Reedville, Virginia

4/12/2017

Clark and I rose early to catch the current heading towards our next destination, Reedville, Virginia. After turning in the key to the restrooms, we left Hampton shortly after 8:00 a.m.

Hampton Public Pier

Seen after leaving Hampton

Naval Vessel on Chesapeake Bay

As I sat in the salon talking to Devon, I looked out the back of the boat and saw a US Coast Guard cutter following close behind us.

U.S. Coast Guard Cutter

My first thought when I saw their vessel was "I hope they don't plan to board our vessel". I grabbed my jacket to head up to the flybridge to see if Clark needed my assistance for any reason and met him coming down the stairs looking for me. Someone from the Coast Guard cutter had contacted Clark to ask if our vessel had been inspected recently.

We had a courtesy inspection while at the AGLCA Looper-Palooza in Fort Myers, Florida. Clark went to find the documentation from that inspection while I took over the helm. Even though Clark gave them the information from the form, they decided they wanted to pay us a visit. Because we had a long travel day planned, Clark had hoped the courtesy inspection would save us from being detained by the Coast Guard. However, this turned out not to be an issue as we were told there would be "... no need to change course or speed as the crew is trained to board moving vessels".

From my point of view, I saw this as an exciting adventure and grabbed the camera to capture a picture of the boarding crew. Unfortunately, they came to the starboard side as we requested, but that meant my picture was taken into the sun.

U.S. Coast Guard boarding crew 

Clark slowed our boat to facilitate their boarding, and when the Coast Guard inflatable pulled alongside our boat, Clark offered to throw them a line which they declined. The boat contained two men and two women in uniform. One woman drove the boat and stayed with the boat while the other three persons boarded our boat through the door on the starboard side into our cockpit.

The first question asked after they stood in our cockpit - "Do you have any weapons on board?" I immediately said, "No!" Then held my breath while Clark, instead of saying no as I did, said, "The only thing we have on board that might be construed as a weapon is our flare gun". The leader of the crew said, "No, that doesn't count" and I breathed a sigh of relief.

The leader introduced himself with a last name of Wood. Clark said, "That's very similar to my name." So, agent Wood asked Clark his name and was confused when Clark gave his name as "Clark". I spoke up and provided the "... and our last name is Woodworth" to explain why Clark thought his name was like ours.

As part of the inspection, we had to provide our boat documentation papers, show one life jacket per adult passenger plus age-appropriate life jackets for the infant and three-year old, produce flares and our flare gun, show them the shutoff valve so waste is not disposed of overboard but is held in the holding tank, show them a sufficient number of fire extinguishers, and prove we had the garbage and oil placards mounted appropriately.

Sierra sleeps in the double bed in the pilot house. She was still asleep when the Coast Guard boarded our boat. She woke to see me plus two strangers in uniform standing by her bed looking at life jackets. Not surprisingly, she was none too happy with the situation. She did not say or do anything, she just laid there wide-eyed watching them. As soon as we left that part of the boat to look at the next item on the list, she was out of bed and looking for her mommy.

I noticed that the crew that boarded the boat, with the exception of the leader, appeared quite young. Clark and I agreed that the only reason they boarded our boat was because we were the only boat out on the water. The crew was either bored or needed to add to the quota of boat boardings for the month. However, since my son drove the boat while Clark and I worked with the boarding crew, the only time lost through the experience was the slow down of the engines to allow them to board and again later to disembark.

The crew was professional yet friendly and minimized the inconvenience to the extent possible. I had a brief chance to talk to the two younger crew members and told them I would be including their visit in my blog update. They told me that on another recent inspection the captain of the vessel recorded the whole episode and put the video on YouTube. I found it surprising that they had no issue with that whatsoever and even seemed happy about it. Thankfully, we passed inspection and Clark has more documentation to indicate our vessel is safe to operate.

After the excitement of the Coast Guard boarding our boat, the rest of the trip was uneventful, and we arrived in the Reedville, Virginia area mid-afternoon.

Menhaden Fishing Boats

Omega Fish Factory

Vessel Tangier Island docked near Reedville, Virginia
(restored historic smokestack on left)

The "Crazy Crab" restaurant as well as the Reedville Marina are closed on Mondays. We pulled up to the fuel dock, as told when we called to make a reservation, and tied ourselves up for the night. A sign on the dock tells transients that, if closed, to pay by dropping either a check or a billing address into the suggestion box at the entrance to the restaurant.

After settling in, all of us except Clark headed into town to see what we might find there. Meanwhile, Clark found the owner of the marina and worked with him to get the information needed to get our WiFi setup for the night. As we strolled along the street leading into town from the marina, I wished I had either a camera or my phone with me to capture some pictures. I asked Jeff to call Clark to ask him to bring a camera with him when he joined us.

Jeff surprised me by saying that Clark was getting a ride from the owner of the marina. They passed us on the road and stopped at the museum in town. The marina owner is on the board of the museum and wanted to be sure we had a chance to visit. He got Clark there just at closing time and asked the curator to stay open, so we could view the museum exhibits.

Sierra looking at "Reedville Fishermen's Museum" sign

Large prop at museum

large enough for Sierra to sit on.

The curator immediately took us to a back room where several exhibits were setup for children saying "Please touch". Sierra found a sandbox and immediately started digging as happy as a clam. The curator then gave the rest of our party an overview of the museum.

The museum contains several models built by a local person named Butler. They are all amazing in detail.

Model of Boat Railroad

Model of boat railroad

Model of Floating Theater - waterside

Model Floating Theater - dockside

Model of home in Reedville, VA

Doll House

After touring the inside of the museum, we explored the grounds surrounding the building and then walked back to the boat. For a small town, the area has lots of character.

Lawn ornament in Reedville, VA

Tombstone monument to Elijah Reed - founder of Reedville.

Reed House

Victorian-style House

Chitterchats Ice Cream and Gossip Parlor -
closed like everything else on Wednesday

House in Reedville - all in brick

The Gables Bed & Breakfast near marina

Historic Building in Reedville, VA

When we got back to the boat, the sun was low in the sky. We found a crane standing on the dock. Due to the direction of the sun, Clark's picture turned into a silhouette.

Sunset in Reedville, Virginia