Land Ho!

May 20, 2009 – Wednesday
The weather continued getting better on Wednesday and the temperatures rose quickly. We knew we were going to get into Norfolk that evening which certainly makes your spirits soar a bit. We continued to motor-sail so that we could make good time and get to port before dark. Once again the boat traffic around us picked up and especially as we were crossing the shipping channel. We heard on the radio that the Navy was conducting live firing and the coordinates seem to be in our area. Don called a Coast Guard ship and asked if our course was safe and we were assured it was. We were all keeping tabs on the various ships and at one point I spotted four square looking ships on the horizon which I pointed out to Don. Then Tom noticed that there were six of them. Soon the number grew to over a dozen - all still looking rather square. The binoculars reveled they were buildings. These were tops of the tallest buildings at Virgina beach - Land Ho! We slipped by a few more ships including a Coast Guard vessel at close range. Don contacted customs to tell them we were coming in and they requested we contact them when we were 30 minutes from docking. A customs officer was waiting for us on the dock. She was very pleasant and had been waiting quite awhile for us. She said she only lived 10 minutes away but didn’t know of this particular marina. We had papers to fill out and had to show our passports. She went through things in the cabin and examined our food. We got to keep nearly everything but had to throw out some grapes that came from Chile. She called in an agricultural specialist for further checking. His stay was brief and they both left us to settle in for the night. We arrived in Norfolk about 6:30 pm. Andy Walls brought over John’s PT cruiser and Don, Rod and Tom loaded into that while John Jr. stayed behind at the dock. John drove us over to Andy and Stephanie’s were they serve us a great dinner of grilled asparagus and chicken with an Oreo cookie type pie (Andy’s favorite) – it was very, very good! John went back to get his son and the two of them ate out and stayed at a motel for the night. The three of us took Don’s van and headed back to the marina. Thanks to three ocean-soaked brains and a good memory on Tom’s part, we found our way to the dock and we spent a good night on the boat. I had hoped to sleep in the cockpit so I could stretch out, but even with the canvas up, the dew was too heavy so I stayed below.