Friday, June 10, 1994 - Great Bridge, VA

Woke up at 3:30 and couldn't get back to sleep, so I got up at the first light of dawn. Started to go up to the cockpit to look around, but even without my glasses I could see thousands of bugs all over the windows, so I scooted back to the main cabin and closed the doors.
When Roy got up, he was horrified. He hadn't turned on the light when he went to bed, so he hadn't seen the bugs, and I guess he thought I was exaggerating. When he saw them this morning, he got out of the aft cabin in a hurry.
Practically every square inch of the outside of the boat was covered with the ugly creatures. They were all over the sails, all over the rigging, all over the new wind generator, all over the windows, all over everything. There must have been hundreds of thousands of them. Fortunately, they weren't aggressive bugs. In fact, they were very lethargic. They just sat there and looked gross.
We had hoped they would all blow off when we started moving, but they seemed to be glued on. I kept wishing my son Bill were here; he's a professional exterminator; he'd have zapped them in a hurry.
Fortunately, their lifespan was limited. Thousands of them died along the way. The ones that didn't die naturally, received some help from the flyswatter and a can of Black Flag. But there were still thousands left alive. As we approached Great Bridge, I made two attempts to get the lines and fenders out of the lazarette, but so many of the miserable beasts flew up in my face that I had to retreat to the cockpit. I managed to get the bow and center lines ready, but poor Roy had to get the stern line and the stuff from the lazarette.
We reached Great Bridge around 2:30 and tied up, as usual, to the free dock. I phoned TRT to find out what time the bus ran to Norfolk and also phoned the post office to find out what time they closed. The post office stays open until six, and the bus runs every hour, so we hurriedly got ready and rode to downtown Norfolk. Got to the Post Office around five, but there wasn't any mail for us, which was disappointing. Apparently, I used the wrong zip code, but it was the one that was in the zip code directory for General Delivery in Norfolk. The number was 23503, but should have been 23501. 23503 is way out in the Ocean View area, not far from Cobb's. I'll phone there tomorrow and see if they're open.
Rode the same bus back to Great Bridge and ate a buffet supper at the Golden Corral. It was quite good and abundant.
Roy hosed the deck and windows as much as he could with the chain-
washer hose. The boat's a complete mess. Most of the bugs are dead, but their cadavers are all over the place.
There were still too many insects and corpses in the aft cabin for my taste, so I slept in the main cabin again. Roy slept in the aft cabin again.