Sunday, November 9 — Yesterday morning, we were up at 0-Dark 30 and left Dennis Point at first light of dawn, which was 0615. Here were some early morning photos along the way.

We’re pleased to report that the passage to Deltaville was uneventful. We heard a warning on the radio to be on the lookout for an oyster boat that had flipped over near oyster point. We did pass it, but at a far enough distance that it didn’t affect us.

The seas were calm. We ran at 1600 RPM and averaged about 6.9 knots, which was excellent. We arrived about 1415 and dropped anchor in the anchorage just outside Fishing Harbor Marina. We’d thought Deltaville was charming before, but now it was even more charming. Some trees had already lost their leaves, so the pretty buildings were more visible, and most of the remaining leaves were beautiful with the autumn colors.

Back in San Diego, Eric had fabricated a special board to hold our anchor in place. The board itself kept the anchor from rocking side to side, and secured to the board was a piece that kept the anchor from bouncing up and down. Upon arrival at the anchorage, Eric noticed that the piece that stopped the bouncing up and down was missing. It must have fallen off in the dark when we’d made our emergency stop. He made a makeshift one for tomorrow’s passage. It was a beautiful twilight.

We stayed aboard for the night. Another Nordhavn anchored near us, but neither boat wanted to deal with getting our dinghies down, so we chatted on the radio instead of in person.

Eric researched potential bilge pump upgrades. At Dennis Point, he’d just ordered the same one that we already had so that we would immediately have a spare onboard. But now that he had the luxury of time, he would see if something better was out there. He found a pump that was much faster than the one we currently had and ordered it from Amazon, to be delivered to us at Morningstar Marina.

This morning, we were up again before dawn. As we were getting ready to go, Eric noticed a slight transmission leak. It looked like a seal was not properly sealing.

We again left at first light of dawn. Our goal was to arrive in Little Creek at 1400, during the slack tide. Knowing how strong the current was there, we were trying to make sure that docking would be easier than it had been last time. The anchor chain was super muddy and needed a serious wash down as we lifted the anchor. Here were some early morning photos.

In the morning, it was partly cloudy, but as the day wore on, the fog rolled in. We were socked in with fog for a while, but it did eventually clear and the rest of the day was beautiful. But fog aside, the passage was nice overall. The wind was light at 6-knots true. There was one foot swells at rapid intervals and no wind chop, so a very small amount of motion. There also wasn’t much traffic. We again ran at 1600 for most of the trip, but averaged around 5.7. Towards the end of the passage, Eric sped us up to ensure that we’d get there before the current got too strong.

We made it to Morningstar Marina at 1430 pm. Last time, two marina staff had come to help us pull in, but this time, we were on our own. We were horrified to see that the current was strong even at the alleged slack tide! We’d been assigned an end tie, and as we approached, Eric noted that it was uncomfortably shallow. Docking was difficult because of the current, and Eric was worried about hitting the bottom, which added to the anxiety. We tried approaching at least three times before Christi was successful at getting onto the dock to tie Kosmos up. We broke one of the fenders in the process.

Once we were finally tied up, we realized that the power cord wouldn’t reach the pedestal and we had to flip the boat around, which was tricky. The channel wasn’t very wide, nor deep, and we had to be conscientious about not hitting another boat as we made a U-turn. And in that short time span, the current had gotten significantly stronger! This time, docking was easier because Christi had stayed on the dock and Keith was able to throw her the lines, but even that didn’t go nearly as smoothly as it normally did.

Eric did not love this spot. He was worried about being grounded at low tide. The pedestal for our spot was pretty far away. Normally, when going around dock boxes, Eric likes to run power cords/hoses on the dock side so that they aren’t vulnerable to falling into the water. He also likes to wrap them once around pedestal bases to help ensure they don’t fall in the water. However, our cords weren’t long enough to do that here. They barely reached stretched across the water side of the dock boxes, with no slack to wrap around the pedestal. Eric was uncomfortable with how vulnerable the cords and hoses were to falling into the water.

And, the forecast for tomorrow was a cold snap — with a possible dusting of snow — and gale force winds, so being on an end-tie wasn’t ideal. He spent a lot of time carefully tying up. Once we were finally situated, we walked to Lola’s for an early dinner. We noticed that Morningstar had installed a new statue near Stony’s. We’re pretty sure the mermaid the mascot for Norfolk.

It was an idyllic 70-degrees outside. We were excited about the warm, beautiful day. Even the light breeze was not cold. We didn’t even need jackets. After being cooped up on the boat for the last couple of days, the walk felt wonderful. Here was the view of Little Creek as we crossed the bridge to the north side.

Karen and Mark met us at Lola’s. It was fabulous to see them again, and as always, the food was phenomenal. We were sad that we forgot to take photos with Karen and Mark. After dinner, Karen and Mark dropped us off at the marina. Christi hung out in the car with them in the parking lot for a long time catching up on everything that had happened since we’d last seen one another.