Tuesday, October 15, 2019

The journey to Hampton and beyond


After  our first night on the hook in Smith Creek we begin to pull up the anchor and lo and behold after about 5 seconds the windlass stops working.

From Rob's post on Facebook "Two long (for us) days underway ⛴ and anchored ⚓ in Chisman Creek. The day started with Sharon breaking the anchor winlass. Since it was "her fault", she had to manually haul in 70' of 3/16" chain attached to a 35 lb anchor."

Now we have to move bins and other items to get to the chain locker. Once everything is relocated Rob rigged the windlass to be used. The only problem with this he had to be down below close to the chain locker and could not see so we manually get the anchor up and begin our long journey (8 hrs), underway to Chisman Creek.  Of course, I was not the one pulling up the anchor.

Once we arrive and anchor in Chisman Creek we discover water on the garage  floor  (also known as the forward stateroom) and inside my pots underneath the galley sink, we do not like water in those places.  Now of course to investigate the water in the garage we have to move those bins and things that were moved for the chain locker to another location.  The captain believes the water is coming from the shower hose that was installed recently as the bow goes down and forward. By the way we do not have a shower in the forward head.  We will keep an eye on this and assess as we go. Now we have to remove everything from under the sink to determine the cause of water in the pots which was  minor and just needed to tighten up the filter.

Ah dinner, cocktails, and sunset!


Ready for a new day and a shorter trip into Hampton. First pot of coffee is ready and turn the water on to make the second pot and OMG no water.  Now need to move some of those bins and things to look at the water pump. Just a blown fuse no big deal. 😕

Beautiful day to be on the Bay, we had a nice leisurely ride down to Hampton. There was a lot of chatter on the radio as a submarine was heading out to sea.  I was hoping we could see it but it was too far out.  Finally we arrive at Hampton Public Pier which has floating docks.  Well it really is only half a floating dock, now how I am suppose to do the lines? I'm already a nervous wreck now it is even worse. 😱😱😱  It was not the Captain's best docking and thank God dock master Matt was there to assist.  We would not have gotten into the slip if Matt was not there. The winds and the current were against us.

We stayed Sunday through Tuesday which allowed us to get off the boat and get some much needed exercise. Downtown Hampton was a stones throw away from the marina (about 2 blocks).  We had dinner and watched football at Marker 20 it was not gourmet but it was good.  I really liked the french fries.


Monday we were able to use the marina bikes and get around to do some sightseeing.



We enjoyed lunch at Venture (must try the tater tots) with our friend Nancy. We made a trip to West Marine thanks to Nancy. The dock master did not think it was a good idea to ride the bicycles to WM but we would have been fine.  So glad we were able to meet up.


The marina had a very nice herb garden that could be used by the boaters. We did not take advantage but there was basil, tomatoes, peppers, kale and various other items. The Bull Island Brewery is right above the boat docks. Rob enjoyed a oyster jalapeno stout while I was waiting to do laundry.



It's Tuesday and we are prepping for departure might as well top off the water tanks.  Rob tells me the site tubes show the tanks are full but we are waiting to see the water overflow on the sides (make sure the tanks are completely full).  Next thing I know "SHARON we have a leak need lots of towels".  We dry the floor, move the pillows and matress (water tanks are located under the bed) no leak at the top of the tanks.  Rob tightened up the hose clamp and everything was good.

Off we go no more mishaps, we traveled safely through Portsmouth and Norfolk.  Next we are into uncharted territory for Ka Why Knot and crew.

We are slowly approaching our first railroad bridge and the tender announced bridge closing in 15 minutes, lucky for us a tug boat ask to keep the bridge opened longer, we made through no problems and we could see the train waiting.


Next, believe it or not, we hit a backup. Had to wait about 30 minutes with 7 other boats for the train to go by.

Until next time!

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