We had another long, trying sail today…. we covered 70 miles in 11 hours. We were under way at 7.30 am and entered the channel at Hampton, Virginia, as the bottom of the sun just touched the horizon. By the time we got our anchor down, the sun was down too, and the horizon was soft rose, lavender, and pale blue.
This is a lovely city, but I’m afraid I was a bit too tired to care. Although, now that I have complained, let me say that I am NOT going to complain! Lots about the day was so much better than the previous day! After once again getting dressed in every warm thing I could find, I stepped into the cockpit and realized that although it was cold it was not damp! By mid morning there was one small hole in the thick overcast sky through which a beam of light was dazzling a spot of water just ahead of us! I had high hopes of sailing right into that light! …and we did! By mid afternoon the sky was half cloud, half blue, and it was a gusty, brilliant fall day. It’s that gusty bit that made sailing so hard…
Eleven hours later we planned to celebrate the fact that we had arrived at a place further south than we had ever been before by boat. I had two enormous lamb chops thawed and a bottle of sauvignon blanc. We were both exhausted and the oven took forever to come up to temp. I guess I was asking more than it could deliver by setting it at 450. I finally gave up after almost an hour and put the chops in at 375….somehow they turned out just fine! And it did pick up our spirits to each such a wonderful meal….even it was 9pm by the time I got it on the table!
We are anchored just off this lovely clock tower.
I got lots of knitting done on both my ‘wingspan’ shawl and my ‘Ann Jacket.’ No photos yet. They just look like blobs on the needles anyway!
Excitement of the day!!!…. we saw lots of pelicans! And we saw a very large sea turtle floating on the surface, checking us out as much as we were checking him! Alas, we have a firm rule that the camera must stay zipped and buckled in its case at all times when it is not actually in our hands, and that means that we miss many shots in the time it takes to get it out of bondage! We have to balance access to quick shots vs. safety of the camera. Safety wins.
Today we explore Hampton: the Air and Space Museum, and an art gallery for certain. We’ll spend the weekend in Williamsburg with old friends who happened to live right across a small pond from where my parents lived, while Pandora waits for us here on her anchor.
The weekend promises to be quite bittersweet for me since I’ll be seeing my parents’ old house. This has been an emotional year and a half, with the death of my father, my mother being declared incompetent and having to face her long history of mental illness, getting her into a safe place up in New England much against her will. I know this is becoming quite the norm for people in my generation. It’s the hardest work I’ve ever done….
It’s October 11. We have been away for one month…
Day 30, October 10: Glebe Creek on the Potomac to Hampton, Virginia
Day 31, October 11: sightseeing in Hampton!
