Category Archives: Cruising Life

Describes an experience regarding the boating lifestyle of our travel.

Touring Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA

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Saturday, June 28, 2025 — We moved Kosmos to her assigned slip first thing in the morning, when the current was less strong. Eric was able to back in with no problem. Then went through the whole process of situating Kosmos all over again. Since it was a smaller slip, we were able to tie her up much more securely than we had in the other slip.

In the afternoon, Karen and Mark picked us up and gave us a tour of Virginia Beach. Morningstar Marina was on Shore Drive, and we stayed on the same road all the way to the eastern end of Virginia Beach (though the road changed names a few times along the way). The road paralleled the Chesapeake west to Cape Henry (the southern mouth of the bay), then turned south and ran along the ocean.

Along the way, we passed a huge military base (3 miles long!), a large state park that appeared to be undeveloped land, several quaint neighborhoods that looked to be higher-end, and eventually got to the touristy area, called Oceanfront. In the neighborhoods, we could see glimpses of beach between the homes; in Ocean Front, there was what seemed like a giant wall of relatively new, tightly packed condos and hotels blocking the view of the beach from the road (for the most part. There were glimpses here and there). On the other side of the road, it was one shopping center after another with assorted shops and restaurants. We were able to snap some photos of Oceanfront at the red lights.

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Keith’s Perspective on Deltaville and Norfolk, Virginia/Le point de vue de Keith sur Deltaville et Norfolk, en Virginie

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This week has been fun. Saturday and Sunday were both boring passage days. On Monday, we arrived in Deltaville. The marina we were at was nice enough. A boat with kids was having a potluck, so we went for a while, but then the marina said we had to move the boat to a different slip. On Tuesday, we went to a restaurant called The Galley, which had good food. I tried Old Bay for the first time, and it was really good. Unfortunately, mom couldn’t get much to eat because Old Bay has pepper in it. When we got back, we went to the pool with the two kid boats. 

Keith entertaining himself on passage

Cette semaine était amusante. Samedi et Dimanche étaient des jours de voyage ennuyant. Lundi, on est arrivé à Deltaville. Le marina était plutot simpa. Des bateaux avec des enfants faisaient un potluck, donc on y est allé, mais après la marina a dit qu’on devait déplacer le bateau. Mardi, nous sommes allés à un restaurant qui s’appelle Le Galley, qui avait de bon nouriture. J’ai essayé Old Bay pour la première fois, et c’était très bon. Malheureusement, maman pouvait ne pas manger beaucoup parce que Old Bay est cuisiné avec du poivre. Quant on est rentré, j’ai joué à la piscine avec les enfants des autres bateaux. 

The Galley, where almost everything had Old Bay Seasoning in it

On Wednesday, dad went to the local boat store, and after that we said goodbye to one of the kid boats, who was leaving. After that we played a card game with the other kid boat, which was fun. On Thursday, we went to lunch at a restaurant called The Table. We happened to find the other kid boat there. We ate lunch with them, then went back to The Table with them for dinner. On Friday we took Kosmos to a city called Norfolk. It was an eight hour passage, and it was kind of rough for the first part. We had dinner at the marina and later had dessert with one of mom’s friends that lives nearby. 

Mercredi, papa est allé à la boutique locale pour les bateaux, puis on a dit au revoir à un des bateau avec enfants qui partait. Apres ça nous avons joué à un jeux de cartes avec l’autre bateau avec des enfants, qui était amusant. Jeudi, nous avons mangé le déjeuner à un restaurant qui s’appelle La Table. On y a vu les autres enfants du bateau. On a mangé le déjeuner avec eux, puis on y est retourné ensemble pour le dîner. Vendredi, nous sommes allés en bateau à une ville qui s’appelle Norfolk. C’était un voyage de huit heures, et la mer était plutôt agitée pour la première partie. Nous avons dîné à la marina et plus tard nous avons pris un dessert avec l’un des amis de maman qui vit à proximité.

Welcome to Norfolk, Virginia, USA

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Friday June 27 — As we’d learned the hard way, we needed to leave at a higher tide or else we’d be grounded. We untied at 0550. The day was grey and overcast, and the sun was not visible behind the cloud cover. At first, the sea conditions were surprisingly uncomfortable, with sea spray regularly coming over the bow. It calmed down within an hour or so, though.

For the majority of the trip, we had 2-foot swells and 3-foot wind chop and light wind. There was a fair amount of traffic, and all kinds of boats, including sailboats, trawlers, tiny fishing boats, etc. There were several small craft that AIS identified as “MC experimental” that appeared to be military vessels doing circles. There was a small ship that particularly caught our attention. AIS identified as “High Speed Vessel” that looked like a small research vessel. Later, we found out it was a service vessel for a near-by off-shore wind farm.

Crossing the shipping lane was a little scary. At different points in time, we were on a collision course with 2 different vessels, so we needed to alter course each time to avoid them.

It was hot and humid outside, so Eric ran the generator and the salon and downstairs A/C units the entire 7.5-hour trip.

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More Exploring Deltaville, Virginia, USA

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Dawn on Wednesday

On the passage, Eric had noticed an issue with the newly fixed radio: it was working fine, but it was complaining about low voltage. He spent Wednesday morning on the phone with the company who’d done the repair to troubleshoot the problem. Eric eventually figured out that there was a knob to adjust voltage on the power supply unit (which was behind the panel), and that knob was in a spot where it could have been easily bumped when the converter box was installed. In the course of the troubleshooting, the “expert” gave Eric some incorrect information, which really bothered Eric.

In between phone calls, Eric changed the generator oil and filter, drained the engine oil, and replaced the O ring in the oil drain hose for the main engine. We also went to the boat yard next door to say goodbye to the family that had been hauled out yesterday. They were a really nice family and we hope to see them again when they return.

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Welcome to Deltaville, Virginia, USA

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Monday, June 23 — By midnight, we could see the lights of Virginia Beach. It was definitely a big city! We’d also exited the Gulf Stream, so our speeds were back to normal — 6-knots at 1650 RPM.

We entered the mouth of the Chesapeake in the wee hours of the morning. Once inside, we hit an adverse current and had to increase RPMs to 1900 to maintain a speed of 6-knots.

We ran on the edge of, but not inside the shipping lane, hoping that would keep us safe from both big ships and fishing traps. One of the scary things about going through an area know for traps at night was that we wouldn’t be able to see the markers on the traps. There was a steady conga line of shipping containers. We also passed a military vessel while it was still dark. Since the vessel looked huge on radar and tiny as we passed it, we believe it was a submarine. Fortunately, with the long days, we weren’t in the dark for long.

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