Elizabeth City - at a free dock

Not a pretty picture, sorry about that - Fuzzy Bills

We headed out in good cheer, a fine day, almost no wind which is not a bad thing in crossing Albemarle Sound - or so we thought. After passing through the last of the buoys leaving the Alligator River into the Sound we noticed a few familiar looking insects on the back window, ut ho. A couple of years ago we made the mistake of anchoring in one of the remove anchorages right by the Albemarle Sound and woke up in the morning with a boat covered in Fuzzy Bills, a form of midge fly. They look like mosquitoes but they don't bite. However, they only live for the day and when they die, they leave a thick, green stain on the fiberglass which took me about five hours to clean off, ugh.

Ann is everybody's friend, he's the yard security guy

These insects looked like the same variety. So, trying to be proactive, I started shooing them off the boat and by using my handheld zapper (which gives off a very satisfying sizzle when dispatching a target, they really work!). But to no avail, there seemed to be an infinite supply - everything was covered as we sped across the Sound. It wasn't until halfway up the Elizabeth River that I started making headway. I figured that if I got them off the boat before they expired, I at least wouldn't get the green slime disease.

It's a free dock but they want you to patronize a local restaurant and leave a report

Such are the exciting times one gets while cruising. We listened to all the boaters crossing the Sound today and they all had the same problem There are four boats docked here, all four were covered with the Fuzzy Bills. We recovered enough for lunch out and went back to the boat for our 5:00 wine party, we thought we earned it.

We're headed through the Dismal Swamp today and will stop at the free dock just beyond the last Dismal Swamp lock and be in Hampton the next day. It's supposed to turn colder down here over the next few days. Everybody we've talked to has complained about the abnormal winter, all up and down the ICW, much colder than normal, must be global warming.....