Fishing Bay, to Tidewater Marina, Portsmouth, VA

      The front came in around 1:30 AM with winds of 18-22 mph and higher gusts. Pete was concerned and was up checking a lot during the night. No one in the anchorage dragged!  We were underway by 7 AM as the winds continued. Pete checked periodically for Deltaville weather and found that gusts were clocked at up to 39 mph.  The winds created a very long, tiring day. The seas were 4-6 feet and the waves were “confused”, meaning that came at times from varying directions. When they were steady from our stern, I was thrilled that I was able to “surf” the waves with our 35 foot for about 12 minutes--A new record for me! Pekabu III even managed to pick up a hitch hiker. A small bird landed on our traveler and stayed for about 10 minutes.  It probably needed to just to rest from the winds while trying to cross the bay.  When it flew off to the west, it stayed closed to the water in the troughs protected from the majority of the winds.

Part of today's returning Naval fleet.

As we approached Norfolk, the Navy, Coast Guard and Virginia Pilots were very busy bringing into port an entire Naval Battle Group. We saw a smaller aircraft carrier make her journey into port.  We were also surprised to see the 2 Hawaiian high-speed ferries we had seen in Honolulu last March, now residing in Norfolk.

We were the last of our fleet to arrive at Tidewater Marina in Portsmouth, just across from Norfolk on the Elizabeth River at 3 PM. As we were directed into our dock, we were surprised and delighted to be greeted by friends also making the trip south from our marina, Bob Casey and Irene Ramos from Sojourner. After doing clean up and other chores, all 10 of us walked over to the Blue Water Seafood Grill for a great dinner.  On our return trip we found that in old town Portsmouth, they were conducting walking ghost tours.  If we only had more time. . . .

Our Bahama Bound Fleet ~
Pekabu, Andiamo and Brunelle

We are all so tired, cast off will be at 8 AM tomorrow. The Dismal Swamp is beautiful and an experience.  However, it has many bridges and is so narrow that traffic is slow that we will probably take 2 days to complete it. Hence, we all agreed to take the Virginia Cut instead.  There is only 4 miles difference, but we can make better time. John and Betty have a family event they need to return to the Maryland area for next weekend, so we must keep moving.

I am too tired to do the posting to the blog tonight so I will catch you later.

74.8/229.8 Total Statute miles            ~  ~ (\_~ ~ ~     Kathy and Pete