Well, we are still in Hampton in the boat yard but the good news is that the transmission repair is finished, the transmission is back at the Blue Water repair yard was painted yesterday. It is being installed today(Tuesday 9/19) – YAY!!! Then the boat will get launched and we will do a sea trail, hopefully on Wednesday, to make sure everything is running well and the shaft and engine alignment is correct.

Basically the transmission has been rebuilt inside. Who said diamonds are a girls best friend??  This is even better than diamonds but probably more expensive!!! It feels great to have an end in sight, even if it’s just taking the boat to Chesapeake where she will go into a boat house for the winter. Our plan is to still be rolling west in the coach on Oct 1 – YAY!!!

The hot temperatures here have finally abated and we have had several nights that we could turn off the AC’s and open up the boat to get nice breezes. It’s been great walking weather so we have been hitting our favorite places like The Nolan Trail. On our last walk, we did the entire 4.5 mile loop and we saw loads of turtles in the lake, a huge herd of white tailed deer, herons and loads of ducks and geese. Such a beautiful hike.

We also visited the Mariners Museum … of course we did, despite been grounded we still qualify as mariners!!! The museum is amazing… more than 90,000 square feet of galleries filled with maritime art, culture, science, and history. We totally reconnected with our inner maritime selves.

One of the more fascinating exhibits was the Ironclad Revolution. I had never heard of these ships but of course, Wally had and was super excited about seeing a replica of the Monitor. An ironclad is a steam-propelled warship protected by iron or steel armor plates, constructed from 1859 to the early 1890s. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships to explosive or incendiary shells.

The Battle of Hampton Roads was a two-day naval engagement of the American Civil War, which took place on March 8–9, 1862 in the waters off Hampton, Virginia. This battle is remarkable for the first fight between two ironclad warships: USS Monitor, and CSS Virginia. After the battle ended naval warfare had been changed forever.

Walking through the exhibits you experience the story of USS Monitor, CSS Virginia, and the historic 1862 Battle of Hampton Roads through a melding of artifacts, original documents, paintings, personal accounts, and interactives that will pique all five senses. You are immersed in the tales of the individuals who lived through and lost their lives in this pivotal period of American history.

The Mariners’ is the proud caretaker of more than 200 tons of artifacts recovered from the wreck of USS Monitor, including its revolving gun turret, Dahlgren guns, steam engine, and more.

This museum has way more to see and experience that just this small part I am writing about. History buffs, civil war aficionados, boaters, it has something to offer everyone.

If you are looping, there are many marina choices in this area on the James River. We are at Blue Water in Hampton which is a very nice Safe Harbor Marina. You would definitely want to rent a car if you wanted to see more but I suspect Uber could easily get you to this Museum in Newport News.

Another fun town to explore was Smithfield… they have a nice Farmers Market on Saturday’s and the nearby Windsor Castle Park has miles of beautiful shady walking trail which we really enjoyed. The park features a woodland trail system, picnic and open area space, dog park, kayak/canoe launch, fishing pier, mountain bike path, scenic overlooks and the historic manor house — Windsor Castle. Windsor Castle Farm was originally part of a 1450 acre parcel patented in 1637 by Arthur Smith, an ancestor of the town’s founder, Arthur Smith IV.

FYI… There is no castle and no one seems to have any clue as to why its named Windsor Castle – Oh well!!!

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If you like ham, you are in the right place… Smithfield is known worldwide for its famous ham curing process. Nope, we did not tour any of those facilities but instead wandered around the quaint downtown area. There is a ham shop that you can taste at and have lunch too. Bacon, BBQ, Breakfast Sausage, Deli Meat, Fresh Pork, Ham, Lunchmeat, Marinated Pork, Ribs, Smoked Sausage, Snacking – they got ya covered.

Loopers or boaters could easily take a side trip to Smithfield. The James River is beautiful cruising and will take you to the Pagan River which will take you to Smithfield. There is a small marina in Smithfield that is about a half mile from historical area and 3/4 miles from Windsor Park.

Several weeks ago we took a drive to Cape Charles to check out this quaint fishing town and its beaches. For much of its history, Cape Charles has been a center for the fishing and seafood industry. The area is particularly known for its clams, oysters, and crabs.

The beautiful sandy beaches are within walking distance of the historic district and the marina. Because the beach is on the Bay side it is very safe and no real surf to speak of. There is also a nice fishing pier and it was fun chatting with some local folks who were fishing for spotted trout or flounder, but would have been happy to hook anything! If you are doing the Great Loop it’s definitely worth considering a stop there. There is a really nice marina and it’s a very short walk right down to the main street or beaches. The Shanty, where we had lunch is also located at the marina.

We enjoyed a stroll on the beach, lunch at The Shanty and a cider tasting at Buskey Cider. I had a delicious bacon and soft shell crab sandwich at the Shanty and the water view wasn’t bad either. Do you think I really liked that sammie??!!

The Main Street area has loads of restaurant choices and cute shops to browse in. Like a Sailor was my favorite shop…. So many funny items and its expected that you will laugh out loud while shopping!

The drive to Cape Charles is interesting as you have to cross the Chesapeake Bay where it opens to the Atlantic Ocean to get to the eastern side of Virginia. To do this you will drive over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. Between the toll plazas on the north and south ends, the bridge-tunnel is 20 miles long. Counting the approach roads, the facility is 23 miles long. Each of the underwater tunnels is over one mile long, and the entire project is a major engineering achievement.

The drive is really beautiful and the idea that you are under the bay for over a mile is kind of creepy cool. As you drive along on the bridge, at a distance it appears that it just ends and you will drive off into the water. It’s quite an optical illusion and for this cool adventure, the price of admission is only $14 each way!!

That’s the update for this week… hopefully the next update will be filmed on the water!!!

It’s not usually good news when the captain is doing routine maintenance on the boat and greets you with the following words “I think we have a problem”. Well, it’s a boat so yeah what’s new I thought. Then he showed me this…

Nope, those are not gemstones or black diamonds, those are metal pieces that he found in the oil of our port (left) transmission. First he found 3-4 pieces in the oil, then put a magnetic wand in the oil drain and found a lot more… NOT GOOD!!! After some discussion with a ZF/Hurth Transmission expert, the consensus is those little metal bits are likely from our transmission clutch gears. Nope, not good at all.

The irony (pun intended), is that we have traveled almost a thousand miles with ZERO issues. No tale tail clunking, grinding or rough shifting. So our first though is can we keep cruising, take it easy on the engines and transmissions and have it fixed this winter while the boat is in storage.

Nope, not a good idea at all and the worst case scenario is that something could happen at the worst possible time and do even more damage to the transmission. UGH, we are not gamblers so continuing on our merry way didn’t seem like a good option. Our transmission experts were a bit puzzled about these bits of gear in just one of our two transmissions. They said this isn’t due to lack of maintenance – this usually happens because of an incident. Did we have an incident??? Nope, but there was one when the boat was being pulled out for the pre-purchase survey. Thats another long story, which I won’t bore you with. But honestly none of us including the engine and hull surveyor even thought about transmission damage. After describing that incident to the transmission expert, he agreed that it was indeed possible that this damage had happened then.

So now what??? We decided to bring the boat over to Bluewater Yacht Center in Hampton to have the transmission pulled and sent to Great Lakes Power to be repaired. Unfortunately , this type of repair can’t be done any other way. 

The good news is we can stay on the boat while the repairs are being made but the bad news is our 1998 ZF Hurth Transmission isn’t easy to find OEM parts for. The Great Lakes Power folks found everything except the gasket and seal kit. It might be available by late September. UGH… after some looking we found an aftermarket kit made by a reliable company so we are going to go that route.

Yes, we are both a bit bummed as an extended layover in Hampton was not on the agenda for sure. So … no cruising for us until the repair is done but at least we have our trusty SUV Ernie to go exploring in. The marina is nice, we have a pool and laundry facilities and a really great cider place nearby!!

Plus it really pretty here and Mother Nature put on a show last night just to cheer us up!