We left our
‘home’ marina to travel to the Norfolk area, at least a two day cruise. Our
first day was to Deltaville, Va. We had
been there by the road – takes about an hour!
We decided to stop the second day before traversing the area by the huge
Norfolk shipping channel, with huge container ships, tugs, Navy ships like
destroyers and aircraft carriers! The
third day was a short one, just to a marina in Portsmouth, which is just across
the river from downtown Norfolk. Turned
out the shipping channel was no big deal and not stressful at all. These first shots are from Olverson's Marina, where it all started!
Most
cruisers we talk with have modern day chart plotters and software – basically,
they point to where they want to go from their current location, and their
systems plot a course for them to follow on the electronic screen. The Kittiwake came with a pretty old chart
plotter that we know little about. We
were encouraged to get out the manual, which we did, and it did become a bit
more functional for us. But, the course
plotting wasn’t something we are comfortable with. Fortunately, Dan is familiar with paper
charts and the old fashioned method of navigation – it must work because we
have always landed where we intended!
Visit with Dan’s grandsons and
son-in-law:
Annie, Dan’s
daughter, is in the Navy and was on a cruise in Europe. So, Chuck, Dan’s son-in-law, drove the boys,
Eric and Jared, to the marina to meet us and see the boat. The boys decided they would spend the night
on the boat on Saturday but wanted to go home for Friday night. We went to dinner together, and we drove them
home so we could keep the car. Next day,
we picked up the boys and brought them to the boat. We took them out in the channel, up the river
for a ways, then back down by the Navy Operating Base. We had a nice day, and then they spent the
night in our guest berth. They were a
little nervous, but they actually did sleep very well! We all had a good time – we don’t get to see
them often enough.
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three musketeers!
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Our first time in a boatyard on the
hard!
What we
thought would be a quick, lift the boat out of the water for two rather small
but necessary tasks, turned out to be a two day extravaganza! It was fun seeing the boat being lifted out
of the water and interesting to see a part of the boat we had not previously
seen! The unexpected discovery was that
the props had encountered something that caused some damage. So, the props were pulled and sent off site
for repair. That left Dan, me, and Max
needing a bed for two nights. Yikes, the
only hotel that allowed dogs was, shall I say, pretty basic. Relatively clean, no bugs, but not somewhere
we wanted to hang around much. We
survived it, but were really glad to get our boat back! We ended up changing props to the ones that
had been stored on board as spares. They
will suit us better, being a better size and slope.
First encounter with bad weather
As we
approached the mouth of the river and started into the Chesapeake Bay, we
encountered WAY more turbulence than we wanted to handle. I was stressed, but Max was really really upset. The boat was bucking and slamming on the next
wave – everything in the salon behind and below us was falling to the
floor. Since the weather was blowing and
spraying, we were piloting from inside the boat to stay out of the cool and
wet. None of us had life jackets
on. With all this commotion, Max decided
he wanted OUT. The pilot house door slid
open, and Max went outside and up to the bow of the boat. There’s nothing up there to keep him in the
boat except for a narrow railing. Next,
Dan went out there, falling to his hands and knees to keep from being thrown
into the water. Of course, this left ME
at the helm!! I have never been so
frightened in my life. So, picture Dan,
one hand on the railing and the other on Max’s collar. Max didn’t want to go ANYWHERE, so Dan had to
drag him back to the pilot house with one hand while into the wave, slowing
down the engine (based on Dan’s hand signals).
We quickly turned back and headed to a safe marina just inside the
river. I held it together while we got
tied up and situated in our slip. THEN,
I fell apart, shaking and crying at what could have happened.
So, we are stuck for at least two
days waiting for good weather – what shall we do?
We settled
in, thinking we would just relax for the two days of foul weather. While surfing the web, Dan saw mention of
something called the Hampton Snowbird Rendezvous. It was to start that very evening in the town
where we were! We quickly signed up and
attended the very enjoyable and informative conference. We learned a lot and met some delightful
people.
After the
conference was over, we were able to navigate the two days back to our ‘home’
marina, Olverson’s, in Lottsburg, Virginia.
We spent a few days there getting the boat ready to sit until next April
or May when we will return. That
involved cleaning, removing most food items, winterizing everywhere there is
water that could potentially freeze. We
loaded up our truck and, regretfully, headed back home to Michigan. I say ‘regretfully’, because we have truly to
feel like the Kittiwake is our home. We
love the time spent on the boat. Of
course, we also love time at home, being able to see the grandchildren at least
occasionally. We will be at our ‘dirt’
house until after the holidays, when we hope to head to Key West for some good
living in our 5th wheel stored there.
