Monday (Memorial Day) May 30:  Norfolk VA

     Tommie showed us in the night that she has figured out how to open the screens in the pilothouse and that she has discovered that she can push out the screen in the porthole over the salon settee and climb out onto the deck.  We have been at docks for the last three nights and she has had enough of being locked in the cabin.  Lucky for all of us, she didn’t go anywhere.  We think.  She’s a smart cat, you have to admire that.  But we were planning to go to a marina in Norfolk for at least one night, and we did not need a repeat of her disappearing act.  Neither do we want to have to close all the windows and portholes.  

     Dan came up with the idea of just crisscrossing a line in front of the porthole.  This will make it a pain if we have to close it - we’ll have to untie the line - but for now it seems to deter her from launching herself at the screen.  For the bigger windows in the pilothouse, Dan told me he could think of a way to lock them so they don’t slide, but she’s ruining the screen itself.  For today we need to keep them closed.

     We locked through the Deep Creek Lock at the first opening - 8:30 am - and by noon we were in Norfolk.  Last time we came through here it was very busy:  military and cargo vessels coming and going, ferries and tour boats running around, tug boats everywhere.  Lots of activity.  The water was a bit rough too, and it was windy.   Today it was very calm, and we saw maybe three other vessels out in the entire river.  There was no military activity at all - no helicopters or planes.  I guess this is what Norfolk is like on Memorial Day.  The light, steady rain probably helped too.

Welcome to Norfolk/Portsmouth VA

USS Wisconsin along with the schooner Virginia and several small racing sailboats.

     We took a slip at Rebel Marina, home of the ‘tugantine’ Norfolk Rebel.  This is a great place, run by David Briggs.  We’d used their facilities last fall when we passed through, and were looking forward to doing so again.  I took care of the laundry and then Dan and I borrowed one of the courtesy cars to visit Home Depot for some pet resistant screen.  (Dan is going to replace the screens in the pilothouse.  We’ll let you know if Tommie is able to claw her way through them.)  The rain started to come down harder.  What do you do in the rain?  We sat in the hot tub.  If you’re going to be wet, you might as well enjoy it. 

     Crab cakes and broccoli for dinner.