King's Mill (near Williamsburg, VA to Cape Charles, VA

Saturday we cruised from King’s Mill near Williamsburg back down the James River and into the base of the “Bay”, then across to Cape Charles, VA.  

This is the restaurant overlooking the marina at King's Mill with Southern Style in the backround

I had Scallops and Captain Keith had Deviled Crab on our last night in King's Mill

The weather Saturday was overcast with light winds as we left King's Mill.  This was a nice change as the day before winds were howling and even at the dock, Southern Style was rocking quite a bit.  As we came out of the James River and turned northwest heading up into the base of the “Bay” we could just see the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel to our east in the haze.

Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel (portion of the bridge)

The tunnel is between the two small buildings in the distance.  Imagine boats going over top of the cars in the tunnel under the water.

Opened in April of 1964, The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel is one of only 10 bridge-tunnel systems in the world (3 of which are located in the Tidewater region).  Its official name is the Lucius J. Kellam Bridge-Tunnel honoring this civic leader who was instrumental in its development.  In a nutshell, it connects the Eastern Shore with the Western Shore of the “Bay” area.  There is a total of 17.6 miles of low level trestles, high level trestles, 4 artificial islands, and single tube tunnels.

The geography of the “Bay” is quite amazing.  Millions of years ago this region was an ancient ocean (hence the abundance of fossils).  About 35 million years ago a rare bolide (a type of comet or asteroid like object) hit the ocean in the area just off what is now Cape Charles, VA.  The bolide created what scientists call an “Exmore Crater” in the ocean floor roughly the size of Rhode Island and as deep as the Grand Canyon.  The event did not create the Chesapeake Bay, the “Bay” is much younger; however it did leave its mark.  As we cruised along this area much of the depth of the “Bay” was 20-30 feet deep, however as we approached the area where the ancient bolide hit, the depths increase by tenfold.  Just off Cape Charles there is 100 to 130 feet deep areas.  It is not as deep as when the crater was first formed.  Over time it has silted in, but the evidence of the once enormous event can still be seen on your depth sounder (kind of cool).

View of the Cape Charles Harbor from our cockpit

During the last ice age, glaciers a mile thick blanketed much of the East Coast as far south as Pennsylvania.   The Atlantic coastline was some 180 miles farther east than it is today.  About 18,000 years ago the glaciers began to melt and their flood waters rushed into the Susquehanna River and carved multiple additional rivers on their path to the coast.  Sea levels then began to rise adding more flooding to the region and moving the coast toward its current location.  And so was formed a drowned river valley, the Chesapeake Bay.

We walked around the small downtown area of Cape Charles on Saturday and had dinner at the  "Shanty", a seafood restaurant near the dock. The Shanty had a great Kentucky Derby crowd that was enjoying mint julips and there own house drink the "brown derby" made with bourbon and a lot of other alcohol.

 Light at the public docks in Cape Charles

Weather permitting, we will cruise to Onancock, VA on Monday.