Miles and miles of salt marsh and lagoons sprawl all the way out to the outer islands, a giant storage battery of energy that powers one of the most productive ecosystems on earth. It takes your breath away. It's not that there aren't people here. Lots of them come across to fish right off Fisherman's Island. There's a boat ramp just inside the bridge.
Locals come out from coves and small towns on the mainland for a day on the water.
But few, if any, use the waterway as a northbound passage. And there are stretches between favorite fishing holes where not a boat or person can be seen for miles. Passing Smith Island Inlet on the right, there's the Cape Charles Light. The crossing took about three hours. To make it easier, we'd moved Stardust the day before from the Lafayette River to Bay Point Marina in Little Creek.