Mobjack Bay to Fishing Bay

Day 3 - 31 nm (passage total: 80 nm) The guys were up at 0530 removing the old impeller and replacing it with a new one. We hauled anchor by 0715. We were thankful for the thick, black river mud that had held us firmly during the night, but now spent 30 minutes cleaning the muck off the chain and anchor before getting underway.

The new impeller did the trick and the engine temp stayed steady in its normal range. Cups' speed was greatly enhanced without all the barnacles on her prop. All was good. We passed by New Point Comfort Light as we left Mobjack Bay and re-entered the Chesapeake.

It was right about that time that David announced the the forward head pump was broken. Really?

Paul went below and the two guys spent several hours trying to fix it. We had an older spare pump aboard, but when it was installed, it didn't work either. They finally exchanged the aft head pump for the forward pump and all was well … until it was determined that the hose from the head to the holding tank was clogged and the head was still unusable. David tried using muriatic acid, but to no avail. Sigh!

We passed Wolf Trap Light, then headed to port up the Piankatank River. Our destination for the evening was Fishing Bay, a lovely wide open, deep water bay, perfect for an overnight stay. We anchored and the guys got to work on the forward head again. They removed the connecting hose between the head and the holding tank … a mighty effort. It was clogged with thick, hard calcium deposits. Evidently all his regular treatments with muriatic acid along the way had not been all that successful.

They worked for several hours and finally reassembled the whole works with excellent results. Whew! Traveling without a working head would have been a bummer. We have an aft head, but we rarely use it unless we're at sea because it is not connected to a holding tank.

The area was scenic with a lovely little marina and Deltaville, with its shops and museum, was just a short walk across the peninsula. By the time the job was complete, however, it was too late to launch the dinghy and head into shore. We settled for a glass of wine, dinner and a game or two of cards aboard. By 9pm (aka cruiser midnight), we were all ready for our bunks.

Two things to note here: 1) We're not traveling very far each day by choice; and 2) we haven't been off the boat since we left AYB. Tomorrow we're hoping for some shore time to stretch our legs and see what we can see and, please, no more hissy-fits from the sulking Nine of Cups.

Chesapeake -Norfolk to Mobjack Bay

Day 2 – 32nm (passage total: 49 nm)

We spent a relatively calm night in the general anchorage off the loading docks in Norfolk. Huge Hapag Lloyd container ships were a bit noisy in their loading activities, but otherwise no worries, no problems. The plan was to head north to Mobjack Bay on the East River. We returned to the main channel, passing Fort Wool to starboard and the Old Port Comfort Lighthouse to port as we motored into Chesapeake Bay.

The day was lovely and the light breeze was wonderfully refreshing. We motored for a few hours, but by mid-day we were actually able to sail for awhile and enjoyed the quiet and calm of the bay. The lighthouse at Thimble Shoal is quite a different style than most lighthouses we see, but is the typical style lighthouse for the Chesapeake.

We arrived in Mobjack Bay around 3 pm and found a perfect a little anchorage just out of the channel inside the entrance to the East River.

David felt that Cups' speed had been sluggish during the day and jumped in the water to have a look at the prop. The visibility was less than a foot as he scraped a fine collection of barnacles off the propeller. He chastised himself for not doing this at the AYB dock, but better late than never.

Yesterday's coolant hose replacement kept the engine temp down, but it was still running higher than normal. Once the engine cooled down, the guys took a look at the impeller. It was due for a change. They decided to let it wait till morning. We enjoyed cocktails in the cool of the cockpit, ate some dinner, played a few games of gin (David won, but we're sure he was cheating) and then reveled in the beauty of a full harvest moon over a duckpond calm anchorage.

Off the Dock and into Chesapeake Bay

Paul arrived in the late afternoon, exhausted, but exuberant. He'd driven 2,040 miles from Loma, CO to Chesapeake, VA in three days and finally he was here and aboard Nine of Cups. He was able to park and leave his car securely at the Atlantic Yacht Basin and after a day to recoup and provision (did I say he has a car?), we were off the dock around 11:45 just in time for the Noon opening of the Great Bridge Bridge.

Only a half mile beyond the Great Bridge are the Great Bridge Locks and they work in sync with the bridge. There were four other boats transiting the bridge with us … more than we had seen since we'd arrived. The transit of the bridge was no drama, but the locks ended up being a bit of an adrenaline rush when a sailboat, two boats in front of us couldn't get lines ashore and swung out broadside into the locks. There are no brakes on a boat, so several boats swerved every which way to avoid any catastrophes. The lock tender was patient and capable and had everything handled within a few minutes, despite some cursing on the forward sailboat. We ended up facing the wrong way in the locks, but David did a torque turn with no problems and we were on our way.

What we didn't realize until the lock tender mentioned it was that the Gilmerton Lift Bridge, just six miles up the river, had a restricted schedule and only opened four times per day. The next opening was scheduled at 3pm, so we puttered along at 1-2 knots.

As we neared the bridge with only 10 minutes to wait, David decided to check the transmission fluid. As you'll remember, we had transmission problems last June and David had addressed the issues before we left Cups at AYB. We had not, however, motored since that time and he was anxious to make sure the problem was resolved. Well, the transmission fluid was fine, however while checking he smelled coolant and sure enough there was a coolant leak. The culprit was a split coolant hose.

We watched the temperature rise, but he found if he kept the RPMs low, though the temperature was considerably higher than normal, it remained stable. We made it through the bridge and anchored just off the channel on the other side. David did, of course, have a spare. He and Paul hightailed it below to change out the hose. Within 30 minutes, we were back in business. Anchor up, we made our way along the Elizabeth River towards Norfolk.

We passed by the Norfolk Naval Shipyards and looked with interest at the battleships, destroyers and aircraft carriers, all in varying stages of production and/or repair. We saw an old light ship on display. Small Navy patrol boats whizzed back and forth along the shoreline, making sure no one strayed off the channel and into the restricted areas.

We were hoping to reach Willoughby Bay for our night's anchorage, but with all the day's delays, we started looking for alternatives. As the sun waned and the day grew cooler and darker, we opted to anchor the night in a general anchorage just off the channel which proved to be just fine. Our first night on the hook since June. It's good to be back aboard!