Saturday 6/20/09 - Friends from Marathon!

On Thursday we received a call from John & Debbie, a couple we met in Marathon who are now on their way North for the Summer, stopping off here for a couple days. They would be staying in the Alligator River area on Thursday, then stay in Great Bridge on Friday and be here in Little Creek on Saturday afternoon. They pulled into Little Creek Marina around 5:00. After they got settled into their slip, Chip took the dinghy around and picked them up.

Mel was also up for a visit from Marathon, so it was a cruisers reunion here in Norfolk! We cooked out on the grill along with Paul, Jennifer, Pam, Barb, Doug, and a few others, and sat around catching up until about 11 pm....waaay past boaters midnight (9 pm)! Tomorrow its a Bloody Mary Brunch on the dock......to be cont'd.

June Birthdays #3 Happy Birthday Paul B!

Hey wait, there's only 4 candles on that cake!?

Blast from the past....Anniversary Edition of

the Woodstock movie!

Just what every guy needs, a wood carved

Harley Davidson!

On Sunday we gathered at Regino's to celebrate my brother's Birthday (which was actually on Thursday ...). Mark, Kelley, Bridget, Thomas, Paul, Chip and myself met there at 5 pm and for the next couple hours we all got in touch with our Italian side (ha) and enjoyed Greek salad, Calamari, fresh baked bread with olive oil & balsamic vinegar, and a myriad of pasta dishes. We sampled each others dishes, laughed and just enjoyed being together.

Ro Ro, our favorite waitress there, brought out the cake after dinner (not that many of us had room). Bridget made a wonderful 4 layered yellow cake with chocolate frosting (Paul's choice) and it was delish! There was a large group (10) of college aged kids at the table behind us and when Ro Ro placed the cake on the table they (the kids at the table behind us) began singing Happy Birthday....too funny!

After packing our leftover's in "lunch the next day" boxes and saying our good byes we parted company. A little while later Paul came by the boat to visit for a bit..........it was a nice evening to set out on the dock and chat. Happy Birthday Bro, and many more!

A Special Thank You to Our Good Friend Carrie....

Just wanted to give a shout out to our friend Carrie (aka Care Bear), she made us the most beautiful scrapbook of the journey we took this winter and that we captured in this blog. It was beautifully done, every detail captured by a photo or "prop" added by her.

Words cannot express how much we love the book, or how much we appreciate her for doing it.

We love ya Carrie, thank you.

Saturday 6/13/09 Tuna Tuna Tuna!!!

Chip got up around 2:30 a.m. this morning (ugh) and headed out to go fishing. ( are the fish up that early?) He was going out on the boat Just Right, along with Billy House, Gordon "Big Daddy" Brooks, Andy Speirs and Bill. They were headed out to the Canyon to do some Tuna fishing. It was a beautiful day on the water (...funny, cause it rained here at the dock on and off all day). They got their first fish on around 8:30, with the second coming at 10:15. From then on it was Tuna mayhem! The boys had 3 fish on at once several times. They ended up catching a total of 25 Tuna, but bringing home only 14....one less than the limit.

I will let the pictures tell the rest of the story!

Good job guys!!!!

Parrot's Nest Cruise around the Bay....

concrete ship fleet...........

Fort Wool

Our friends Paul & Jennifer, on the M/V Parrots Nest, invited a few us out for a relaxing cruise around the bay. Destination, nowhere. So Paul, Jennifer, Chip, myself, Kenny, Rudy, Carmen and Andy left the dock around 9:00. We cruised to Fort Wool, then over to Hampton where we tootled around the commercial fishing vessels, which most of us had never seen up close. The captain headed over to the concrete ships next. These ships were used in WWII and were since decommissioned and set in place just off the Eastern Shore as breakers for storms. They are massive concrete structures that are now bird and fish sanctuaries slowly decaying and breaking apart, covered with trees, grass and bird droppings, but still beautiful in their own way. If you get close enough to one of the port holes, you can still see where the gallies once were. Unfortunately you are not allowed to dive around them or climb on to them, for safety reasons. During our cruise Jennifer served a variety of "scooby snacks" and libations. We all brought something to share.

From there we headed back to the dock. It was a great day to be on the water, especially with such good company.

June Birthdays #2 Happy Birthday Paul Kuchta

Oh my! Where's Smokey the Bear when you

need him!

Still a child at heart............

On Tuesday June 9th we had dinner out with friends to celebrate our friend Paul's birthday. Dave, Barb, Chip, Paul, Shawnette, Paul's mom, and Shawnette's Dad were in attendance. We all met at Ruby Tuesday's (one of Paul's favs) and for two hours we ate, told tall tales and laughed. The waitress brought out the cake, but according to their company policy, the waitstaff was not allowed to sing! So, they had to listen to all of us sing.........and believe me, none of us missed our calling! Simon (and Paula)would have thrown most of us out at the first tryout! Ha!

Happy Birthday my friend.............and many more!

June Birthdays! Emily's Surprise Party!

On Sunday June 7 we returned from the Blackbeard Festival just in time to scurry over to B Dock to help surprise our friend Emily on her birthday. Her husband Rob had sent her, along with her mom, out to have a spa day, which included facials, body scrubs and pedicures (all the women reading this are going "ahhhhhhh" right about now). While they were gone Rob, with help from friends and family, decorated their boat along with the dock with Hawaiian decor ie; grass skirting, brightly colored danglers, umbrella's with tropical blue grass skirting, and of course everyone got lei'd! ha!

Emily's mom called Rob to give him a 15 minute notice that they would be arriving. Everyone gathered on the dock and as Emily and her mom stepped onto the ramp to come down we all yelled "SURPRISE"!!!

After donning the traditional silly eyeglasses and silly headdress, the party was on! Food and fun was had by all! Happy Birthday Emily!!!!

June 5, 6, 7 - Blackbeard Festival Arrrggghhh

Mary & Donnie pole dancing!!!

Keith & Suzanne

Paula & Willie

The gang..Suzanne, Keith, Paul, Willie, Paula,

Chip, Steve and Donnie

Arrgghh, Blackbeard himself!

Did pirate ships have fenders?

Waiting for the perfect pirate...............

We tossed the lines off on Thursday morning and headed to Hampton Harbor where we would soon catch a glimpse of Blackbeard himself cruising around Hampton in search of pirate booty (okay, take that anyway you want to). The bay was flat and the sun was out...gorgeous day to be on a boat! We set the anchor in our usual spot and made lunch. We already spotted a couple of boats rafted up behind us that we recognized from our last rendezvous here, part of Charlie Moore's flotilla. The skies began to cloud up more and more and the forecast called for a few sprinkles that night with more to follow on Friday....but Saturday and Sunday were fore casted to be beautiful.

We kept a watchful eye on our stern anchor, the bottom in Hampton Harbor was muddy and anchors would sometimes drag a bit. With the North East breeze we were getting, the stern anchor was being put to the test! At one point the anchor did drag a bit, and when Charlie (who kindly offered to move our anchor for us since he was already in his dinghy) pulled it up to move it the reason it dragged was obvious....it was packed tight with mud and oyster shells. Looked like a big mud ball. Instead of resetting the anchor we asked Charlie to unhook it from the stern line, take the line and tie to the piling that a sailboat had tied to nearby. Now we were not going to go anywhere!

On Friday morning we realized the day was going to be rainy and cloudy all day. Chip and I took the dinghy ashore and went to breakfast. Once back at the boat we watched the flow of boaters making their way into the harbor to find their spot for the weekend, as well as sailing vessels that were absolutely beautiful! One large "pirate" ship came to rest at the floating docks just across from where we were. On our way back from breakfast we took a dinghy ride around the massive ship to check out all of her detailed carvings and handy work.

By Friday early evening it had started raining pretty hard (not at all predicted., ....meteorologist....ugghh!)

On Saturday morning the rain was gone. Around 10:00 we noticed a couple of sailing vessels cruising around the harbor when all of a sudden Blackbeards ship came out of the shadows and attacked one of the merchant ships, in search of whatever cargo he could get his hands on! Just as the pirates thought they had subdued the crew, the wench's came up on deck from the galley and began wailing on the pirates with pots and pans, knocking some in the water! We all cheered "Hooray for the wenches"! But alas, their efforts were brave but did not change the outcome, Blackbeard got away with the booty!

Our friends Paul & Jennifer and Keith & Suzanne showed up and we rafted up together for a day of pirating fun! Turns out they showed up just in time to witness Blackbeard's ship and crew being taken over and Blackbeard himself being beheaded! It was a bloody battle to the end. (I have to limit posting only photos of the battle because this site will not let me upload a 6 minute video....sorry!) After the battle was over there were several scenes happening on shore to delight and entertain the crowd. Pirates were starting brawls in the local pubs, wenches getting into cat fights over men, soldiers were arresting pirates. There was a pirate camp set up to hold the prisoners and for their trial later on.

The harbor was filled with pirate flags proudly waving in the sun. Some of the boats at the dock really went all out for this event....photos attached.

The fireworks were good, not great, but the evening was a blast! Some of our other friends showed up by car (Paula, Willie and Steve) and we dingh'd them out to our flotilla where we partied until the wee hours. We grilled bacon wrapped scallops, asparagus wrapped in cheese country ham and roast beef, corn on the cob, and bubba burgers with jalapenos. We drank rum, some had beer, fun was had by all!