February 20, 2008

Being in a marina in the middle of a Navy base has its drawbacks. Not being able to sleep-in in the mornings because you have reveille at 0800 every morning, listening to the intercoms aboard the ships that are docked only about 200 yards away. These are only a couple of drawbacks. There are some really good reasons that it’s an ok place. Every morning you wake up and hear the national anthem and you always know when it’s sundown (taps). Those are only a couple of the good reasons that we like it here. We have really started to get acquainted with the area. We have met some really nice people, we have found some good restaurants around, and we have scouted out and found numerous services for the boat: i.e., electronic techs, boat yards, chandleries, divers, etc.

The weather has been a little different than we are used to…the other morning we woke up to SNOW on the docks. Now that’s different from Long Beach!! There was a little bit of ice on the docks but all in all we can only mark it down to something new and exciting. The water is around 48 degrees and the air is somewhere between 30 and 70, really not that bad because we are getting used to it (we don’t have a choice).

This past week we decided to take a drive up to Jamestown, VA. It’s only about 30 miles northwest of where we are, and we thought that we should see the 1st permanent settlement in America. The history on it goes back into the 1500’s and at one time was the center of the tobacco growing in North America. It certainly is a beautiful area. We were surprised to learn that the first Jamestown was actually on an island in the James River. The area is very heavily forested with a lot of under growth. It’s a very, very pretty spot with the water and marshes everywhere. We’ll bet that in the summer when everything is green and lush that it’s gorgeous.