hey everyone hope all of you had a good thanksgiving.

we had an interesting weather week in portsmouth.  Monday it was gray and cloudy walked up town did a little shopping at the dollar general and then laid around as my arm was hurting badly.  dr told me to take it easy.  just cleaned up some stuff on the boat.  Tuesday it was spitting rain it was just annoying.  Wednesday morning about 3 a.m a full blown noreaster hit and the boat was jerking and rolling and shaking, driving rain and 40 mph wind gusts.  it was bad enough at the dock but we saw one boat that was moored out and he was swinging side to side and rolling around.  he ended up coming into the marina on thanksgiving.  how do i know this you ask?  i will tell you in a minute!

also on Wednesday i went to dr. top get my stitches out and get a new cast.  we called a cab to take us as the weather was horrible.  At 1:00 we get to see Dr. 3 hours later we are finally done because the dr and the cast lady cannot decide what kind of cast i should get, because we were leaving on Saturday to continue our trip. anyway 2 casts later x rays and getting stitches removed lets just say it was a painful process.

 We left portsmouth this morning, thank you again to the Tidewater Marina staff who were so great during our stay.
 As we motored out of the marina we are now on mile marker 1 of the ICW. yippee! The boat slides effortlessly through the area where all the battleships and carriers are being refitted in Norfolk, it left me feeling in awe of the massive size of those vessels and the military personnel that is needed to keep them in top working condition   the scenery changed from city and navy yards to sea grass and pine trees it was a good weather day today sunny and cool. we went through several bridges and a lock.

when we arrived in chesapeake virginia we made sure everything was tied up and settled. we walked to local grocery store with our backpack to carry all our goodies back to boat.  We ran into the guy from portsmouth who was moored out during the noreaster.  he was in same isle as us and i said to him "you must be a sailor" he said how did you know?  well he had a backpack and a boat U.S hat on. his name is gary, first light is his boat a cal 34. he is also headed south. he had engine problems too and he told us some good stories.  sometimes you just need to say hi to people, everyone has a story. we will run into him again i am sure.   until next tme.

today has been pretty productive with the help of the marina crew here we managed to get the boat over to the pump out and get it back in our slip.  joe has his butt up in air, not a bad view from here, looking at the engine and making sure we had no new issues.  the temperature is about 60 out expecting 75 tomorrow maybe some rain.  gonna kick back and watch football, my favorite, and elevate my injured wing. i did do dishes from breakfast earlier too it took fooooooooreeeeeeever one handed.  i think i will let joe do them from now on.  i have been hearing the sounds of the tug boat horns all morning they are very active today.  when you are not used to hearing that it is a great sound.  the sounds of boats in the harbor, its the best.

I know it has been a few days since I wrote.  but i have been a little preoccupied.  Excuse the typing and no caps i am typing one handed.  we finally got the boat repairs completed on Monday went in and paid the bill came back to boat just really happy to be shoving off again.  i went to step onto boat and caught my toe on toe rail, kinda ironic, fell forward onto boat and immediately knew i had broken something.  i yelled for joe over the engine and told him i think i broke something.  well i had, so we got some help from the great people here at Tidewater Marina in Portsmouth.  they took me to local emergency room and yep i found out that i had broken my left radius bone right next to the wrist joint.  it is broken in a very bad angle and place so i was admitted to hospital and was scheduled for surgery on Tuesday.  so on Tuesday afternoon i went to surgery and i now have long pin and 4 screws imbedded in my left radius bone and wrist that are permanent.  i am sure i will have trouble at airport for rest of my life.  anyway i have a 6 inch incision and about 12 stitches and a hard cast over it.  Dr. Brillhart is going to see me Wednesday before Thanksgiving to take this cast off and remove the stitches and put a new cast on he will then evaluate how i am doing.  i feel fairly good not a lot of pain but it is a pain to take a shower, can't tie my shoe laces or open a pill bottle.  best part is i can't do dishes, woop woop!   Joe has been awesome through this whole crappy week.  he is such a good man.
 after i see dr. again we will most likely leave here on Saturday Nov 28 and continue on our way down the icw.  we are at mile marker zero right now.  the rest of way to Georgia is motoring so no sails up for a while.
Portsmouth is not a bad place to be laid up.  downtown and other places are within walking distance of marina. Norfolk naval yards are right across the river and we can hear the tug boat whistles every morning.  We have also seen some pretty awesome looking sailboats and cruising power boats, had an 80 footer pull in right next to us a few nights ago.  tonight they are having a lighting of the Christmas lights downtown and a parade.  lots of events going on right now.

i would like to say that my injury is nothing compared to what my dear friend Kathy Kane is going through.  our best prayers and good wishes go out to her for a complete recovery. We love you Kathy.

November 14, 2014

Tuesday we finished the last part of Chesapeake Bay under washing machine conditions, 2 to 3 foot swells on our stern and a nagging misting rain.  To  save a little fuel we put up the jib, since the wind was to our stern it did not hold wind well so we put up the main and did a broad reach shut down the engine and achieved 4.0 to 4.5 knots.  Later in day as we were coming into Hampton Virginia to anchor for the night, we used a handy cruisers guide and we found free public mooring across from the Hampton Maritime Center.  They were most helpful and we thank them for the $1.00 showers and laundry facilities.  Met some fellow cruisers, Michael and Diane, they have a big Hunter and have been sailing up and down the ICW for 11 years from New Jersey to Miami.  We stayed in Hampton for the day and enjoyed the beautiful weather we had at 68 degrees here so we hung out with the other cruisers, ran into Balia again too, they all gave us a lot of cruising tips.  We went to the IMAX at the Virginia Air and Space Museum and watched Interstellar with them on Wednesday evening. Said good bye to Hampton on Thursday morning.   Cloudy skies wind on our stern again blowing about 20 knots, engine started overheating 2 hours out so we shut her down and had two parts broke joe tried to fix them but we ended up calling a tow boat and had them bring us to the Tidewater Marina in Portsmouth, Virginia.   They were waiting for us at the dock when we were towed in and Ralph the maintenance chief here showed up about 1/2 hour later. Some rum and Irish whiskey were consumed as a result of our day.  Here we sit waiting, Ralph already replaced one part today and we are waiting for the other one he ordered to show up.   Tidewater Marina is an absolutely immaculate well run marina they have taken very good care of us.  Breaking news a huge yacht, 52 foot triple decker, "Princess T" , "T" for TONS of money, just pulled into next slip.  Oh My!!! What a pretty boat.
Will we ever get to the ICW????

We arrived in Solomons on Thursday Nov 5, boat was in good order. We have spent the last 3 days getting her ready to get underway.  Yesterday we met a fellow sailor in West Marine, Jay, his wife is Cindy, they sail a Catalina 42, Balia. They recently have been through the great lakes and are now headed down the coast and on to the Bahamas.  They cruise every winter.  We look forward to running into them again as I am sure they will have some good stories to tell.
We decided yesterday to leave at 0 dark thirty Monday morning.  Unfortunately we got up to leave and there is a thick coastal fog, like peanut butter,  just waiting it out for an hour or so.  It is starting to lift as the sun comes out.  Looks like it is going to be a beautiful day for the first leg of our journey.