Well, the trip down from NY was very interesting as it turned out. The forecasts on the east coast in the summer are pretty much "chance of thunder storms " most days, so we didn't take much notice when we left the Manhattan area to chug down to Sandy Hook for the night to be ready for a first light departure to Norfolk Virginia. Duh. Didn't even make the Verizano Bridge before the first storm hit us,then by the time we just reached Sandy Hook ,we got thumped by number two. Splendid start to the trip. Next morning at first light we jumped out into the Atlantic and had a wonderful sail wing on wing (goose winged in Oz talk)(a sail out each side of da boat)all day. Passed Atlantic City at sunset. Actually, with 3 Casinos closing their doors that week, it could be Atlantic Ghost Town before long....Anyway...as the night progressed the wind just kept building. In the early hours we were passing the Delaware and thought it might be wise to head in there and do the whole Delaware/Chesapeake thing.....but wait....Jabiru's Captain is an idiot. Let's keep going. By the next afternoon we had 25 to 30 knot winds ,just aft of the beam , and 10 to 12 ft seas to go with 'em. By evening we were getting gale force (35 knots ) gusting to 40 ! I'm not sure how big the waves were , I didn't really want to look at them much but we were flying along at 7 to 8 knots with just a weenie bit of jib out. Looking back , it was exhilarating....certainly quick , and the new rigging had a good test drive. By the time we were off Cape Henry , at about midnight , we turned west and at least had the waves behind us , which was good because at least three large waves had broken over the boat and reminded me I hadn't re-sealed the hatches after the last time I varnished them. Read "little waterfalls over the bedding ". The good thing was that it also turned out that I hadn't done a real good job of sealing the mast when it was put back so all the fresh water , from the now torrential rain, rinsed the floor off nicely. So....here we were 'surfing ' into the Chesapeake with about 50 yards/metres visibility and steering by "TV " ...or chart plotter.....same thing...and wondering when the clouds were going to thin enough to give the Sun a bit of a go. Well.....as we neared Hampton Roads things cleared and we chugged up to Norfolk and dropped the hook off the Hospital and went into a coma/sleep for about 3 hours .The rest was easy .....another chug up river to the Dismal Swamp lock and a good, calm sleep. Next morning ,a very pleasant trip down the canal ,except the masthead light got damaged when I didn't see some overhanging trees , and out of the canal and the beautiful Pasquatank River to anchor off the Albermarle Sound ready for an early start across the sound and down the Alligator River and nearly home ( Oriental ).....But wait....the sun's almost up and we step out into the cockpit to be greeted by thousands of mosquito looking things that had left a green coating over everything....We'd been slimed!! 45 minutes later we'd cleaned up and had a lovely sail down to the Alligator/Pungo Canal and another peaceful anchorage at the south of that. Oh, did I mention that we were briefly grounded on a tree stump at the beginning of the canal...Next morning was a motor to Oriental ,about 40 miles, on a totally windless, sunny day.......until we were about 3 miles away from the entrance channel. Well I suppose it's an exit channel too.....depends which way yer going, Where was I ? Right , 3 miles. Is that thunder ? 300 yards from the channel....dark clouds rushing in......should we just stay out 'til it passes ? Noooo......the captain's an idiot....maybe fearless....no...an idiot. So we dashed up the channel, called Larry to see if he could take our lines.....got about 40 yards from the slip and this rolling cloud that looked like fog ,but was actually thick rain, came charging down the creek. Nuff said...we got in without damaging ourselves or the neighboring boats the only problem being drowning Larry's cell phone. That'll teach him not to be a good guy. All in all we got sorta got what we wished for at the end of the last blog. A good trip. Interesting but good.
That's how we got here and once here everything was as usual. A delightful little all American country town, a whole bunch of our very good friends ,lots of boat projects done...Jabiru looking beautiful again , plenty of playing. These two were something special. Call themselves The Travelling Joneses Though neither of their names is Jones.
Mike and Ladonna.She sings like an angel and Janis Joplin
Amazing
A misty, dewey morning through a resident spiders web.
And one night we went over to celebrate the arrival of cold nights with a moonlit bonfire and feast at Perry and Susan's house.
That's the gang...or some of us.
Well that's it...That was Oriental ..That was.
Off on our way down to Florida tomorrow or maybe day after.
Think I'll finish off by saying that we're hoping for a rough trip and see if the old reverse pchycology works.
