Little Bay behind Fleets Island VA

Leaving Stutts Creek, Glittra and Twin Cove still at anchor

With the Mathews Yacht Club dinner, over it was time to turn our attention to ‘Jamie’s Cruise in Company’, which was planned to run from Friday 25 to Sunday 27 October.  The weather forecast had very light winds which wasn’t looking great for sailing, and lots of rain forecast for the Sunday, so the previous evening Jamie had set the first anchorage as Little Bay just 10 miles directly north of us.  We hauled our anchor up in Stutts Creek at 0845hrs and started motoring towards the swing bridge which again we were timing to transit with minimal tidal flow but also with enough water in the shallow channel to comfortably get there.

We were treated to a low flypast by a
USMC CH53 on our way to the swing bridge

As we left Stutts Creek we passed Twin Cove.  One of the boats on Jamie’s cruise.  Why Jamie’s Cruise?  It’s a long-standing autumn weekend event for the crews of Dragon Run, Ithaka, Anna Lee and Kittywake, a final sailing fling before winter arrives and the boats need hauling out.  But now Kittywake has been replaced by Twin Cove and George and Frances had invited Bill and Lydia aboard to sample the delights of life on a motor yacht.  We had been asked to join the event, perhaps to make up the sailing numbers or perhaps to introduce a novel international flair to proceedings.  Either way, we were delighted to spend time with friends and it was clear that it would be a very civilised cruise in company: the plan was for us all meet up on Twin Cove each evening for drinks and dinner which we would take turns cooking.

Think Twice also on the move

We weren’t the only ones on the move; Swedish yachts Think Twice and Glittra followed us out so we slowed down a bit so that we could all go through the bridge in one opening.

The Gwynn Island Narrows swing bridge

The 3 yachts made it through the swing bridge at 0945 and then continued out into the bay.  At the entrance to the Piankatank River Think Twice and Glittra turned south towards Norfolk whilst we turned north towards Windmill Point.  Having to motor for a few hours to get to Little Bay was actually quite helpful for us.  We had added more grease to the Aquadrive CV joints and the passage would allow us to monitor the vibration.  All seemed fine for the first hour but as the joints warmed up we could faintly hear the tell-tale vibration again.  We decided to add some more grease to the joints when we anchored but also wrote an email to Aquadrive USA to clarify our options for ordering a new one.

Fish traps in the middle of the channel into Little Bay.  The fishermen probably don’t like it but all the fishtraps in this area had large flocks of seabirds roosting on them

Once we were past the shallows off Windmill Point we followed the coastline around Fleets Island to enter Little Bay from the north.  We had seen warnings of fish traps in several places in Chesapeake Bay, often in the shallows to the side of the main channel.  The approach to Little Bay was the first time that we had seen fish traps right in the middle of the channel and given that they are unlit, it was just as well that we hadn’t come across them in poor visibility or at night.

View across Little Bay from the sand spit

The anchorage Jamie had picked is a lovely spot tucked in behind a sandy spit of land sticking out from Fleets Island.  It’s apparently very popular in the summer and we can quite understand why.  There were already 2 yachts at anchor [Ed: not part of our group] and we were joined very shortly after our arrival by the rest of Jamie’s group, Doug and Alison on Ithaka, Jamie on Anna Lee and Twin Cove with George, Francis, Bill and Lydia on board.  There was also an unexpected arrival of Lionel and Elsie on Ruby Tuesday, which was pleasant surprise, and they joined us on Twin Cove for drinks later on.

More fish trap nets and stakes stretching out into the approach channel 

We packed the Aquadrive CV joints with a bit more grease and then launched our dinghy to go ashore for a walk.  Meanwhile George, Francis, Bill and Lydia shot off at high speed into Antipoison Creek in Twin Cove’s RiB; we knew not why.

George hard at work shucking and sampling the oysters

When we all assembled on Twin Cove for cocktails later, we discovered that their explore of Antipoison Creek had had an unexpected bonus.  They had chatted to some guys on a dock enjoying an oyster and beer party and ended up being gifted a large box of oysters.  George returned the favour with a bottle of whisky and then, once back aboard Twin Cove, set about washing and shucking the haul.  It was a lovely addition to our pre-dinner cocktails and there were so many oysters in the bucket that we had oysters with our pre-dinner drinks for each night of the cruise.

Back row left to right:  George, Doug, Elsie, Frances, Lionel and Jamie.
Front row left to right:  Nicky, Lydia, Alison and Bill

The oysters were delicious but there had been no need to buy them as between us we had entirely over-catered for this mini cruise in company.  Saturday’s evenings delights involved a mountain of pre-dinner nibbles [Ed: to accompany the oysters?  Or vice versa?] organised by Alison, Doug and Jamie followed by a fabulous pheasant casserole made by Lydia with the booty from one of Bill’s hunting trips.  As if that were not enough, there were Lydia’s chocolate brownies to finish with and, as a digestif, a selection of different whiskies and whiskeys.  It was a very full crew that returned to BV late in the evening wishing we had walked further and faster earlier in the day to ‘earn’ such a fat-boy, but delicious, meal.

Sunset over Little Bay

Little Bay behind Fleets Island, Virginia, USA