(Tom) A third day in Norfolk, waiting out the unfolding drama of Hurricane Matthew as it approaches the US. There was a mixed blessing for us today in how the projected track has changed. The good news is it looks like it will now miss us here in Norfolk. The bad news is that is targeting very near our soon-to-be new home in St. Augustine, Florida. We also have concerns about our family members living on the southeast coast.

(Paula) We awoke to a deep thrumming vibration just before 7am. Peering out of the cockpit we were amazed to see the ginormous cruise ship Aida Luna, bow pointed right at us. Her nose was barely 50 feet off the entrance to our marina and she was positioned crosswise in the channel. As we watched, she slowly revolved in place courtesy of her massive engines. She eventually turned 180 degrees and docked just to the north of us. Most of the boaters at Waterside turned out of their boats to watch the impressive maneuvers. This resulted in the strange phenomenon of cruise ship passengers spilling out of their cabins to take pictures of us taking pictures of them!

Most of the morning was spent getting hurricane updates, writing (see Paula’s new post titled “The Great Fruit Fly War“), and repairing the air-conditioner, which developed a vapor lock due to mud that apparently got sucked into the seawater cooling intake the last time we used it back in our slip at Ferry Point before we left. Once we cleaned the sea strainer and flushed and exercised the hoses it resumed working well.

(Tom) After a quick lunch and shower we headed to Nauticus, Norfolk’s Naval Museum. We enjoyed the exhibits inside the museum and then used the elevated walkway to tour the battleship Wisconsin. This was an awesome tour. The Wisconsin is somewhat unique since it was on active duty in three different time frames over a fifty year period (WWII, Korean war, Gulf war). As a result, there was technology in the ship from all three of these eras. This battle ship is huge. Nearly 900′ long, it carried a crew of 2,800 men in WWII. Surprisingly, it has teak decks. I fully expected the main deck to be typical military gunmetal grey steel. Instead it was adorned with beautiful wide teak planking that almost gave a little bit of a cruise ship feel.

While the officers quarters were relatively spacious, the crew quarters were packed in tight. No privacy whatsoever. Paula and I couldn’t help but wonder how it smelled in there after six months at sea.

The ships galley was quite a sight. It appeared the men were fed quite well. In the bread room, the bakers made 1,500 fresh loaves of bread each day! There were ice cream machines, giant mixing bowls, and a truly industrial-sized garbage disposal. The size and design of the garbage disposal was tactical. The food scraps had to be ground up very, very small so as not to leave a “trail” of food waste so the ship’s path couldn’t be easily detected.

I loved the radio and communications room. It was an odd marriage of 1940’s and 1990’s electronics all in the same room and somehow knitted together functionally.

(Paula) Back at the boat Tommy made adjustments to the staysail roller and inspected the rest of the sails and rigging to ensure all will stay tightly wrapped and secure during possible high wind conditions later this week. He also added bumpers and a stern spring line in addition to our forward spring, bow and stern lines. Paula was just about to begin cooking a pork chop dinner when the couple from the cabin cruiser next slip invited us to dinner with them and their friends.

Maury and Carol hale from just outside Ocean City MD. They pulled into the slip next to us on Tuesday in their 45 foot blue hulled “Osprey”. Their good boating friends, Chris and Ted, have their trawler, the Christine, just down the pier. We walked to the Vineyard Trattoria where we shared antipasto and boating history, tips, and adventures. With our entrees these more experienced ICW cruisers gave us (the new pollywogs) lots of good advice and admonishments. It was fun, relaxing, and great to meet new folks.