The Navy's "Ghost Fleet" et al.

Vicki told Norm that if they did not catch any fish, we're not eating. Well, if you read our last entry, you know that we got skunked on the Piankatank. Needless to say, Norm's famished.

We left Hampton River today and cruised up the James River. Our destination is the Chickahominy River for some relaxing anchoring in the forcasted rain. But, our plans also included a stop in Kingsmill Resort a little over half way up.

Before we left this morning, we had to fuel up Tide Hiker before we ran dry. She was real thirsty and took 578 gallons of diesel this morning. For our boating buddies reading this, we found a good price of $2.08 at the Bluewater Yachting Center on Sunset Creek, just off the Hampton River.

We passed the Newport News Ship Building Mecca in Hampton Roads. You can see a couple of older and smaller aircraft carriers being refurbished and some other boats.

We also passed the Navy "Ghost Fleet". The ghost fleet are mothballed navy ships anchored in the James River waiting to be scrapped or to be used again, if needed. The Ghost Fleet is much smaller than it was a few years ago when we cruised up here in Muskrat Island. My guess is that the scrap business is good!

Kingsmill is an Anheuser Busch property. We learned today that it is for sale and that the Busch Gardens Amusement Park has already found a buyer for $2.x billion. The marina is small but protected with a sea wall. It is run by very friendly folks that actually could see us approaching a couple of miles away and called us on the VHF radio to give us instructions on getting in. They are very attentive. This is a first in our history of cruising.