One Lock, Five Boats and a Bear

It is 8 AM, and we are at the lock. That is a good thing since you have to be here for the 8:30 opening. The temperature has risen to 61 degrees. We are still shocked that we started the morning at 54 degrees in the middle of June. But, as I keep saying, better to be cold with no bugs than sweltering with lots of black flies. It's a good day on the water! One downside of buying a boat in the BVIs, BTW, is that the blankets are a lovely light cotton. However, they are not very efficient in 58 degree weather. Jacob is trying to get others to give him their blankets, but no such luck for him. Peggy's solution is that he should just supplement with a beach towel. In retrospect, I really must say that, for the most part, we have had nice weather. The worst weather was centered around the time that Sam and Howard were with us. But, they had warned us that they brought bad weather with them.  Okay, more excitement in the lock. We are now in position with FIVE boats going northbound. Even the lock tender thinks it is going to be a little tight. Meanwhile, there is a lot of chatter amongst the radios. Seems a bear ran across the lock! Right toward the truck used by the bridge/lock tender. Lucky for the tender, the bear kept right on going. So, the lock tender proceeded to fit us all in- three on port and two or starboard. The boat in front of us was very entertaining. First they were creeping into the lock - even thought the lock tender had said we needed to get a move on in order to make the next drawbridge. Then they had trouble getting next to the lock wall. Then, to Carol's dismay, they killed their engines. Thank goodness that they started them back up. I thought Carol might be thinking about paying them a personal visit. The tender was a fun guy! He told us to be sure to have everything ready because, in his own words, "You are going down!!!" We kept complaining that the phrase sounded too much like a bad police movie, and we didn't want to go down in that sense. But we did - go down, that is. At least in the lock sense. As soon as he could, he shepherded us out of the lock and on our way. He told us that we had just navigated one of the oldest locks in the United States, and he wished us Godspeed and a safe journey. It is now 9:15 AM, and we are part of the boat parade heading for the drawbridge. We are following closely because the lock tender said we had to do 6 knots to make it. At present, we are following at 5.6. Those boats need to speed up! And now we are at the bridge. It claims to be 65 feet. Once again, Mike does the bridge dance. Peggy thinks she heard the antennae scrape a little. Jacob and I could only hear the roar of the cars and trucks going over the bridge. Busy morning here in the Norfolk area! And the excitement just kept coming. The next thing was that we got a radio message saying that the railroad bridge ahead was going to close momentarily for a few minutes. We got there in time to watch it close with four of our boat friends from the lock. Then, we had the opportunity to watch a truck drive over the railroad. Ridge. Then three guys walked across. Then, the bridge went back up. As soon as we cleared it, it went back down.