Greek's Folly on the Great Loop: Deltaville, Va. to Onancock, Va.

May 18-19 Onancock VA

Tom arose first and went to the Corner Bakery, a local place, for donuts, which we all enjoyed. Tom and I spent the morning on the boat, arranging the cabin, finding things we needed for cruising, doing small projects and just getting reacquainted with the cruising lifestyle. In the afternoon, the girls biked into town and visited the few shops, and eventually ran into Tom and Mark (Mara Beel)

at the hardware store. Small towns have unique things and one of those things for this town was 3 men who get together at the town square gazebo and play music (tuba, violin, and banjo). There were 11 people in the audience listening and they were all cruisers from the marina. After the performance in the park, we walked up to the Blarney Stone restaurant for a sandwich and a beer. Nice Day

First beer of the season on the boat

The three musicians in the park

The boat people

The reason we spent an extra day in Onancock was to take the ferry over to Tangier Island. It is small island about 15 miles from the eastern shore. It is a community unto itself with 3 major families inhabiting it.(The Parks, the Crocketts and the Pruitts) The residents are notably proud of their island and their heritage, but island life is not for everyone. The school has about 70 students, with many of the children going on to college and then never returning to the island to live. The population is diminishing as well as the island is slowly eroding. It is a waterman's community in which most of the men make their living on the water or in water-related jobs. We enjoyed a short golf cart tour of the island, walking around, talking with the friendly locals and meeting the famous dock-master Milton Parks - 83 and still in charge of the docks. Tourism is a necessity here to supplement the wages earned by the watermen in their challenging and sometimes dangerous way of life.