We dropped our lines at the marina around 9am. We were going just under thirty miles and made good time. We arrived at Kiptopeke around 1pm and found a spot to drop anchor next to a row of old concrete boats which now form a break wall. Here is the cool part about this: “Years ago drivers and passengers wanting to cross the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay boarded a ferry. There was no bridge-tunnel. In the late 1940s, the Virginia Ferry Corporation moved their terminal from the relatively safe harbor at Cape Charles to Kiptopeke. Officials needed some way to shield a new pier they were preparing to build on the exposed Eastern Shore of the bay from the fickle Virginia weather. The U.S. government, flush with ships from World War II, offered the perfect solution, and in 1949, officials partially sunk nine concrete ships–the lower half of the hulls below the surface, resting on the bay, the top half exposed above the waterline–in two neat rows roughly parallel to the shore. Why were there concrete vessels in the first place? A wartime shortage of plate steel. Allied shipyards constructed several dozen barges, tankers and freighters to supplement the steel fleets…The army used several in the South Pacific as floating storage space for the supplies necessary to fight the Japanese. The Allies sunk a couple off the coast of Normandy, France as a breakwater ahead of the D-Day invasion…” Now you know about concrete ships. After making sure we were securely anchored, I decided this would be the best place to dive under the boat so I could check the propeller. The water was cold, so it took me a short while to talk myself into it. I thought we might have something wrapped around it, as Lauren and I both heard something, like we ran over a crab pot one day. Then maybe I was being paranoid, but I thought I felt a slight vibration too, so I was trying to find a place that the water wasn’t muddy and murky so I could jump in and look. I finally did jump in and put on the snorkel mask; I went under and saw that the propeller was clear and spun fine, so after a few minutes I got out so I could warm up. Once dry and somewhat warm, we took the dinghy in to shore to explore the park. There were large beautiful beaches and several walking trails. We tired Frank out and returned to the boat for the evening.
Day 2- We took Frank and walked for miles, following the trails and wearing ourselves out. Frank got to run free at times and I caught a tick on him before it could burrow in. The campsites were bustling and there were a lot of people enjoying being outside. We actually made a few trips to shore and back, and finally returned for dinner around sunset. I too found a tick on me, but again it had not burrowed in, so I was able to remove it. I guess we need to be especially careful in the forests. We also talked about our next destination which will be Tangier Island…
