Norfolk, Virginia
26th June - 9th July 2004
We'd arrived in Norfolk on the last day of the Bayou Boogaloo, a festival of Cajun food and music held in the park near our anchoring spot. No sooner had we anchored than there was a knock on the hull. Mark and the two Janes from Pegasus, who were moored in the marina nearby, had spotted us and dragged us straight off to the party!
The festival was fun, with New Orleans type music and lots of different food to try. After we'd tried shrimp on a stick and our first crab cakes, we watched the band and Mark treated us to "Crayfish Etouffe", a type of spicy crayfish, another first for us.
Enjoying the Boogaloo with our friends from Pegasus.
Mexican Cuauhtemoc.
Our friends on Delphin told us they were leaving soon to continue north but we wanted to spend more time in Norfolk. When their boat disappeared we assumed they'd headed north.
We continued exploring the city on our own, taking advantage of the city's free electric bus. On one trip ashore we reached the dinghy dock at the Nauticus museum, when Phil discovered he'd forgotten to take his shoes along. This turned out to be fortuitous as while he went back to Anju to pick up his shoes, Christine met Dean, who immediately spotted by our sunhats and sensible walking shoes, that we were cruising people. He was working at the museum to build up a cruising kitty and invited us to his boat, strangely also called Pegasus, to meet his wife Nancy.
When we dinghied around to their marina, we were surprised to spot Delphin Salar sitting at the dock. We discovered that Ruth and Jim had engine trouble and had to get towed to the dock for repairs.
Dean and Nancy were very kind to us, inviting us all to barbecues at their marina, driving us to the supermarket and Nancy even gave us much-needed haircuts! At one party they introduced us to friends of theirs from Cape Charles, Jeanette and Ralph, who we promised to visit on our way north.
Partying with Dean and Nancy, Ruth and Jim.
USS Wisconsin - hope we never see this view from Anju's deck!
After talking to Dean, we decided we'd better take a tour of the USS Wisconsin at the Naval Museum, where Dean has been working so hard. The battleship was not decommissioned and was still on standby for action, so it wasn't possible to tour inside the ship but we were impressed by our tour of the exterior of the ship and the glimpses through the portholes of the crew quarters inside. A naval awards ceremony was taking place on deck, which was fascinating to watch.
It was interesting to learn that the bow section of the ship had been damaged soon after it was built and the entire bow had to be replaced by a bow of a different shape which had been partly constructed for another ship.
During the afternoon a couple off another anchored boat sailed by in their dinghy and we invited them aboard for a cup of tea. Kyle was American, a pilot and Maryanne was British. They were living on their 30 ft yacht, saving up to go cruising in a couple of years. They were great fun and not long after they sailed back to Prydwen, their yacht, they called us up to invite us over to their boat to celebrate with them.
Anju dressed ready for the party.
Celebrating with Kyle and Maryanne.
Anju partying with many friends on 4th July.
Christine decided to give Anju's stern a clean before leaving and was in the dinghy scrubbing the back of the boat during the afternoon when Phil rushed to the back of the boat and told her to get on the boat quick, a storm was approaching. No sooner had she clambered aboard than the storm hit, Anju swung wildly around her anchor, the poor dinghy left in the water being dragged around behind. We didn't even have time to clear the decks and lost the back off one of our deckchairs in the strong winds. Luckily that was the only casualty. We were getting weary of the sudden storms in the area.