armstrong marina and beer hall.

wednesday, october 1, 2014, is the day we became "home marina-less."  my two ducks got fed one last time.  they wouldn't go with me to the shallows but waited until i brought out their bowls.  it was strange - every time i tried to walk to the fixed dock, instead of following, they would turn and face the other way.  they finally just got up on the floating dock.  i guess you can't get more indication than that - where are our bowls???  we left without much fanfare.  only robert, who works at regatta point, saw us leave. it's a bit sad to think that even if/when we come back, slip G-30 will no longer be ours - you know, my ducks, good neighbors, great view.... but we have been waiting for this moment for years - to become nautical gypsies and now, here we are! 

last duck feeding

october 1 is also opening day for the oyster season.  you couldn't sleep in if you wanted to.  there was a constant roar of engines from o'dark early as workboats left the creek.  the watermen are not allowed to start tonging until sunrise so they leave early to position themselves over the designated "open rock."  as soon as that sun comes up, the tongs drop into the water.  as we came out of the broad creek channel, we saw them immediately.  it was like a war zone with the oyster fleet all clumped up together in one spot, weaving in and out amongst themselves.  it was really quite a sight - a very chesapeake tradition - graceful chesapeake bay workboats all dressed up in their oyster rigs.  we just loved it. 

the rappahannock oyster fleet

oyster rigged

well, we are official snowbirds now except that we are heading north first before we head south.  it seems kind of anti-climactic really but we have a number of obligations to fulfill before we do the hard-core south thing.  the funny thing is that we were headed into the wind and against the tide, letting us know that we were going the WRONG way.  sailboats would go by with full sail, aided by the wind and tide and flying, and here we were, plodding along, heavy with water and our STUFF and not full of fuel YET!  but that's okay - we were off to see old friends.  on our first day of this epic journey, we were out for a short cruise to the little wicomico to the armstrong marina and beer hall to see good friends, tommy and marie, and to see how the baby oysters have fared. 

you know you are good friends when you all take turns with the handheld vacuum cleaner to rid the screened-in porch of stink bugs and that is essentially what we were doing at the armstrong's while getting each other caught up on stuff.  unfortunately, the armstrong marina and beer hall's porch was being attacked by those horrible stink bugs :( 

yuck stink bug!