Slip 58. We had planned a welcome home dinner at the local Mexican restaurant with Paradigm Shift. Turns out, it is closed on Sunday. We agreed on a raincheck for our Mexican celebration. Barry and I headed to Gloucester for the best Thai food around. Tomorrow we will head home for a few days and see what's going on there. We have a busy week of hair cuts (YAY!), doctors' appointments, Zoom meetings, and the many additional things we have not yet anticipated. Crossroads, of course, needs a good cleaning and waxing. One thing for sure is that our To-Do list is lengthy and everything will become clear with time. We'll hit the ground running, check off the boxes, and prepare to do this all again next January.

So after 136 days we are back where we started. Thanks to all who followed along on our journey. I have attempted to capture each day -- the good and not so good -- in pictures and then write a little bit to connect the images. Until next time ...

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