We left for Onancock early in the morning, hoping for smoother seas before the day heated up. The winds had picked up and we would be crossing from the west coast of the Chesapeake to the East coast. We had south winds 10-15 knots with 2-3 foot beam seas, About 10 miles out we had a feel of being well offshore ,no land in sight. As we approached Onancock we had about a 8 mile winding river to the town wharf.
We had come to Onancock to take a ferry to Tangiers Wednesday. We anchored out for the night and took the dinghy into the wharf to scout out dinner. We ate right on the water at Mallards. We split a crab cake and a salad. You have not had crab cakes until you have them Fresh from the Chesapeake, no filler means that it is meat and as little else to hold it together. They are soooooo good.
We moved the boat in the morning to the wharf and caught the ferry, Joyce Marie, to Tangier’s. Mark is the captain and a native of the small island.
With a population of less than 600 this is a unique place. 1 hour later we got off the boat we were meet by some women selling a 10 minute ride on a golf cart for $5.00 each, the promise of a bathroom stop got us on board.
The 1.5 mile ride around the island included little historical information, but her reference to “Our Men” made an impression on how thing work. “Our Men” are out on the water and the women whose husbands work the tugs instead of the crab traps have “the perfect marriage” their Men are gone for two weeks at a time 
We always try to get some local knowledge about where to eat, but since their aunt, cousin, sister-in-law or sons fiancé is an owner of the 4 restaurants, all we could get is they are all great. Well Charlotte got her off to the side and asked about “Dessert”, after looking around she whispered “Fishermans Corner”.
Well dessert was good, hot apple pie, but the crab cake and flounder were incredible.
Another unique feature are the grave sites in the front yards,” keeps the grave robber at bay”
The watermen have shanties on the water that can only be accessed by their boat, I talked about the lifestyle with Mark on the way back to Onancock, he said that limiting watermen license was killing the town. His son will have to do something else as there are no licenses available. Mark has one but at 51 he said he can’t give his up in case his new venture, our ferry, did not work out.
When we got back to Onancock about 5 other looper boats had arrived. The evening was spent enjoying the sunset and drinking Margaritas with new friends.
