Norfolk, VA to Bellhaven, NC

Monday, October 26, 1998

035-31.800 N
076-32.160 W

The last time that you heard from us, we were near Norfolk, VA recovering from a 16 hour sail. Needless to say, we slept well Monday night and were back on the water bright and early on Tuesday (10/20/1998) morning. We cruised through Norfolk, VA and were treated to great views of all kinds of Navy ships at dock, being repaired, or in moth balls. It's hard to describe what it's like to cruise by mile after mile of grey ships stacked up one after another. Saying that it's impressive understates the magnitude of what you say. Carriers, subs, frigates, supply ships, amphibious assault ships, and more. AJ used to be in the Navy, so he provided a lot of commentary on what we were seeing. That was great.

In Norfolk we picked up the start of the Intercostal Waterway, or the ICW for short. The ICW runs from Norfolk, VA to the farthest Key in Florida. The terrain varies wide open waterways to narrow canals lined with mangroves. Many of the sections that we've been going through are very lightly inhabited. Miles and miles of forest/swamp. While it gets boring after a while, there are some very beautiful sections. The early morning light is absolutely wonderful on the straw grass. Tuesday was very warm and we were in shorts by afternoon. We went through my first canal, which dropped our level by about 2 1/2 feet. That was kind of neat. We stopped in Coinjock, NC at the Midway Marina. What a great place! Friendly people, well protected dockage, and cable TV! A girl who worked for the marina drove us into town to shop. We went to a gas station that had a small grocery (junk food) section. WOW! We got into the big city! Coinjock seems to be a city of house-trailers. I can't imagine what the people do around here.

On Wednesday were we once again on the water by 07:00. Once again we were treated to a wonderful sunrise. We cruised into the Albemarle Sound, which is a huge, shallow body of water. Luckily we had the wind from behind and were running with the waves, as the Sound can be very rough in high winds. There were several jets from an Navy base practicing attack runs right over us for an extended period of time, so that was very fun to watch. From the Albemarle Sound we entered the Alligator river and then the Alligator-Pungo canal. Boring!

There are lots of bridges along the waterway. Some are fixed and some have to open for you. The fixed bridges are supposed to have a height of 65', which is good because the mast is 61' and then there's another 2 1/2' of wind equipment on top of that. It's very exciting to go under a 65' bridge with a foot and a half to spare! Especially when that's at the peak of the arch, and you have to guide the boat down the middle. There are a lot of bridges that have to be opened. These are staffed by bridge tenders who you call on the radio to let them know that you want to go through. Some bridges open on demand, others at scheduled times. We just got to a bridge that was supposed to open at 15:30, but due to work on the bridge, it won't open until 16:00. As a result we get to circle for 40 minutes. Fun!

There are lots of kinds of bridges. Trains seem to have lift bridges where the whole track section gets lifted straight up. Then there are bascule bridges which tilt upwards. Some are single and others are double. There are also swing bridges, which rotate at the center. All in all it's very interesting, but I would never want to be a bridge tender! Talk about a boring jobs!

Well, I'm now at Bellhaven, NC and am once again borrowing a phone line.

Log ID: 1117