Our trip to the Westmoreland Cliffs at Mount Holly Point, Nomini Creek, Virginia.

Jess & John launched at Love Point in Breton Bay and hurried around Newtowne Neck to picks us all up at Art's pier...

..and we say good-by to our little cottage on the river, to spend an afternoon of fossil hunting on the Virginia Shore.

On our way across the river, we got this nice shot of the Blackistone Island (St.Clements Island) Light. This was a public/private project that reconstructed the original lighthouse. The original light was built in 1851 and was decommissioned in 1931. A stray bomb from the Naval Proving Grounds at Dalgreen, Va. exploded near the original house and lit it afire, destroying it completely. This Lighthouse is an exact replica of the original, including the 30- 80 foot Loblolly

Pines rough cut milled at a local Amish Mill to form the flooring structure. It is a very handsome Lighthouse.

We arrived safely at the cliffs, and immediately began scouring the shore line for sharks teeth and fossils.

While Jess concentrated on a single area (and did quite well) we all spread out and walked the beach for many hundreds of yards to the west.

Here is a collection of some of what was combed from the beach. Many, many fossilized bone fragments. These most probably the remains of the "feast" the sharks had in this area. Also we had sharks teeth and ray teeth. No Crocodile teeth though, which is a bit of a disappointed. We saw many tracks of other beach combers on the beach, so it was well combed by the time we arrived.

With our heads buried in the sand, we failed to notice some serious thunderstorms moving down the river from the west. Once he noticed them, John pointed these out to me and after a brief discussions we decided that it was prudent to gather up the crew and beat it across the river. It was more than a little difficult getting the crew moving, as they did not realize the potential danger we were in. We all put our sholders to the bow, and pushed the boat deep. The crew loaded from the stern of necessity, and John got us off of the bar.

The cumulonimbus clouds were holding a lot of water, as evident by the dark bottoms. We could feel the temperature drop, as we headed back across the river. The wind came up and was blowing (by my estimate) at 20+MPH. With the wind came the white caps and very rough seas of 3+ feet. A dicey and tight place to be in with 4 children on board.

Capt.John ordered all the children to the cuddy cabin, to safety. This helped to hold the bow down in the high seas. Sherry was left in the back, with waves breaking over the side of the boat. We were all being drenched by the wind driven rain and salt spray. This was as bad as I have ever been in on the water. The winds were hard on the port, and Capt.John had no option but to run in the trough. If he turned south and headed down rive to the back side of the island, we would have been in a following sea, a dangerous proposition in an open boat. To go north would have require we run to St. Catherin's Sound, a good bit up river. Capt. John held his course, and soon we were free of the lea shore, and back to safe harbor.

The sun broke through, and the winds laid down.

We arrived safely back at Arts' dock, where we was waiting in his lawn chair. He said he was ready to call the Coast Guard, as he could see the storm across the river, and knew it was a severe gail blowing.

But we were all safe and sound, and this beautiful rainbow appeared just down river from Newtowne Neck. All in all, a wonderful (and exciting) excursion. John is to be commended for his seamanship. He handled his vessel and crew admirably. Jess, likewise is to be commended for her handling of the children (a big job) and maintaining a good sense of calm during the ordeal. Sherry & I have had our "near death" experiences on that river, and know full well just how bad it can get, and how quickly it can get bad. We have a deep respect for that body of water and we were greatly relieved to be back on terra firma!