Great Bridge,Virginia

Scott-Free’s blog
Steve & Chris
Sun 5 Jun 2011 01:08
36:43.27N 76:14.483W
 
Sunday 5th June 2011
 
Distance run: 42 nmiles
 
We were up early for a longer run,and as Steve opened the hatch he found that the swarm of flying bugs had spent the night on the boat!  He hastily closed it again and then went back out armed with a can of insect spray and a fly-swatter!  As soon as he appeared they began buzzing around him, and he found himself breathing them in and had to hold his breath!.  Fortunately, they did not seem to be biters, so holding his breath,he sprayed at them and eventually cleared the cockpit enough for us to venture out.
 
The sight that met us was one that neither of us had seen before - the whole boat was covered in green spots! We had been shat upon by thousands of the little buggers! So instead of setting off, we set about cleaning up the boat.
 
           
The wholeboat was covered in green poo!                                                        One of the many piles of dead bugs.
 
Fortunately, the green spots washed off the cockpit easily with soapy water,but there was nothing to be done about the canvas for the time being.  Getting it off the outside GRP proved to be somewhat more difficult, so that was also left for later.
 
We eventually set off, continuing the cleaning up as we went along. Kenny and Sarah were faring somewhat less well than us as they didn't have any bug spray to kill the bugs off, and they spent all day hoovering them up or shooing them from one place to another.  Sarah decided to bake some brownies to cheer us all up and as they passed by to deliver some to us we were amused to see Kenny at the helm of Loon all kitted out in beekeeper's hat and vacuum cleaner!
 
           
Sarah gets ready to deliver warm chocolate brownies.                                    Kenny in protective clothing with vacuum cleaner!
 
We arrived at Great Bridge Bridge mid-afternoon and were pleased to see that the free dock was empty, so after waiting for the bridge to open, we all moored alongside on the free dock for the night. 
 
           
Great Bridge Bridge opens for us to pass through...                                        Loon,Nimue & Scott-Free moored alongside the free dock.
 
We walked into town to find the Radio Shack as we needed to get a US mobile phone, and then found an Irish bar where we stopped for drinks and then decided to stay for dinner.
 
           
On the way to the pub...                                                                                ...in the pub,playing with new mobile phones.