Thursday, June 5, 2014.
Anchor up (nice and clean) at 7am. Wind SW at 10-15. Sunny, 75 degrees. We call the Alligator River Bridge to make
sure they are opening – they don’t if the wind is sustained over 35 knots. The bridge tender says they should not have
an issue today as the winds are not supposed to be over 25 knots. There is one other boat in the anchorage with
us (Dream Catcher). As we turn north in
the Alligator River, there is another boat, as well (Nomad). We travel more or less together down the
river toward the bridge at its mouth – 20 miles.. By the time we get there we are making 7
knots under foresail alone, the wind on our stern at 20-25 knots.
Once through the bridge,
it is into Albemarle Sound. This body of
water is shallow and susceptible to high winds.
This is our fourth crossing and three of them have been rough (including
this time). The winds remain SW at
20-25, but the waves are coming with the wind as well as from the NW making the
seas confused and very rough. It is a
good thing it is only 15 miles across this stretch!
We are on the dock at
Coinjock Marina at 3pm. We ordered prime
rib for dinner (you have to order it ahead of time), and met the folks on Dream
Catcher. Don’t know where Nomad went.
The marina across the
ICW from this one is now closed. No one
knows why. We had dinner with the folks
on Dream Catcher (Bo, Joyce, and Mike (new crew). They said this crossing of the Albemarle was
the easiest they have had in 7 crossings.
I would hate to know what the worst crossing was!
Rain after dinner and
over night.
One bridge on request
today.
54SM, 43.2NM, MM
50. 36° 20.88’N 075° 56.98’W
Friday, June 6, 2014. Rain
We are off the dock at 7:15 am, and most of the other boats have already left,
including Dream Catcher. Sunny, wind N
at 5. Headed to Mile 0 today. We crossed Currituck Sound ok. This can be another fun body of water if the
wind is howling. 9aqm, the wind is N at
10. It is cool – 65 degrees. All the bridges and one lock are schedules
today – always a challenge. We make the
North :Landing Bridge at 11:30am, and Centerville Turnpike Bridge at 12:30pm. We get to the bridge and lock at Great Bridge
at 1PM and they are locking through a fuel barge and tug that fill the
lock. We finally get through at 1:30pm
and then make the opening at Steel Bridge at 2pm. They are replacing this bridge with a new
high rise, so hopefully next time we pass this way, there will be one less bridge
opening to worry about. We make the
Gilmerton Bridge opening at 2:30 and then get hung up at a railroad bridge that
the cruising guide says is “almost always open”. Not this time! We get to wait ½ hour for a slow moving
freight to cross.
On the trip south, we
saw the Kalmar Nikel, a tall ship. She
is berthed at Ocean Marine in Portsmouth, VA.
At 3:30pm, we enter
Norfolk Harbor and approach Mile 0 at Hospital Point, where we see a Coast
Guard helicopter very low over the water.
As we look over to the Norfolk shore, we see a couple of tall chips and
lots of tents and people. Must be some
kind of festival. Then we realize there
are Coast Guard boats keeping everyone away from where the helicopter is now
very low over the water. We realize they
are doing a rescue demo, with divers jumping into the water and then the divers
and victims being hoisted into the helicopter.
Pretty impressive! Especially since by this time we almost right on top
of the action. Very cool. See the video!
At 4:40 pm, as we leave
Norfolk Harbor and pass the Navy Yard, Warship 72 is coming up the channel and
then turns left right in front of us.
Another close encounter. As we
head across to Hampton, a Canadian warship also crosses our bow. Busy place!
At 5:30PM, we are
anchored at Old Point Comfort, Hampton, VA.
There are 8 boats here and two more come in over night. Nice anchorage, but noisy as the bridge to
the tunnel for Hampton to Norfolk is right on the edge of the anchorage. At 6:30pm, Nomad comes in and anchors. Where have they been?
5 scheduled bridges and
1 that was closed and not supposed to be, plus 1 scheduled lock.
63.2SM, 42.6NM, New MM
214.5 37° 00.63’N 076° 19.16’W
Saturday, June 7, 2014.
Anchor up at 7am. Most of the
boats are still here. Sunny, 70
degrees. Wind N @ 5-10. The tide is with us as we leave Hampton and
head north up the Chesapeake. We pass
Wolf Trap Light at 11:40am and Windmill Point at 1:40pm. Great Wicomico Light at 3:45pm. We have the
anchor down in Mill Creek, Reedville, VA, off
the Great Wicomico River at 4pm.
This is a beautiful, quiet, well protected place. It is sunny and 80 degrees. There are three other boats here, plus one
anchored at the mouth of the creek (not sure why they would be there?????)
No more bridges on this
trip!
67 SM, 56NM today.
MM 136. 37° 47.56’N 076° 19.40’W
Sunday June 8, 2014. Anchor
up at 7:50am. Sunny, 65 degrees. Wind W at 5-10. Beautiful morning out on Chesapeake Bay. We pass Smith Point Light at 9:20am and cross
over onto Maryland. Point No Point Light
at 11:40am. Wind now S @ 5-10. By 1:30pm the wind is S @ 10-15. We pass Green “1PR” at 1:40pm and at 3pm have
the anchor down in (another creek named) Mill Creek (at Solomons Island,
MD). This is the same spot we anchored
with Autumn Borne (Dean and Sue Perry) in 11/ 2012.
50.8SM, 42.3 NM
today. MM 97.5 38° 19.97’N
076°26.65’ W
Monday, June 9, 2014. It
rained over night and is cloudy this morning. We have the anchor up and are
underway at 8:15am. The anchor and chain
are really muddy. In fact they have been
for the past three mornings, since we got into the Chesapeake. Maybe we will get pump and hose installed in
the anchor locker to wash it. I have
been using a bucket and that works ok, but………
Interestingly enough, when I dip the bucket to wash off the chain, the
water we are getting is fresh, not salt.
Fresh water is lighter and the salt water is heavier, so the fresh stays
on top.
It is 65 degrees this
morning and the wind is S 5-10. They are
predicting winds of 20-25, but they never materialize. We are making 7 knots over the ground with
the help of the fore sail and the current.
We have to share the channel with Michigan Highway, a huge car carrier,
headed north.
We are at Mears for fuel
at 2pm and tied up at Oxford Boat Yard at 2:30pm. Both of these places are now named Brewers
Oxford Marina, as Mitch sold both of them over the winter. It looks like all the same folks are still
here tho’. The sun has come out and it
is very humid.
This is where Rhiannon
will spend the summer, get some maintenance work done and (hopefully) we will
leave from here in October to begin another adventure. We will be staying with our friends, the Jana’s,
for the next couple of days while we get here “put to bed” and meet with the
service people at the yard. We will
drive home on Thursday.
39SM, 32.5NM today. MM 81.
38° 41.64’N 076° 10.11’W
