When we arrived at the Atlantic Yacht Basin in Chesapeake, Va, we knew we would be here at least 2 nights.  We arrived on a Wednesday afternoon exhausted from our wonderful day going through the Great Dismal Swamp Canal.   Thursday was forecasted to be rainy.  Who likes to boat in the rain?   Not us!

Then I looked at the wind forecasts.  The marine forecast was 3-4 foot seas with winds from the north.  We are traveling north.  I don’t want to try to go north against a 15 knot wind.  We might make more progress if we just stayed put for another couple of days.  So we stayed another 2 nights.

The Atlantic Yacht Basin is a working boat yard.  Several boats were up on supports getting  work done on them.  They also have covered boat slips.  People were very friendly and helpful.  Also, a good deal on their nightly rates for transients.

Rain and mist over the water on Thursday.  It was a day of rest and get caught up on the blog.  59°F greeted us this morning.  A cold front, apparently.

Rain and Mist coming off the water

We are near the Great Bridge Bridge and can see and even experience boats going up and down the Southern Elizabeth River.  We saw barges pushing their wares.  If they came at night, we didn’t see them.  Most of the times, these barges did not cause our boat to move too much.

Barge pushing scrap metal?

Barge pushing fuel / oil

At the top of the hour, the parade of boats would slowly ooze up the river to wait their turn in passing under the Great Bridge Bridge and Lock.  These boats often forgot there are boats tied alongside a dock and there is a no-wake zone around us.  Boats of every kind and flavor waited patiently.

Top of the hour wait for the Great Bridge to open

However, the best part of our stay was on Friday.  The neighbor just ahead of us told me about a log that was in the river right along the bank.  We should keep our eye on it because we wouldn’t want that to get wrapped around our propellers.  At first, I only saw a small part of the trunk.  Then I saw the root or larger part of the tree.  Oh dear.  That would indeed do some damage to a boat.

Log floating near the shore

The log moved down stream.  I went around to get a better idea of the log as it got stopped under the dock.  Wait.  Is that what it looks like on the tree stump?  Hey, Wayne!  Is that what I think it is?  Yes, a snake!!  “Now, I wish you hadn’t shown me that”, says Wayne.  hahaha   The neighbor never mentioned the snake!!  Looked well fed.

Current occupant

The log moved throughout the day.  Up and down the dock as boat waves rocked it about.  The funniest thing??  This is the only time we saw the snake.  It disappeared and THAT got Wayne more worried than ever!!  I should admit that I heard the barn swallows kick up some noise when the snake disappeared.  We were told that it is common for snakes to eat a baby chick or two.  With all the barn swallows flying around under the docks, I don’t think the snake came aboard.  😉

We did take our little red cart around the corner and stock up on vittles.  Within a mile of the marina is a Farm Fresh Grocery store.  We were impressed.  Looked like a Publix grocery store.  A man grabbing a cart at the same time as us looked at us and asked… “you boaters?”  Yep.  “thought so.”  I wonder what gave it away?  Wayne’s beard?  Or the cart?  Or a combination?  hahaha

On our way back from grocery

On the way back we were greeted by some geese crossing the road.  4 tall adults and ??

A passel of little fuzzy ones.  I counted 6 fur balls.  They were walking so they weren’t too young.  The adults let us walk calmly and quietly by without chasing us.  OR snapping at us.  Whew!

Friday and Saturday were absolutely beautiful days.  The wind and waves were still bad enough for NOAA to have small craft advisory warnings out.  We caught up with laundry, naps, and started researching how to get from here to there in our next several days of travel.

Sunset in Chesapeake, VA