US/Canada East Coast 2008

Bayou Boogaloo, Norfolk

June 21, 2008

American Rover tour boat, Norfolk, VA Towing our dinghy on a good day...

All was fixed with the starter motor (we hope) by Wednesday evening, so we set out for two long days of motoring in the ICW (accompanied by smoke from various NC fires) bright and early on Thursday.  Thus, we passed through the Alligator River-Pungo River Canal for the third time in a week but this time managed to progress all the way along the AlligatorRiver with the swing bridge opening for us most obligingly without any need for hesitation on our part!  We luckily had good conditions crossing Albemarle Sound which can be unpleasant when the shallow water surrounding the often-narrow navigation channel is blown into a nasty chop.  At the end of the 80-mile day, we anchored for the night north of the Sound, near BuckIsland on the North River.  We set off early on Friday (June 20) in cold, misty rain, our first rain since the squall at CumberlandIsland and the first time in months that we were sent scurrying for warmer clothing!

There are two routes to Norfolk, VA, from Albemarle Sound.  The intriguingly named “Dismal Swamp” route is often too shallow for our 5 ft draft, so we took the “Virginia Cut” route which is a pleasant mixture of river and canal.  No offense to a wonderful state, but we were relieved to finally leave North Carolina after our various unanticipated delays there.  There are increasing numbers of bridges as one approaches Norfolk and the one and only lock on this route of the ICW.  Typically they try to send groups of boats together heading north or south.  We fell in with several motorboats including one luxury yacht and although, given our limited motoring speed (typically 6 knots), we were inevitably the “tail-end Charlie” arriving last at each structure, it generally meant less waiting for us.  Luckily, our fleet was able to get through the two city bridges that close for a two-hour rush-hour period at 3:30 pm before then and we arrived at the down-town Waterside Marina before the evening rush.  This was the same marina by Joe’s Crab Shack where we stayed last year but this time we had the bonus of the waterfront Bayou Boogaloo Cajun Food and Music Festival next door.  We sampled this New Orleans-style event for the evening, including some of the best smoked salmon that I have ever had! On Saturday morning, after I had enjoyed a jog through the attractive waterside neighborhoods, we unpacked the new mainsail that had been delivered to the marina.  We laid it out for inspection in the adjacent grassy park (having checked carefully for potential “dirt” first!)  All looked good so we replaced the old sail (to be kept as back-up) and were happy with the fit.  The only odd thing is that the sail is so stiff that it was difficult to haul all the way down and secure very neatly.  The back-drop to this work, announced rather startlingly by periodic cannon-fire, was the Cock Island Sail Race, starting in the harbor.  Organized by the City of Portsmouth (across the harbor) this annual event had attracted about 100 boats of various sizes. Subsequent questioning of locals revealed a lack of knowledge of the whereabouts of CockIsland but it was an exciting display of enthusiasm for amateur racing.  

In the afternoon we set out to get some supplies from a West Marine store.  We went by taxi but the driver, evidently inexperienced with his on-board GPS, got lost and we had to help him find our destination.  There was no question about paying for his errors since the GPS clearly announced to all of us that it needed to recalculate each time he missed a turn!  We also found an Alltel store and signed-up for an air-card which should provide us with better internet access without having to rely on Wi Fi in marinas, libraries, etc.  Randall led us back to the boat via two city buses, including an impressive, free, down-town, electric bus.  Our evening’s entertainment was rather surprisingly provided by a good three-piece band playing rock/blues to a small but enthusiastic crowd in the food-court of the neighboring shopping mall.

I've been here
previous entrynext entry

Comments

Please sign-in to post a comment.

If you are not yet registered please Register Now.