Wednesday, July 13, 2016

The Nettle Got Me!!

Yup I have been stung by a Chesapeake Bay Sea Nettle that snuck up on me while swimming the night before my birthday!  How not nice is that?  So I will digress and bring you up to date on our travels and explain further about my attack!! (Just kidding)
We left our boat buddies on Thurday July 7th to go in search of an anchorage that promised a beach for walking.  This light house marks the point where Mobjack Bay enters the wide open Chesapeake Bay.  Once again, the wind was not too strong so the waves were tolerable but the breeze was enough to keep us cool.  All is well in our world.  

We passed Wolf Trap Light and I would love to say what it marks, but I just don't know!
We went into the Piankatank River (I love trying to say the names of all the rivers around here and the town names too!!  Spelling them is a bear!) which then took us through this cool swing bridge that they say is the busiest bridge in Virginia.  It opens 24/7 on demand and supposedly that little house in the middle is where the bridge tender lives.  He was a mite gruff answering our hail to please open.  Just past the bridge was where we ended in Edwards Creek to anchor.  


 This is the end part of Gwynn Island which separates the Chesapeake from the Piankatank River.  As the tide came in, some of the beach area was water covered and was a fun place to take a splash walk and sit in the sand to cool off free of nettles! We do enjoy unique walking areas! 
This is what that water covered beach looks like from a distance with an island on each side and there is a small opening for a shallow channel back to the Chesapeake.
We stayed on anchor near this cool little beach two nights and left on Saturday, July 9th for two reasons; the weather was promising very high temps and humidity, and our lovely nettle free anchorage had been invaded by  at least one nettle!!   After enjoying several swims around the boat on both days at this anchorage, at 6pm, a nettle snuck under the swim platform and stung my ankle and then my wrist as I swiftly went up the ladder steps to get out of the water! I had read about them and somewhere in my head, I remembered that vinegar can help so I grabbed the spray bottle of vinegar and made the stinging worse.  Al pulled up a more informative website and after applying shaving cream, scraping it off to remove any imbedded stingers, then spraying copious amounts of saltwater on the areas, they calmed to just light sting and itch which was easily treated with cortisone cream.  So I survived but now am sure I can not swim anywhere but in a pool.   So on my birthday, off we go to take refuge in a nice Marina with a pool!! 

On our way up the Chesapeake to Regatta Point Marina in Deltaville, VA we had to negotiate through a beautiful array of sailboats racing for a charity.  Since the sailboats were under full sail, they have the right of way, and we had to slow and scoot around them so as not to interfere in their travel plans. This is a typical sight on the Chesapeake where sailboats are very happy with wide open water and plenty of wind. 
Our Marina home for 3 nights has been in this lovely setting.  The pool has been enjoyed, the rocking chairs on the porch have been rocked during docktails and the little town of Deltaville provided excellent crab cakes and some fun little shops for birthday shopping.  Plus the Marina loaned us a car to drive to a wonderful German restaurant for my birthday dinner.  How cool is that?  AND to add to the fun, our boat buddies on Short Vacation were in the Marina with us for docktails! Now on to more anchorages in hopes of finding areas that are nettle free! 

2 comments:

  1. Happy Birthday Jane! Sounds like you had a good celebration in spite of the jellyfish attack.

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  2. Love reading about your adventures and seeing your photos. Sorry about your nettle attack.

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