Hanging in Great Bridge (Day 17 and 18)

Thursday, October 15th (Day 17)

Air temp 62, water temp 70, winds S @ 10

We needed to get underway today before 8am to make the 8:30am opening of the Centerville Bridge about 3 miles away.  Around 7:30am I checked the weather forecast for the next couple days and it didn't look very nice.  Today, the winds were predicted out of the south in the 10-20 range just as we would be motoring south down one of more open areas, Currituck Sound.  Tomorrow (Friday) there was a cold front coming through which would bring rain and high winds.  We should be able to make it across Albemarle Sound before the nasty weather but the ride down the Alligator River would be a little nasty.  Instead, we decided to stay at the free dock for a couple more days until the weather settled on Saturday.  We were not in any hurry to keep moving as we arrived in Great Bridge a few weeks earlier than the past several years.

The boat traffic on down the Chesapeake Bay and ICW seems less than normal.  There has been open space on the free dock in front of us so I don't feel too bad about staying over the posted 24 hours.  We have wi-fi from the marina across the creek and are tied up to a nice dock in a pretty area that is good for walks.  There is also a commercial area nearby with groceries, hardware and restaurants.  Only issue is safety because we are at a public park and people can walk right up to the boat.  But, we've never had problems staying here other then a few barking dogs.

Later in the morning I walked around the park and it was just beautiful out.  Sunny, warm and light winds.  This really bugs me when we decide to not move because of nasty weather and it turns out to be nice.  Maybe this was the calm before the storm?  Winds did pick up later in the afternoon.

Last night we had planned on going to the local Mexican Restaurant - El Toro Loco.  Around dinner time neither of us were very hungry so we decided to just snack and watch some Netflix.  We decided to go today instead.

As we walked across the bridge around 6pm, we noticed a lot of construction going on near the Mexican Restaurant.  In fact, the Mexican restaurant was gone.  Bummer.  This had been one of our favorite places to stop over the past several years.  But, that's life - things always change.  Instead we detoured to the Kentucky Fried Chicken and ordered their bucket meal.  It was take-out only so we walked it back to the boat for dinner in the cockpit.  It was tasty!

After dinner I found a new series on Netflix called Unicorn.  It had one of our favorite new actors, Walton Googins (Justified, Sons of Anarchy), plus a few other actors we liked.  We watched the first episode and like it.  It was entertaining and not too complicated like some others we've tried lately.  

Temps were still in the mid-70s when we went to bed so I turned on the fan in the bedroom that blows over the bed.  We haven't used it in several weeks.

Friday, October 16th (Day 18)

I didn't sleep well last night because it never got below about 75 in the bedroom.  I did fall back to sleep around 6am and slept until 9:30am.  Guess I needed that nap!

After a quick breakfast we decided to head to the grocery store for a few things we were getting low on.  When we leave here tomorrow, we're not sure when the next grocery stop will be.  Best to keep stocked up.  Plus, the forecast showed the rain starting here in a couple hours so walking there now would be best.

I carried our luggage wheelie and collapsible crate the 1 mile to Krogers.  This would make it much easier to carry the groceries back to the boat.  They had everything we needed and we were back to the boat about an hour later just before the rain started.  Perfect timing!

Temps are dropping during the day today with the passing of a cold front.  We decided to dig out our Mr. Buddy propane heater that we store under the forward V-berth.  Pulling everything out of there is a chore.  Here is everything from our forward cabin all spread around the salon.

Just so you don't get the wrong idea, this is what it normally looks like.....

Lots of rain and wind this afternoon.  Between showers I went out and took a picture of the boat and local park.  As you can see, we are tied up way down the end and plenty of room for a couple other boats in front of us.

Tomorrow's high is only going to be 61 here.  After many days in shorts, we will be back to sweatpants.  But, it's supposed to be back in the 70s after that.

From experience we know we will have spotty phone coverage the next few days until we get down to the Oriental area.  

Ok.  After reading back through this I can see it's a couple slow news-days on Second Wind. That happens sometimes. Sorry for the long-winded details.  Tomorrow we are on the move again!