The Southern Chesapeake

Weather: Overcast and hazy in the morning; mostly sunny in the afternoon and into the evening; hazy on all horizons; SE@5-10 knots; seas = 1;’ high temp = 81 degrees

Comment:
We woke up and immediately attended to our chores. We’re hauling anchor today, so we have to stow the dinghy and the dinghy motor, the barbeque grill and the generator. After a morning juice, it’s up anchor!

0900 The anchor is up and we have motored a few hundred yards to the Deltaville Marina fuel dock for some gasoline and a pump out. The motors are burning about ¾ gallon of gas per hour - not bad, we thinks!

We are going to Norfolk today. More specifically, the Lafayette River, where we anchored both coming and going in “Fodder’s Cat” back in 2005/06. We recall it being a quiet anchorage with sufficient depth (for us!) and not too far from the waterway and much more protected than Hospital point.

FYI, once underway, our typical routine includes hourly recordings of our position, miles traveled, battery condition, and speed. The chart plotter has been very reliable, so we don’t plot our hourly position on the paper charts anymore, however, if necessary, we most certainly could.

The southern Chesapeake is wide open and there are hours when no shorelines are in sight. When one gets below Cape Charles, there is no shoreline to the east. The only object to see is the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, but that is low to the water and far enough away that we have never seen it by boat.

As you might imagine, Norfolk Harbor is exciting to navigate and interesting to see. There are ships and tugs of all sorts and sizes, not to mention pleasure boats. We always hug the appropriate side of the channel to keep clear of the larger vessels. We were passed by one particularly notable ship, the US Coast Cutter “Block Island.” She was returning from sea to her base in Portsmouth. The USCG cutter “Campbell” announced via radio that she was outbound but we didn’t see her.

Being a holiday, there were plenty of pleasure craft out with their owners enjoying the beautiful day.

1740 The mud hook is down and we’re lying at anchor in the Lafayette River, Norfolk, VA (Chesapeake waterway mm 203.4). We’ll enjoy a quiet night at anchor and have a leisurely departure tomorrow.

We’ll reach mm "0" of the AIW, the official beginning of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. Our later than normal start is prompted by the Jordan lift bridge which is closed to marine traffic during rush hour(s) 0630 to 0830. Another factor is the revised lock schedule on the Great Dismal Swamp Canal. Because of low water in the canal, the lock only operates two times per day (0900 and 1500). There’s no way we can be there in time to lock through at 0900, so we’ll go for the 1500 passage. Our other option is the Virginia Cut which passes through Coinjock but the admiral prefers to re-experience the Dismal Swamp! So, that’s what we’ll do, because a happy admiral in better than the alternative!