TGI Tangier this Saturday 10/12?

[Deelee]

Was thinking about making an afternoon/early evening out of a trip to Tangier Island this Saturday. Would leave Manassas either late morning or early afternoon, grab lunch at Tangier, explore the island a bit, then head back. Anybody interested? Or going anywhere else fun this Saturday afternoon?

I'm VFR and the ceilings look like they will hold up enough at least heading east...

 

[Deelee]

Anybody want to go? My own kid is too busy (lol) so I’m solo. Leaving HEF at 10:30 or 11:00. Spending the afternoon there.

 

[Pugs]

Alas. Heading up to PA to do a little trout fishing (no, the trout aren’t really little)

 

[Deelee]

Very nice!

Well, an island is good for solitude and introspective thinking and.... lol nah, I just want crab cakes!!! And there is supposed to be a good museum there. And, well, flying and stuff...

 

[Clip4]

Alas. Heading up to PA to do a little trout fishing (no, the trout aren’t really little)

Then how come no one ever says they are going trout fishing or going to do a lot of trout fishing. This whole thing is a guilt complex among trout fisherman. Like I am just going to have a sip of whiskey.

 

[Deelee]

Well, the flight to Tangier was great. Perfect weather and Pax cleared me through all the cold restricted direct to TGI. So it took less than an hour. Landed runway 2 and taxied to the ramp. While I was tying down, pilots of a plan that just landed told me not to bother. When I asked why, the guy pointed to the water that had pretty much turned the road next to the airport into a canal. The whole island was flooded knee deep. No way to even get across to where the restaurants and museam is except with high waders or a canoe. I guess the storm that churned off the coast a few days ago coupled with high tide and the full moon caused the water levels to rise up significantly higher than usual.

I feel bad for these people. I read somewhere that the island has about 50 years left until it is uninhabitable due to rising seas. I give it less than that - maybe 10 years. So go see it now if you can. I am going to go back another time.

Anyhoo... did a quick search of the interwebs whilst on the ramp and saw Accomack (MFV) is a quick flight across the bay. One blog post mentioned a place called the Island House, so I took off TGI, landed MFV. Really nice airport. Huge runway (5,000' x 100') for such a remote place. Beautiful FBO and friendly folks. Caught a ride out to the restaurant and wow. Beautiful views of marshes, barrier islands and glimpses of the Atlantic way off in the distance. Just raw natural beauty. And good crabcakes, too. I'll put some pics of the flooded Tangier Island below.

 

[Pugs]

Well, the flight to Tangier was great. Perfect weather and Pax cleared me through all the cold restricted direct to TGI.

I feel bad for these people. I read somewhere that the island has about 50 years left until it is uninhabitable due to rising seas. I give it less than that - maybe 10 years. So go see it now if you can. I am going to go back another time.

Sorry about the extra water. It’s less rising sea levels there, since they’re not, but more about the same bay currents that built the island now washing it away. The islanders want the feds\state to build a sea wall to keep it from happening but I’m not sure that’s such a great investment given the inevitability of coastal geology.

 

[Pugs]

Then how come no one ever says they are going trout fishing or going to do a lot of trout fishing. This whole thing is a guilt complex among trout fisherman. Like I am just going to have a sip of whiskey.

Turns out the trout were little. This evening I will have more than a sip of whiskey since it’s cool enough to have a fire in the fireplace.

 

[Jon Weiswasser]

Wow. So sad about TGI. The island has its own dialect of English and can trace the descendants back many generations to the colonial era.

 

[Pugs]

I was talking to a gent today who has a house on Smith Island - Same thing there this last weekend. It's a combination of a south wind and a high tide. Says it's been happening his whole life.

 

[Fiveslide]

I was talking to a gent today who has a house on Smith Island - Same thing there this last weekend. It's a combination of a south wind and a high tide. Says it's been happening his whole life.

Can confirm. We lived on a boat on the bay, got several years of watching the tides there. Once saved a boat when it's dock lines slipped off the pilings in a high tide-south wind situation.

The wife and I came so close to buying a house on Tangier. It was, for obvious reasons, dirt cheap and I would have loved to live there. It was like $39k for a 3bd waterfront home. However, we chose to buy something that will still be here in a few decades to leave to our son.

 

[bflynn]

Researchers have shown subsidence in the Chesapeake Bay caused in part by ground water extraction, specifically affecting Tangier Island. There may or may not be a slow sea level rise, but the island is definitely sinking.

Plus, remember that we are on a king tide right now on the east coast. High tide is much higher than normal.