Thankfully Heather was at the ready with the camera to catch the historic, monumental, moment when the 2007 Treaty of Yorktown was negotiated by the Fearless Captain Longhair.
Yorktown sufficiently amused us. It also sufficiently frustrated us, such is cruising. The trip to Yorktown was grand, though cold. June and we were in coats and stocking cap, quite chilly but no complaints. The entrance into Sarah Creek is interesting...an S-curve with substantial shoals on either side and depths were quite shallow. We picked a spot downstream, tried to avoid the numerous crab pots & stay out of the working watermen's way. Tide is minimal here, not like the 7 foot N FL/GA tides, but we'll have to watch ourselves getting out of here.
The York River Yach Haven, the nearby marina where we tie up the dinghy and bought some fuel, is free of personality. Sorry, y'all, but it's true. One staff member was mildly friendly while the others were quite stand-off'ish and eyed us like we were going to rob the Ship's Store. The folks with boats at the Yacht Haven/Yacht Club gave us the same suspicious eye and only one so far as returned our "Hello", "Good Morning", etc.
Yorktown was quite interesting. The battlefield was free to walk about, many interpretive signs to read and it's hard not to imagine what it must have been like as a soldier storming the redoubts and trying to fight for freedom. We visited the Yorktown Vistory Center and much to our suprise it was well worth the $8 per person admission. It was very interesting museum, friendly folks, excellent information, and many period-costumed people telling you about daily life. It was the best museum we've seen in ages! A must-see!
On the downside of Yorktown, there is only one place to land the dinghy in town. Several books mentioned landing at the beach at the Waterman's Museum... no deal. A crotchety geezer hobbled out to run us off, siting their lack of insurance on the docks as the reason... but we weren't on the dock, we were on the public beach. Either way, we left without incident and made our way to Riverwalk Landing, the new public docks. $5 per day to tie up, no trash, no facilities, no nothing. A bit pricey considering public parking is free all over town...we've a letter drafted to the Powers That Be stating our position. If it gets sent, that will be a miracle in itself.
Today we walked into town (1 mile according to the Marina folks, 3+ in reality.) We splurged and got our hair professionally trimmed, we can sail thousands of miles but neither of us can cut a straight line... No public transportation, no cabs, nothing according to the folks at the Marina as well as Food Lion grocery. So we got minimal supplies (we didn't want the milk to turn to cottage cheese and the cottage cheese to sour cream on the walk back) and set back out on foot. Part way back, Maggie, a dear old lady, stopped and asked us if we wanted a ride. Bless you, my dear. Her A/C was a Godsend on a 93 degree day...considering Gloucester Point, VA has no sidewalks, no crosswalks, nothing pedestrian friendly. Thankfully we made the round trip in one piece...well, two, since there are two of us, but you get the point.
Tomorrow, off to Deltaville. We've heard nothing but wonderful about this seaside community.
I'm glad we came to Yorktown and I'll be glad to leave. |
