Deltaville, VA--at last

"Life is a journey, not a destination," says the sage. Well, the sage had not spent the last 10 weeks traveling 1000+ miles at walking speed in a leaky boat with a foul bottom and a balky transmission. We needed to get to Deltaville.

Friday morning dawned beautiful in Sarah Creek. I was determined to catch the ebb at 8 am. We whisked down the York and out in the Chesapeake. The wind had clocked to the SE so White Pepper could sail to the Piankatank River 20 n. mi. to the north. The Piankatank is a small river south of the Rappahannock River. Deltaville is on the small peninsula between the two rivers.

We made Jackson's Creek off the Piankatank about 3 pm. It was not long before White Pepper was tied up at the Deltaville Marina.

The first thing to understand about Deltaville is that it is very rural. The permanent population is about 800. There is no downtown. There is one motel, one restaurant, and no grocery store. The second thing is that Deltaville is all about boats. Many years ago Deltaville was an important boat building center. That industry is long gone, but the town has somehow retained its skills in the marine trades. There are 29 marinas and 6 full service yards. There are hundreds of yachts --most are in storage. There are TWO West Marine Stores. The manager of one, Sam, told me that the two stores were number one and two in production for the East Coast and he was planning to expand.

We met with the service writer at the Deltaville Boat Yard--India. After making some arrangements for the bottom job and the seacocks, we packed up and drove to Manassas, VA for a visit with the kids.