Norfolk is similar to San Diego in that it is a huge navy town with all sorts of navy vessels including aircraft carriers. It has an amazing amount of marine traffic including tugs pushing huge barges.
We got a free spot in Portsmouth which is just across from Norfolk. There four other sailboats at this spot so we had a "wee bit of chat" with them. I was out of rum (poor planning) and we weren't able to find a liquor store....actually John went in search of a store and walked quite a few miles looking while I stayed back with the other sailors. One of them said he had rum and gave me half a bottle!!! The sad thing was John doesn't drink rum and he had lots of beer on the boat...what a great Captain and friend. Just as an aside I've got a bad hip and am not so mobile.
Norfolk is mile one of the Atlantic Intercoastal Waterway. Around 1 PM on Tuesday we started off on our trip down the ICW. The interesting thing about going down waterway is that there are bridges with only 12 feet of vertical clearance that have to open for boats to pass. These bridges are on different schedules to open so you have to time your trip and adjust your speed accordingly. The ones near metropolitan areas are usually closed from 6:30-8:30 AM and 4:00-6:00 PM. Some only open once an hour and others open on the hour and half hour. So it's lots of fun figuring it all out. Here's our first lift bridge.
We went as far as Great Bridge where there is a lock and then a bridge. There is a beautiful spot to tie up between the lock and the bridge so that is where we stayed along with about six other boats. We walked into the little town and got a few groceries and a bottle of Mount Gay Rum!!! We keep buying groceries because we wonder when the next place will be that we can stock up. As John said we keep buying more groceries than we use. We figure we could almost make Florida with the groceries we have!!!!
Today, Wednesday we left Great Bridge at 8 AM with all the other boats. Everybody was lined up in formation ready for the bridge to open. Today's trip started in a narrow tree lined canal. Etiquette on the waterway is that if a boat wants to pass another he radios to that boat and says he's going to pass him to port. The boat to be passed acknowledges and slows down and then the passing boat slows and goes by so his wake doesn't rock the other boat. It's interesting how you get a string of boats following each other.
We decided to stay at a marina tonight since there was quite a wind and anchoring in this shallow area is a bit tricky. Tonight we're at the low end marina in Coinjock, NC.
The big power yachts are across the way at the higher end marina.
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