Date                Friday 4 May 2012

This is being written up well after the event, and for the record.  For the first time during one of our visits we hired a car.  In part this was to enable some searching for hard to find bits for the boat and in part to send a weekend sightseeing around some of the famous locations in the hinterland.

Our 100 amp battery charger cooling fan had failed shortly after leaving Fort Lauderdale which meant that when used it lasted about 10 minutes before the thermal protection circuit cut in.  Whilst a replacement fan was available and was ordered this was going to take some time to arrive and as temporary measure a suitable lower volume fan was found locally.  Fitting it required removing the charger from the wall of the engine room and this in turn involved lying across the top of the generator and working at arms length with the aid of mirrors, sockets and extension bars.  Suffice it to say the job was done, it worked and the correct replacement is being held as a spare.

Over the weekend we fitted in visits to Jamestown, the first settlement in Virginia and where there is a splendid visitors’ centre and museum, the actual settlement site which is full of detail and has fascinating on-going archaeological research

and a harbour with replicas of the three ships which arrived carrying the first original settlers.  The whole site was manned by staff in period costume and was very well presented.  The day was intermittently wet but this did not spoil our enjoyment and kept the crowds at bay.  We understood that the previous day they had had 3,800 children visiting – purgatory!

Day 2 of our expedition took in Yorktown and a visit to the battlefield where General Cornwallis had to capitulate in the face of a combined American and French force whilst suffering lack of support due to a blockade by the French Navy.

Curious to reflect that the French king responsible for this lost his head not many years later.

We were warned that colonial Williamsburg was dangerous on the wallet.  I kept mine firmly in my sporran, Elizabeth managed a spoon rest for the kitchen at home and we enjoyed a walk around visiting the grounds of the William and Mary College, Virginia’s most prestigious university.

Meanwhile back at the Pilot House Mike and Anne Hartshorne arrived with their American friend Kenny.  We last saw Mike and Anne in the BVI’s in Easter 2011 when we recruited them to the OCC.  Mike was in the process of arranging casivac’ing to the UK with a seriously wonky hip.  Whilst he was in great pain he soldiered on and did no let it get in the away of socialising.  He and Elizabeth had many happy hours comparing symptoms.

Gary and Greta’s seemed to be a clearing house for OCC activity and we were delighted to catch up also with Scott and Kitty Kuhner who we met here last year and who provided us with their excellent cruising notes for Maine.

At Gary and Greta’s request Mike and Anne, who were heading for Deltaville to lay up Nimue whilst they return to the UK, and ourselves heading for Queens Creek near Deltaville for similar purpose, stayed on for a couple of extra days to be on hand to greet solo rower Lewis Colam (Sorry no photos and not sure why).  Lewis was rowing from Miami to New York via the Inter Coastal Waterway raising money for Alzheimer’s Research.  He is a splendid young man and we spent a pleasant evening being entertained by the account of his journey so far.  We have subsequently heard that he made it to New York and even took the Potomac and Washington in en route.