June 2012 - Florida to Chesapeake - Page 3

14 June 2012   Old Comfort Point to Portsmouth, Chesapeake
It was relatively cold last night – the single sheets that we normally use weren’t adequate, so I had to get out of bed and get a light duvet.  When I got up in the morning, it was overcast, windy and cold.  I had to put on a fleece, which the first time I’ve had to do this since we moved onto Alba.  We had a cup of tea after breakfast – nice and comforting and I even tested our cabin heater in case it gets any colder.  We’re at 37° North now, which is level with the Algarve in Portugal, so I’m hoping that this is just unusual weather.

We lurked around in the morning, tidying up and doing a few jobs.  I put the dinghy into the water and the outboard wouldn’t start again, which is a bit irritating because this is a new batch of fuel that bought in the Abacos about three weeks ago.  I stripped down the carburettor again and magically it all works.  I’m now wondering if the float valve is getting stuck – is it gummed up on the seat?  I’ve put some fuel conditioner into all of the fuel that I have on board, so maybe that will help sort this problem out.

US Warships, Norfolk, Virginia

After lunch, we upped anchor and sailed to Portsmouth town anchorage.  It’s a very impressive route because we went right past the US Navy dockyards where there are at least twenty warships including several aircraft carriers.  The wind was 20-25 knots from the north east and it was perfect sailing conditions for us – we managed to sail all the way into the town anchorage with just the genoa.

We’re anchored right in the middle of the town with Norfolk on one side of the river and Portsmouth on the other side.  Hopefully, there will be a supermarket nearby because we’ve run out of essentials – milk, eggs, orange juice, bread, etc.

Steve and Lynn from “Celebration” came for sun-downers.  We last saw them in St Lucia last January and it was great to catch up with their travels. Glenys prepared some Seared Tuna which she cut into thin slices as an appetiser with Wasabi sauce – lovely…

15 June 2012   Norfolk, Chesapeake
Another chilly night, but we were snug under the duvet – I think that I like these cool mornings.  I love this anchorage, there’s so much going on.  First thing this morning, I poked my head out of the cockpit to find a huge warship slowly cruising by the anchorage just 50 metres in front of us.  

With no eggs, milk or bread, breakfast was a challenge, but Glenys managed to rustle up fried potatoes, bacon, tomatoes, and baked beans – luxury.  We went into Norfolk city centre.  The dinghy dock is right in front of the Wisconsin, which is a huge Second World War battleship that is now a major visitor attraction.  It’s a very impressive ship - we might play tourist and have a look at it in a couple of days’ time.

Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk is a big commercial centre with skyscraper office buildings; housing banks, solicitors and insurance companies.  As well as looking around, we were on a mission to buy some food.  We discovered a huge, glittering shopping mall, but no sign of any grocery stores. After asking quite a few people, we found out that there was a convenience store about half a mile out of the city centre.  We eventually found it in a residential area, but it was very expensive, so we only bought some milk and orange juice – at least we can have a normal breakfast and a cup of tea tomorrow.

We cut our losses and went across the river to Portsmouth. The town quay was heaving with sailing boats because there’s a yacht race taking place tomorrow.  We found a space to moor our dinghy and walked up the high street.  It’s a much quainter town than Norfolk and we found a Dollar store that sold basic groceries.  We also discovered a 7-11 store where we bought some beer and wine.

Glenys cooked the last of the Tuna and we had a quiet night in.

16 June 2012   Portsmouth, Chesapeake
We went into Portsmouth, visited the farmers market to buy a few vegetables, walked around the town and had a nice lunch in a small café.  In the afternoon, we pottered around below decks because the wind is so cold.

I rang the boat yard at Deltaville and told them that we’ll be there on Tuesday 19th. I revised my project plan and printed out a new set of information for all the jobs that we’re going to do when we haul-out. 

I had a chat with Steve from “Celebration” about security on the boat i.e. stopping someone robbing us when we’re asleep at night at anchor.  He has some good ideas about what to do, which basically involves stopping the thief sneaking down into the boat, incapacitating him and then tying him up.  I’ve been planning to add some metal bars to the rear hatch and the entrance into the saloon, which will sort out preventing access.  I’d like to buy a Taser gun to incapacitate the thieves. However, I’ve been told that even though American citizens can easily buy one, it’s illegal to export a Taser, so I might have to rely on a couple of pepper spray guns that can shoot a stream of gel up to 12 feet.  A small baseball bat will then allow me to make sure that the thief remains down while I tie him up with pre-looped cable ties. I’ll be tooling up soon.

The Battleship Wisconsin, Norfolk, Virginia

We went over to “Celebration” in the evening and met Pat & Judy from “Thalia” and Bentley & Jim from “Salty Paws”.  We had pizza – Lynn cooked the pizza bases and everyone brought their favourite toppings to complete the pizzas.  It worked out well, apart from when I chipped a big lump off one of my molars on a particularly hard crust.  Jim and Bentley brought their guitar and banjo, Steve dragged out his guitar and we had an entertaining evening with them playing various folk, blues and sea songs.

Glenys is now motivated to learn the concertina and I’ve decided to abandon playing the clarinet and learn to play a guitar – it’s much more sociable than having a two foot long plastic tube shoved in my mouth...

17 June 2012   Portsmouth to Old Comfort Point, Chesapeake
We went around to “Celebration” to ask Lynn if she could put a temporary filling into my broken tooth – fortunately she’s a dental technician, which is a fine display of synchronicity because it was her pizza crust that broke my tooth.  I’m probably going to have to get it fixed properly when we’re in Deltaville, Lynn tells me that there’s another fracture line in the tooth.  Goodness knows how much it will cost to get dental treatment in the States.  

We called in at “Salty Paws” to drop off a Proclaimers album – last night I told them that it was brilliant, urban, angry, folk music.  I hope that they like it - it’s always worrying to recommend music to people that you don’t know very well. 

Putting on our tourist hats, we went over to Norfolk and spent a pleasant three hours looking at the battleship Wisconsin and the attached museum. The Wisconsin was launched two years after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour and has seen service in World War Two, Korea and the Gulf War.  The hull is a beautiful shape and the guns are impressive.  The ship’s profile is what I remember from the John Wayne type war films that I watched as a kid.….

We arrived back on Alba at three o’clock and then motor sailed back to Old Comfort Point to get a good start for the forty mile trip up to Deltaville tomorrow.

18 June 2012   Old Comfort Point to Deltaville, Chesapeake
We set off at half past seven with absolutely no wind, so it was a very boring, six hour motoring trip up to Deltaville.  The only interesting part was the narrow winding channel into Jackson Creek, which is supposed to be dredged to three metres – we went gently went aground just next to a green marker, but I soon backed us off and found a deeper patch further away from the marker.  

We anchored just outside Deltaville boat yard where we’ll be spending the next four to five weeks.  Jackson Creek is a lovely little spot with nice houses with their own docks and green lawns sweeping down to the waterside.

Approach to Jackson Creek, Deltaville, Virginia

We went ashore, met Chuck who is the project manager assigned to us and then walked into Deltaville town.  Typical of American towns it is very spread out along a single road.  There’s not a lot here apart from a very large West Marine chandlers and basic shops.  We’ll have to get a car to get us to any big supermarkets or Walmart.

It warmed up in the afternoon – we were wearing fleeces on the trip up, but it was warm and sunny ashore. 

19 June 2012   Deltaville, Chesapeake
I picked up Chuck from the dinghy dock and we went through the various jobs that I have planned.  He took lots of notes and then went back to the office to plan resources and work out some costs.

Glenys paid $140US to the marina, so that we can use their facilities for a month.  They’re pretty well set up with a small pool, showers, laundry, wireless internet, barbeque area, courtesy car for local trips, bicycles and, best of all, an air-conditioned lounge with a TV and comfy chairs. 

I popped into the office to see Chuck and he told me that the yard might not be able to provide the resources to do the rigging – I was not very happy.  I spent the rest of the afternoon working out a Plan B where we would only spend two weeks here to do some jobs and then return in September to get the standing rigging done.

20 June 2012   Deltaville, Chesapeake
I rang Chuck to see when he wanted to have a chat and he said that he’d not had a chance to work on my projects and could see me after lunch.  I told him that I was feeling pretty cross that I’m being told that they don’t have enough resources to do the main work - I’d kept them informed about our arrival day and the work that I wanted doing, but now they can’t meet their commitments?  He agreed to see me half an hour later...

Alongside the Service Dock, Deltaville, Virginia

I met his boss Sean and we went through everything.  Sean said that they do have the resources to do all of the work that I want to do and they should be able to get it all done in my five week schedule. Only time will tell.

We went alongside the service dock ready to be hauled tomorrow.  It was incredibly hot today – what a change from a couple of days ago.  We spent the afternoon in the air-conditioned lounge; I spent my time re-planning the various jobs that I want to do.  

21 June 2012   Deltaville, Chesapeake
It remained very hot all night – we didn’t sleep well.

Mac, one of the engineers came on board and we went out for a sea trial.  He checked the revs and the temperature of the engine while I bumbled about at various speeds.  He didn’t find much wrong with the actual engine, but thinks that the engine mounts are worn, causing excessive vibration, which is probably causing our problems with the leaking propeller shaft seal.

We then hung around waiting to he hauled out, it was so hot that we hid in the lounge again. They finally hauled us out at three o’clock, which was exciting and nerve wracking.

Once out of the water, they pressure washed the hull, so we retired to the swimming pool and chilled out. An hour later, I wandered up the boat yard to look for my boat – very odd.

To celebrate being on the hard, we went out for a meal and had sea food seeing as how we’re in a world-famous seafood area – I had a sea food medley with prawns, scallops and snow crab legs, which was brilliant.