We left the functional, but colorless Marina at Coinjock at 9:30 after showers and yoga. Well, Linda did yoga and Olive and I tended to the boat. We were the last boat to leave because everyone was trying to figure out how to time their trips to match the schedules of the swing bridges and drawbridges to get into "Naw-fuk."
After the rough water of the Albemarle Sound, today's trip was much smoother. We rode through the dredged channel, watching the chart plotter carefully because we were doing 20 mph in 10 feet of water. We hit all of the bridges (and the lock) on perfect schedule.
Notice I said lock. There is a single lock on the man-made Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal. Like our locks in Tennessee it is operated by the Army Corps of Engineers. Unlike our locks, its total "lift" was six inches. We rigged up like we were going through the mighty Wilson Lock only to be told "hold on, we're going up six inches." Linda said it was like lots of girls wedding nights -- lots of preparation for a very short ride.
We blasted out of the lock and in a few minutes arrived at the Top Rack Marina at 1:15, where we had a reservation for the night.
As we approached the docks we saw lots of blue lights and 50 police officers in the parking lot. We decided the Marina didn't look that great and we didn't want to be a part of whatever was happening. We called ahead to the the Tidewater Marina eight miles further up in Portsmouth/Norfolk and asked if they had room for us. They did. We proved once again that you need to remain flexible.
The next eight miles took us through the shipyards of Norfolk where there were many Navy ships being rebuilt or maintained. The big excitement was seeing the country's newest aircraft carrier, the U.S.S. George H. W. Bush in final stages of construction.
As soon as we tied off in the Tidewater Marina, we got off the boat and walked through the historic district of old Portsmouth. During this walk (with the CMO) we picked out a restaurant for dinner and then headed back toward the Marina. The wind had turned from the NE and the temperature dropped to 61. We watched the local news and saw a thunderstorm coming so we decided to eat on board. Another good decision because we would have had a very wet walk home if we had gone out.
During the dinner preparation, we discussed the next few days and were we want to go. Once again, we are excited about seeing places we have only read about. Until tomorrow.
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