Yesterday afternoon we passed mile marker “0” on the Intra Costal Waterway.  Awesome!!!

Although “entering” the ICW was done with more of a whimper than a roar (ie: non-event as you just pass a bouy), we did pass mile marker #0 (Red 36) on Sunday afternoon in Norfolk and began our trip down what is known affectionately “the ditch” by many who take this route every year. 

We had a great weekend with our friends Harris and Barbara who treated us a trip down “memory lane” at their home in Williamsburg as we reminisced about old times when we were raising our families aboard and enjoying each other’s company so many years ago.  It’s ironic that we ended up naming our boat Pandora as they too have a boat with the same name although a somewhat diminutive Pandora as it’s a Cape Cod catboat that’s 20′ long.

On Friday morning Brenda and I were lucky to have our new friend Kate lend us a car so we could explore the area so we visited Fort Monroe which was a few miles from Hampton Harbor where Pandora was anchored.   This fort has been there since the Revolution and is still actively in use, although now more for residential purposes.  The fort is quite large and even has a mote surrounding it.   I expect that the viewing tower is a newer addition.  I can’t see guys with muskets shooting from the top of that.

We parked outside and walked in through one of the bridges over the mote and were treated to a stroll back in history as we toured the grounds.   There were stately old live oaks everywhere and lovely paths.  It seemed like a very compact community or perhaps a camp ground.   In the middle of the grounds was a large open field and you could almost imagine solders marching in formation in preparation for battle. 

In New England we are accustomed to seeing signs stating that “George Washington slept here” but at Fort Monroe we saw this house where Abraham Lincoln slept and did something important.  I can’t recall what it was but the sign said that it was more than a nap.  There was a really interesting museum inside of the main fortification, surrounding the grounds.   I am not sure what it would be called but the entire fort was ringed with a massive dirt “wall” that included living quarters inside.   Part of this had been made into museum with samples of what the quarters looked like when the fort was actively protecting Hampton Roads.  Love these guys standing around in this exhibit.  I think that they might be taxidermy soldiers from the Revolutionary period.    Their hair looked at least that old.  All of this old stuff stands in stark contrast to the massive naval presence in Newport News which we passed yesterday on our way south.

Ship after ship were lined up, most undergoing refitting.  A few were under construction too.  We even saw a few submarines.  These guys are buying a lot of grey paint.

There is a stark contrast between the older ships and the newer design.  The older ones are bristling with stuff. These new ships are a lot less “messy” looking.  I guess that these are some of the new “stealth warships” if it’s possible to make something that’s 1000’ long not show up on radar.

Look at the huge bulb on the front of this baby.  I wonder if they really think that the tarp will help hide the ship.  “Quick, quick, get that F*&%#%$ tarp on her.  There’s a spy plane headed this way.”  Hmm…

This cruise ship docked in the center of Norfolk was just a bit different than the Navy ships.  We even spied a boat from Norwalk Yacht Club where we were a member for many years.  Adventure is a big wooden schooner that was in Norfolk participating in a schooner rendezvous.   It’s a really great boat.  I spoke with the owner via the VHF and he told me that he was headed to south to participate in, among other events including the Antigua antique boat regatta, I think.

After passing all of these naval ships and the city of Norfolk, we continued down the waterway through a very industrialized area toward our destination for the day, the northern lock at the Dismal Swamp Canal.   Unfortunately, and I hope not an omen for our trip south, I misread the guidebook and was late for the opening of the Glimerton drawbridge, arriving about 10 minutes late for the opening.  That made us miss the last opening of the lock.

I liked this new bridge that we went under.  Not likely to hit the mast on this.

However, being late for the lock wasn’t the end of the world as we just anchored in front of the lock and had a lovely dinner of grilled steak filet, salad and home baked, no make that boat baked, bread to celebrate entering the Dismal Swamp and ICW.   It was particularly nice to toast the beginning of this milestone with some red wine supplied by our friend Rodney from Essex.   A glass seemed a fitting way to recognize such an important milestone.  Rodney had left this particular bottle when he spent some time aboard Pandora earlier in the season.

The Dismal swamp is a very rural area and it’s amazing that it is so close to such an industrialized city like Newport News.   As the sun set over the swamp, this cormorant came to perch on a dead tree seeming to watch over us or perhaps make sure that we didn’t mess up his home during our visit. Today we caught he 08:30 opening of the canal and really entered the canal.  We are now at the visitors center about 15 miles into the swamp to enjoy the museum and meet other cruisers that will be tied up for the night.

I’ll write about the lovely trip through the canal soon.  Next stop, Elizabeth City NC.

It’s Friday morning and happily we have another wonderful sunny day in store.  The plan is to do some errands here in Hampton, including a visit to pick up some marine supplies.  We also plan another visit to the Air and Space Museum for an IMAX film on flying. Here’s the trailer, you can watch.  But, don’t tell me about it as I don’t want to have it spoiled for me.  Hope we can fit that in.

Happily, our SSCA Cruising Station Host, Kate, has offered us the use of her car (how nice is that?) and though things are really close, it will be a lot better with a car.  We also hope to fit in a visit to a local historic fort.  Should be a fun day.

Yesterday we walked around town and visited to the Virginia Air and Space Museum which, it turns out, is primarily a repository for some of NASA’s best stuff.  Here you can see prototypes of many of NASA’s planes and a lot of space related items.  One of the best displays was of the Apollo 12 capsule, post re-entry in all of it’s charred glory.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo of it.  Perhaps today.

Oh yea, our friends Harris and Barbara are coming down to have lunch with us aboard Pandora prior to sweeping us off to their home in Williamsburg for the weekend.  We have known them for about 25 years and when we get together we act like we did when we first met.  Yes, that would be us in our Not always a pretty picture but loads of fun.  Best not to take a lot of photos of us late in the evening.  Hmm…That would be us in our 20s.

However, here are some shots of some items/planes that I particularly enjoyed.  I am sure that my Dad, a plane nut, would know the names of all of them.  Me, only some.

The building itself is quite interesting.  I took this shot a few minutes in the early morning light from aboard Pandora.  Yes, we are really that close.  They say that it evokes flying with it’s two wings.  I agree.  There are many great planes suspended from the ceiling and there is a central staircase that allows you to get to eye level with everything.  (Note to management.  GET SOMEONE TO DUST THE PLANES!!!)”  I tried to give a feel for how much there is in a relatively small space.   A lot of stuff crammed inside here. It looks like these birds are moving fast even when they are just sitting, our should I say hanging there. This is a full size model of the Mars Rover that is up there right now.   There is a video of how they landed it.  Quite interesting.  A number of videos of the mission here. This is a favorite of my Dad, the Pitt Special acrobatic plane.  It seems that every one of these that I have seen is always some version of red.  Good color.  My son Rob should give up on his desire for a Shelby Cobra and just buy one of these.  They are a lot less expensive.  However, his mother (my wife Brenda) would regard that as way worse than his Harley.  Here’s a bit of history.  That’s history of the plane, not Rob.  They have been making Pitts since the 40s.  And, on top of that, they are still the plane that all acrobatic aircraft are judged against.Of course, the Boeing, Stearman Navy trainer is always fun to see. And the Piper Cub, the first really popular personal airplane.  Not quite as fast as the Pitt.More to see than I can describe.And more, more…
When you get to the top observation level you can go outside under one of the roof “wings” and get a commanding view of the harbor.  If you look carefully, you can see Pandora out in the harbor at anchor.  Why pay for a slip when you can just anchor all by yourself?   My friend Chris Blossom commented the other day that when he visited this museum years ago when he was aboard his boat that he was impressed that he visited on one of the worlds slowest forms of transportation to see some of the worlds fastest.   That dramatic blue glass building in the right background is the new $20+M dining hall for Hampton University.A view out toward Hampton Roads, the main drag.There’s also this neat little creek that runs into a local residential area.  Quite amazing views in nearly every direction.  It always surprises me how much different things look even if you aren’t that high up off of the ground. Today should be fun but first I have to get moving and stop messing with this stupid blog.

One more thing.  I saw that Essex CT is expecting a freeze tonight.  Bummer for that.   Did I say that we were headed south?  Thought so.  Into the Dismal Swamp Canal on Sunday afternoon I expect.

It’s Thursday morning, the sun is out and we are in Hampton Virginia.   Yesterday we sailed, did I say SAILED?, all the way from the Potomac to Hampton, after sailing nearly all of the way THERE from Annapolis.  That’s over  100 miles under sail in two days.  And, we did it in daylight hours.  Not bad, not bad at all.

When we arrived at the little harbor off of the Potomac River, “The Gleeb” it was too dark to take any photos.  I snapped this one early yesterday as we were leaving.  I was struck that the trees are different here, mostly pine.  It was a very rural and stark place, especially in the early morning haze. 

At one point we were sailing on a broad reach and passed a sailboat that was motoring along on the same course.  Not sure why he was motoring, but he was.  It’s indeed a nice thing to have a boat that passes most other boats under sail.  It’s still novel for me and will probably always be.  Frankly, it bugs the hell out of me if I see a boat and can’t catch them.

Tuesday was sailing with the wind but yesterday was on the wind the entire time. It was a bit of a push, I’ll admit, but I really wanted to get there in two days (most make it a three day trip)  so that we would have a day in Hampton to see the sights prior to heading up to our friends Harris and Barbara’s home in Williamsburg for the weekend.

I suppose that pushing so hard with Brenda on board was one of those “career limiting moves” that our older son Rob talks about.  By the time we got here yesterday, after 11 hours of sailing on our ear, Brenda was a bit peevish.  Happily, an “adult beverage” as my friend Rodney says, softened her a bit.   That combined with roasted potatoes and thick cut lamb chops with one of Brenda’s special sauces, did the trick.

While Tuesday was totally overcast, yesterday began to show signs of life with the sun peaking out more and more as the day progressed.  Today dawned without a cloud to be seen.   Brisk yes, but not as chilly as the past few days have been.

So, what about those “milestones of sorts” y0u say?  Yesterday marked our being further south on Pandora than we have ever been.  It was also marked by our first sighting of pelicans (actually, that was on Tuesday) and our first sea turtle sighting.  The turtle was a big one, perhaps 3′ in diameter and he spotted us too as we raced by under sail, picking his head up to get a good look.   Sadly, I wasn’t quick enough with the camera so you will have to take my word for it.

Interesting, the water temperature is a lot cooler here than in the upper bay as I spied it aS nowthe low 70s.  It was also a lot cooler than we had in Long Island Sound when we left home a monthago.

As there wasn’t much to take pictures of when we were underway yesterday save the occasional 850′ freighter coming by.  “No more pictures of freighters Bob, enough already”.  Perhaps, but I will not be deterred as I haven’t posted any photos of menhaden fishing boats yet.  So here’s one we saw yesterday near Reedville the home of a fish meal processing plant.   I just love ships.

In particular, these ships are purse-seiners as they use the smaller boats on davits to run a large net around a school of menhaden, sometimes called bunker.  After the school is encircled, they pull a rope that closes the bottom of the net, like a purse.  When the net is fully tightened, and the fish are concentrated in a small space, they stick in a big hose and pump them out.  Hmm…  It sucks to be a fish.  Pun intended.   After being unceremoniously sucked into the ship, they are taken ashore to a factory, boiled down to a slurry and separated into fish meal and omega oil.   Yes, it smells plenty good too.  Try visiting Reedville sometime. Think of those little fishies when you next reach for the omega oil pills in Walmart.  Still want to learn more?  I did and found this link that tells the history of the company, Omega Protein, that owns the ships.

I also enjoy watching the water go by the hull when we are under sail, particularly when we are on the wind and pushing hard.   Did I mention that Brenda’s not happy when we are doing that?  Thought so.   Anyway, here’s a few shots of Pandora romping to windward.    Later in the day we were really healing over (way more than in this picture) as I was pushing to be sure we arrived before dark.   Just in time actually, as the sun set (18:30) just as we entered the harbor.   The last two days provided another milestone as I have never sailed for two days straight, in this case over 100 miles, without using the engine except to enter and leave the harbors.   It was great!  Oh yeah.  Now we have been away for a month and have gone over 600 miles on our trip. I am endlessly fascinated by the look of the water coming out from under the transom.   It’s sort of the nautical equivalent of a dog with his head out of the car window on the highway.  I guess you had to be there.  Trust me, it was fun to watch.  Simple pleasures for simple people.Hampton should be fun as this is home to the Virginia air and space museum as well as a Jacques Cousteau society museum and I hope to take them both in.   Here’s the view that greeted me this morning when I came up on deck.  What a pretty place.    This is the air and space museum just up the harbor.Here’s a lovely clock tower that chimes on the hour just off of our beam.

There is a park just off of our beam.  Very scenic.There is a terrific person, Kate, here in Hampton who runs a cruising station for the SSCA (Seven Seas Cruising Association) and she has been just terrific in helping us get a feel for the place.  Recall that I established a new cruising station for SSCA in Essex CT.  Our plans include putting on a gam for SSCA next June in Essex next summer.  That should coincide with the northern migration of the SSCA snowbirds as they head for Maine.

So, lots of milestones.  Furthest south, pelicans and a turtle.  That and sailing further than EVER in two days.   We are on our way, totally.

And, lots to do here in Hampton.  Time to get going.  Yikes, it’s already 09:30.  The day’s a wasting…

At 07:00 Tuesday, today, we left Annapolis to resume our trip south to the Bahamas.   The weather for the last few days has not been particularly cooperative with very cool temperatures along with off and on rain.  Today was no different.  When I got up this AM it was plenty dark and the cabin was in the mid 50s.  Brrrr!!!  Rain was falling and I have to admit that being out on the water didn’t sound appealing to me at all.  Needless to say, Brenda wasn’t too keen on a day of sailing in the rain either.  However, when the wind blows from behind, you go and take advantage of favorable conditions.  Me, I’d rather have rain and good wind than sun and wind on the nose. I expect that most sailors feel the same way.  No, probably all of them.

Happily, the rain mostly stopped by the time we got underway and while it remains totally overcast, the wind is in our favor and we continue to make good time.  For a while the wind was quite gusty with some speeds peaking in the mid 20s,  a bit much wind for the amount of sail that I had up.  Happily, it’s moderated into the mid teens and will likely drop more as the day progresses.  Actually, this isn’t quite enough wind as we are now on a dead run with the sails set wing and wing.  It’s hard to get a shot of this without hanging out  over the dink, something that I wasn’t willing to do, so you will have to use your imagination.  It’s great fun to watch the autopilot click off the miles without my touching anything for hour after hour.  

While it’s still overcast, the sky has brightened a good deal and it’s now warmer.  It’s 14:00 and I am still not sure where we will end up tonight as it really depends on how well the wind keeps up.    There are a few options so we will just have to see how far we get before I have to bail out and head in before it gets dark.

While it’s not raining any longer, I have kept the cockpit enclosure in place, including the netting in the back, as it keeps the wind out and it’s a lot more pleasant on a cold dreary day.  It’s hard to take interesting shots when there isn’t anything around but grey water.  This shot does give a good feel for how level our track is.  The wind isn’t that strong, with less than 10-15 kts apparent, but we are clicking along at around 6-7 kts and even a bit better over the bottom as the tide is with us. The days are really short right now with sunset at 18:30 today so we will have to make a decision soon about where we are going to spend the night.  Happily, the winds are supposed to be from the north (a good thing) for the next few days so we should be able to make miles in the next few days.

Having a flexible schedule is terrific as we can pick our days to be out.  I pick today!!!

It’s Monday morning and here’s what greeted me shortly after I woke up.  This and cabin temperatures in the mid 50s.  Brrrr!!!  Glad that we have our trusty Espar diesel heater.  It’s toasty now.  On the perhaps bright or dark side of things, depending on your perspective, did someone say “red sky in the morning, sailor take warning?”   Me, I’ll focus on the bright side.  What a dramatic sight and a great way to start the day. On Friday evening our boys Rob and Christoper arrived in Annapolis to retrieve us from Pandora and take us to Baltimore for a weekend at Candice’s, Rob’s girlfriend’s, home.  After nearly a month without seeing them it was a “love fest” as expected.   What a great time we had enjoying each other’s company and eating.  Did I say eating?  Yes, lots of that.

It’s been a week as of yesterday since we arrived in Annapolis and while we have really enjoyed the visit, it’s time to move on.  However, we signed up to work the SSCA booth for Monday afternoon so we can’t leave until Tuesday.  With the cold weather that has rolled in over the last few days we will likely enjoy some brisk winds from a northerly direction as the week progresses to speed us on our way.   I am counting on that as our general route from now on is going to be SOUTH.   I like the sound of that.

Our loose plans for the week are to work ourselves down the bay and spend a night with friends in Williamsburg VA, perhaps Friday or Saturday night.

I have to say that I am very excited about heading down the ICW and can’t wait till we head into waters that are further south than we have done in the past.

Speaking of boats.  How about a tour of cockpits at the show.  Pandora has a nice  cockpit but she can’t hold a candle to some of these.   Floating condo anyone?  These catamarans are all the rage on the charter circuit.  It would be fun to spend a week with friends aboard in warmer climes on one of these. This is what they look like from the bow.  Not exactly sweet lines.  However, in the form follows function department, they do make for a great party platform.  How about this drop down transom?  Sort of like your own private deck or perhaps dock.  And, this one is a mono hull.  Notice the twin wheels as the boat is so wide that you need to steer from both sides to see what you are doing.   Seems like a bit too much complexity to me.  Having said that, there is plenty of room for your blender and buffet table on deck.   I guess we would have to revise our “six for cocktails, four for dinner and two sleep over” rule upward.   Oh yea, notice the boarding step on the port side.  No more leaping off onto the dock. And now for something a bit more basic.    Not a lot of entertaining here.  However, I’ll bet that it would be plenty of entertaining to sail this baby in 30kts on a broad reach.  Hold onto your knickers!!!Speaking of cockpits, this one doesn’t even have one.   In the “form follows function department… Not sure.  Nice color, I guess. A bit of mopping up for us at the show today as we make one more round of the vendors to pick up some items that we purchased.   Some don’t deliver product at the show and ship afterwards.  That won’t work for us though as we are not headed home.  However, vendors are happy to sell the floor models as they don’t want to take them home.