Goodbye Chesapeake…hello ICW

10/21/14
Portsmouth VA, ICW
Position:36 49.962N, 76 17.749W
Posted by Bill

Lots to post about today. We departed Jackson Creek at around 8 AM and motor-sailed south to Portsmouth VA. We started with light winds which built steadily, contrary to forecast (again), but they were off our starboard bow (right, front of the boat for you land lubbers). I was able to put up some sails which helped steady the boat motion, but as we approached Mobjack Bay and the York River we got a nasty sea state again. I was determined to power through it, knowing this is the last day traversing the bay. As I predicted, outside of the fetch of Mobjack and York River, it calmed down and we caught a favorable tide. Also…no crab pots or fish nets today…hurray!

As we moved into Norfolk and the Hampton Roads area, the tide turned against us and we fought a 2 knot current. We also started to have a lot of company…specifically big company. We saw every kind of ship from navy war ships to tugs and dredges.
DSC_0450
DSC_0471
DSC_0483
DSC_0514
DSC_0515
DSC_0520

The navy shipyard went for miles and it was extremely impressive. Don’t mess with the USA buddy!
DSC_0525

They had navy patrol boats guarding the perimeter of the warships.
DSC_0491

They even had a navy hospital ship. Never saw this before. Check out the name.
DSC_0505

It was cool seeing the Portsmouth and Norfolk downtown areas from the water.
DSC_0528
DSC_0532

On the way down the bay we passed:
Thimble Shoal Light House. The boat next to it was disabled and calling a tow boat on the marine radio when we passed. The boat name was Misbehavin’. Bummer.
DSC_0421

Fort Moltrie.
DSC_0444

Here we are docked across the river from some big ass war ships.
DSC_0533
DSC_0534

After 3 days in remote anchorages, we went into Portsmouth and had an awesome dinner and some drinks. It was fun! We will hunker down to ride out the next wave of wind and rain before we move on through the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW). We were excited that we completed the voyage through the Chesapeake, and we can now put our charts and cruising guide away, focusing on the ICW to Florida. We have traveled 1135 nautical miles so far.

The weather is considerably warmer here. Today it was 74 degrees and lots of sun. Love that!

We also had lots of excitement on the marine radio today. Couple of boats on fire and lost dinghys. Bad shit man! Good news though…when we got to the dock today, we plugged in to shore power and the inverter/charger was correctly charging the batteries and also passing through the A/C power to the boat. The inverter function must be the only thing on the fritz. Glad to see that.

Leave a Reply or Subscribe