We are still alive and want to apologize to our faithful followers for the lag in posts.  As most of you know I have had health issues over the last couple of weeks.  Unsure as to what was ailing me we headed to the emergency room on our arrival here in Norfolk at noon on Monday.  After one CT scan, no diagnosis, and seven and a half hours later they sent us on our way.  At least we knew what it wasn’t.  My comment to Dennis after two more days of sleeplessness and extreme pain was, “I guess if it was going to kill me it would have done so already, right?”  In my “top most painful experiences” this ranks as number one.  Last night was the turning point though and I feel I am finally able to continue the trip rather than turning for home. 

Now to catch up:  Monday, the 21st we motored through what’s known as the Virginia Cut of the ICW, which included maneuvering through 11 bridges, crossing over the state line of North Carolina into Virginia, traversing the Great Bridge Lock, up the Elizabeth River, passing numerous docked vessels and intense industrial harbor activity into Waterside Marina.  Much of the din and clamor found here is created by the super Naval carriers lining the harbor, and the seemingly miniature tugs pushing and tooting as they struggle to move the silver giants into the waterside garages for repair.  As always they are accompanied by flashing blue lights making sure that every vessel keeps their 500 yard distance from their charges. 

On Tuesday Dennis explored Norfolk with a tour of the Nauticus Maritime Museum including the Iowa Class Battleship Wisconsin whose last tour of duty was the first Iraq War where it fired tomahawk and cruise missiles.  Its sixteen inch guns had a range of twenty-three miles.  There were four Iowa Class Battleships, the Iowa, New Jersey, Wisconsin and the Missouri.  Although the Missouri was No. 3 it was actually the newest.  The other three battleships were all chagrined when the Japanese surrender took place on the Missouri.  Let’s see, wasn’t President Truman from Missouri?  

One of Dennis’s fears has been the dingy falling.  He securely ties its lines to the davit so it won’t swing, but has often thought about what might happen if one of the pins or blocks on the line would break.  Well yesterday morning upon inspection he realized it was only hanging by the eye of the line which had gotten stuck in one of the blocks…the pin holding the block had broken.  Quickly he temporarily secured the lines, took a $30 taxi ride to West Marine and later replaced the blocks.  Thank you Lord for another catastrophe avoided and a captain who’s also a mechanical engineer.

Thankfully today we are again on our way, free of the ICW ditch and into the mystical Chesapeake.