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| Kind of looks like an abstract painting, taken on the Dismal Swamp |
It was a quiet night but rather chilly in the morning with temps in the mid 50's. We opt'ed for the 11:00 am opening of the north lock so we left around 7:45. Once underway, Hoolie started to shake and shiver like we've never seen him do before. He wasn't comfortable in the cockpit and retired downstairs and holed up in the forward shower, all curled up, still shaking like mad. We looked up the possible causes of such behavior and there was a list of all bad things. He could have eaten something not good I suppose, he's very fast on the uptake when it comes to food.
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| The couple behind us in the Lock |
In order to time our passage to the lock, I backed off on the boat speed to 5 kts. I noticed it had a different sound, something of a squeak was present too. When we dropped to idle just in front of the lock, Hoolie suddenly recovered and once underway on the other side of the lock at our usual 7.3 kts, he was fully recovered! I never imagined he would be so affected by that sound. He is not afraid of thunder, it doesn't faze him, same thing for fireworks. There must have been something about the motor sound at 5 kts that frightened him, strange.
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| Notice that figure on the bow |
In going through Norfolk the security appeared tighter than ever. Navy chase boats shadowed us as we passed by the Naval ships in drydock. We even saw a vessel with a guy on the bow manning a machine gun! I guess they are serious about keeping people away!
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| Another shot of the same boat, no kidding with this guy |
Eventually we made it to Hampton and took a dock at $0.75/ft with the fourth day free, a great bargain on the ICW. 30 amp electricity is only $3/day. Now, at last, they have decent WiFi professionally installed with antennas on the docks.
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| Two aircraft carriers in for upgrades |
We will be here for at least two days and probably more waiting for good weather to go up the Chesapeake. We're tired of cold, rainy days. I want sunny weather with temps in the 80's and no rain along with a south wind of 10 to 15 kts, I don't think that's unreasonable...(we may be here awhile)
4 comments:
Poor Hoolie, how is he doing now? Salivating? Gums pink or pale? Eating? Eyes tracking?
Besides some bad food he might have picked up a tick maybe?
Hi Quest, Strangely, it was just the sound of the motor at 5 kts. As soon as we either idled or sped up to our usual 7.3 kts all symptoms went away. He's fine now.
Only 60 degree temps here in Narragansett Bay. Don't rush!! Not easy to wax the hull of a 42 foot boat when it's that cold. At least the sun has come out after 8 - yes 8 days of being among the missing. I notice you tow your dinghy - and you still manage to get 7 knots? wow! We decided to add davits when we bought Obsession 10 years ago. Have found them to be worth the extra $$$ and they are also the support for our solar panel, which we have also found to be well worth the money spent. Enjoying your trip north, (except the tales of alligators) and can't wait until we are headed south this September. We will be looking for you.
Janice and David Roehr
Obsession
Hi Janice, we may just stay here until the weather warms up! I position my dinghy far enough back so it rides on the downward slope of the wave caused by the back of the boat. The painter is mostly slack. I have a hand held scale used to weigh luggage and I was going to actually measure the pull but haven't gotten around to that yet. We cruise at 7.3 kts (8.4 mph) at 2300 rpm on our Volvo.
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