Captain and crew were up early, 4:30am. Temps were in the 30's making releasing dock lines a bit of a challenge. We left the slip at 5:15 and slowly made our way out of Herring Bay with the help of clear skies and a bright moon. The heavy winds (NW 20 gusting to 30) died down overnight making it easy to get out of the slip and motor by moonlight the first hour. Beautiful moon reflection on the water!
By sunrise we had made about ten or fifteen miles south toward Norfolk. At 11:15am we were in Hampton Roads, Va! The boat handled great! We were turning about 1600rpm and doing about 20kts over the bottom. Winds were out of the northwest at about ten to fifteen kts and waves were about 2 feet except for when we passed the mouth of the Potomac where they increased to 4 to 5 feet. Temps were in the high 40's to low 50's with mostly sunny skies.
Warship Heading to Sea in Norfolk
Norfolk was bustling with commercial and military vessels. After passing three warships as they were coming out of Hampton Roads, we were told to slow down as to not make no wake and to make plenty of room for the submarine. That's right we saw a submarine and it was escorted by Coast Guard vessels and a few helicopters.
Submarine Following Warships out to Sea
Norfolk is where we entered the Inter-coastal Waterway (ICW) which is fondly referred to as "the ditch". The challenge here is getting through 5 bridges that have to open on demand (1st bridge or on the hour (the 1 right after the one that opens on demand - who makes these decisions?!) and 3 others that open on the hour and 1/2 hour. We probably lost about 1 hr waiting for the bridge openings.
BIG BIG anker, Teeny Tiny Bridge-- tugs pushing tanker thru small bridges in Portsmouth, VA
While waiting in one of the areas we hailed a powerboat in front of us on the VHF --42' Hatteras "FROST BITES". Found out they're delivering that boat to Stuart, FL! Their Capt is Capt Dave, too. They encouraged us to follow them into Coinjock, NC (which was our desired final destination) as their Capt Dave is very familiar with "the ditch". We were a bit concerned that we wouldn't get to Coinjock before dark. We met up with them on the dock at Coinjock, and exchanged cell phone info. ALL THE TOYS will stay in touch with them to FLA if we keep similar plans.
FROST BITES was jealous that we have a fully enclosed bridge (the top part of the boat where you steer from) as they were quite cold all day. We were in comfortable luxury!
Entering the Locks with our "FROST BITES" Friends at Great Bridge, VA
We pulled into the marina at Coinjock, NC at 5:15pm last night, topped off the fuel tanks and had a nice supper at the nearby restaurant. The dock hand here was fantastic! Very friendly and helpful even though he was looking to get off work at 6PM. HIGHLY recommend the marina and restaurant.
I will let the crew post their comments about the days run and some of the interesting military vessels we encountered along the way.
Captain Dave, Capt-in-Training Kelly and First/Last Mate Beth
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