Friday, October 2, 2009

Deltaville Boat Yard - Norfolk - Hospital Point





After receiving our transmission fluid dipstick, at a cost of $110 - the transmission fluid was also changed.  We did notice a small oil leak around the valve cover and Deltaville Boat Yard tightened the bolts then Makai went out on a mini-sea trail.  She checked out with an A plus!  Not!  The oil leak is still with us and  the mechanic told us to just tighten the bolts if it is still leaking.  He also stated that it will fix itself after it gets "seated".  That is not the case as we were told and now we have to find another mechanic to correct this.  I think the valve cover was tightened so much as it is now warped.  Deltaville Boat Yard is off my list for sure.  Some things there seem inexpensive but after you get the bill you are in shock for a day or so.  Everything is additional. You are even charged for their rag use.  Need to use the bathoom?  That is an additional $10.00.  An initial estimate of about $800.00 ended up to be almost $1,600.00  The weather is co-operating, so we loosened the lines from Deltaville Marina and are now currently at anchor at Hospital Point, which is actually in Portsmouth, VA - right across from Norfolk.  The anchorage is nice here - right next to Tidewater Marina. Norfolk is amazing with its array of military vessel - aircraft carriers armed with fighter jets and Apache helicopters, destroyers, battleships, and huge cranes lifting and moving things for the ships.e.There is always some type of traffic going on in the water - whether it be Navy ships being shuffled around by barges, water taxies running back and forth from Portsmouth to Norfolk, Carnival cruise ships coming in or just cruisers heading north and south.  We only plan on staying here for a night or two - one of our favorite places to eat is in Portsmouth, called Roger Brown's Sport Bar, which has the best marinated flank steak ever!  Norfolk also has a really nice indoor shopping mall and a great little grocery store, called "The Market at Harbor Heights."  We will stock up on some meats here, as they have an old time "butcher" who cuts what you want.  Hospital Point marks the end of the Cheseapeake Bay portion of the trip and now actually becomes the beginning of the Inter-coastal Waterway, which starts at mile marker zero (0).  We go to Key Biscayne, FL before crossing over to the Bahamas, which is mile marker 1096. 




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