Log 139; Day 377; June 2, 2009; Deltaville, VA.

We left Norfolk, VA about 8 am on Saturday, and not far out of our slip, we started seeing ships everywhere

The closer we got to the ships, the bigger they looked, and it was amazing to see just how many there were
We also saw 3 carriers sitting together. One of them was #77 (the USS George H.W. Bush) and the other was #71 (USS Theodore Rosevelt) which left their slip at 9 am just as we were going by. The Coast Guard was telling everyone over the VHF radio to "stand clear 500 yards...any vessel not standing clear will face immediate danger including fatal results". We stood clear.

This is the USS Theodore Rosevelt leaving their slip and heading out the Chesapeake and out to sea

I'm not sure how far we were from them as they crossed our stern, but it was an awesome sight to see

At the mouth of the Chesapeake it was a little rough, but the further north we went, the more the bay layed down, and we had a great ride to Deltaville.

As we came through the channel, we got a view of our marina at Doziers, in Deltaville, VA.

This is a view of our boat, at our slip, from the marina office

This is a view of our marina from the dock

We took a dinghy ride around the area, and this is a sample of many spots on the water

Many homes face the bay, and this is their back yard.

I took advantage of a warm day, and warm water to dive under the boat to see if something was caught in our stern thruster

This is the plastic bag I found. When I took this out, the thruster worked great.

Log 139
Day 377
Tuesday, June 02, 2009

5:30 AM EDT
Location: Dozier’s Regatta Point; Deltaville, VA
Weather: 68 degrees with light winds out of the south; heading for 90 today

My GPS says the sunrise is at 5:45 this morning, but when I got up at 5 it was already getting light out, and the birds were singing like they were excited about the day. Maybe they know something? We do have a breeze out of the south, but it’s not windy, and the sky only has a few clouds on the horizon. Those southerly breezes are bringing lots of humidity, and a forecasted high of 90 today. Time to go boating.

Getting here...was both fun, and interesting. We left Norfolk as the wind was dying down, but the closer we got to the open waters of Newport News, and the Chesapeake, you could tell there was more wind, and the water had not calmed down yet. At the mouth of the Chesapeake the outgoing tide (from Norfolk) was fighting a easterly breeze, along with the waters of the Chesapeake and Atlantic Ocean, and as they say “we had confused seas”. It was a little rough for a while, but it did not last long. But the ride from Norfolk to the Chesapeake made any discomfort worth it, because the sights of all the ships, and the naval yards, were something to see. Most folks will never get a chance to see what we saw from the water, and words (or the many pictures we took) will not do justice to how excited I get on those type of runs. Almost from the moment we left our slip in Norfolk, we started seeing ships of every size and shape, and it continued like that to the Chesapeake...7 miles away. Among all those ships were 3 carriers. One of them we did not get a number on, but the other two were # 77, The USS George H.W. Bush, the Navy’s newest carrier. And # 71, The USS Theodore Roosevelt. As we were passing, the coast guard came on the VHF radio and announced that the USS Theodore Roosevelt would be leaving it’s slip at 9 am, and everyone should remain at least 500 yards from the ship...anyone entering that space would be subject to harm including words to the effect of “death”. We kept our distance, and I’m not sure how close we were to the ship, but it was awesome to see the ship cross our stern as it was heading out to sea.

The rest of the 59 miles to Deltaville was uneventful, but very nice cruising. The further we went the calmer the water got, and as you can see from the picture, it finally got almost dead calm. Getting into our slip at Dozier’s, was not a big deal, but the channel does have some very shallow spots. Both of my depth alarms were going off, and I had to search for deeper water as we entered the channel. The marina here is very nice. Although we are not close to much of anything, the setting is very nice, and it has a great feel to it. They also have a courtesy car, and you can use it to run into town, so we took advantage of it, to stock up on supplies. The town of Deltaville does not really have a downtown, or a main street. It’s a small town, but does not have a small town feel, because it is really a row of businesses on a highway. It has everything you need, but you can’t walk to anywhere, so the car was great to have.

We arrived on Saturday, and on Sunday, Good News and Salvage Crew came in. Like other stops, we are on a similar itinerary, and it’s always great to see them arrive, and spend time with them. We’ve had 2 great dinners with them, and Deb has done some running around with the girls. The guys have been mostly buried in projects on the boats. Andy and Brad changed their oil, and I installed 2 new batteries for my thrusters. When I pulled out of Norfolk, my stern thruster made a funny noise, and did not work properly after that. I figured that I either sucked something in the thruster, or the battery was finally going bad. I knew the batteries were over 3 years old, and it was time to replace them, so I took advantage of having a car, and a West Marine in town. But as it turned out, the new batteries did not do the trick, and I ended up having to dive under the boat and what I found was that I had sucked a plastic bag in the stern thruster. As soon as I got that out, everything worked great again.

So...after shopping; dinners; dinghy rides; bike rides; and walks through the woods, we are heading out this morning. Good News and Salvage Crew will be staying another day. They are predicting 1 to 2 foot waves on the bay, but with the winds out of the south, they should be mostly on our stern, so I think the ride will be ok. We are heading about 60 miles up the Chesapeake to Solomons Island, which is a few miles north of where the Potomac River meets the Chesapeake. It’s a nice spot, and a normal stop over for most folks going north. The weather forecast calls for a little stronger winds for the next couple of days, so I’m not sure how long we will be there. We’ll have to see.

I’ll keep you posted.

Bob