We had notice that just beyond Norfolk, there was work being done on a railroad bridge. The bridge, according to the charts is “normally open”, that is, unless a train is passing through, boats can go underneath.  The work being done forced it to be down, with only a few scheduled openings per day.  With the “great migration” going on, that was not a good thing.  There were reports of up to SEVENTY boats standing by to get through.  That would be bad enough (just like Amityville cut on a holiday weekend) — but keep in mind that all of those boats would then be lumped together and looking for the same docks the next night or two.  We thought we would stop at Portsmouth just across the water from Norfolk — but of course all of the sail boaters had already scored the few free docks.  As we were trying to decide,we saw that no one was waiting to cross through the last scheduled bridge opening, except one small sailboat.  And through we went.

As you go past Hospital Point in Norfolk, at marker Red 36, you begin the official part of the ICW.  And here it is (alright, maybe it isn’t as exciting to you as it was to us).

Just catching up on a few posts.  Started using the Pentax camera, but the photos were not in the correct format to post them here.  Took me a while to figure that out.  Cell service has been a bit spotty through North Carolina as well, which is where we are today.

As you pass through Norfolk, you come across a huge amount of Navy ships, commercial ships and even a cruise ship.

Stayed at Norview Marina, next to a very huge power- cat; its owner runs it single handed.

Spent an extra day at Solomon’s Island.  VERY COLD, low 30’s with front warnings.  Piled every blanket we had stored on the boat onto the bed and went to sleep in sweats (and the Skipper kept us warm).  Funny that you don’t really think about the usual chores to be done when planning a trip like this, but we spent the whole day washing the boat, doing laundry, vacuum, etc.  A few boat gremlins decided to appear:  small power issue with the stove and we lost our onboard water, apparently the faucet opened slightly in the bathroom – probably from the vibration of being underway, sending our fresh water overboard.  Minor issues, to be fixed at our next several day stop.

We wound up bypassing Annapolis going south, as the boat show was this weekend.  We plan to stop on the way back up to NY.  Came down the west side of the Chesapeake, and we are staying at Calvert Marina, Back Creek, Solomon Island.  Just back from a “Taste of Solomons” restaurant tasting, had a little taste at 5 different places.  Who knew there were so many ways to prepare crab??!!  Now, it is time for a nap.  Much thanks to the folks at Calvert for the use of their loaner car!

Stayed at the town dock at Rock Hall.  Guidebooks all say, “good free dock, except in south winds when it is exposed”.  NOAA forecast:  “Southwest winds 5, switching to NW 5-10”.   So we warped the boat around to face bow into the expected light winds from the North.  THEY LIED.  Wound up with winds straight out of the south, 20-25 with higher gusts.  No sleep that night, we eventually put out every bumper that we owned, tied, tightened and loosened lines, and bounced at the dock all night long. Too rocky to take pictures that night, but here is what it looked like next am.  No damage to the boat, thankfully.

Before that happened we did go into town for ice cream.  And of course when they saw the Skipper, they gave him a “doggie cup”.

We moved down to Cape May NJ from Atlantic City.  Nice offshore run, no issues.  Stayed at Utch’s Marina. Very shallow heading in at low tide.  We did briefly meet our first several other loopers heading south.  Cute downtown known for Victorian

We were initially unsure if we would make it through to Atlantic City from Jones Inlet on the south shore of Long Island, NY.  Thanks to the advice from our fellow AGLCA members, particularly George Hospader, we pushed on through.  A long day, but it was a beautiful running day with 2-3 foot seas and low winds.  We did run into a large number of boats also southbound towards the Boat Shows and were glad to get a spot at the fuel dock at Kammerman’s Marina; shortly after we pulled in, boats were starting to raft out from the docks.  Not much in the way of amenities but a welcome end to a long day.  The remnants of Hurricane Joaquin caught up with us along with a front coming through last night, we moved over to the marina at the Aquarium and will stay here in Atlantic City until tomorrow.

Well, we got under way  a bit later than we wanted to, but that seems to be a theme for us this year.  First stop after leaving our home canal was old Coast Guard Cove, where we anchored out and jumped in to double check the running gear and clean the waterline.  BBBBRRRRRR, just a bit cold.  It all looked good, but seemed to be an issue with the new windlass bring up the chain.   Thankfully we remembered where we packed the winch handle and up came the anchor.  Pulled into the East Marina at Point Lookout to stage for our trip out of Jones Inlet early the next morning.  We were able to easily tilt the radar tower down to get under the bridge — still nerve racking as we just squeaked underneath.

In preparation for our voyage, we took an opportunity to say thank you to friends and family who supported us over the last few months as we were sidetracked from starting our trip.  Thank you again to all who offered prayers, kind thoughts and encouragement as well as meals and accommodations.  We couldn’t have pulled this together without you.

The weather is finally looking good. We are hoping to move out of our home dock this afternoon and stage close to Jones Inlet on the south shore of Long Island, NY, with the intention of heading out and across to New Jersey early tomorrow morning. Wish us a Bon Voyage!

Well, some unforeseen personal circumstances have forced us into a change of plans.  We are looking forward to taking a slow ride down to Florida and the Bahamas for the winter.