After almost 2 weeks at home we returned to Blossom ready to
head north. We took on over 1500 gallons of diesel, provisioned for fresh food,
and were ready to head out in a couple of days. We enjoyed our last 2 days at
AYB watching the steady flow of northbound boats.
The procession
One of the passing
boats heading north
Some of their
passengers have been hanging around a long time 😊
We had a calm cruise up to Norfolk passing through 1 lock
and under 2 bridges we needed to open for us. We planned to leave early to avoid the rush as boats
depart the southern marina, Coinjock, first thing in the morning and head north.
As it turns out, we dodged a bit of a
bullet by doing so. We made the 9 am opening of Great Bridge with several other boats, (we weren’t
quite early enough!). The next bridge we needed opening was two bridges next to each other. A bascule railway bridge and a lift highway bridge. We had to wait for about 15 minutes as the railway bridge was taking forever to
open. Boats were beginning to call on the radio to
question if there was a problem. Then once we got tied up at Waterside we heard
the “securite” on the radio – the bridge was broken in the down position. We
were so happy that we’d left early that morning! We were the last group of boats to get through before it broke and it was stuck in the down position for three days! This meant there was no
northbound traffic and an empty marina all weekend. It was obvious the
floodgates had opened on Saturday night as boat after boat checked in to
Waterside.
Blossom at the dock
Norfolk’s mascot, the
mermaid. Painted versions are all over the city
Female cadets in training
We had a primo location on the docks at Waterside, in the
middle of the action, right in front of the newly opened Waterside District. Apparently,
this building was an abandoned warehouse for years. It’s hard to imagine that
now – as part of a revitalization effort, it’s now filled with restaurants and
bars with games and live music. We tried twice to eat dinner there but seating
was 1.5-2 hours out. Yikes! Outside there are bocce ball courts and paddle
tennis. There was live music Thursday – Sunday nights and it was very festive
place to be. Our prime location meant
that Blossom got lots of attention. We had to wait to leave the boat a couple
of times to avoid photo bombing peoples’ selfies. Blossom is a popular girl!
Waterside District
Festivities at "The Largest Office Party in the World" celebration included
a hula hoop musical chairs type game
The weather wasn’t our friend on this visit. Our first
evening at Waterside we found ourselves enjoying cocktails on the fly bridge.
One minute we were enjoying the scene below, and within 10 minutes we were
hiding behind the helm chairs from large pea-sized hailstones that were raining
down horizontally into the fly bridge. It was chaos! Folks running and
screaming across the waterfront. It put quite the damper on the evening. The
storm ushered in unsettled weather for next week or so.
One of the highlights of time in Norfolk was meeting up with
some friends who we’d met last year in the Bahamas. We just caught sight of their
arrival while we were out for walk. We enjoyed a great meal at an Irish pub and
got caught up with Laust, and his crew.
L’Adagio arriving
Although we hadn’t intended on staying more than a few
nights at Waterfront, we ended up staying for a week. We had 4 days of rain and
lightning storms with shifting winds and decided we’d rather get a weekly rate
at the marina than poke our way north through raining anchorages and winds.
Being in town for a bit gave us the opportunity to do some
exploring. We visited the Chrysler Museum Glass Studio and the Chrysler Museum
of Art. The museum was delightful and we were greeted with live music and
couples dancing tango in the entry hall! We enjoyed the visiting
Toulouse-Lautrec exhibit and their permanent glass exhibit. All this and entry
to the museum is free (requesting voluntary donations of course)!
This glass chess set was on display but we couldn’t find a
tag to explain it. Jews v. Catholics on a chess board and the Catholics look a
bit maniacal!
Quirky glass chess
game
We also visited Nauticus, a marine themes science center and museum. The highlight of Nauticus for us was getting to tour the Battleship Wisconsin. She first set sail in 1944 and was decommissioned in 1991. If you go to Norfolk you really must see the Wisconsin!
Once the weather improved slightly, we left to anchor out for an evening in the Piankatank River where we’d anchored before on our first trip through the Chesapeake aboard Blossom. It was a windy, gray day, Martin was quite sick with a cold and I managed to get sea sick. The highlight of our cruise was when Aircraft Carrier 78 - the USS Gerald R. Ford - called to pass us just as the channel narrowed. They wanted us to stay at least 500 yards from the ship which meant coming very close to a shallow bar. Martin ran as far to port as he was comfortable and they requested that we move over more. Martin said he wasn’t comfortable doing so (!) and they seemed nonplussed. They politely told us that was fine but they’d place their navy patrol boat between us and the carrier for the pass. What a site! I don’t think I want to know how many weapons were trained on us but we certainly got some cool photos!
View of the Wisconsin from her fore deck
View of Norfolk from the deck of the Wisconsin
Once the weather improved slightly, we left to anchor out for an evening in the Piankatank River where we’d anchored before on our first trip through the Chesapeake aboard Blossom. It was a windy, gray day, Martin was quite sick with a cold and I managed to get sea sick. The highlight of our cruise was when Aircraft Carrier 78 - the USS Gerald R. Ford - called to pass us just as the channel narrowed. They wanted us to stay at least 500 yards from the ship which meant coming very close to a shallow bar. Martin ran as far to port as he was comfortable and they requested that we move over more. Martin said he wasn’t comfortable doing so (!) and they seemed nonplussed. They politely told us that was fine but they’d place their navy patrol boat between us and the carrier for the pass. What a site! I don’t think I want to know how many weapons were trained on us but we certainly got some cool photos!
Aircraft Carrier 78 heading
out
She's passing us
That night Martin took some niquil and I tried taking
some Bonine (thinking that if I took some at night and then 1 in the morning,
maybe I wouldn’t be so dang tired from the meds during the day.) That evening a
storm blew through which we were expecting. However, neither of us woke up! I always wake up with any wind/rain/noise.
That night however, we experienced a gust that registered above our anemometer
setting (50 kts) and then broke our anemometer – and we slept through it all.
Thankfully we have a kick-butt anchor and had put out extra rode in an area
with good holding…
We had thought to anchor out near Solomon’s Island the
following day as the winds were due to clock around and be quite gusty again.
With more storms on the way and anticipating crowded anchorages over the start
of Memorial Day Weekend, we made a last minute call and ended up going in to
dock at Zahniser’s Marina. It’s a really friendly marina and an easy walk to
downtown. We spent 2 lovely days there while Martin continued to fight his
cold.
Martin enjoying an
evening walk into town
A bird on almost every post
Monday, we headed out and up to our new home port, just
around the corner from Annapolis. We finally had some really perfect weather!
It’s a super protected, key-hole marina. Knowing that we’d be leaving Blossom for weeks at a time over the summer, we chose this marina because of it was so protected and because it came so highly recommended by a friend who’s very fastidious. He had spent a couple of summers there on the boat he captains. Low and behold, as we enter the marina, there was our friend George waving to us. We had no idea he’s be there and were thrilled to see him!
Early morning departure to beat the afternoon thunderstorms
Osprey on a red marker - the storm was coming
It’s a super protected, key-hole marina. Knowing that we’d be leaving Blossom for weeks at a time over the summer, we chose this marina because of it was so protected and because it came so highly recommended by a friend who’s very fastidious. He had spent a couple of summers there on the boat he captains. Low and behold, as we enter the marina, there was our friend George waving to us. We had no idea he’s be there and were thrilled to see him!
We have the best seat at the bar :)
Blossom at the wall.
She fills the space in!
A somewhat narrow fairway
We had a wonderful time at the marina. The marina is part of a gated community boasting a lovely restaurant, bar, 2 swimming pools and 4 tennis courts. It’s a short Lyft
ride or 4 mile bike ride into Annapolis.
Even though we were only there for a few days, we packed in quite a bit of fun. I’ve become a bit addicted to a game called “pickle ball” and we were so happy to find the tennis courts at the marina. Even after I caught Martins cold, with both of us under the weather we still managed to get in 3 games 😊 Laust was once again nearby and we were able to connect with him again meet his beautiful wife. We caught up with George and met the wonderful folks that he captain’s for. One evening, George and a friend sat down with us and pointed out several deep-draft anchorages and fun towns/tiki bars to visit around the bay. We aren’t going to have nearly enough time this summer to explore such a vast and interesting area!
Even though we were only there for a few days, we packed in quite a bit of fun. I’ve become a bit addicted to a game called “pickle ball” and we were so happy to find the tennis courts at the marina. Even after I caught Martins cold, with both of us under the weather we still managed to get in 3 games 😊 Laust was once again nearby and we were able to connect with him again meet his beautiful wife. We caught up with George and met the wonderful folks that he captain’s for. One evening, George and a friend sat down with us and pointed out several deep-draft anchorages and fun towns/tiki bars to visit around the bay. We aren’t going to have nearly enough time this summer to explore such a vast and interesting area!
Time flew by and suddenly it was time to head home to
Florida to take care of some renovation business see how things are going. We’ll
only be in Florida for a week before we’re back to Blossom and can start
exploring!
Boat Business: there
are still a few outstanding items but several tasks were completed this visit:
- Mesh window covers. Martin fixed the broken snaps on our window screens and added a few more for good measure. Originally we gave suction cups a go, hoping to not have to put too many snaps in. It was a great idea but not very practical in windy conditions. He fixed the few that had broken last season and then decided to add a few more so we’d feel more secure about leaving them on when we’re gone from the boat for a while.
- Wavenet. We got both units back in Norfolk but only one was working. We managed to ship and get back the other in Annapolis so we ended our stay having 2 working units once again.
- Air handler filters. We had run out of spares and had a ton sent while we were gone. Martin finished replacing them.
- Satellite TV. We had to replace the hard drive in satellite receiver for the guest room tv as it died over the winter.
- Kitchen sink. I had an unfortunate experience with fibrous veggies in the kitchen sink/garbage disposal. Thankfully, George is well equipped and lent us a kitchen plunger (I hadn’t known these existed before this incident). Blossom now boasts her own little plunger and the sink is flowing once again. (How cute is this little gadget?)
- Anemometer. Martin installed our third (in as many years) Maretron anemometer. Poor design perhaps?
No comments:
Post a Comment