Hi everyone,
Wow! I had an amazing time at my favorite stop, Coinjock. I love Laurence and his boys, JD and their entire family.
A lot of big boys rolled in; why didn’t they just stay on the outside?
Who knows. They may want to see how much the real people have a blast.
I’ll never know…
This is the place that the dragonflies never leave us.
Well, as I got the lines ready for the tie up, Ed prepared the bumpers. He yells, “Meg, get your camera. A huge blue dragonfly with double wings is hanging on. You have to see this.”
Wow!!!
Yes it was awesome, and yes, the dragonfly never left us…
We had an amazing dinner that night and met a lot of like-minded travelers cruising like we are…
In the morning we headed out. Everyone was cruising the same way down through Norfolk on the ICW.
Saw tons of eagles, ospreys, turtles, deer walking along the water, and other wildlife.
We also saw the parade of cruisers chugging along to their destinations.
It was a beautiful calm, awesome day, as we saw huge aircraft carriers, submarines,
military ships, military hospitals, all of the big boy toys flying over us, around us and
on and on… ospreys, crazy zodiacs, navy seals diving on and on…
It’s just like eye candy to me every time Ed takes me through here. It’s wild and a lot of action and big ships.
CasconMega containers rolling in, war ships arriving or leaving , just ‘Game On’ when you’re around all of this activity…
As we made it out to the Chesapeake Bay (after preparing the boat for the crazy water that it can be), I was pleasantly surprised …
Omg!
It was flat and hot and light wind and just perfecto.
So, psyched, we cruised along…
Our destination was to drop anchor in Deltaville, VA, and enjoy the evening.
As we traveled along, the dark black clouds looming at Deltaville looked like it was going to be pouring rain and thunderstorms, and not a great place to try to anchor in the late afternoon.
Ed asked me, “Meg, what do you think?”
I said, “Yes, let’s keep cruising.”
We knew we could tuck into the Reedsville Inlet and both agreed on it.
Then Ed mentioned to me, “Why don’t you ring the Crazy Crab where we met Steve and Pricilla and we could see them.”
Perfecto!
We had a plan, but when we rang them, the restaurant was closed.
No worries. You have permission to tie up to the dock which is only for two boats.
I was so psyched as we chugged along.
We were running ahead of the weather, thinking that we could get in before the worst was to come. Weather, as those boaters know, is a lot different than on land, and there’s a lot of false information.
Well, then the weather changed and came at us like at you can’t believe .
Lightning,
Thunder,
No visibility..
Wind speeds up to 70mph
Depths Sounder showing us 0000
I have no idea where the water went, but that’s what it was showing.
Darkness like crazy. Could not see a thing.
Looking for the inlet, but there was no way in.
Then it would lift..
Ed and I both looked for how to approach the inlet, but we couldn’t see the buoy.
Then we both spotted a glance of it, then it was gone. We saw it in our radar and iPads, but the wild wind and waves were loosing the sight of it.
Then the wind kicked up again. Ed said, “I have drive into the wind.”
Wow!!
I have know idea how Captain Ed knew how to work it, but we survived and I am so grateful to have got in that night.
The wild thing is, I went to grab our lines to tie our boat up for the night in the pouring rain, and much to my surprise, there was the same blue gorgeous dragonfly…
It was holding on for dear life, shivering and shivering…
I placed that line gently on the grill and prayed for its safety and said, “Yes, I was a little shaken up, same as you, but we are all safe now. Please survive.”
The next morning, Ed said, “The dragonfly took flight, it’s gone.”
Thank you!
Much to my surprise as I reflected on this, my moms birthday was June 9th.
She always asked Ed , “For my birthday, can you take me on a boat ride?”
Ed always did. It was always her thing that she asked Ed for.
Wow, the dragonfly can represent spirits from the other side… I know that Dot- Mom, you were on this crazy ride with us…
…and kept us safe. As crazy as it was, you never miss your ride with Captain Ed.
I love you, and I know you were watching out for Ed and me.
Happy Birthday!
Love your daughter,
Meg,
and Ed
XOXO