Heading Back

We arrived in Norfolk, Va this afternoon in the rain and wind. Murphy's law says that if we are trying to dock the wind will be blowing us away from the dock and we may have rain. Fortunately for us there were a couple of guys to catch lines when we came in with the wind blowing us away from the dock and the rain pouring down.

We spent two very nice days in Elizabeth City, NC at a free dock. It was challenging to get off Spunky as the finger pier was very short and we had to climb over the bow rail and down to the dock but it was doable. There was no electric or pump out and the water was some distance away but we were happy to find an empty slip after motoring about 85 miles from Bellhaven and crossing the Albemarle Sound which is always a challenge usually rough going. We met our friends, Don and Jean there (they were there for a 60 mile bike ride) and they delivered to us a good two months of mail that we had held up at our mail forwarding service. We had two nice days visiting the wonderful Elizabeth City museum and art center. The visitor's center put on a wine and cheese greeting and we met some very nice people. I got a haircut and we made a post office visit to notify Bahamas immigration that we had left the country.

Tomorrow we will explore Portsmouth on the advice of our friends Ed and Sue Kelly who are now in London and if weather permits leave again on Monday morning to move on up the Chesapeake Bay.

We took the Dismal Swamp route and even with our 6 ft. draft only bumped the bottom a few times. The lock tenders were wonderful to us, one locking us through after the prescribed time and the other giving us info on speed to meet the next bridge and where to anchor for free. It is cold and damp but we are tucked in our cockpit enclosure and getting ready to cook dinner.

Good to be back but not liking the cold and rain. The water temp is 20+ degrees below Bahamas.

Hoping for an early Spring.