Norfolk

Cat's Cradle made an uneventful passage through the Alligator River Bridge, its so nice when bridge operators do their job properly. We came up the Dismal Swamp Canal at a leisurely pace spending a night in South Mills, between the lock and bridge. We were 1 of16 boats passing through the Deep Creek bridge, which made for a long wait for those in road traffic, I'm sure drivers had "nice" things to say about those darn boaters that afternoon. Decided to tie up before the lock for the night so that Bernie could go visit with some of his fire-fighter friends. On to Portsmouth for a night, meeting up with Alan & Patti for dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant. Arrangements were made to be in Little Creek so that Howdy Bailey and company could repair the cap rail and arch beginning thursday. Went into the military marina the night before so we could get an early start moving over to Cobb's Marina where the work would be done.
Howdy, Ike, Ed and Larry met us at the dock and began planning, it is now saturday and we are fixed, the arch and cap rail look like new. Also were able to get the sewing machine in for an alignment and tune up while here. Will be moving back to the military marina this afternoon, better rates and also more of a breeze over there, plan to spend a couple of nights there before proceeding on up the Chesapeake Bay. The idea is to leave the boat in Aberdeen for our visit with Mom in July.

Norfolk Bound

Greetings, One and All. We are preparing to leave the Charleston City Marina tomorrow after spending a month here while Bernie helped build the new West Marine store. This is a first rate marina with much to offer including great floating docks, Wi-Fi, cable TV, excellent restaurant, full convenience store with great coffee bar and a courtesy van which makes hourly runs around the local area. We have seen many of our seafaring friends and made some new ones while here, spent some time with Arlene and Sue, and bicycled around the historic district many times. We also saw a baseball game (class A NYY farm team) and saw the only "switch" pitcher in professional baseball. He has a custom glove which can be worn on either hand. He pitched the 9th inning and retired the side for a save including both left handed and right handed strike outs. While touring old town Chaleston we also saw the oldest paid continuously active fire station in the country, it was opened in 1887. We also went to Patriots Point where a collection of WW II naval vessels are moored, including the aircraft carrier Yorktown which is a wonderful museum. Just think the house we took a picture of could be yours for a mere 10 million dollars.
We will now proceed on toward Norfolk, VA where we have arranged for the remaining repair to Cat's Cradle will be done by the shipwright who designed and fabricated the arch in 2005. We will be watching that Alligator River Swing Bridge very closely as we pass through !