Our departure from Norfolk is delayed several days as we anxiously await the email from Europe concerning our battery charger which, incidentally, never comes. To fill the time we play tourist. The first day is spent on the Portsmouth side, walking through the historical district and exploring Skipjack’s, an exceptionally nice nautical antique and art store.
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| Home in Portsmouth historical district |
We stop for dinner and a movie at the Commodore, a restored 1940 vintage theater that offers first run movies and light dinners with seating in comfortable chairs around café tables. Appropriately enough they are showing “A Dolphin’s Tale”. The next day we venture over to Norfolk and the Nauticus Center, a museum of naval history which features the battleship Wisconsin docked along side. Once again we are dwarfed by the size of the battleship, over 1000 feet long. It was decommissioned shortly after the first Gulf War and is now open to the general public.
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| Burt measures up to the bow of the Wisconsin |
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| Teak decks and BIG guns |
We are getting restless, so we leave the next morning for the approximately 1100 statute miles that await our arrival in Miami. Passing by huge dry docks housing naval vessels undergoing refits and forests of oversized cranes, we don’t get very far as the bridges and one lock are timed to allow passage only during non-rush hour.
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| Naval vessel in a dry dock |
There’s no point in proceeding past mile 11. We stop after the only lock on the Virginia Cut portion of the waterway at Great Bridge and the town of Chesapeake and shoe-horn ourselves into the one remaining tie-up along the river while the folks onshore helping us with docklines cheer a rather amazing feat of docking – Burt’s ego won’t need any more stroking today! We will stay for two nights due to weather. But, that’s not all bad. There’s an excellent grocery store and very nice laundromat within walking distance, I can get a much needed haircut, and the very friendly cruisers with whom we share the wall are organizing Happy Hour. Less than half a mile away in a marina is a friend from Mansfield who is captaining another boat south, so we have an opportunity to catch up in person rather than by radio.
The weather becomes more suitable for moving so we take off for the first bridge opening. Our group of ten boats is traveling in convoy style, timing our speed to coincide with the restricted bridge openings along the outskirts of the Norfolk area.
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| Playing "Follow the Leader" in the ICW |
Then we get to the first supposedly 65 foot vertical clearance non-opening bridge, supposedly because there are rumors that some contractors have skimped on bridge clearances. It should be no problem but water levels are up due to strong south winds, and we are cutting it closer than we would like. One 56’ long sailboat that was on display at the Annapolis Boat Show is anchored just short of the bridge – they have been there two days and can’t go through until the water drops. A catamaran in our entourage has taken off its wind instruments and anchor light in attempt to shorten its height. It is decided we are the shortest questionable mast so we will go through first with everyone else behind, taking sites on our clearance. Crawling through at low speed, we clear by about six inches above our antenna, the cat bumps its antenna along the bridge beams, and the 56’ sailboat stays put. We have several more of these nail – biters ahead, so we stay with the catamaran communicating by radio and putting the binoculars to good use. By 3:30 we make it to Albemarle Sound, and once again it’s decision time. The winds are perfect for a lovely sail across this body of water but it’s getting a little late in the day. We decide to go for it and for two hours enjoy a splendid beam reach across what is sometimes an unpleasant crossing to the Alligator River. We just get the anchor set when the sun goes down.
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| Anchoring at sunset in the Alligator River |
We are in a period of settled weather now. We cruise down the Waterway, through the backwaters of the Outer Banks and miles of barren swamp land with very few signs of human presence.
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| Typical scene along the ICW in northern North Carolina |
We choose to stop in Bellehaven as we have heard comments that this is a very pleasant town. While a nice place and excellent anchorage, there is nothing really remarkable about it, although it gives us an opportunity to go ashore and take a walk.
The next destination is Oriental and a return to the prior home of Exuberant. After some very nice sailing, an unusual event when traversing the ICW, we pull into a dock. We need fuel, water, and have to pick up some mail. As soon as we tie up we are greeted by another couple who also sail out of Sandusky. We have not met them before but we have friends in common. Again, we experience the “small world” phenomena. We see other familiar faces we met here two years ago while commissioning our boat. It’s time to celebrate our homecoming to Oriental.
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| Celebrating our Oriental homecoming |
We pop a bottle of champagne, a going away gift from friends in Ohio, and later six of us, all from the Great Lakes, go to dinner at the marina restaurant and share stories of our Erie Canal experience. One couple also trucked their boat while the couple from Sandusky spent over two weeks trapped in one of the eastern locks. We now have retraced our path of two years ago and tomorrow we set off towards new territory.
It’s another beautiful day and we work our way through rivers and interlocking canals, contending with generally courteous large power boats and a huge tug and barge. It’s a narrow passage so you take serious notice of surrounding traffic. We transit the confusing maze of channels near Beaufort, NC and exit the ICW through the Class A inlet to the Atlantic. Our destination, about nine miles away, is Point Lookout Bight. We have heard good things about this anchorage, but are still surprised when we enter a mile wide hook of sand dunes giving virtually 360 degrees of protection. Cape Lookout is the very southern end of the Outer Banks and sports a well known lighthouse.
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| Point Lookout Lighthouse |
We hop into the dinghy and check out the beaches. We’ve been longing to wiggle our toes in North Carolina’s famous white powder soft sand, and we’re not disappointed.
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| Beach at low tide in the Point Lookout Bight |
We’re kept company by pelicans, dolphins, and even one large sea turtle. The only other signs of life consist of four other boats anchored in the large expanse for the night and a few fishing boats here for the day. We hike across the dunes to the ocean side and find a number of people camping out and surf fishing this long expanse of shore.
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| Oceanside beach at Point Lookout |
It’s a remarkable place that is a bit off the beaten track for most cruisers. A cold front with its accompanying strong winds is passing though so we will stay through the night and next day while we make plans and preparations for our first ocean passage, a 70 nautical mile trip to Wrightsville Beach and the Masonboro Inlet. We need to do this as an overnight so we can arrive in daylight and with a slack tide.
