Libby the Punching Bag

Deltaville, VA

NoLL

Before we retired, Libby worked with developmentally disabled adults. Several of her clients were uncoordinated or spastic. Therefore, poor Libby came home often with black and blue marks from getting hit, elbowed or punched; all inadvertent of course. One time, a sock knocked her out and broke her glasses. We used to joke that she was a professional punching bag.

Well I'm sad to say that I'm not much better than her clients. Today, at the end of our daily project chores, Libby was putting things away in the cabin while I was changing my shirt. POW my fist came out of the shirt armhole and punched poor Libby right in the face, knocking her glasses off. I don't think she'll get any black eye out of it but if she does, I'll feel terrible.

Life In A Boatyard

Deltaville, VA

NoLL

Boatyards are for work. For the most part the consist of a big flat area, usually dusty and bare. There must also be buildings for an office and a shop for the boatyard workers. Not much else is required.

We spent time in a boatyard in Fernandina Beach, Florida that had bathrooms and showers that were borderline disgusting. It made it possible for us to live aboard while working.

We spent time in another boatyard in Fort Pierce Florida with utterly disgusting bathrooms that even lacked doors. Poor Libby had to go to a nearby restaurant to find a decent toilet. We couldn't live aboard there so we had to rent a apartment while working on the boat, and then rent a car to get to the apartment. That made it very much more expensive.

Deltaville Boatyard is different. This boatyard allows you to do your own work. It also allows you to live aboard your boat, while they supply electric and water. Those things make it affordable.

It is co-located with Deltaville Marina. Boatyard customers are allowed to use the marina bathrooms, showers, laundry, pool, bikes, loaner car, and lounge. I'm sitting the lounge right now watching Lost World on TV and writing during the ads. There is also a nice park and museum next door. The amenities here had a lot to do with us choosing to come here. Those things make it comfortable to be here; much more so than the typical boatyard.

I guess the only down side is that the comfort robs us of some of the motivation to work extra hard and get out of here. Instead of working 10-12 hour days, we've been working only 5-6 hours. Still, I hope to finish everything on our list and splash the boat on or before next Friday.

This afternoon we repainted Tarwathie's topside decks. We cleverly painted ourselves not in a corner but into the companionway entrance. We had no alternative other than to stay inside and take a nap while the paint dries. Ho hum, life is tough.

The Boatyard

Deltaville, VA
NoLL

Here's a Google Earth view of this boat yard. Click on it to see detail.

On The Hard

Deltaville, VA
NoLL

Tarwathie is on the hard. Above, you can just see her stern. The 2nd boat. As you can see, there are lots of boats here. You can see the masts of about 1/10 of them in the picture.

It is also a very active yard with about 20% of the boats being actively worked on and 80% stored. In many boat yards, the fraction of stored boats is higher.

Deltaville Boatyard is a very professionally run yard, with reasonable prices. It is no surprise therefore that the word gets around and they have lots of customers. Within 10 minutes of arriving we met two cruiser friends we know from Vero and from the Abacos. I'm sure there are more around.

I even saw a yard full of boats called "Field of Dreams" all the boats there were donated to a museum and they're for sail. Many bargains there I bet.

We'll be spending about a week here.

A Rare Treat

Hampton, VA

NoLL

Yesterday morning, I got up, and looked outside. What I saw was a complete surprise. The USS George H. W. Bush, the USA's newest Nimitz class aircraft carrier was going past. I was surprised that I could recognize her lines from afar but I did.

On the VHF radio, we heard her announcing her departure. She identified herself as "Warship 1," yet her official designatio is CVS-77. Does that mean President Obama was on board?

Anyhow, I thought, "How appropos. Until she is superseded by a newer and bigger Gerald R. Ford Class supercarrier, she certainly is Warship 1 for the USA and the whole world. No doubt she is the most capable war machine ever made in the history of war." That though was very sobering.