Here's our trusty little Yanmar diesel engine, which is located right between our galley (kitchen) and navigation station. On September 1, with rain from Ernesto coming down in sheets, a master mechanic from Atlantic Yacht Basin came over to fix our engine. It was all done by mid-day.


The rest of the rainy day, we ventured around the boatyard, where over 2 feet of water had accum- ulated. The roads were also full of water for the next two days, but slowly subsided.

After thinking about our options for the rest of the hurricane season, and talking to the staff here and other boaters, we decided to stay at Atlantic Yacht Basin for the next two months. We have a trip planned to Minnesota to visit family and friends for two weeks, and know that the boat will have good protection for any other storms headed this way while we are gone.

After the night of August 31 spent in Norfolk's Willoughby Bay, with the wind rising to 25-30 knots due to Tropical Storm Ernesto, we tried to start our engine and get underway. We needed to get to a more protected spot and were going to head to the Dismal Swamp Canal to ride out the storm. Our engine had other ideas, and the oil pressure light came on solid. We shut it down immediately and investigated. There was no oil in the crankcase, and all of it was in the pan under the engine. We determined that the problem was caused by some work we had had done a month ago. With the storm approaching, we decided to use our towing insurance and call TowBoat/US for a tow back to the boatyard where the work had been done. Here you can just make out the tow boat and tow line, and see the deteriorating weather in the clouds. It was a rainy, windy, and rolly ride, twelve miles down the Elizabeth River, past US Navy warships and commercial container ships, and took four hours. We were very happy to be tied up at a protected dock for the storm.

With the Debonair anchored nearby and us going ashore at their dinghy dock everyday for a small fee, we made ourselves at home at the Capital Yacht Club in Washington. Not the type of place where we usually hang out, but we are definitely flexible. The members were very friendly, opening their facilities to us and providing local knowledge about DC as well as much appreciated rides to food and boat stores for supplies.
Among the thousands of objects on display in the Smithsonian collections, a hatch door (3 ft x 3 ft) from the Apollo 11 Command Module at the Air and Space Museum was one of the most fascinating to me. It shows the engineering complexity of advanced technology used in space flight, yet it's also composed and framed like a work of art.
This colorful "flower garden" constructed of wood and designed geo- metrically was a favorite at the Hirschhorn Museum.


There was also a challenging exhibit of painting and sculpture by the German artist Anselm Kiefer, in a far more somber mood as shown by his preferred color, grey, and material, lead.

Larry

We spent almost three weeks in Washington, DC, visiting many museums, the outdoor monuments, the zoo, art galleries, and many more sights. The Smithsonian's buildings alone could have afforded much more time for a complete viewing. We took subways, buses, and walked many miles in DC.


The National Gallery of Art, the Hirschhorn, the Air and Space Museum, and the American History Museum were our favorites, with more than one visit each. We toured the Capitol, the Library of Congress, the National Archives, the Supreme Court, and took a bus to the National Cathedral. We could have spent much more time than we did in DC, but were quickly approaching saturation level with being tourists.
We had several wonderful running sessions in DC also - where else could we start a run going to the Jefferson Memorial, and take in the FDR, Korean War, Vietnam Veterans, WWII, Lincoln Memorial, and the Washington Monument, all in one run?

The security in most places was noticeably more strict - we went through metal detectors, had our bags inspected, and had to throw away water bottles in most places. The Capitol and White House especially have barriers up and strict protocol in how to tour. No cars can pass down Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House, and no tours are given except one day a year.
We had exceptional weather while in DC also - sunny skies, in the 80s, and one one day with rain.
-Debby