October 28 - November 3
Elizabeth City

We arrived last Wednesday and opted for the Pelican Marina ($35./night) instead of the free town docks (48 hr stay). We needed showers and laundry. On Thursday we reprovisioned and did laundry, on Friday we wandered the town and strolled by the water front and discovered Lions Paw (Cdn) had arrived , we left a post it and followed up a bit later finding them on board so we introduced ourselves at long last to Steve and Marg and to their friends Harley and Janice of Blue Blazes. They invited us to tag along to the welcome to Elizabeth City for cruisers , they were offering up free wine, beer, cheese crackers and a welcome from the Mayor. Kingston could take some notes from them. The Farm Fresh Grocery will pick up cruisers for free to grocery shop and return them. The city (more of a town) really goes out of their way to welcome you. After some chat we opted to have a meal at Groupers on the waterfront and it was good and reasonable, we walked back to our marina(15 min. walk). On Saturday morning , feeling creative I fashioned up a couple of 3D invites to Lions Paw and Blue Blazes to come for treats and libation on Sat. pm. I walked over to the waterfront to the farmers market and to deliver the invites. I scored at the farmers market, as well as getting awesome fresh green beans/tomatoes. I got a few xmas gifts and 2 jars of hot pepper jelly.
Despite the invite to join us for Halloween festivities it just made more sense for Al and I to walk over to the waterfront for Halloween. So we joined Marg, Steve , Janice and Harley on Lion's Paw for a pot luck style grazing appetizer supper, libation and candy doling out. We feasted on crackers & cheese, bread dipped in balsamic/oil, spices, and tortillas with cream cheese/hot pepper jelly and Steve out did everyone with his fresh beer boiled shrimp and shrimp sauce( God were they ever good, Al). As the children in costume arrived Marg and Janice handed out the sugar. Steve and Janice donned Halloween outfits and we walked Main Street taking in the costumes and festivities. 'Twas a fun evening indeed. Lion's Paw and Blue Blazes were set on leaving on Sunday morning. They both have larger boats than us and we decided the conditions weren't conducive to Ruth, I was a bit disappointed to stay behind because these folks would be fun to run with for a bit, but I reminded myself the world is full of fun people (We just haven't met them all yet) and we will cross wakes again for sure with these fine folks.
So today, Monday, I did a small laundry and felted a project. Made a great Indian dinner with fresh shrimp in the pressure cooker, I'll mark this one as it's a keeper. Al did the dishes and as I write He is getting sails uncovered etc. as tomorrow is looking good to go and he is determined to sail. (Oh sidebar here, Charles if you read this please send me a note, with great skill I have managed to get rid of your email and I missed your Happy Birthday. ) Elizabeth City is indeed a place to stop. I'm looking forward to getting further south. Al just poked his head in and said the sails are ready to go and he has plans to bury the rail tomorrow (geez should I be afraid?), he wants to see what Ruth can do. Oh and re: his posted pic. Of his treat, ya well she's a tart and I met her mother. hahaha. We'll no doubt be out of wifi touch for a few days as we bust south. But we'll post when we can. Check out our Halloween Pics on Picasa.

5. ICW

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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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