Urban Urbanna

Urbanna, Virginia
N 37 38.248 W 076 34.146

Boy, this is a place where we could get attached to. Sort of like Velcro (whoops, meant Vero) Beach. We like Urbanna.

Yesterday we had a visit from Rachel. Rachel is a fan of this blog. She first ran across it a few months back. She doesn't exactly remember how she found the blog. In any event, she liked it and over the span of several weeks, she read the whole thing. The whole thing is quite a mouthful nowadays. There are 889 articles posted here.

Anyhow, Rachel has a special interest in our blog because she cruised on a Westsail 32 in the years 2001-2004. She traveled more widely than we have, including Alaska, British Columbia, the west coast, Mexico, Panama, Belize. and the Caribbean.

Rachel lives nearby so she contacted us and arranged to drive to Urbanna for a visit. We had fun, Rachel, Libby and I swapping stories over diner.

Unfortunately one rude man blemished the fine day. At the Compass Quay motel nearby, is a big parking lot that is almost aways empty. There are few or no guests at the motel. Anyhow, Rachel tried to park her car there because she had a dog in the car, and she needed a shady spot. The man on duty at the motel came out and went ballistic; very rudely chasing her and us off the property. There was no need for nastiness. Nevertheless, with that one exception, we find the people in Urbanna to be exceptionally friendly and hospitable.

We also met the crew of Cygnus yesterday. We know them from Vero Beach and from the Bahamas. They were leaving today to sail for Solomons (excellent wind today). I told them about Tangier Island which is along their way. They told me about the pleasures of anchoring on Nantucket Island. We've never been to Nantucket. It might make a good stop this year.

Tonight, we have invited two neighbors for diner. Both are men about our age, who live alone on their boats. I think that both may be real characters. We'll find out.

Today I got an email from Rachel. She read the blog from yesterday about our fiberglass repair to the dinghy. She warned me that bare fiberglass deteriorates rapidly in bright sunlight. I didn't know that. My ignorance about fiberglass is rampant. Anyhow, thanks for the tip Rachel. I hurriedly painted over the repair spots today to protect it from UV. Later, when we're in a spot where we don't use the dinghy daily, I'll paint the whole thing.