Some of the Tall Ships at St Georges, including the Bounty
This Tall Ship was arriving in Bermuda as we were leaving
Pete sets up his Auto Pilot invention as the main Auto Pilot has gone on strike
That carbon in the Auto Pilot doesn't taste so good, but hey - I fixed it!!!
Pete releases a marlin, we caught 2 on the trip
We saw lots of dolphins on the trip, this one has a couple of Ramora Fish hanging on dow near his tail
CHESAPEAKE - USA
The Navy Base at Norfolk is huge
War ships in the streets?
US Wisconsin
On board US Wisconsin, the gun barrells are 16" diameter & fire shells that weight as much as a VW car
This Lighthouse Ship was decommisioned in 1967, they used them in places where it was too deep build a permanent light house.
These cute little tug boats are kept busy with all the boat & barges going up & down the Elizabeth River at Norfolk
A pushing tug boat
The historical areas in Downtown Norfolk have some lovely restored houses
These houses are in York Town district of Norfolk
The Chrysler Art Museum
Norfolk is know as the "Mermaid City", there mermaid statues are situated all over the city & decorated in diferent themes, this one is a floral mermaid.
Pete does his mermaid impersonation
There are lots of lovely gardens & parks around Norfolk City
General MacArthurs Memorial
I’d like to say our trip over to Chesapeake was uneventful, it was anything but!!!!
We started out motoring for the first 16 hours to get out of the Bermuda High, then a nice breeze kicked in from the south & we had a good beam reach for the next 2 days. Day 3 the autopilot started playing up, luckily we had a “Pete Special”, an Auto Pilot he made from a plastic motor drive belt (supplied by Chris & Tony Bull, Chris uses it for curtains) which was held around the steering wheel with a hose pipe cut in half & driven by a water pump motor (purchased in Turkey for $100). Eventually that also failed because the belt was getting chewed out, so we resorted to using a piece of string to hold the wheel steady. Believe it or not it works pretty well on a reach, the boat is so well balanced, but you still need to keep a close eye on it. In the mean time Pete was busy working on the $3,500 auto pilot & discovered that the bushes were jamming. He pulled it all apart, freed up the bushes & then reassembled - no spare parts left so that was a good sign. Once it was reinstalled it worked fine which was just as well cause not long after the wind picked up along with the seas, like being in a washing machine. In the middle of the night 200nmls off Cape Hatteras we had a great pyrotechnic display (thunder & lightening). We had been watching it from a distance for quite some time & had thought it was going to miss us. Then the wind died & wouldn’t you know it the engine wouldn’t start, we discovered later that the battery regulator wasn’t working & had caused the starting batteries to cook. Suddenly we were caught right in the thick of the storm. Thankfully Pete managed to get the motor going, so it was full throttle to try & escape but it seemed to keep following us. Every way we turned it seemed to follow or more to the point it surrounded us, one of them was going down our starboard side so we headed off in the opposite direction only to have it follow us then it started moving forward of us, so we stopped, next thing it stopped – F%@#^k!!! We thought “this baby’s out to get us” we just couldn’t seem to get away from it. The fire ball coming out of this thing was HUGE! I am sure if one of those puppies hit us I wouldn’t be writing this. After what seemed like an eternity, but was actually ONLY 4 HOURS, it then just disappeared – go figure!!! Pete had put 2 chains over the side for earthling & disconnected the electronics as protection from the lightening bolts which were crashing down to the water all around us. He reckoned there was enough power to supply the whole USA. Not for the faint hearted I can tell you!!!! We saw it again the next night, but this time it was 100nmls behind –much to my relief. To finish things off we had fog for a few hours as we neared the coast on the last morning. On top of all this we also had the currents to contend with; it got up to 4 knots in the Gulf Stream. Talk about a mixed bag, we had it all. We had been warned that we could get wacked coming across, so had been monitoring the weather forecasts which showed a number of low depressions developing in Chesapeake area then heading north. We thought we’d be ok, however as we all know the weather does not always act according to predictions. Although this trip was only 630mls, we ended up travelling 730mls & it made our 3000ml trip from Canaries to Caribbean seem like a dawdle…..
On the bright side, we saw lots of dolphins. They were amazing at night when they we’re surrounded in phosphorescence which made the outline of their bodies glow in the dark. We could see them shooting through the water like torpedoes from 50m away & the water was so clear we could see them as they dived down deep – quite spectacular.
Fishing was good too, we caught a couple of small marlin, which we released & a lovely Mahi-mahi - very tasty.
It was déjà vous for Pete as he experienced the same type of storm when he passed Cape Hatteras 25 years ago & also caught a marlin on that same trip.
4 ½ days after leaving Bermuda we dropped our anchor in Norfolk which is just inside the entrance to Chesapeake. In fact we’re right in Downtown Norfolk, which is very handy to everything & there’s lots of action with boats of all sizes going up & down the Elizabeth River all day. We’ve been here a few days now & it’s a lovely city. There are lots of little parks around & the streets are lined with trees. It’s also a very historic place as it was the first settlement in the US with the first settlers arriving in 1607. There are several historic areas where they have preserved the old houses, those cute New England buildings. It’s also a big naval base & so far we’ve seen at least 40 big navy ships, including some aircraft carriers. We went on board US Wisconsin which is open to the public, pretty impressive I must say. We also visited some other interesting places. At General MacArthur’s Memorial, where he & his wife have been laid to rest, there is a great display outlining his life story & history of the wars he fought in. The Chrysler Art Museum currently has a glass display. This included exhibits of work by Lino, an Italian glass blower from Murano, Venice. He is apparently one of the best glass blowers in the world & his pieces are an exquisite work of art, well worth seeing.
Last night we were treated to another impressive electrical storm. I felt a lot safer here than out at sea though & the good part was we filled up the water tanks – yahoo!!! (we get great pleasure out of such simple things these days – ha ha)
We’ve booked Sali in at Deltaville Marina where she can have a well earned rest while we’re home. Once again she did a great job of looking after us on the trip over. In the meantime we’re heading up river to visit Fuzy (Pete’s mate), Laura & the girls in Annapolis.
We started out motoring for the first 16 hours to get out of the Bermuda High, then a nice breeze kicked in from the south & we had a good beam reach for the next 2 days. Day 3 the autopilot started playing up, luckily we had a “Pete Special”, an Auto Pilot he made from a plastic motor drive belt (supplied by Chris & Tony Bull, Chris uses it for curtains) which was held around the steering wheel with a hose pipe cut in half & driven by a water pump motor (purchased in Turkey for $100). Eventually that also failed because the belt was getting chewed out, so we resorted to using a piece of string to hold the wheel steady. Believe it or not it works pretty well on a reach, the boat is so well balanced, but you still need to keep a close eye on it. In the mean time Pete was busy working on the $3,500 auto pilot & discovered that the bushes were jamming. He pulled it all apart, freed up the bushes & then reassembled - no spare parts left so that was a good sign. Once it was reinstalled it worked fine which was just as well cause not long after the wind picked up along with the seas, like being in a washing machine. In the middle of the night 200nmls off Cape Hatteras we had a great pyrotechnic display (thunder & lightening). We had been watching it from a distance for quite some time & had thought it was going to miss us. Then the wind died & wouldn’t you know it the engine wouldn’t start, we discovered later that the battery regulator wasn’t working & had caused the starting batteries to cook. Suddenly we were caught right in the thick of the storm. Thankfully Pete managed to get the motor going, so it was full throttle to try & escape but it seemed to keep following us. Every way we turned it seemed to follow or more to the point it surrounded us, one of them was going down our starboard side so we headed off in the opposite direction only to have it follow us then it started moving forward of us, so we stopped, next thing it stopped – F%@#^k!!! We thought “this baby’s out to get us” we just couldn’t seem to get away from it. The fire ball coming out of this thing was HUGE! I am sure if one of those puppies hit us I wouldn’t be writing this. After what seemed like an eternity, but was actually ONLY 4 HOURS, it then just disappeared – go figure!!! Pete had put 2 chains over the side for earthling & disconnected the electronics as protection from the lightening bolts which were crashing down to the water all around us. He reckoned there was enough power to supply the whole USA. Not for the faint hearted I can tell you!!!! We saw it again the next night, but this time it was 100nmls behind –much to my relief. To finish things off we had fog for a few hours as we neared the coast on the last morning. On top of all this we also had the currents to contend with; it got up to 4 knots in the Gulf Stream. Talk about a mixed bag, we had it all. We had been warned that we could get wacked coming across, so had been monitoring the weather forecasts which showed a number of low depressions developing in Chesapeake area then heading north. We thought we’d be ok, however as we all know the weather does not always act according to predictions. Although this trip was only 630mls, we ended up travelling 730mls & it made our 3000ml trip from Canaries to Caribbean seem like a dawdle…..
On the bright side, we saw lots of dolphins. They were amazing at night when they we’re surrounded in phosphorescence which made the outline of their bodies glow in the dark. We could see them shooting through the water like torpedoes from 50m away & the water was so clear we could see them as they dived down deep – quite spectacular.
Fishing was good too, we caught a couple of small marlin, which we released & a lovely Mahi-mahi - very tasty.
It was déjà vous for Pete as he experienced the same type of storm when he passed Cape Hatteras 25 years ago & also caught a marlin on that same trip.
4 ½ days after leaving Bermuda we dropped our anchor in Norfolk which is just inside the entrance to Chesapeake. In fact we’re right in Downtown Norfolk, which is very handy to everything & there’s lots of action with boats of all sizes going up & down the Elizabeth River all day. We’ve been here a few days now & it’s a lovely city. There are lots of little parks around & the streets are lined with trees. It’s also a very historic place as it was the first settlement in the US with the first settlers arriving in 1607. There are several historic areas where they have preserved the old houses, those cute New England buildings. It’s also a big naval base & so far we’ve seen at least 40 big navy ships, including some aircraft carriers. We went on board US Wisconsin which is open to the public, pretty impressive I must say. We also visited some other interesting places. At General MacArthur’s Memorial, where he & his wife have been laid to rest, there is a great display outlining his life story & history of the wars he fought in. The Chrysler Art Museum currently has a glass display. This included exhibits of work by Lino, an Italian glass blower from Murano, Venice. He is apparently one of the best glass blowers in the world & his pieces are an exquisite work of art, well worth seeing.
Last night we were treated to another impressive electrical storm. I felt a lot safer here than out at sea though & the good part was we filled up the water tanks – yahoo!!! (we get great pleasure out of such simple things these days – ha ha)
We’ve booked Sali in at Deltaville Marina where she can have a well earned rest while we’re home. Once again she did a great job of looking after us on the trip over. In the meantime we’re heading up river to visit Fuzy (Pete’s mate), Laura & the girls in Annapolis.
1 comments:
Pete and Rae,
This is Donn And Pat of MAIN STAY in Annapolis, I lost your Card Please Contact us so we can rendevous while you are here, email is donnand@gmail.com
Thanks, Donn
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