DAY 32

Word from Pete and Pete last night...
They made it to Norfolk, VA. This morning they woke up and broke ice out of the harbor, and set sail, and sailed wing and wing with the wind down their stern 55 miles down to Norfolk VA. They got into the mouth of the harbor at around 5:30 and cruised around the Navel base and got to see lot of naval war ships... it is the largest navel base in the world. They counted 4 aircraft carriers, destroyers, cruisers, submarines... they were going by right at sundown so sailors were lowering all the flags on the boats... they got in and got a shower and now they are headed to the Beer Garden, which is a local German place that has 500 different kinds of beer, so they are going to get Budweiser and have some hot dogs with liberty cabbage on them!! delicious!!
The Petes want to give a shout out to Peter O. (Pete H's uncle) who set them up with the place in the marina tonight... they are pumped!



From Peter Ver Ploeg:

We left a snail trail of broken ice leading out of another harbor this morning, but soon the hoarfrost on deck was steaming in the morning sun and things were looking up. I took first shift at the helm and Pete H. went below to start cooking; corned beef hash, fried bread, and maple syrup grits. Pete brought along a quart of pure NH maple syrup and I've yet to find a food that wasn't improved by the addition of it. This was a big breakfast for us. Normally, we just have oatmeal with maple syrup, but, with any luck this would be our last day on the Chesapeake so we felt like celebrating.




Before food we always have tea. Tea to wakes us up and warm us up. The kettle gets set to boiling before we even get dressed in the morning. We can suck down two or three pots of scalding hot tea over the course of a single day. Its the elixir of life when you're standing on deck in the wind and spray, and the only way we can seem to stay hydrated.

At the start of the trip we drank coffee, lots and lots of coffee, but when our friend Chris Bancroft joined us for the leg of the trip from New York to Baltimore, he became concerned with our growing dependency on the dark brew and chucked our french press overboard one morning in New Jersey. There followed a period of unusual tenseness aboard the Strolla, but by the time he left us in Maryland, we were all speaking to each other once again. That was the end of the coffee. Now, we drink tea.









Today was a great day for sailing. Wing and wing for more than fifty miles. Strolla doing a kind of lazy sashay as the two foot following seas passed us by. The sun poking out from behind heavy cloud cover just long enough to redden my cheeks and toss a few more freckles on Pete's nose. And then it was dusk and we were rounding the point into Norfolk.



Norfolk, with its huge naval base and commercial shipping docks, was a bustling hive of activity. Black Hawk helicopters droned in pairs along the horizon, touching down and taking off like bees collecting nectar. Container ships, tugs, and tankers made their unswerving progress towards distant destinations. No more than fifty yards from our port rail were all the navy ships lined up in their docks. We counted four aircraft carriers and at least another ten miscellaneous destroyers, cruisers, and submarines. Fighter jets zipped off into the clouds and communications planes circled overhead. It was quite a sight. Motoring by in the gathering dark, taps sounded over the loudspeakers and echoed across the water and, as we watched, a color guard on the deck of each ship struck its colors for the night.


Fun fact: the lights a large ship (like a tugboat pushing a barge) blend in with the lights a big city (like Norfolk) making it almost impossible to pick out at night. Especially, if that tug is heading straight for you so its lights don't appear to move against the background.

Pete's uncle Pete set us up with a slip at a place he knew called the Tidewater Yacht Marina. We tied up, raced into the marina house for a shower, and thus primped and primed, strolled out to the nearby "Bier Garden" to meet up with Nikki, a local sailor and ocean floor mapper Pete had met through couchsurfing.com. Over five hundred kinds of beer to choose from in the garden, and a full selection of schnitzel, and Pete and I are moving somewhat slow this morning.