The newly repaired windlass hummed under Ryan’s foot switch bringing in the anchor and rode from the bottom of the bay where President Lincoln, General Lee and hundreds of thousands off others had anchored since forts were built on the north shore of Hampton Bay.
The Monitor and Merrimack fought to a standstill 2 miles from here.
I love history! We toured Fort Monroe this morning on a beautiful clear Sunday. This place takes in an amazing 52 acres, is moated and is the largest stone fort built in the US. Try to visit…
Now we are four miles out sailing up into Chesapeake Bay under the hot last day of August sun, headed north to our next anchorage for the night. The crew is sunbathing.
The trip from Wilmington to Norfolk was breezy at best. The wind came to the Northeast and blew hard for four days. We ended up motoring most of the way, and some of it was a little rough.
Traveling up the waterway is like traveling through the past. These towns were once the hub and center of the community where all local foods passed through out to the rivers and needed items came in by water.
Now they are all sleepy southern towns with the old style Main Street downtown, where people are super friendly, know each other and are glad you are visiting.
For four days it was pull up the anchor by 615, and head north through the sounds, rivers and man made cuts that make up the intercoastal waterway. We would go to 530 or 6 and find a place to anchor, usually by one of the old towns like Bellhaven, Elizabeth City, Morehead City and take Goose ashore to just walk.
If we could travel in a day what a car does in an hour we were happy. Of course, we are moving our home…
Because of all the rains, we were fortunate enough to be able to pass through the Dismal Swamp Canal. This place is awesome. Much of it was cut in the 1700’s by hand to 12 feet deep and 50 feet wide and was dug for 20 miles! Think about that…
It passes through beautiful parts of NC and Va, is full of history, and a joy to pass through. Pictures cannot do it justice.
The canal itself has two locks. We left Elizabeth City about 3 and ended up looking at the wall of a lock at 530 that would not open until 830 the next morning. So we turned around and anchored in a narrow split in the channel.
After we found a place to run Goose and had returned to the boat, we noticed a crab pot and line had become wedged in the rudder. It turned out the only way was for someone to get into the water and cut it off. Yuk. Guess who got voted that job.
That was a hot, muggy night at anchor in the middle of a ‘swamp’ with plenty of mosquitoes.
The next day was perfect. Like the first day of fall. First thing in the lock, we rose up eight feet for much better visibility. Here we are going in.
And going out after being lifted.
After motoring 20 miles (including a stop at the Dismal Swamp Hwy 17 Rest Stop where we pulled up to dock and cars were pulling in from the highway. Boy did they stare!) we ended up at Great Neck lock and were lowered back down to sea level for the entrance into Norfolk.
What a culture shock to be in a quiet, tree lined canal then 1 hour later to be in Norfolk and the largest natural harbor in the world!
Four of the five US Navy carriers were in port. They are big! The pic is not the best but…
We spent a night in a marina, getting fuel, doing laundry and miscellaneous errands. Then it was back out and up to Ft Monroe.
Tonight we sit at anchor in Horn Harbor, halfway to the Potomac River.
We celebrate 29 years of marriage tomorrow and Sept 2 is my 59th year on the planet. Sheesh.
We will be at sea, but looking for someplace cool to be. Maybe Mount Vernon?
It is just 150 miles to Washington DC and the Combined Federal Campaign for paws4vets. If you don’t know about that visit http://paws4vets.org/CFC. We have come more than one thousand miles since leaving Marathon.
This was the plan before we even found Yume. You have to love it when a goal is within reach.
We truly appreciate your support and love to hear from you.
