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Susie at Freedom Fort
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We have been sitting in the marina at Hampton, VA for nearly a week “waiting for weather”. This peculiar custom consists of pouring over different weather maps found on the internet, swapping horror stories with other, similarly situated seamen and listening to scratchy, noisy shortwave broadcasts from weather gurus. It is not a lot of fun. By the time you finish all that anxious activity, it is time for lunch and another day has slipped by. The ride to Bermuda takes 4 to 5 days and involves crossing the dreaded Gulf Stream. The gulf stream is a river of warm water flowing northward somewhere off the coast at surprisingly high rates of speed. Should that river encounter contrary winds or waves, it will make for very high waves which we really don't want. The problem is that the gulf stream and the winds are all dancing and wiggling and no one really knows what things will be like when you get there. Its kind of like staring at a motion picture of Rorschach blots. The mind boogles and begins to spin. We get up at 6:30 and start stewing about the weather until lunch. After lunch, we wander around the deserted streets of urban-renewed Hampton or take marina bikes on sightseeing rides or errand runs.
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Sharpe's Point Light
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Chesapeake Bay Waterman
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Swan a swimmin' |
Meanwhile, we have had a very pleasant time on the Chesapeake. It is very shallow and surrounded by endless rivers, sloughs and marshes. Lots of birds, crabs and fall colored trees. There is a very long history of people living on and from the waters of this bay, not all of which has been obliterated by suburbs and much of which has been lovingly documented in the maritime museums you find at every stopping point. We enliven every passage by photographing lighthouses and we have even been escorted by dolphins. I saw my first muskrat swim across the river and climb into his shore-side home. Altogether a most Wind-in-the-willows sort of life. You can actually watch the cold fingers of winter touch color to the trees. Winter is hard on our heels and we all want to be souther sooner than the cold.
your impatient sailors,
Lance & Susie
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Point Comfort Lighthouse |
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Cove Point Lighthouse |
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Point No Point Lighthouse |
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