hot day! lots of meetings with the folks at deltaville boatyard for workorders and "winterizing." a weird combination, this weather and talk of antifreeze good to 50 degrees below zero!
too hot for details!...
a car ride to:
- the hardware store
- west marine store
- the coffee shop
pulling anchor to go 1/2 block to:
- the pump out dock
- the fuel dock
- to meet with boat experts
back to anchor
a ride to an amazing restaurant (toby's) from an interesting iraq war vet.
hot and windless on cricket
too hot to blog much
a 9:30 dip on the water (forthcoming.... bye ; )
Monday, August 10, 2009
Sunday, August 9, 2009
20090809: "decommissioning" is a sad word. making the best of it!
decommissioning is what the deltaville marina calls a haul-out on their work order. sounds so permanent, doesn't it? it seems so early in the season to pull cricket out of the water, but pull her out we must! tomorrow. but it is not permanent. only until next june... that's only... ummm, 9-10 months away... wait a minute! that IS forever! it will seem like forever, anyways.
pam woke me gently this morning, and then it was time to plan the day. but who can properly plan without a nice cup of coffee first? so it was dinghy to the marina's dock, borrow a couple of bikes, and head to the town coffee shop... oh yeah, did i mention with owen? yup! owen rode on the bike with me! many of the marina's bikes have baskets, so we stuffed a couple of towels into my bike's basket, stuffed owen on top of them, and pedaled on down the country road. owen exactly didn't love it, but he was a good sport. whenever a car came whizzing by he'd bury his head into the basket. so cute! and a far better reaction than trying to hop out! he did seem to begin to get used to it by the end of the ride. after some coffee and some breakfast (mine was apple pie and ice cream : ), it was time to bike back and get to work.
cricket needs to have all sails off her before the marina will haul her out, so it was decided that that needed to be done first. it was a very hot day (hottest yet), so it went something like: swim. take down a sail. swim. take down a sail. swim. take down another sail. swim. dinghy the sails to shore. swim. fold the sails on shore. swim (this time in the marina pool). bring the folded, bagged sails back to cricket. swim. eat supper. lay around with the fans blowing on us...
this evening we took jiminny on a little ride up and down jackson creek. there was no breeze at all on cricket's decks, so we decided to make our own breeze tooling around on jiminny. we explored a sandy spit that stuck way out from the shore. jiminny's outboard grounded on the sandy bottom, so i hauled up the motor and waded in with pam in the dinghy. fun! the seagulls were not very happy about us disturbing their evening peace on the sand, but we told them they could have it right back in a short while. they were all right back as we left their watery, sand bar so it was all cool. we headed up the creek, slowly motoring past beautiful houses, and docks, and trees, and little marinas. we went until the shores got quite close together, and the houses stopped, and it was quite dark, then turned around and went down the creek, back to cricket. it was very fun to just "lounge" on jiminny, slowly circle him around when there was something of interest to look at, and enjoy the sweet companionship of my best friend, pam!
pam woke me gently this morning, and then it was time to plan the day. but who can properly plan without a nice cup of coffee first? so it was dinghy to the marina's dock, borrow a couple of bikes, and head to the town coffee shop... oh yeah, did i mention with owen? yup! owen rode on the bike with me! many of the marina's bikes have baskets, so we stuffed a couple of towels into my bike's basket, stuffed owen on top of them, and pedaled on down the country road. owen exactly didn't love it, but he was a good sport. whenever a car came whizzing by he'd bury his head into the basket. so cute! and a far better reaction than trying to hop out! he did seem to begin to get used to it by the end of the ride. after some coffee and some breakfast (mine was apple pie and ice cream : ), it was time to bike back and get to work.
cricket needs to have all sails off her before the marina will haul her out, so it was decided that that needed to be done first. it was a very hot day (hottest yet), so it went something like: swim. take down a sail. swim. take down a sail. swim. take down another sail. swim. dinghy the sails to shore. swim. fold the sails on shore. swim (this time in the marina pool). bring the folded, bagged sails back to cricket. swim. eat supper. lay around with the fans blowing on us...
this evening we took jiminny on a little ride up and down jackson creek. there was no breeze at all on cricket's decks, so we decided to make our own breeze tooling around on jiminny. we explored a sandy spit that stuck way out from the shore. jiminny's outboard grounded on the sandy bottom, so i hauled up the motor and waded in with pam in the dinghy. fun! the seagulls were not very happy about us disturbing their evening peace on the sand, but we told them they could have it right back in a short while. they were all right back as we left their watery, sand bar so it was all cool. we headed up the creek, slowly motoring past beautiful houses, and docks, and trees, and little marinas. we went until the shores got quite close together, and the houses stopped, and it was quite dark, then turned around and went down the creek, back to cricket. it was very fun to just "lounge" on jiminny, slowly circle him around when there was something of interest to look at, and enjoy the sweet companionship of my best friend, pam!
20090808: back to deltaville
when i finished my night shift at 3am, the winds had picked up considerably, and cricket was doing a good 4 knots on a near run. we had made it all the way to the green marker that signals a port turn towards deltaville, va. from here deltaville marina was only 6 nautical miles away, and on a beam reach we'de be making 5-7 knots, which would blow us there in less than an hour! i kind of knew that pam would not want to try to navigate into the harbour at night, since it is very shallow, and very tricky on the way in. i know i wouldn't've wanted to try. so when she took over her shift it was no surprise that she headed her bow to starboard (east), and on out to sea (or bay). cricket kicked up her heels and danced up and down the waves at a very spritely pace! fun! while i was falling asleep in the bunk, pam and cricket were having a grand time sailing back and forth for four hours in a very fine wind! the wind and cricket had saved some of the best sailing on the bay for our last morning on the big water!
when morning light arrived pam woke me from my dreams of bouncing up and down on the trampoline to a very beautiful, cool, windy morning. it was time to go to our last anchorage : ( right out from the deltaville marina. pam did an excellent job of piloting us through to our stopping spot, and kept cricket from dragging her feet to her haul out spot. we were tired when we anchored, and tried to nap, but somehow couldn't. so we got into jiminny, dinghied over to the marina (a very short ride), paid the $35 a week to use their facilities, and showered to our heart's, and dirty hair's content! we then took the cute little deltaville marina's bicycles into town to the cocomo restaurant for tuna bites, a crab cake sandwich, a caesar salad with a tuna steak, a corona and a pina colada. all very good. all went down very easily!
biked back. dinghied back, and had "movie night' aboard cricket. while a windy and rainy storm was a-stormin' out side, we watched "the hunt for red october" on the laptop with great pleasure, nice and dry inside. we went out on deck afterwards to enjoy the cool night air and the moon coming out from the shreds of clouds for a wee bit, and then turned in. big day tomorrow... time to begin getting cricket ready for the haulout.
when morning light arrived pam woke me from my dreams of bouncing up and down on the trampoline to a very beautiful, cool, windy morning. it was time to go to our last anchorage : ( right out from the deltaville marina. pam did an excellent job of piloting us through to our stopping spot, and kept cricket from dragging her feet to her haul out spot. we were tired when we anchored, and tried to nap, but somehow couldn't. so we got into jiminny, dinghied over to the marina (a very short ride), paid the $35 a week to use their facilities, and showered to our heart's, and dirty hair's content! we then took the cute little deltaville marina's bicycles into town to the cocomo restaurant for tuna bites, a crab cake sandwich, a caesar salad with a tuna steak, a corona and a pina colada. all very good. all went down very easily!
biked back. dinghied back, and had "movie night' aboard cricket. while a windy and rainy storm was a-stormin' out side, we watched "the hunt for red october" on the laptop with great pleasure, nice and dry inside. we went out on deck afterwards to enjoy the cool night air and the moon coming out from the shreds of clouds for a wee bit, and then turned in. big day tomorrow... time to begin getting cricket ready for the haulout.
Friday, August 7, 2009
20090807: going back north, but not hurridly
20090807
today there can be no more foot dragging (or anchor dragging, whatever the case may be). it is time to head north to deltaville, cricket's home for the coming fall and winter. nope, no foot dragging, so up out of bed we rose, hopped into jiminny, and headed to the town coffee shop... you learn when sailing that many times the shortest distance between two points is not usually relevant, so a short tack to a cup of coffee and a muffin will get you there better.
but as one of our favorite sailing songs goes: " mercy, mercy, i do declare that half the fun of going is getting there. but mercy percy, you better start rowing 'cause the other half of getting there is going!" so back to the boat, hoist anchor, and get going.
it's been a lovely, easy sail in light winds, but that seems completely ok with is today. perhaps cricket is dragging her feet too. we decided to go all night, not because we're in a hurry so much as that now we've realized what a joy night sailing can be. and a joy it is tonight! a beautiful sunset without having to anchor. little lights along the shore. the green and red lighted bouys going by. ships passing by at a nice, safe distance. the full moon reflecting on the water, lighting up the white sails. a sweet, following breeze. the gurgle of the water under the hull. i even got to pass right by the dark figure of the wolf trap lighthouse, with it's light circling on top! it's all very fine! my 23:00-03:00 shift is almost over and it is time to wake pam and let her experience some of the joy. it'll be hard to leave this beautiful setting, but the bunk will be warm and cozy and rocking, while i put my trust in pam as pilot, cricket as the floating cradle, and God as the giant who carries us all.
today there can be no more foot dragging (or anchor dragging, whatever the case may be). it is time to head north to deltaville, cricket's home for the coming fall and winter. nope, no foot dragging, so up out of bed we rose, hopped into jiminny, and headed to the town coffee shop... you learn when sailing that many times the shortest distance between two points is not usually relevant, so a short tack to a cup of coffee and a muffin will get you there better.
but as one of our favorite sailing songs goes: " mercy, mercy, i do declare that half the fun of going is getting there. but mercy percy, you better start rowing 'cause the other half of getting there is going!" so back to the boat, hoist anchor, and get going.
it's been a lovely, easy sail in light winds, but that seems completely ok with is today. perhaps cricket is dragging her feet too. we decided to go all night, not because we're in a hurry so much as that now we've realized what a joy night sailing can be. and a joy it is tonight! a beautiful sunset without having to anchor. little lights along the shore. the green and red lighted bouys going by. ships passing by at a nice, safe distance. the full moon reflecting on the water, lighting up the white sails. a sweet, following breeze. the gurgle of the water under the hull. i even got to pass right by the dark figure of the wolf trap lighthouse, with it's light circling on top! it's all very fine! my 23:00-03:00 shift is almost over and it is time to wake pam and let her experience some of the joy. it'll be hard to leave this beautiful setting, but the bunk will be warm and cozy and rocking, while i put my trust in pam as pilot, cricket as the floating cradle, and God as the giant who carries us all.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
20090806: a happy, rainy day
20090806
the winds told us to stay here today. we took some time to go over lists of things to do for cricket before we leave her for the winter : (
pam dutifully wrote them out so we wouldn't forget (i truly appreciate her gift of organization!). we also dreamt together of improvements to be made for cricket... hard to beleive this ol' boat has any room for improvement, but sure enough we're finding a few things that would make her even more of a joy to sail and live aboard! : )
we also took owen for a dinghy ride in the rain on jiminny, and a nice long walk through the beautiful buildings of the hampton's v.a., and the university of hampton. beautiful place! we stopped downtown for lunch, and got totally poured upon. we were glad to have our rain gear and our umbrellas! owen was particularly glad to have umbrellas! he also learned how to ride in the little canvas duluth pack on my back. he was quite a cute sight to see, with his head poked out the top, and his curious eyes looking at this and that, all the while under the protection of our big blue and white umbrella! his eyes slowly went to half mast, then he cuddled down for a little snooze on his walking human's back. i wished i were him, but was glad to be me! (wouldn't be great to have friendly giants!?) i loved walking in the rain under an umbrella as a little kid, and i still do!
it's nice now to be dry inside cricket, with the oil lamp burning warmly, enya playing softly, and a warm cup of irish coffee in front of me.
the winds told us to stay here today. we took some time to go over lists of things to do for cricket before we leave her for the winter : (
pam dutifully wrote them out so we wouldn't forget (i truly appreciate her gift of organization!). we also dreamt together of improvements to be made for cricket... hard to beleive this ol' boat has any room for improvement, but sure enough we're finding a few things that would make her even more of a joy to sail and live aboard! : )
we also took owen for a dinghy ride in the rain on jiminny, and a nice long walk through the beautiful buildings of the hampton's v.a., and the university of hampton. beautiful place! we stopped downtown for lunch, and got totally poured upon. we were glad to have our rain gear and our umbrellas! owen was particularly glad to have umbrellas! he also learned how to ride in the little canvas duluth pack on my back. he was quite a cute sight to see, with his head poked out the top, and his curious eyes looking at this and that, all the while under the protection of our big blue and white umbrella! his eyes slowly went to half mast, then he cuddled down for a little snooze on his walking human's back. i wished i were him, but was glad to be me! (wouldn't be great to have friendly giants!?) i loved walking in the rain under an umbrella as a little kid, and i still do!
it's nice now to be dry inside cricket, with the oil lamp burning warmly, enya playing softly, and a warm cup of irish coffee in front of me.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
20090805: ways to cool off
20090805
after our first night out at sea it felt good to sleep in. very good! when we were both finally awake sometime between ten and eleven (i won't say who was up last) we had no definite plans for the day, so it was time to examine our options. while looking into and thinking about a few options (1: start north up the bay, 2: go north a wee bit to downtown norfolk 3: stay here in old point comfort bay) i realized that i was too pleasantly groggy to decide without a good cup of coffee, and last time we had been here we had seen a nice coffee shop a short dinghy ride and a short walk away. so it was decided. stay it is. pam was happy to do just that, even though she wasn't as happily groggy as i (happy, yes. groggy, no). good decision.
we had a lovely rest of the short morning and long afternoon sitting in the air conditioned comfort of the pheobus coffee shop. it was one of the hottest and muggiest days yet, so sitting sipping hot coffee in a cold shop was just fine by us! we arranged to have cricket hauled out in deltaville : ( while we were there. afterwards we visited a cute little antique shop that was a bit disheveled, but had many fun old toys and things like tonka trucks and gi joes and old fisher price cash registers and plastic garden gnomes and lionel train sets and transistor radios and... you get the idea. they were also air conditioned.
when we got back to cricket it was hotter n blazes. hot enough for pam to sweat drops and drops! so naturally we thought for mealtime it would be good to enjoy some corn beef hash and eggs hot of the stovetop! just to match the temp... it was absolutely delicious! i wonder if that was the extra flavor could've been from pam's sweat dripping onto the frypan? i know a lot of love was dripping in there, for sure!
i tryed to move our ship's gps receiver to no avail.
this evening we saw dark, dark clouds coming from the west. when the grey, bubbly clouds arrived they brought with them some pretty terrific lightning and thunder, a pile of pelting rain, and some mighty winds to drive it all! we realised we could probably use a little more scope (length) to our anchor chain, and i went forward to let some out. as the chain was running through the winch a great gust of wind caught cricket and pushed her back hard. the chain began to fly out of the chain locker over the winch. there was nothing i could do but watch it fly out. you don't want to grab flying chain with your bare hands! lesson one: wear boots when you're playing with anchor chain in a gale. before i knew it all 100 feet of chain had gone out, and 100 feet of line (rope) attached to it was flying out as well! i knew i didn't want to reach the bitter end of the line (it is attached to a cleat down below, but at the rate it was coming out, i was afraid it would tear it right off the boat). i let it run through my hands. lesson two: wear gloves when you're playing with anchor line in a gale. i tried to get a wrap around one end the sampson post (a very strong block of wood at the ship's bow, with a very strong iron rod going through it to secure the anchor to), but it was coming out too fast to get a loop. then it occurred to me that there are two ends of the sampson post, and if i could get the line under one end, and feed it over to the other end i would hopefully have enough friction to stop it going through. whew! that worked, so i tied it all off in the pouring rain, and let the wind help me back to the cockpit and to the hatch. the storm raged, but the anchor and line held so that we could all enjoy the storm passing by. even owen seems to enjoy a good storm. he likes to lay under the dodger and watch while he stays mostly (but not completely) dry.
it's still drizzling. pam is enjoying a book, owen is out watching the rain, and i have finished watching the twins get their butts kicked by the indians on the iphone (technology... what can i say?).
tomorrow it's northward.
after our first night out at sea it felt good to sleep in. very good! when we were both finally awake sometime between ten and eleven (i won't say who was up last) we had no definite plans for the day, so it was time to examine our options. while looking into and thinking about a few options (1: start north up the bay, 2: go north a wee bit to downtown norfolk 3: stay here in old point comfort bay) i realized that i was too pleasantly groggy to decide without a good cup of coffee, and last time we had been here we had seen a nice coffee shop a short dinghy ride and a short walk away. so it was decided. stay it is. pam was happy to do just that, even though she wasn't as happily groggy as i (happy, yes. groggy, no). good decision.
we had a lovely rest of the short morning and long afternoon sitting in the air conditioned comfort of the pheobus coffee shop. it was one of the hottest and muggiest days yet, so sitting sipping hot coffee in a cold shop was just fine by us! we arranged to have cricket hauled out in deltaville : ( while we were there. afterwards we visited a cute little antique shop that was a bit disheveled, but had many fun old toys and things like tonka trucks and gi joes and old fisher price cash registers and plastic garden gnomes and lionel train sets and transistor radios and... you get the idea. they were also air conditioned.
when we got back to cricket it was hotter n blazes. hot enough for pam to sweat drops and drops! so naturally we thought for mealtime it would be good to enjoy some corn beef hash and eggs hot of the stovetop! just to match the temp... it was absolutely delicious! i wonder if that was the extra flavor could've been from pam's sweat dripping onto the frypan? i know a lot of love was dripping in there, for sure!
i tryed to move our ship's gps receiver to no avail.
this evening we saw dark, dark clouds coming from the west. when the grey, bubbly clouds arrived they brought with them some pretty terrific lightning and thunder, a pile of pelting rain, and some mighty winds to drive it all! we realised we could probably use a little more scope (length) to our anchor chain, and i went forward to let some out. as the chain was running through the winch a great gust of wind caught cricket and pushed her back hard. the chain began to fly out of the chain locker over the winch. there was nothing i could do but watch it fly out. you don't want to grab flying chain with your bare hands! lesson one: wear boots when you're playing with anchor chain in a gale. before i knew it all 100 feet of chain had gone out, and 100 feet of line (rope) attached to it was flying out as well! i knew i didn't want to reach the bitter end of the line (it is attached to a cleat down below, but at the rate it was coming out, i was afraid it would tear it right off the boat). i let it run through my hands. lesson two: wear gloves when you're playing with anchor line in a gale. i tried to get a wrap around one end the sampson post (a very strong block of wood at the ship's bow, with a very strong iron rod going through it to secure the anchor to), but it was coming out too fast to get a loop. then it occurred to me that there are two ends of the sampson post, and if i could get the line under one end, and feed it over to the other end i would hopefully have enough friction to stop it going through. whew! that worked, so i tied it all off in the pouring rain, and let the wind help me back to the cockpit and to the hatch. the storm raged, but the anchor and line held so that we could all enjoy the storm passing by. even owen seems to enjoy a good storm. he likes to lay under the dodger and watch while he stays mostly (but not completely) dry.
it's still drizzling. pam is enjoying a book, owen is out watching the rain, and i have finished watching the twins get their butts kicked by the indians on the iphone (technology... what can i say?).
tomorrow it's northward.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
20090802:
20090802
severe weather watch
moved down to hampton
navy vessels
radar class / watching rain
pam up the mast
radar reflector
a wild evening ride to town
severe weather watch
moved down to hampton
navy vessels
radar class / watching rain
pam up the mast
radar reflector
a wild evening ride to town
20090801: south pam goes, and i tag along for the ride
20090801
leaving anchor was much quicker than usual today, because we didn't have to wash off all that silty, gooey chesapeake muck from the chain because all we had to do was take a line off the mooring, and off we go! fun!
we motored over to the city dock and pumped out the holding tank. pam did another fantastic job at docking our ol' cricket. of course it didn't hurt that the dockmaster was there for us to do some line handling. colin. nice guy. he reccomended that we check out yorktown's saturday farmer's market, so we picked up a few peaches and a cucumber, and while we were at it we got cups of coffee, and some ice cream for breakfast (mine was oatmeal raisin, so it was a good breakfast, eh?). the coffee shop and ben & jerry's is one in the same there.
then it was off up the york river, and on south toward the james river and the sea! good winds for most of the day, even if they were somewhat contrary. a bit of tacking was neccessary to move on down. pam, again, did a fantastic job of captaining and piloting. she pretty much soloed all day! single handedly did most of the steering and tacking (including pulling on the sheets and such!). i lazily hung out down below, admiring her sailing skills. we're trying to allow eachother some time to singlehand to that we know we can do it if neccessary.
we ended up anchoring along the west side of the bay, right out there out from the coastline, in the open. we're just south of the huge navy docks in norfolk, va, just east of newport news. lots of condos and houses and beaches all along the shore. the waves have plenty chance to build up before they visit cricket's hull, and are making us rock and roll, but the anchor seems to be holding well. the biggest worry of the night are all the power boats going to and fro. i hope they all see our little anchor light... we also added another little light on the stern, just to be sure we're more visible.
way off in the east, towards the sea, right at the horizon we can see a long, long string of lights right near the water. this is the chesapeake bay bridge and underwater tunnel system. the bridge is very near the water level, but goes underwater (and underground) to allow the huge ships to come and go. it's kind of pretty to look at at night!
leaving anchor was much quicker than usual today, because we didn't have to wash off all that silty, gooey chesapeake muck from the chain because all we had to do was take a line off the mooring, and off we go! fun!
we motored over to the city dock and pumped out the holding tank. pam did another fantastic job at docking our ol' cricket. of course it didn't hurt that the dockmaster was there for us to do some line handling. colin. nice guy. he reccomended that we check out yorktown's saturday farmer's market, so we picked up a few peaches and a cucumber, and while we were at it we got cups of coffee, and some ice cream for breakfast (mine was oatmeal raisin, so it was a good breakfast, eh?). the coffee shop and ben & jerry's is one in the same there.
then it was off up the york river, and on south toward the james river and the sea! good winds for most of the day, even if they were somewhat contrary. a bit of tacking was neccessary to move on down. pam, again, did a fantastic job of captaining and piloting. she pretty much soloed all day! single handedly did most of the steering and tacking (including pulling on the sheets and such!). i lazily hung out down below, admiring her sailing skills. we're trying to allow eachother some time to singlehand to that we know we can do it if neccessary.
we ended up anchoring along the west side of the bay, right out there out from the coastline, in the open. we're just south of the huge navy docks in norfolk, va, just east of newport news. lots of condos and houses and beaches all along the shore. the waves have plenty chance to build up before they visit cricket's hull, and are making us rock and roll, but the anchor seems to be holding well. the biggest worry of the night are all the power boats going to and fro. i hope they all see our little anchor light... we also added another little light on the stern, just to be sure we're more visible.
way off in the east, towards the sea, right at the horizon we can see a long, long string of lights right near the water. this is the chesapeake bay bridge and underwater tunnel system. the bridge is very near the water level, but goes underwater (and underground) to allow the huge ships to come and go. it's kind of pretty to look at at night!
Saturday, August 1, 2009
20090731: last day in yorktown
20090731
this morning we woke up to heat, humidity, and not a lot of wind. it took a little while for me to get moving. pam did a fantastic job of getting up and cleaning up after the "party" we had last night. i'm so pleased to have such a good ship's mate! owen joined me in the bunk, and it amazes me how much "cat gravity" he can have without even laying on top of me. he's very cute and affectionate. finally i rolled out of bed, and we caught the first dinghy ride we could to yorktown docks. yeah jiminny! there we payed for one more night of mooring (the weather called for lots of wind and rain and thunder today). then showers, and then to the coffee shop... ah, yes. i began to wake up proper!
twice we watched the double swinging bridge swing out to allow a couple of big naval vessels go through and on out to the chesapeake. impressive to watch. it was "cute" to see the little (only little compaired with the navy ships) tug boats helping the ships find their way, bumping up on them on either side. while we were watching from the city docks t was fun to see some little pencil fish hunting for some even littler fish, while some birds were hunting them. "the circle of life."
we stopped in a wool shop and Pam got a drop spindle to spin yarn out of wool. it was fun to get spinning lessons from the proprieter of the shop.
then we drove the vanderwettering car (marvin the martian) back to becca's house, and stopped to visit a bit, and to practice our newly found spinning skills. becca drove us back to yorktown, and we got hugs and kisses goodbye from the kids. david and anna were sad to say goodbye, which in all honesty, feels good to be loved that much. still sad to say goodbye. once again, thanks becca and jason for joyfully sharing your family with us!
back to cricket to check on owen (he's fine), get our computers and head back to yorktown for pizza, wifi and coffee while it blows and rains on the festivities of the town outside.
tomorrow we head towards the mighty sea!
this morning we woke up to heat, humidity, and not a lot of wind. it took a little while for me to get moving. pam did a fantastic job of getting up and cleaning up after the "party" we had last night. i'm so pleased to have such a good ship's mate! owen joined me in the bunk, and it amazes me how much "cat gravity" he can have without even laying on top of me. he's very cute and affectionate. finally i rolled out of bed, and we caught the first dinghy ride we could to yorktown docks. yeah jiminny! there we payed for one more night of mooring (the weather called for lots of wind and rain and thunder today). then showers, and then to the coffee shop... ah, yes. i began to wake up proper!
twice we watched the double swinging bridge swing out to allow a couple of big naval vessels go through and on out to the chesapeake. impressive to watch. it was "cute" to see the little (only little compaired with the navy ships) tug boats helping the ships find their way, bumping up on them on either side. while we were watching from the city docks t was fun to see some little pencil fish hunting for some even littler fish, while some birds were hunting them. "the circle of life."
we stopped in a wool shop and Pam got a drop spindle to spin yarn out of wool. it was fun to get spinning lessons from the proprieter of the shop.
then we drove the vanderwettering car (marvin the martian) back to becca's house, and stopped to visit a bit, and to practice our newly found spinning skills. becca drove us back to yorktown, and we got hugs and kisses goodbye from the kids. david and anna were sad to say goodbye, which in all honesty, feels good to be loved that much. still sad to say goodbye. once again, thanks becca and jason for joyfully sharing your family with us!
back to cricket to check on owen (he's fine), get our computers and head back to yorktown for pizza, wifi and coffee while it blows and rains on the festivities of the town outside.
tomorrow we head towards the mighty sea!
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