31st July Sarah Creek York River Virginia

We have now left the busy hubbub of Portsmouth/Norfolk for the constant drone of traffic crossing the Norfolk Roads bridge tunnel, with our anchorage at Old Point Comfort and on to a pretty anchorage in Sarah Creeek.

On Friday 27^th with a favourable forecast for the weekend, we raised our anchor and left Hospital point at just after 8am steaming down the Elizabeth River past the Navy docks and container port to the Hampton Roads and a fairly protected anchorage at Old Point Comfort between the marina and Norfolk Road bridge tunnel, arriving at about 11am anchoring in about 4m in mud. We were welcomed by a thunder storm lasting from 5 to about 8pm with gusts to about 30 knots only moving a little, this was followed by further thunder storms in the evenings, so I decided to stay put until Monday.

Norfolk Roads

Thunder Storm at Old Point Comfort

After the storm

I raised our rather muddy anchor at 6am and steamed into Chesapeake bay, raising the main and unfurling the jib as soon as the wind allowed, even managing to sail without engine for a while. The voyage into Chesapeake Bay and up the York River to Sarah Creek, on the North shore opposite Yorktown, taking about 8 hours; just before entering the York River we were visited by a large pod, maybe 20, dolphins who came alongside for a short time, and then on the trip up the York River we were passed by two Navy warships and a Navy hovercraft. 

Hovercraft in York River

At Anchor in Sarah Creek

The entrance to Sarah Creek was very shallow leaving less than a metre under the keel regularly and a spit beside the marina where I am sure we ploughed the sand, but once in I anchored just beyond the marina in nearly 3m in mud, again being welcomed in by a thunder storm in the late evening, although without the wind, there are allot of tall trees about which probably helped!