Deltaville Part 1

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