Norfolk, VA to Elizabeth City, NC

We had a great visit in Norfolk and were underway by 7:30 in the morning. It was a gray and overcast day all day, but at least it didn't rain. The ICW offers you two choices when you leave Norfolk. One is to take the Albermarle and Chesapeake Canal to the North Landing River to Currituck Sound, with a cut through to Albermarle Sound, or to take the Great Dismal Swamp to Albermarle Sound. Both routes join back up in the Albermarle Sound and the ICW is one route south again from there. The past two years we have taken the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal route, also known as the Virginia Cut. We decided that this year we would travel the Great Dismal Swamp route.

The Dismal Swamp route has two locks instead of one with about a 12 foot drop/rise at each, compared to only one lock on the A & C Canal with only a one foot drop/rise. That was a lot more challenging for us. I found that it was much harder doing the rise that doing the drop. I had to keep pressure on our lines the whole rise. My muscles were sure sore the next day.

Unfortunately, it was a dismal day on the Dismal Swamp. Overcast the whole day. It is so narrow in places, I could have added to my leaf collection by just sticking my hand out and picking them off the trees! It was still a pretty way to travel as many leaves were in color. I'm just glad we never had to pass anyone coming from the opposite direction as it sure is narrow.


View of the Dismal Swamp behind us

We stopped for the night at the North Carolina Visitor Center which serves both water visitors and automobile traffic on Route 17. There is a nice little museum across a foot bridge on the other side of the canal showing the flora and fauna of the swamp area. Another room has stuffed animals found in the swamp. We took the boardwalk they have built into the swamp a short way until it ended to see the swamp and returned back to the boat.


Visitor Center Sign

At this visitor center, there is only a 150 foot long dock to tie up to, so boats have to raft up beside other boats. We tied up next to one sailboat and another sailboat tied up to us. We ended up with 10 boats all tied up in rafts to a 150 dock wall. At 5, we all gathered for cocktails at a picnic table in our warm coats as it was pretty chilly. We gathered wood and started a fire in the barbecue grill provided which was tended by all the teenagers of which there were around 4. One boat also had a 10 week old baby aboard! That was a very brave couple. They also had another child who was about 3 aboard too!


Boats rafted at the visitor center dock

I spent the rest of the night back on board trying out my new snuggie that I bought for this year's trip down the ICW. I wore it backward to keep my back warm as I walked around the boat. It is brown and I looked like a "Wookie" from Star Wars!
I slept under the snuggle, two polar fleece blankets, the bedspread, and a sheet, wearing my hooded sweatshirt, polar fleece pants and socks! Then, I was finally warm enough to sleep.

I woke up at 6:50 hearing voices outside the boat on the dock, so even though it was still dark, we got up and prepared to leave. We needed to be underway so that all the boats could get make the 8 O'Clock lock opening. We all made it through the lock just fine. Although it was still partly cloudy, the sun was out and warmed up the boat.

We tied up at the Elizabeth City dock and when all the boats came through that day, we ended up with another boat rafted to us and another to it the day after that. Elizabeth City advertises itself as a "Harbor of Hospitality" city, and it is certainly friendly to boaters. There were people helping us with lines and answering our questions regarding where to get water, take our trash, restaurants, etc. That afternoon, they had a wine and cheese get-together with the Mayor of Elizabeth City at the dock. It was put on by the Visitor Center and they were there also to answer our questions as well.


Harbor sign


View of City docks from pilot house

Saturday, there was a little Farmer's Market on shore right off the boat. When I woke up and looked out, they were putting all the tents around the square for the vendors who arrived later. I purchased a couple of nice tomatoes and some jewelry.


Farmer's Market setting up

We were having generator problems again - both the boat generator and the portable Honda, so Bob talked with the mayor and he gave Bob the name of a generator repairman who showed up at the boat an hour after the call and got us straightened out in no time. It is always comforting to hear that engine run.

The mayor then drove Bob and the portable generator over to the Honda repair shop where it was looked over by a mechanic and returned. So we are now back in business.

Halloween night the town closed off a section of Main Street to cars for Trick-or-Treating. All the children on the boats at the dock, rummaged for the makings of a costume. This one was made from a king size bed sheet and duck tape!


There is a boy named Chris in there


Pirate Dad and the Pirate Twins!


The kids are all set to attack the town

We planned to leave this morning, but the weather is just to windy to go. In addition, a bridge we have to go under is closed when the winds are this high - so makes sense to stay put today. We may end up here again tomorrow as well - we will just have to see. Time to round up some other boaters for a game of Mexican Train Dominoes!

We're Underway!

We are underway again on our third "Great Adventure" to the Bahamas. We just love that place, hard to think about going anywhere else.

Our neighbor Barry came to help with the lines and see us off. The day started out cloudy and gloomy, but the rain had stopped. The skies cleared and the sun came out by 10:30. It is a beautiful day.

We will spend the evening with our neighbor Scott, who works in Norfolk, Amanda, our granddaughter now in her second year at ODU, and friends Joe and Monica. Should be a lovely evening.

Mural I painted

Here is a mural I painted this summer. It is on the wall at the ReMax Realty office in Kilmarnock.

Time to Get Ready

Well, hello again. We are getting prepared to leave in less than a week for our third trip down the Intracoastal Waterway from Chesapeake Bay to Florida and then crossing over to the Bahamas for the winter.

Bob has been busy getting the boat prepared. some things we added this past summer to the boat, were 6 solar panels, a wind generator, and a watermaker.

The wind and solar panels were added to the boat by Cameron of Transmarine, Inc. We had met Cameron and his wife Leia, and two children Maya and Finn in George Town, Exuma. Their business of installing wind and solar on boats travels with them. So we arranged for them to do the installation this summer when we got back home and they were "summering" up North in the Chesapeake. The draft on their boat (a 50 ft. metal hulled sailboat with 7 and half foot draft, could not get into the Little Wicomico River to get to us due to silt in the jetty (we sometimes have a rough time getting through at low time with a 3 and half foot draft boat). So they anchored in Cockrell's Creek off Reedville near us and we took our boat to them. There it stayed tied up to their boat for what was to be two weeks of work. Two weeks turned into 3 as the wind generator was defective and we all had to wait for a new one to arrive. The two boats were quite the talk of the town for three weeks.

If you are interested in knowing more about Cameron and his traveling company, check out their website at http://www.transmarinepro.com.


Pretty Penny and Tranquility tied up together in Cockrell's Creek



After the installation, we moved the boat around the creek to Jayne's Boatyard for it's annual bottom check and new bottom paint. In previous years we had taken the boat to St. Mary's to have the boat hauled where they have a travel lift large enough to haul our boat. I had read on one of the boater's lists about Jayne's Boatyard and their "trailer" they use to haul catamarans. So we went to check them out and determined, first, it was a much better way to haul out the boat, and second, it couldn't be closer to us, so using them was a "no brainer."

We discovered a crack in a side rub rail that had to be repaired, along with several other small tasks that Bob had them do for us.


Photo of the crack.


Trailer under the boat


That's me in front of the Pretty Penny - daunting out of the water


One dirty prop!

We did make one road trip this summer to Rochester, NY to visit with my brother-in-law and nephew, David and his wife Nathalie. David and Nathalie took us out for a nice boat ride on their sailboat in Sodas Bay. It was a lovely day to do it. We then had dinner at the yacht club.


We had David's dog Sailor along for the ride

After visiting in Rochester, we traveled to Burlington, Canada to visit Ed and Dee, our friends on Sea Fox X. They had just recently gotten married. They showed us a terrific time in Canada and we thoroughly enjoyed the visit. On our way back South, they went with us to make a couple of stops at wineries in the Niagara Valley. All the wineries in that area are just spectacular. We fell in love with a Vineland Estates Merlot, which if I could have brought back multiple cases of I would have. Instead I had to settle for 4 bottles. It is probably a good thing because if I could get all I want of the wine, I would be an alcoholic for sure! We hope to see Dee and Ed in the Bahamas again this year.

It was Bob's turn for surgery this summer and he got his long-standing problem of a torn rotator cuff finally fixed. He will finish his therapy this week, just in time to leave next week.

I spent the early part of the summer working on repairing the upstairs guest bedroom and bath that were damaged last year by a broken shut off valve under the sink. We will be shutting off the water to the house this year!

The other interesting thing we did this summer was become part of the "angry mob" that marched on DC on September 13th this year. It was amazing to be with so many like-minded people all at one place. The crowd stretched from the Capitol almost to the Washington Monument! It was impossible to get a photo that really shows the magnitude of the crowd, but these do it the best.




Facing the Capitol



We are now waiting for our watermaker to return from the company as it was defective. Bob should install that over the weekend and our plan is to leave Monday or Tuesday, depending on the weather. Last two years we had to sit at the dock waiting through storms for almost a week before we could leave. We are praying that doesn't happen this year.

See our fellow boaters on the ICW soon!

We're back home!

Another safe and successful year cruising the Bahamas has come to a close. We arrived on Sunday around 4 P.M. on our last leg up the Chesapeake Bay from Norfolk to home.

Luckily, it was a much nicer day than we had for this same trip last year. Last year, it had been the kind of day we would have stayed at anchor, but ya know, when you are just 6 hours from home, we just went ahead and did it! We could not have asked for a nicer day this year.

We passed boats with pretty sails and work boats along the way. Since we arrived on a Sunday, many folks were out enjoying the beach just outside the jetty where we enter the Little Wicomico River on our way home.


Boat with pretty sail


Menhaden Fishing Boat heading out get your Omega 3 Oil tablets


Folks enjoying the beach

Our friends and neighbors, Scott, Diane and Barry, were all at the dock to help me with docking the boat. We always take the lines with us when we go, which makes coming home a challenge.


Our able and willing line handlers!

We also want to thank Bill and Deb for watching the house and watering the plants while we were gone. Neighbors like that are sure hard to find.

So now, we are left with the drudge work of moving back into the house all the food, clothes, etc. and cleaning out the boat.

So what are the plans for the summer? We always have a list of "improvements" to the boat each summer. This year, the boat will get solar panels and a wind generator, among a few other smaller items.

Due to a water leak at home, our son-in-law, Jim, has been installing new tile floors in two bathrooms and repairing a hole in the ceiling in one. He is also making and installing new bookcases in the living room and balcony. We have painting to do and new carpet to purchase for one of the upstairs bedrooms due to the water damage. So our plans include a lot of work around the house as well.

We plan to take the boat to Baltimore this summer for a week with at least two of our grandchildren aboard to do some sightseeing and visiting with friends who spend the summer there. We hope to go to a few other places around the bay as well.

We also plan to see some of the friends we made this year cruising. Some will visit by car and others by boat. We made so many new wonderful folks cruising this year, we want to stay in touch with them all.

I'll be posting some of our trips this summer on the blog occasionally. Our plans are to leave next November and head south again. We will be visiting some of the same locations we love so much again this year, but also hoping to visit some of the islands we have yet to make it to, like - Andros, Eleuthera, Spanish Wells, Cat Island, Jimentos, etc. There is just so much to see and do, it is hard to see it all in each year.

One more reason

Besides missing all our family and friends, Bob says that this is just one more reason to go home!

Sneads Ferry, NC to Norfolk, VA

We were excited to get to Sneads Ferry because we were going to pick up two grandsons, Ryan and Sammy, to ride along with us for a day. His mother then picked them up at our next stop which was Oriental, NC. Keeping two active boys occupied was a challenge, but we sure enjoyed having them along.


Sammy and Ryan on top the boat


Ryan enjoying the sun and the view


Sammy pretending to be asleep


Grandpa with "da boys"

Oriental is a charming little town. We walked to the town park to let the boys run off some energy, as they had been cooped up on the boat all day. We were very successful with that as Sammy, the younger one, almost feel asleep during dinner. I'm sure he was asleep in the car before the doors were shut!

We traveled from Oriental to Columbia, NC and ended up stopping for the night at Alligator River Marina. We had thought we would anchor out, but Bob was watching thunder storms all us on radar, and decided we would be better off tied to a dock.

After dinner, a boat came in and docked behind us and it was one we recognized. We had met the owner at the Stella Maris Marina. It was fun to catch up with him a little.

A boat had gone past the marina and ended up full aground in the ICW. It was in an area where there are no tides, (usually if you go aground on a rising tide, you can just wait a while and the water will rise and lift you back off), so he had to call Tow Boat US to come get him. The rescue boat had to come from Elizabeth City, an hour an a half away! It was well after dark when they arrived. I sure hope they had insurance with them, or I would not want to see that bill. We were very careful the next morning when we went through that area to make sure the same thing didn't happen to us. Luckily, all went well.


We passed about 6 Army Corps of Engineer barges in the ICW


Ferry in Currituck Sound

We crossed over into Virginia and passed through the lock at Great Bridge again. This time I handled the lines without Bob and he stayed in the pilot house. It went very well.


Great bridge (Cantilevered bridge)


View forward out of the lock


View aft in the lock


Festival Marketplace in Norfolk


Cruise ship by Norfolk


Barge full of containers. I just can't imagine this in rough seas.

After we passed all the industry areas and Navy areas of Norfolk, there was an announcement on the radio that told us there was a Navy Carrier coming back in from sea. Turns out it was No. 71, the Theodore Roosevelt coming back from what appeared to be a "Friends and Family" cruise. Bob said it have to be that or the Navy had "gone casual." Of course, we had to keep our distance, so I took these with the telephoto lens.


Roosevelt coming in from the sea


Hate to say it, but it needs a paint job


Notice the colorful clothes - that is the friends and family


Lest you think the ship was unprotected - the Coast Guard was there in force and ready to protect it.


Old Fort protecting the entrance to the harbor.

We anchored for the night near the Hampton entrance to the tunnel and Ft. Monroe and had some of the Mahi Mahi we had caught on the crossing back over to the US for dinner.

We are so excited to be near home and plan to make it up the bay on Sunday. Ya Hoo!