Leaving Cape Charles to Hampton, VA

This is where we were docked that we left from.
We had moved our boat the day before to pump out, fuel, and top off our water to the dock master's dock.  We then decided to dock off the end of the pier to make for an easier launch the next morning.  It worked well.

We ran into some rough waves as we traveled across the bay to Hampton.  They were kind that swept up sideways from the stern and made the boat roll.  It is this motion that makes a person seasick, similar to how felt earlier in the trip.  This time I didn't go below, instead, on Ed's suggestion, I laid down in the cockpit where I was warmer.  Eventually fell asleep!   Of course, Ed and his camera had to capture the moment!

This is what the cabin looked like during all those waves!  and we thought we had things well secured -wrong!!  Did a much better job after this of securing things in place!

Cape Charles again!

We are in Cape Charles another day.  The wind was such that we didn't want to spend the day in a choppy bay!  This gave Ed a chance to go to that hardware store to get pump parts.  No pump parts, so only a foot pump to wash dishes and no shower on board boat.  This is not a problem as long as there are bathhouses.  We will really need to get this fixed before we reach the Bahamas!  Otherwise......... 

I spent the day sewing my curtains for the boat.  I got one done and Ed hung them up.  He had to fix the track that they were on.  Let me know what you think.  I have 5 more to do.

Tomorrow?       Hampton - docking at the public kdjjjkxnzx

Solomon Island

I have been adding pictures and fixing up some of my past blogs.  To see some photos you may have missed, go back to some of the previous viewed blogs.  My updates won't come to you automatically like my original blogs. 

These events happened back in October, but I wanted to share these pictures!

This is Dolce Vita docked at Cape Charles.  There was so much wind it made all the boats bounce around.  It was a good thing we stayed for 4 nights!  The wind was howling and we couldn't even get out of our dock!

Our friends, the seagulls.  They were everywhere!  It was very entertaining to see them fight over a fish!







We made a few friends at Cape Charles.  Their photos are in a different blog.  Moon Dance belonged to Melissa and Anne.  Sheila and Wes own Merlin.

This is Moon Dance

This is Merlin.

Friends along the way!

We have made some new friends at Cape Charles.  This is Melissa who owns a 44' Catalina445 named Moon Dance.  She has been giving us pointers in traveling down the ditch as the Intercoastal Waterway is affectionately called.  She's waiting it out at the marina for the water in the ditch to go down some so her boat can fit under the bridges.

These 2 new friends, Mike and Lisa, were our first Sundowners of our cruise!  Sundowners are when you share drinks and an appetizer with other cruisers while docked at port.  You take turns on each other's boat.   We had them on our boat and shared gin and tonics for the women and rum shooters for the men.  They brought over some delicious cheese and crackers.  We shared some almonds.

This photo just shows a part of the boat, Promise.  It is a 50' Hunter.  It is a beauty and big!  Inside it has a separate shower and flush toilets (2 heads)!  Luxury items on a small 32' boat like Dolce Vita!  There was so much storage space!

Mike and Lisa shared Sundowners with us the 2nd night on their boat.  Mike made a drink called Corpse Reviver #2:
1 part Gin
1 part Lillet Blanc
1 part Coointreau
1 part fresh Lemon Juice
1 tsp. Absenthe

Shake vigorously with ice.  Strain and serve with a twist of orange.

Not for the weak of heart!  Two of those and one is feeling very light-headed!  A new favorite!

A Lovely Town - Cape Charles

 Cape Charles was once a bustling town but started to die off after the bridge tunnel was built.  The towns people are working diligently to rebuild it and it looks like a successful work in progress.  Victorian homes are getting rebuilt.  Any new homes have to have front porches to keep the atmosphere the same.  There is a mixture of the old and the new.  This is our third time here and it is one of my favorite ports.  There is a lot of nostalgia about the town with such very friendly people!  The architecture is amazing to me.

We went to town to have some papers copied that our new friend, Melissa, gave us. 



 This is the front of the library.  It used to be a Bank of America in it's former "life".

You can see in the picture below that there is a vault.  It has a balcony looking down to the main floor.  The top section of each of the columns has some fancy designs on them.  

Do you remember those wonderful old fashioned hardware stores - the kind they had before Home Depot and Lowe's?  Well, you can still find one here.  It has almost anything you may need!  It was fun to walk around and see so many useful things! 

Not that I had any desire to go to a beach today on a very blustery day, but there is a very nice one on the end of the main street.

Tall Ship

This is the tall ship at night that I posted  before.

This is the tall ship during the day.  A beauty!  We found out it's for sale.  Someone can charter it for a day for $28,000!!!!!   Anyone want to start a business?

On to Cape Charles!

 Here is Ed tying up the anchor after leaving Sandy Point.  Glad he  can hold on tight! 







I am at the helm and enjoying the sea breeze!  There are very few boats
                                                      around so keeping an eye
                                                      on traffic is easy.












After another 40 or so miles down the Virginia Bay - we see Cape Charles inviting us over!
                                                                                     

 Even though there were only 4 more miles to go, the winds shifted and we decided to put up the jib sail while still motoring and we went from 3.5 knots to 5.5 knots!  Flying - not really - but it felt great!  First time the sail got some use!

 Getting closer!

 Almost got there without a hitch!  We had just struggled to get the jib down when the engine sputtered to a halt!  Up went the jib again and problem solving went into effect.  Only it didn't take more than a second for us to realize that we ran out of gas!  Here's Ed tanking up from one of our jerry jugs!  Live and learn!  I am glad to have such a capable Captain running the ship!  He didn't miss a beat when something went wrong!  Very quick thinking and acting!

 Now we're really getting close!

 After docking and getting to the bathhouse (my favorite first thing to do on all stopovers!) I took this photo of Dolce Vita against the setting sun. 

 A beautiful sunset!

 There was a tall ship across the way from us lit up this way.  I will take another picture tomorrow during the daylight!

Fair Winds!