Southall Landings Marina

 We arrived at Southall Landings Marina on June 20th. The approach was easy and we were amazed by the friendly people that we met in the first hours we were at the dock. We had offers to assist us in almost every way and even to borrow their car to provision and to visit the local attractions. We have to say this is the friendliest marina we have ever been to. 

I love natural beauty and wildlife. Southall Landings is located in a tidal marsh and is full of wildlife. We have seen many waterfowl and wading birds. We have also been lucky enough to see the local otters swimming between the boats. The other wildlife that I have taken interest in, are the crabs. I have been able to catch a dinner of crabs right from the boat on a couple days that I have tried. 

In this entry, I will focus on the birds. I spent most of one day with my big camera shooting the birds and other things flying in the area. Langley Air Force Base is very close to us and we see many very cool aircraft flying in and out of the base. This is the training base for the F-22 Raptor, which is a very cool new stealth fighter jet. 

We have a number of large Osprey in the area. We are thinking that they have been responsible for the missing ducklings. 

Osprey are amazing looking birds in flight

This little green heron eats the little fish and crabs in the shallows 

I saw this female Mallard Duck with two ducklings. I was told that they were a family of 10 just a few days ago.

Mom with two little ones

I think this is a juvenile Blue Heron

Just love this image

I watched this Blue Heron catch and wrestle this large fish. The amazing thing is they ate it. 

These look like angels to me.

These look like X-wing fighters to me. 

This is an F-22 Raptor

Another one at a distance

Cuteness overload

A flight of trainers

We are able to take our dinghy from our slip out to a beach. We have access to a pool and we are in a secure gated community. All of that for $300 per month. We really like it here and I can tell why many people we have met have chosen to stay here and live year round. I am sure it gets cold in the winter, but it is a very protected place from storms. 

We knew when we arrived that we had some work to do on the boat. We had to do all of our periodic maintenance on the engine after putting on 150 hours in our trip north. We also had to fix the staysail fitting that broke in the storm off of Miami. Then on the first morning we were here, the propane solenoid failed. Now we could not cook on the stove or oven. I ordered the part and then when it got here I needed some additional fittings. There is an Ace hardware close by and I asked to borrow a car. "No problem" was the replay and in a few hours, we were good to go. Have I told you how much we love this place?

In my next entry, I will write about some adventures we have been on since we arrived in Virginia.