Finalist in the Juried fine art show "Art Speaks on the Bay" Mathews, Virginia. Opening May 2, 2015.
Looing south from our vantage point across the vast marsh grasses is the tiny spec of the New Point Comfort Lighthouse as the sun decends.
As the sun sets to the west it's possible to see the stack from Yorktown, Virginia located up the York River. You see the ice is only in the protected waters.
The last of the sun.
Without clouds the sky is without a great after sunset light show. It's really cold and I'm about ready to go back home to Gloucester, Virgina. It's located on the way to the end of the road. This is a very special place all year long often teaming with birds. It's also one of the few really great sunset spots on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay.
Ice in the lower Chesapeake only happens when there is some extended cold period. On January 10th 2015 there was such a time. Mathews County, Virginia is one of those end of the road places. Technically, two roads come into the county but they do meet in one spot. New Point Comfort is the very end of the road after that. There is a lighthouse on the tip of land that extends into the Chesapeake Bay. The tip was decimated in 1933 by a large hurricane. The Light house remains but is not lit and is on an island recently fortified by donations. These images are from the sunset on 1/10/2015 about a mile north of the light. It should be noted that it got warmer the following days and the ice was all gone. It was still cold!
I added this image from 2013 in the summer taken from our sailboat "Bright Eyes". I have sailed in the winter but not to here for a picture! You can see the man made island. They pulled out the light but saved the lighthouse. All the rocks around it are new. You can't get there by land but at low tide you can get wet going across. It was once a critical navigation aid for the lower Chesapeake bay. Old Point Comfort is at the mouth of the James River in Hampton, Virginia I have a Ft Monroe shoot that has a picture of that light house. These beaches are natural beaches with many access points. If you wind up at the end of the road you might as well enjoy it!