Thursday 13 February 2020
This is starting to look like we are almost there. Today we headed off to Great Bridge which is at the 12-mile point on the ICW where we will stop for the night and then tomorrow continue on to another marina in the heart of downtown Norfolk where we will wait for a weather window to continue out and into the Chesapeake to Deltaville. Or, if we can, and we make good time this morning, perhaps we will go all the way to the dock downtown and have the full day tomorrow to wander about Norfolk.

The long-range weather forecast looks like Saturday will be the day to go. The only difficulty with that is that I want their mechanic to come aboard as soon as we arrive so I can demonstrate the symptoms with the engine to him. They aren't likely to have anything but the barest of staffing on over the weekends during the off season. Perhaps that would be a good time to visit friends in that area.

Last night we had another Shadow Valentine's Day dinner, this time at the restaurant that is part of the marina facilities. Pretty good food, again too much for us to finish so we actually get two meals out of the deal.

We were up and away from the dock by 6:45 this morning hoping to catch the tidal current push us along and make some time. We had a partial success and that we had the current for the first 30 minutes then, once we got out into the sound, we lost that current and we're proceeding just on what the engine could push this along at. We're still OK, and are making 6 1/2 kn or about 7 1/4 miles an hour. I calculated that if we made a reasonable strike on bridge timings that we should be at great Bridge by 1 o'clock this afternoon.

This has been a truly strange day! In spite of the overcast skies the early morning sun rose behind us as we were heading north and cast an absolute glow over the water in the shoreline It was beautiful to see. throughout the morning we motored across Curritick Sound in relatively calm waters. This was completely opposite of what I had expected based on the weather forecast. Again, as Barb says, you just can't trust them! You have to make up your own mind and deal with what you get.

Speaking of which, today was an unplanned short day. We had intended to go on all the way to Norfolk passed mile zero of the ICW, but the weather was so wet and miserable we decided to put in to the Atlantic yacht basin at great Bridge, Chesapeake city, Virginia. we have been here several times before and are quite familiar with the facilities so that was no hardship. Tomorrow we will continue into Norfolk to wait it out until we get a weather window head on Deltaville. Right now the big thing is there is no point in getting to Deltaville before Monday since the marina and their technical staff don't work on the weekends during the winter.

So, we are more likely to visit some friends of ours just south of Deltaville to say hi for a day or so.

As for today will take the opportunity to walk to a grocery store and an ABC store that we know of to do a little bit of shopping.

We are in Virginia. Hooray!