Last night was finally one that we were able to sleep though in comfort. The new fender board couldn't move and I didn't have to worry about the fenders themselves moving out of the way or the lines shifting. Of course, the fact that the storm had passed us by was a help for a journey to the land of nod as well. On the down side my stomach hurt something awful, but that was a self-inflicted wound. That Chinese Buffet that we went to last night was really excellent and reasonably priced, but now I remember why I avoid those places - I eat carefully (no fried stuff, etc.) but I do overeat and last night I crawled into my bunk moaning, "Why do I do this? I can't believe I ate all that? I swear that I won't eat for a week! Uggggghhh!"

One other small thing - I can't help but feel a little weensy bit cheated so far. Here we are in Virginia, for Pete's sake, southern USA, and other than the first two days that we were here in Norfolk we have had nothing of the blessed warm and toasty that we have come on this trip to find. For the last couple of mornings I was watching for frost on the dock when I took Peri ashore. There wasn't any, but it was cold enough that I was concerned about slipping and was keeping watch. Now I ask you, isn't that what you would expect back in Halifax but not here!? It is cold enough on the boat that my fingers are almost too stiff to type!

Maury took us up to the base maintenance bays here at Norfolk for a propane refill. I was pleasantly surprised to find that they charge by the gallon vice by weight or volume and the cost is a little over $2/gal. Our 32L propane tanks take a little more than 8 gal so I paid about $20 for the refill as opposed to nearly $40 at home.

We have helped Maury get his "take no prisoners" WiFi antenna working and intend to order one for ourselves. It really adds a fair old amount of distance to the WiFi reception for the computer and for us with how much our contact requires it, it will be a good purchase. So far we haven't had the best of success with the install. It appears that the system doesn't like to compete with other WiFi installs and they need to be disabled according to John from Glass Slipper who has one working on his boat. Barb will be working on it more tonight.

I have also found out that we are tied up at the dock in the spot that used to be reserved for a 4-star Admiral who was also a yachtie and while he was posted here he kept his boat here. That explains the extra big stations and cleats on the dock here and nowhere else as well as some softwood strips of 2 x 6 on the pylons to act as sacrificial offerings if the Admiral did a crappy job of tying up his boat. Unfortunately these strips aren't Nelleke proof, or rather capable of dealing with a boat that weighs 28000 lbs + during windstorms. A couple of the large bolts holding them in place have torn out so we tied the plank to the pylon with rope and tomorrow we will shift location back along the dock a boat length. One good thing about the weather - it has torture tested our fender boards and so far they have more than passed the test.

We went out for a drive this afternoon and were able to find some more padding to make a second, shorter fender board. We also bought some 20A fuses for the macerator pump circuit which I was able to get connected today. Of course now that it's connected I will have to remove the fuse so that the plumbing to discharge over the side is incapacitated. This is one of the things that I just can't come to grips with. I understand that the law of the land must be followed and if the law says no overboard discharge within a three mile limit then that is what you must comply with. But this business of incapacitating plumbing or even having signs posted aboard your boat that says no discharge etc., is incomprehensible, especially on a foreign flagged boat. Oh well. As I can't change the regulations and as I don't want the fine, I guess there is no option but to comply.

We have also taken major steps to get AIS operational aboard Nelleke. It is a little more involved for us since I want to not only run the AIS signal to the computer and the Captn software but also to the Chartplotter so I can see it on deck. That means that I have to make a little junction block to split the signal and run a couple of wires to the GPS as well as the serial line to the Marinenav.

I also discovered that my purchase of this year's Boat US and more importantly our Tow US package had not been processed. Horrors! If we had run aground we would have been subject the some kind of huge towing bill. Fortunately a really nice sales clerk at the West Marine store noticed this and helped us to contact Boat US and rectify the problem. Turns out that I had misunderstood part of the renewal agreement and what I thought was an incredible deal didn't apply to us. However, the Boat US person gave us almost as good a deal anyway. Instead of $55 for a $130 unlimited towing insurance, it was $70. Still a great saving.

We hauled the dingy out for a cleaning and to allow Barb to measure the centre seat so she can make a saddle bag for it to contain all of the stuff that we regularly carry in the dink. We also scraped the rest of the crud off the waterline with me in the dingy and Barb dragging me along the side of the boat. Once we get a little further south it won't be so much of a chore to keep ahead of this Greenteeth Fungus as we can do it from the water. How is this for a scenario - wake up in the morning, hop over the side for a refreshing pairs skinny dip and scrub the sides of the boat followed by breakfast and the rest of the day. Sound pretty attractive to me.

I am sitting at the keyboard at the nav station below decks writing this at about 20h00 and am listening to the wind picking up outdoors and boat start to jockey around the dock lines at the wharf. It looks like it will probably be another woolly night tonight but hopefully nothing like those a couple of nights ago. At any rate, without jinxing things, we have done everything that we possibly can and we'll be aboard to respond if need be. As Maury and Ginger are out for a going away party for him tonight this is our opportunity to return the favour that he showed us a couple of nights ago and keep an eye on their boat in the wind.

A quick, wee rum now and then to the bunk. G'night, All!