Yesterday we did our laundry, & noticed that Elizabeth City was once again full of boats. We took a walk over to the city docks to see who had arrived. We were happy to see that Steve & Marg on Lion's Paw, & Janice & Harley on Blue Blazes had arrived. They were not on the boat so we left a postit note. On the way back later we saw them on the boat & joined them at the City Dock welcome party the city throws. It was great to evenually meet up with them. Hopefully we will have someone to travel with for a while. Today I am going to paint the bottom of the dingy as it will be sunny & in the high 80's, & Jennifer is going to the farmers market on the water front, the last one for the year. We were suppose to be leaving today, but the wind is out of the South as in on the nose for the 40mile + trip, so hopefully will get out Sunday or Monday when its suppose to be out of the north. Lions Paw & hopefully Blue blazes are coming over to our boat this afternoon.

5. ICW

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Fun in Hampton and the not so Dismal Swamp

Just before our arrival into Hampton our engine decided to be difficult so we had a nice escort into the dock by Tow US. Our friend from Snoodle Time, Steve had graciously made available to us a guest slip for our stay. (for my friend Deb who wondered what a Snoodle Time was, its another sailblogger(steve), Deb thought we'd made up a new name for fun time since Al and I call it canoodle time, a Samantha-ism from Sex and the City) On Friday night we had supper at Steves yacht club and then went to LaBodaga, a neat wine bar where there was great live music, Steve is a dancing machine, I did my best stroke recovery dancing trying to keep up to him. 'Twas a blast.It was a great night of socializing which I was in need of. Thanks Steve :)Also thanks for letting me hang out with Sadie Mae (cat) while I waited for our Fedexed boat part. You ROCK.

(out of order here) On Wednesday night we treated ourselves to a night at the Crowne Plaza which was a bit of a comedy of errors. We booked in because we were dreaming of luxuriating in a hot bubble bath, television and some big bed canoodling. We did the check in work, and walked hand in hand to our room for the evening, All the way chatting about how nice it would be to have a bath. We entered our room with the excitement of kids embarking on halloween, our excitement was immedtiatly squashed as the room only had a shower, but it was built for two. Al called the front desk, apparently this is a new trend, one room per floor had a real tub. It was unassigned and we could have it but with 2 double beds, not a king sized playground. We decided the tub trumped big bed canoodling, so we took it. We got ourselves settled in , went for something to eat and when we returned I went ahead to get the tub avec bubbles ready, Al slipped by the bar to get 2 grand marniers to have with our tub, when he reached the room I was once again deflated. We had a tub but the only way to fill it was through the fixed shower head, never heard of that before, no spigot tap. It took a long time to fill that way We seem to have a knack of making the best time out of the goofiest situation. Our room included a nice buffet breakfast and tickets to the space centre. So the next day (saturday) we entertained ourselves there. If we are ever making a trip to the moon we now know Al can safely land us on the moon(Take note Pete, landed twice on the moon !!! now if we could do that on the ICW!!), me on the other nhand crashed everything I touched, I could barely pass entrance into being the lowest form of life. ha.It was all very interactive and I did learn some things, the things I missed in high school from not paying attention.

Later Saturday night we were invited to join Steve and Anna to their friends Beverly and Jack who were 9 year cruisers who have recently returned to land life. We enjoyed home made pizza, apple pie and great socializing. On Sunday we did minor boat stuff and prepared to have Steve and Anna for a supper of pork tenderloin potatoes,salad and brocolli , libation too, Anna brought very yummy brownies for dessert. We had great chat and we will miss these new friends. You meet the nicest and generous/gracious people in this cruising life. Hurry up you two; pack up Snoodle Time and join us. (see picture of the 6 at dinner)

We threw the lines off around 9:30 Monday morning and headed towards the dismal swamp. Getting from Hampton to mile 0 (where the ICW officially begins, with only 1,094 miles to go till Miami) was a bit rough, with waves and lots of traffic and lots to see. Norfolk is very navy-ish so I in particular was entertained by all the big war ships, aircraft carriers, different smells as work and upgrading or even dismantling was being done by the navy.

We are now in Elizabeth city after 2 days on the dismal swamp. Don't be fooled by the name it was actually quite pretty,see pics in our picassa link. The stress part was the lack of water under our keel which seemed to fluctuate between .9 and 3 feet on the first day. On the second day we covered our depth meter because I was glued to it and it was freaking my freak. We decided to aim just for the center and hope for the best and we made it to Eliz. City without incident. We met a brave couple while transiting the canal on a 29' C&C, travelling with a 5 year old and 2 year old twins......and a 14 year old cat. You have to admire that. They are heading to Miami where they are from, but they do live aboard fulltime. At the visitor centre on the second night there were 7 boats tied up a few rafted together, it was a neat sense of community. Five left early and we and the family of 5 essentially buddy boated to Elizabeth City. We are here til Sat now when the weather looks favourable for the next leg.

5. ICW

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We are now at the Dismal Swamp Vistors Center. Next stop tomorrow Elizabeth City. The water on the Sound seems like it may be rough for a couple of days, so will wait it out in Elizabeth City The Swamp is actully pretty as the leaves are starting to change,. Once again many Thanks to Steve & Anna.

5. ICW

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