North Landing, Elizabeth River

Our goal for today was to get to a small harbor a few miles north of Norfolk -- it was a 30 mile or so run and we figured that we would be better off stopping there and going through Norfolk the following day when we were fresh -- it's a busy port with lots of large boat traffic.

Norfolk would mark the end of our time in the Chesapeake -- we have really enjoyed it here -- there is much to see and do, lots of history and an infinite supply of small harbors and anchorages to visit. Indeed, in our two weeks here we have barely scratched the surface: we spent essentially no time on the Eastern shore or in any of its long rivers (Potomac, Rappahannock, James, York, etc.). "Some day we'll have to bring the boat North and spend a few months here" -- a new entry for my bucket list.

Norfolk also marks the beginning of he Intercoastal Waterway -- this is an interconnected system of rivers, creeks, bays and man-made canals that enables a cruiser to get from Norfolk to the Florida Keys without venturing out into the Atlantic. Colloquially known as "the ditch", its start, a.k.a. Mile Marker 0, is on the Elizabeth River in Norfolk.

Red Buoy 36, a.k.a.,  Mile Marker 0 of the Intercoastal

So, with a plan in hand, we were up and off early -- we left on a falling tide but had no trouble getting over the bar at the entrance to Deltaville (saw 4.5' on my depth meter at one point but never touched bottom). It was a sunny day and the wind was light and out of the SW, on our nose as usual, so motor sailing was the only realistic option. The seas were calm, almost dead flat, the current with us and the trip was uneventful save  for four different sightings of porpoise pods -- try as I might, I was unable to get a shot of any of them as they would "disappear" once my camera was in hand.

Really -- there was a porpoise there a minute ago !

We arrived outside our planned destination just North of Norfolk at 1 or so and were still feeling fresh, so we changed the plan and headed on down  and into the harbor. We passed Mile Marker 0 around 4, dodging a ship or two along the way.

Sue at the helm as we enter Norfolk

Dodged this guy as he was going out and we were coming in

Norfolk/Hampton/Newport New/Portsmouth are tied together by interconnected harbors and rivers and they are home to the U.S. Navy's Air Craft Carrier ship-building and maintenance yards. Cruising through this area is a little intimidating: there are "security" boats everywhere manned by big guys with automatic weapons (don't get to too close to the Navy's ships!); the waterways are lined with boatyards with signs that say "U.S. Government Restricted Area", and barbed wire and guard towers are sprinkled about. Distinctly "unfriendly" to recreational boaters.

A typical scene along the waterway -- Naval Ships are everywhere !

This is a WWII Battleship turned into a museum (which we didn't visit)

Fortunately, the town of Portsmouth, just beyond Mile Marker 0, offers a couple of free docks in its "downtown" area. The docks are in two separate square "anchorages" squeezed between office buildings and hotels. Both "anchorages" had Water Taxi and Ferry stops in them -- we picked the smaller of the two since there was a nice space for us in it -- we tied up between an (out of service) Ferry and another cruiser for the evening -- we were happy to have finally stopped for the day.

Home for the evening

The Ferry stop was very active with Paddle Wheel ferry boats coming and going every 20 minutes or so. Across the  river was a boatyard with a gigantic Air Craft Carrier under construction -- lights were on all over it and workers were scurrying about (even after 5 -- there were at least two shifts working on this carrier!); there was a distant din of construction noise and parts of it were wrapped in enormous sheets clearly intended to discourage any picture taking or prying into the boat's construction. Our tax dollars (quite literally) at work :-)

Neither the construction noise nor the hustle and bustle of the ferries coming and going bothered us in the least -- we both were very tired, turned in early and slept blissfully through whatever was going on around us -- after talking about it for a year, we were finally "in" the Intercoastal.