After 7 months of hard work on the new Vayu we needed a break and change of scenery. We decided to head North for maybe a month or two. Teresa’s son was going to be married on the July fourth weekend in Virginia Beach so it seemed to be a good time to start our summer travels. We are planning to get back to Oriental with time to complete some more major improvements before heading south for the winter. We left Oriental on a stupidly hot Tuesday the 24th of June. Leave it to us to start cruising on what would turn out to be a week of record breaking heat.

Our first day went smoothly for the most part. Well that is, until we stopped for the night. Because of the heat we had decided to spend the night in a marina, something we do not do much due to the cost. We stopped at Dowry Creek Marina just outside of Belhaven. We were so looking forward to some nice AC and a good night’s rest. We were soon to be disappointed, at least for a while. After tying up and connecting shore power we quickly turned on the AC. At first it ran great, but after a short time it would shut down with an error code indicating poor water flow. The system had been running fine all spring so now, why on the hottest day of the year would it stop working? Well, I suppose why is pointless. I just had to set about fixing it. I will not go into the horrid details here, but the next two hours of cursing and fussing in 102° heat was not pleasant to say the least. Suffice it to say I ended up having to completely flush the system out before it would stop taunting me with error codes. With the AC finally running life was better and we could get a good nights sleep.

The next day was still really hot outside as we pushed on further North in the ICW. There were no marinas within a reasonable travel distance so we planned to anchor out for the night hoping we could use the small hatch AC unit running off the Honda generator. We had purchased this AC used shortly before leaving Oriental to help cool the aft cabin where we sleep. The trip was mostly uneventful until, like the previous night, we were just about done for the day. As we approached our selected anchorage Teresa went below to start dinner. It was not long before she hollered up from the cabin that we did not have water pressure. I had her take the helm while I went below to investigate the problem. First thing I checked was the level in the water tank only to discover it was empty!
A tube or plumbing fitting must have failed allowing all the water in the tank to be pumped into the bilge. To add to the frustration the small bilge pump failed due to the strainer being clogged. Not how I wanted to end the day for sure. This was frustrating to say the least as I had spent a long time redoing plumbing so that we would not have this type of issue. There is always one fitting to fail no matter how new. Once anchored I found a plastic fitting had melted to the point of deforming and breaking loose. The heat wave was even getting to the plumbing. We had some water in a couple of plastic jugs on deck so we would be ok for the night, with the exception of being able to take a nice shower after a hot day.

I figured it would be hard to find the leaking fitting without water in the system to see where it was leaking from. A quick visual inspection however, located the problem. A pipe fitting had come loose from the water heater in the engine compartment. After another evening spent sweating and cruising like a sailor I was able to replace the failed fitting. With some water out of a jug I got the system working again. With only 5 gallons of water in the tank there was not much we could do about showering though. We would have to stop the next day at Coinjock Marina for more water. Most marinas do not allow you to stop and just fill up your water tank without spending some money so we planned to spend the night. This would also give us shore power for AC and another chance to get cool.

The next morning we were able to cover the 15 miles to Coinjock without issue. We were a little disappointed at an older gentlemen from the marina helping with our lines, as he was quick to insult my docking skills and Teresa’s line handling. There was really no need for that as the docking was not that bad, just a bit slow. I think if we did not need the water I might have just left. A younger man who was also helping was polite and helpful so we did not let the insults get to us, besides we now had AC and there was a restaurant just down the dock for a nice dinner out.

With the boat plugged into shore power and the water tank filled we could relax a bit before dinner. After dinner and a bit of a walk down the dock we finally got a good nights rest in a nice cool boat. The next day we would push ahead to Great Bridge about 12 miles South of Norfolk. This is not what I personally think is a pretty part of the waterway. It is mostly swamp with some industry thrown in. There are also several bridges that only open every half hour. These bridges are spread out just far enough that if you time them right you do not end up waiting long. The trick is the timing. The worst is when you just miss one and end up waiting almost thirty minutes for the next opening. This tends to add to the stress of the day. We were lucky and just made it through the last bridge of the day at Great Bridge VA. There is a lock just on the North side of the bridge however we were going to stay the night at a free town dock in between the bridge and the lock. This is a nice place to tie up but there is no electricity or water available. None the less it makes a good stop and it is free after all. We were able to take a short walk up to the Dairy Queen for some ice cream which was a nice treat. This was the same Dairy Queen where Teresa had her first Blizzard. She had grown up near here.

The following day we left to go through Norfolk to Hampton where we were going to anchor out and wait a few days before going to Virgina Beach for her son’s wedding which is why we were here. We were arriving a bit early to the area as we had left some time in the schedule just in case something went wrong, not that anything ever goes wrong on a boat. We had reservations at a Marina in Virginia Beach but planned to anchor in Hampton, across the bay, until our reserved time at the marina. I Never liked going through Norfolk due to the heavy commercial traffic mixed Military traffic and bridges that had to open for us. All this can make for a stressful trip. It was not as hot and traffic was light for the area. Not sure if this was because it was a Saturday or not but it made the trip less stressful. The winds were light and we made good time underpower through the harbor and across the bay to Hampton where we dropped anchor. We would stay here until Thursday the third when we would head to the marina for 4 days while we did Wedding stuff.