How cool is this?

We had hoped to make some miles south yesterday but, at midnight, we were just finishing up getting the bilge pump to actually move water off the boat.  At 0300 in the AM I woke to the sound of the pump running without moving water again.  We decided to stay in Fishing Bay and figure out what was what.  That turned out to be a fortunate call since the winds backed around to the south instead of the forecast west and gusted to nearly 30 knots.  It would have been a tough slog out on the bay and it was plenty bouncy even on the hook.  That makes working on things a bit more interesting and, though neither of us ever felt "bad", we didn't eat a lot either.  Still, Fishing Bay is a pretty place to spend a couple of days, even if the wind is howling.

We left with the sun this morning having two potential destinations in mind as well as an "early out" haven if the day didn't seem to be going well.  After making the bay we threw the main and jib out into the air to catch what wind we could. There wasn't much so motor sailing became the theme of the day.  I don't really like motor sailing.  It isn't that I am a sailing purest; it is that I have little faith in Kintala's ancient Westerbeke.  But she thumped away without complaint for more than 6 hours today, carrying on all the way to downtown Norfolk and mile ZERO of the ICW.  Tonight we lay at anchor with a dozen or so other boats, the "WELCOME TO NORFOLK" sign on the river front glowing across from us.

I know long time cruisers will shrug, having been this way many a time.  But I can't help but think, "How cool is this?!"  Though completely unplanned we ended up coasting through Norfolk Harbor and past the Navy Piers late on a Sunday afternoon.  There were a few other boats around but it was nothing like the traffic jam others had warned us to expect.  Indeed, most of the time we had the channel completely to ourselves and navigating was easy.

It took us nine days to transit the bay, four of sailing, five of waiting on weather and fixing things.  Since leaving Oak Harbor Kintala has had 213 NM of bay water flow over her hull in 41 hours and 36 minutes of travel.  We discovered that our outboard doesn't run, broke the binoculars (fixed) and Deb's favorite boat hook (unfixable).  The bilge pump was repaired on the hook as well as moving the new GPS to a slightly different position at the helm.  We learned that the Dodger was worth every bit of effort (and is now known as the "Sun Room), that we need more practice with the wind vane, that we did NOT bring too many tools along, that the work bench / parts storage mod to the aft cabin was also worth every bit of effort, that we like being cold better than being hot, but not as much as we like being warm, and that our engine actually makes hot water for showers (YEAH THAT). 

It was a cautious, careful, deliberate introduction to being full time, live-a-board, cruisers; which is exactly how we meant it to be.  Next we have to deal with bridges and locks, more new things for Carlyle Lake sailors.

The view out my galley port this evening