Great Bridge, Virginia

November 1-2, 2012 Thursday and Friday

The news reports and photos of "Sandy's" destruction leaves us humbled and feelings of gratitude.  We were very lucky.  We are also filled with sadness for all the places we have traveled that have been destroyed.  It is ironic - several places that we had found refuge from storms on this trip are no longer there.  We spoke with our new friend, Pete, in Atlantic Highlands/Sandy Hook, NJ to see how things fared there, and he told us that the marinas were destroyed, everything, no docks, nothing left.  Most of the boats that were on jack stands were blown over each other and stacked like match sticks.  The water rose up the hill and into town. When we last spoke with Pete, he was without power.  Similar stories about marinas we stayed on the Hudson River.  Atlantic City, and Cape May NJ, were other ports in which we sought refuge on the Atlantic Ocean, were destroyed also.  The famous Atlantic City Boardwalk that we spent time walking - gone.
We departed Norfolk Thursday late morning with fellow sailors Ladd and Denise Caine on S/V "Blue" (it's a white boat named Blue").  It was just 3 hours, 12 nm with 2 bridges to open and one lock to our destination Atlantic Yacht Basin.  We are now working our way down the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AICW).  Unfortunately the cold front is with us.  We have been chilly at night even with our heat on.  The whole east coast all the way to Florida, has a "chilly" forecast for quite awhile. A fellow sailor had ICE in his dinghy this morning!  As we move along, we will need to be anchoring  more frequently.  The Captain and Crew had a discussion on how we were going to cope with the cold and lack of power while at anchor.  Not too surprisingly, we came to the same conclusion and solution.  It took Suzanne less than 5 minutes to have this problem solved!  She found a Honda generator dealer (Land & Coates Outdoor Power Equipment), 10 minutes from our boat, with pick up and delivery.  Nothing like a motivated woman.  Craig, the service manager, and Chris, the store manager were very helpful getting us all set a up and educated on using the generator. He also helped us hook it up, and brought us to and from the boat. We are now more ready for the cold weather, and living on the "hook" without too much discomfort. We never thought that we would need to do this, but it is a matter of  morale, comfort, and survival!  We are in Great Bridge, Virginia. The Battle of Great Bridge was fought here on December 9, 1775, early in the American Revolutionary War, where upon the British were driven away, never to occupy the Colony of Virginia again.

"Sacrifices are required for the privilege of floating around free."

Ross Norgrove

Waiting for aircraft carrier to clear Elizabeth River before departing Norfolk

The migration south, waiting our turn to go under the bridge, Ladd and Denise's "white boat named Blue"  last boat in the photo

Craig, Honda Dealer Service Manager, getting us set up