We had work to do onboard Innamorata, steering which Steve had started to take to pieces before we left the boat was still an ongoing job, its universal joints, shafts and gear boxes.  Of course the most warn UJ was the most inaccessible being under the fridge motors at the bottom of a cupboard and had refused all Steve’s attempts to get it apart before we left? It did eventually, after a lot of failed attempts, finally decide to oblige and from there the steering refurbishment went smoothly, we still have a small amount of play but it’s nothing like it was before. That done, we put our max prop back on - it had had a trip to uk to be refurbished as well as it also had a lot of movement. We also had some welding done, new hinges for our saloon hatch, cost an arm and a leg and although they look great are still not fully functional at the moment! We also had some welding on our arch to accommodate an outboard engine hoist we had bought second hand last year, that has made a great difference to how easily we can get outboard onto dinghy- we used to use the mizzen boom and Steves muscle power! 

 

There were as always lots of small jobs, polishing and cleaning etc to do. Generally the weather was good. When we have lifted in this yard previously it was owned by different people and had a great community of international and American cruisers working on their boats, it’s not like that now, we met Jamie and Darren who were working and doing work on Rudder Nonsense, Kim and Ann on Ilanda arrived on the dock and we spent time with them and Jenny and Todd who we met last year and are in another marina, were fantastic they took us on their weekly laundry runs to Gloucester, (the nearest laundry) and took us shopping at the Aldi and Walmart there, it really made a great difference to our time in Deltaville 🤩. 

We were launched in mid October and were planning to head off but with hurricane Melissa brewing for a while and her development uncertain we decided to stay anchored in Fishing bay. We moved a couple of times for some wind protection but generally the anchorage is  big and well protected. We also had easy shore access at the boat yard and Ann used the courtesy car to run me to local shop etc. we were also able to socialise and meet a few other people. We spent our second Halloween in Deltaville, its always nice to go for a walk and see how people decorate their lawns and some of the gorgeous views!

  

With Melissa gone causing devastation in its wake, for us it was time to look for a weather opportunity to head south, there is a rally called Salty Dawg rally, they are all in the  Hampton and Fort Monroe area and so it’s pretty crowded down there. But we were getting pretty frustrated waiting. We missed a good day to sail south when we learned the night before half the rally was leaving on the 1st 🙄. However for our sanity we decided to leave the following day and left on the 2nd 🤩.