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Before I begin the tale of our memorial day weekend, I have to tell you all about the massacre that has begun here in this small town. It started slowly, you barely even knew it was happening, but now it's out of control and it's showing no signs of stopping. This weapon of mass destruction is .....THE FLY SWATTER!!!! It's out of control. A few days ago, there were just a few of them, normal. But yesterday it was crazy. There must have been at least 30 of them. (Mom, I know I told you a dozen but I started counting the ones I killed and there was definitely more.) I realize that yesterday is was 90 degrees and I probably didn't smell my finest, but.... I didn't stink like a pile of warm poop. I don't know how to seamlessly segway into a new paragraph from a pile of to a party so...
Saturday night, Cocomo's (the restaurant next door) was having a Key West party. They had a prize for the most "Key West-y" boat. There were only really 2 contenders. The Tiki boat, they must have bought out of all of Dollar General Hula skirts. And the Dinghy Broads. They had a sign like in Key West "90 miles to Cuba" and they made a shark cutout for the dinghy. Very cute.
On Sunday there was a party on MO-JO, Larry's boat. Now Larry is also the one involved in heading the stealthing operations. Needless to say it was going to be an interesting party. Apparently every year Larry holds this party. It's his annual deep frying party! No, don't worry he didn't deep fry on the boat. I have to admit I was a little apprehensive. But then again what's not good once it's fried?! They cooked or should I say fried, a turkey, 2 chickens, some ribs and a ham. And it was all good.
On monday Kosta (the owner of the marina) and his wife Ainsley were nice enough to take us with them to Williamsburg. That's right we actually left Deltaville! On the way we saw the funniest vehicle (I don't know what exactly to call it). You know how they can raise a pick-up truck and put it up monster truck-like wheels. Well apparently they can do it with old Volkswagen Beetle's too!
In Williamsburg, they took us to the mall so that Josh could buy another pair of sunglasses. (He lost his other pair that he just bought on the way down. And no having the strap on them wouldn't have helped save them.) Then we toured Old Town. My kind of tour, this is an old building, isn't it pretty. We strolled trough rather than look into every building and shop.
That pretty much sums up our weekend. We hope things are going well with all of you.
Thank you all for the Birthday wishes.
Lots of love
Birthday Girl (it's still the week of my b-day) and Josh
Fly-killers extrordinaire
PS. Aunty Michelle- all the best for the upcoming surgery, we'll be thinking of you.
Sonya- Thanks again for the candles.
If we spend any more time down here in the South, ya'll won't even recognize us. That's right, ya'll. It has almost slipped out a few times. We may be only in Virginia, but it's still the South. The marina is along the Rappahannock River. Down here it's called the Rivah. Say River with a Southern accent. It took me a few days to figure out what exactly a Rivah was. I thought it was a girl's name like Reva. But then I'd see signs in people's yards, saying "Welcome to the Rivah". Boy was glad I figured it out.
So while we wait, impatiently for that work to be done, Josh and I have to keep ourselves busy. Josh has a full time job on the boat. So far he's re-insulated the fridge, sound-proofed the water pumps, worked on the teak, tried to fix the dinghy engine,put in a new anchor lock and is about to put in a new washdown pump (not an easy job). I on the other hand have a pretty good tan going!!! We've both been keeping ourselves fairly busy.
Yesterday we took our bikes (loaned from the marina circa 1960, for mine anyways) for a few mile ride to West Marine (THE boat store). We only had to pick a few things up. HA! I can't even type that without laughing.
While surfing their website Josh came across what was described as a folding seat for 9.99$. So while we're at the store I ask about them. The guy checks them out, but then says that it's only a cover for the 59.99$ seats. (Which we wanted to get anyways). Well I start arguing my point, that they are described only as a seat not a cover. In the meantime, Josh is embarrassed and keeps asking to stop hassling this man. I didn't, and I got the seat for 25$!!! The only problem was that we were on bikes!! The seats are roughly 2feet by 3 feet. Oh did i mention I got 4. The guy at the cash offered to drive us back to the marina. But Josh managed to strap them to the back of his bicycle. He looked so silly. And, no I didn't get a picture. But the entire way home I couldn't stop thinking that he needed a little red flag, with flashing light. It really was funny.
We are living next to the trailer park, the water trailer park. If you notice in the picture, the one in the middle has an outboard, for moving it. And a sun umbrella for hanging out on the front porch. That one is pimped out. What you can't see from the back is the dock that runs along the front looks like a street. Everyone's front porch has chairs and flower pots!
So other than that not much is happening on the Rivah. It's big weekend, Memorial Day. We have a farmer's market on Saturday (which I'm really looking forward to, not only because I need fruits and veggies but because it's not a long bike ride!) and there's a big party at the restaurant near by. Also a couple of the "cool" guys from the marina are lighting fireworks at the point. It will be a big change from their usual Saturday night stealthing. They put an electric engine (very quiet) on the back of the dinghy and go around knocking on people's boats. It's the equivalent to lighting dog poop on someone's front porch. It should be an interesting weekend.
We'd love to know what you are up to. We also love the comments. It's the first thing I check when i get online.
Lots of love
Roxanne and Josh
Chesapeake Bay here we come. We had heard that if the wind is coming from the north the bay can be very choppy and quite unpleasant. We totally lucked out. We got a South-West wind and planned to go while the tide was coming in. Which meant that wind and the tide were pushing us in the same direction. We were flying! For those who know (mainly Daddy) we were doing 8 to 8.4 knots. Our max speed should be 7.5 knots.
Once we'd exited the the Norfolk harbour, it was great. There weren't nearly as many crab pots as I'd thought there would be. For my non-boating friends, crab pots are a wire box they use obviously to catch crabs, blue crabs down here. They put them in the water and attach a rope to it with a little floaty-thing. That floaty-thing is about the size of a football. Some of them are bright orange which makes them easier to see. Others are black, blue or white, which makes them almost impossible to see. Out of consideration for the crabbers and our propeller it is definitely best to avoid them at all costs. However sometimes it involves zig-zagging like a fool. Luckily we only had to swerve a little., not too bad at all.
Well it was looking like such a nice day that Josh decided to try that fancy new fishing pole of his. Not knowing how to tie a proper fishing knot, he opted for lots of little knots hoping that he wouldn't lose the nice new lure! So he stood on the stern and let it fly. Then he watched it skip along the top of the water behind the boat. I guess we going to little to fast to fish. So he reeled it in before a bird swooped down and ate the lure thinking at was a real fish! (It happened to a friend of ours, for real!) Well it's a good thing he didn't catch anything, we wouldn't have known what it was or what to do with it!
On our way into Deltaville, there's a very tight channel between two very shallow shoals. Well this stupid power boater is coming right down the middle on a collision course with us! So we try hailing him on the VHF (the phone for boaters!), no response. Well he's going to hit us, so Josh is slowly moving closer and closer to the edge of the channel. So close in fact that we ran aground, again! But because he was going so fast, his wake lifted us off the shoal and we were floating yet again.
We're tied up at Walden's Marina in Deltaville. (Population 800, boats 3000) We are going to be here until about May 30th getting some canvas work done. Which means we won't be back until mid-June, depending on the weather of course. It feels like we've been gone for a long while already, but this work needs to get done, and like always it's cheaper in the States. Plus you'll definitely appreciate it if you're on board when it's cold or rainy.
Can't wait to see you all.
Josh and Roxanne
Let's see where did we leave in the story. I know, I know, I haven't updated the blog in a while. So here's what's been happening. We finally got the weather window we'd all been waiting for to leave Deep Creek. We had one final lock to go through to completely exit the Dismal Swamp. The lock master at this lock can play actual music, recognizable music, on a conch shell (one of those big shells that you can "hear" the ocean in). He's got thousands of shells everywhere. He claims that 1 in 100 will produce a good tone. (Anthony and Luke you'll have to try and play a conch. Ask Stephen, it's not that easy to do!)
Out of the lock and the river has finally gotten a little wider and deeper. What a relief. We wanted to make it all the way to Deltaville that day, a very long jaunt. But to do so we needed to make every bridge opening, and ride up the bay with the tide. Our first bridge was the "The always open train bridge", anyone want to guess what happened? That's right it was closed, for the world's longest train. Ok, not the world's longest, but I'm sure it was close. So we had to do ....circles again. At least this time we had some room to do them in.
Once under the bridge, we knew we weren't making it to Deltaville. So we decided to stop in Portsmouth, across the harbour from Norfolk. Every guide you read warns you to stay away from all the naval boats in the harbour. Well they are everywhere and they're huge! It's one of the biggest Naval bases in the US. We were surprised to see a Canadian naval vessel. Because we've traveling with so many Canadian boats, we've been calling ourselves the Canadian Navy.
We stopped for the night at Tidewater Marina, very nice. We saw a couple of very big, very nice boats. Luckily we only had to stay there one night, it was the price of a hotel room! Josh was all excited because there was supposed to be a West Marine (a boating store) near by. Come to find out that most West Marines' are inland, away from the docks and hard to get to. What's up with that?!
Miss you all lots
Roxanne and Josh
P.S. You can make the pics bigger by clicking on them.
We have officially left North Carolina and are now in Virginia. We left Elizabeth city's harbour of hospitality on Saturday, finally. We went up the Pasquotank River to the lock at South Mills, the beginning of the Dismal Swamp. The Dismal is a canal linking Virginia and North Carolina. It has a great history, for those interested read on. For those who aren't up for a history lesson, please skip to the next paragraph. The canal was started about the mid 1750s It was all dug by hand. As you go up you can still see the hand carved mile markers. It also served as a refuge for slaves as part of the underground railroad. What no one realized was that the canal is not level and they had a hard time keep the water at a constant height. Now there are 2 locks at either side to keep the canal at 8ft. It has been closed for a while now due to droughts, it only re-opened in October. So we really felt we should do it before it closed permanently.
The canal was beautiful, so lush and green all around. The best part of it was the smell. The honeysuckle was in bloom and the sweet smell surrounded you. We saw turtles and herons and all sorts of cool stuff. The other thing we really needed to look out for were deadheads (partially submerged logs) and over hanging trees. The deadheads can cause some real damage to your boat if you're not careful. We had our second casualty of the trip, the windex (wind instrument) got caught in the trees during a particularly difficult evasive maneuver. (the first was the dinghy seat during "white squall")
It was a wonderful trip, that is until we had to wait for the bridge master to open the bridge.We arrived at 3:20pm, it's supposed to open at 3:30pm. Well our 2 friends were in the trawlers ahead of us and noticed 2 large logs in the middle of the canal. (we really need to stay in the middle because the sides get really shallow, it's important to know for later) While they waited for the bridge to open they tried to move the logs out of the way for others. But that involved some moving around.
In the meantime Josh and I had to stay out of their way. But it's very difficult to get a boat to stand still, especially now cuz the wind picked up. (for those who don't know boats, they don't reverse straight, they pull you to one side and there's nothing you can do about it) Oh did I mention that there were about 10 boats behind us. So we really needed to stay put. Even with all his best efforts out bow started to swing around, the wind pushed it the rest of the way. We are now perpendicular to the canal, not good. (the canal is only about 50-60ft wide, we're 41ft long...see the problem) Somehow Josh discovered some hidden talent for steering in tight places and turned the boat the other 270 degrees so we were back the right way. Another challenge well done!
WARNING for Sonya, read on at our own risk. Yesterday we decided that once again the weather did not sound good, so we were going to stay at the docks in Deep Creek. (We really don't want to test mother nature) And it was a good thing we did. They we calling for gale force winds and a small crafts advisory on the Chesapeake, which is where we were going. Later in the day, we heard a tornado watch. Our fourth since we've arrived in NC. Well last night we got it good. It was poring rain, the winds were up and the lightning was right overhead. Thank goodness we weren't at an anchorage. It's not good to be the only metal stick around. Once the worst of it was over, we heard on the radio, that a tornado had struck Elizabeth City (the marina we'd just left) and had passed just beside us. So that explained the crazy storm we'd had.
Everyone is all right, it was just a little stressful. We all discovered where are boats have leaks (must look at the positive side!). We are keeping a close eye on the weather. So we might only be home in June. We miss you all lots.
Josh and Roxanne
After getting the proper weather window, we left the Alligator river marina to cross the Abermarle Sound into Elizabeth city, NC. As we're pulling up to our slip at the free dock right off of Main St., there's a couple of people standing by to give us a hand. We later find out that one of them was the mayor of the town. Quite impressive indeed. We were also informed that at 4:30pm there was to be free wine and cheese under the tent. Nice, I liked this town already! As we all gathered around the win
e, we found out the story of the Rose Buddies.
Fred Fearing started the Rose Buddies almost 50 years ago. They cut fresh roses to give the women on the passing boats. He would also invite them to his place for wine and cheese. (Did I mention the harbour is called the harbor of hospitality.) Well Fred passed away in Dec. but his tradition lives on. The old men that have taken over have quite the sense of humour. There are so many Canadian boats tied up (almost 75%), that the next day they brought out their Canadian flag. One guy, Joe Kramer, also works the bascule bridge that we all need to pass under. Well he hung his Canadian flag under the bridge for all to see. We have felt very welcome here.
FYI- Jehovah witnesses come to your boat as well as your house. Around here when you cross someone on the street you wish them g'day. So it's a little trickier to get rid of the soliciting Jehovah's once you've already asked how their day's going!
We have been "stuck" here for much longer than we wanted. We wanted to leave for sure this morning but decided that it probably wasn't such a good idea with the tornado warnings they'd issued. For some reason there have been and excessive amounts of fronts in the past few months. We really don't want to cross the Chesapeake bay opening in heavy winds. So we'll just stay safely tied tied to this free dock until it looks a little clearer. Hopefully by tomorrow. Then we'll have fun things to report!!
Lots of love
Rox and Josh
That's right, white squall. We were going to find an anchorage but decided since it was nice and sunny we shouldn't encounter too many of the scattered showers they were calling for. Well we only hit one shower, one very bad storm. We had just come out of the Alligator River canal and had entered the Alligator River itself (for you Mommy to follow on the maps) .
It started to sprinkle, we could see some gray clouds in the distance. We slowly got our rain coats on. It started to rain a little more. I went down below to get our rain pants. All of a sudden the boat is heeled over, the dinghy is upside down behind the boat and Josh's eyes are glued to the chartplotter. (Did i mention that we love our chartplotter?!) We just barely got our pants on, Josh's weren't even tied, and the skies opened up. At times we could barely see the boat (the front of the boat). Of course as luck would have it this all happened at the trickiest corner of it all, with shoals (shallow water) all around us. It's a good thing we didn't encounter any other boats going southbound. We wouldn't have been able to see them until we were too close.
But we came out okay, a little shaken albeit. The only casualty in the whole event was the dinghy seat. It got in the way anyways!
We are leaving Alligator river marina tomorrow, hopefully, depending on the weather. We'll be crossing the Abermarle sound. We've decided to take the dismal swamp route. It's supposed to be beautiful, a little tricky but worth it. We'll let you know.
lots of love
Josh and Rox
