Belle Isle State Park

Belle Isle State Park

Friday May 21, 2021

We went with our friends Lynn and Lee on an outing to Belle Isle State Park.  I’m embarrassed to admit that I have no idea in what direction we drove to get to the park.  The geography around here seems pretty confusing.  The park itself lies along the Rappahannock River.  It’s an interesting place in that there are many open fields that seem to be under cultivation with corn.  Somehow that’s not what I would have expected to find in a state park.  There are some wooded areas and plenty of trails.  We went for a nice walk along a pretty level path (not too challenging).  Upon our return to the starting point we took advantage of the picnic table in the shade to have a spot of lunch.

Our next objective was to go into town for some grocery shopping.  The nearest town to the marina (Kilmarnock) is not that “near”.  We were told that the short cut is to take the ferry.  This option would reduce the overall time by twenty minutes.  So off to the ferry we went. We haven’t spent much time in a car recently but spending time in a car that was floating (even if it was on a ferry) seemed totally bizarre.  It’s a pretty small ferry probably able to transport 2 cars at a time.  One guy runs the whole operation.  The ferry arrives, he un-chocks the cars opens the chain at the front, open the gate to the road and the cars drive off.  He signaled us to drive on then closed the gate and chain behind the car, put a chock behind our wheel and we were off.  There was a definite sense of floating and motion that we know well from the boat.  Yet there we were inside the car.  It was so odd.  

We found our way into town and bought so many groceries that we had to place some of the bags around our feet in the back.  On the way back we discovered that the ferry was no longer running!  The only option was the “long way”.  I don’t know if we were just busy chatting or what but it didn’t really seem much longer to me.

We had a lovely picnic dinner with our friends back in the grounds of the marina.  Then it was time to say goodbye.  We will set off in the morning, resuming our northward travels in the Chesapeake.   

Gloria

 37 41.581 N, 76 29.393 W

Osprey surveying his domain from a perch above the Yankee Point Marina (It wasn't great light so I chose to display this in B&W because there is more latitude to adjust shadows and highlights than you have with color)

Barn swallow perched on the standing rigging

"Orca" a lovely 11 month old German Shepherd that just moved aboard our neighbors boat "Moonbeam". I love dogs but tend to be a little wary of German Shepherds, but Orca has the most delightful disposition - I was sorely tempted to kidnap him and take him with us!

Belle Isle State Park

A delicious picnic dinner with Lynn and Lee at the picnic tables in Yankee Point Marina

Cotinga at the dock in Yankee Point Marina. Our neighbors Michael and Sue on "Moonbeam" took off earlier in the day for a test-sail and overnight anchorage with Orca.

Yankee Point Marina at dusk