Old Yorktown

Sunday June 24, 2012
37 14.037N
76 29.980W

Foot Therapy

My recollection is that some evening a week or ten days ago, Deidre and I were both bitten on the feet and ankles by some aggressive mozzies. It was not much of a deal then, and typically I am not affected much by insect bites, but since then all 4 of our feet have become quite unhappy. We find ourselves tearing at our feet with our nails plus a variety of other implements (such as the scrubbing brush, Brillo pad etc) randomly through day and night. It was getting to the point that I was thinking "medical advice" because our feet were swollen and there seemed to be risk of infection. I  yearned for some clean salt water, and last night in the York River we had that opportunity. So last night and this morning we sat on the swim platform and soaked our sore feet. I feel better today, we will see how we progress from here on.

Sunset

We are currently secured to a mooring ball off the "beach" at old Yorktown. This is a very historical place in the USA - primarily because this was the location of the last and decisive battle with the Brits in the Revolutionary War. It also had a role in the Civil War - probably for the same strategic reason. We arrived about 2 PM, we are "chillin" right now, but when the mood strikes us we will launch the dinghy and go ashore.

It was a calm night and we slept well.





Monday, June 25

We launched the dinghy last night, taking advantage of the calm.

We enjoyed our breakfast on the aft deck and then ventured into town about 10 AM. The Marina Manager (Mike) met us on the dock and we signed in and paid, and he told us all about the town and its facilities. We asked about a drug store, as Deidre needed to refill her prescriptions. Apparently it was a few miles away, but he generously offered to drive us in his personal car. We accepted and Deidre got her pill supply and I did some shopping at the supermarket next door.

Sorting out the outboard

We ran the shopping back to the boat, and a good thing too. In our absence someone had probably "waked us" and as a result the refrig doors had burst open and dumped much of the contents on the floor. We cleaned up and then jumped back into the dinghy to go back to town, only to discover that the starter on the outboard motor was making a terrible noise. So Deidre climbed back on the boat to make lunch and I investigated the noise. Turned out the starter motor mounting was lose and the Bendix gear was not making proper contact with the fly wheel, and just needed to be tightened.


We headed back to town after asparagus tips in fresh bread, washed down with a nice crisp Pino, sitting in the shade on the aft deck. (Retirement is definitely fun.) 

We had noticed that a decent sized warship was coming up the river and surmised that the bridge would have to open. So we stooged around in the dinghy to watch and take some photos. The bridge is the largest opening bridge in the USA. The warship was escorted by a couple of patrol boats, and there was two large tug boats waiting for it at the bridge.

Turned out that there was an ammunition pier just north of the bridge. No smoking!

The town provided a "Lolly the Trolley" for the tourists so we took a ride around the town and the battle fields, visited the Visitor Center (watched a movie) and the Victory Monument, where this photo was taken. The town itself was as neat as a pin, with many buildings dating from the late 1600's and 1700's. We were able to take a photo of Tide Hiker from the bluff. Such a sturdy looking craft!

ADAKY surrounded!

   When we got back to the marina our little dinghy was surrounded by the Coast Guard. We wondered if we had paid too much attention to the war ship, took too many photos? How much trouble were we in? But it looked like there was a storm brewing and we did not want to mess around with the Coast Guard. So we fronted up like we owned the place - turned out they were "in port" for lunch.

We were back at the boat none too soon, because a violent thunderstorm arrived within minutes. The water went from placid to a maelstrom. It really had our attention for about 45 minutes but then it was over. The water is flat as a mill pond again.

We are fortunate that Tide Hiker seems to deal with weather pretty well. Other boats seem to bounce around a lot more that we do. I suspect the fact that she is big and heavy - 35 tons? - helps a lot.