Skirting DelMarVa

As I begin my post we are under way across the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, Hampton Roads receding behind us and the ship channel tunnel crossing of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel ahead of us. We are bound for sea, on an overnight run around the outside of the DelMarVa peninsula to Delaware Bay or maybe beyond.


Leaving Norfolk this morning, passing three nuclear carriers and the hospital ship USNS Comfort. War and Peace.

When last I posted here we were bound for Great Bridge, Virginia, and we were tied up to the free bulkhead west of the bridge (map) by 4pm, just as the rain was starting. By dinner time it had let up, and we walked to El Toro Loco for our traditional Great Bridge dinner stop, taking a circuitous route around the soggy grass.

It rained again all night, and was projected to rain on and off throughout the day Sunday as well, but we got enough of a break in the morning for me to get my air fittings from the nearby Doit Best hardware store, while Louise provisioned at the new Kroger, which replaced an older supermarket.


We saw more than one set of goslings at Great Bridge. Tis the season.

We contemplated staying a second night, as it was looking like we'd be stuck in the area for a few days waiting on weather either outside or even up Chesapeake Bay. Ultimately we decided it was better to fuel up early, in case a window opened, and we dropped lines for the 1pm lockage and headed for the fuel dock at Top Rack Marina.

The fuel price here is consistently among the lowest, if not the lowest, on the entire east coast, and is likely the cheapest we'll see on the entire Great Loop trip. We took on 770 gallons, as much as we could comfortably fit without putting the stern too low in the water, for a total of about 1,200 gallons. That will get us 2,000 nautical miles around the loop, give or take, and we'll likely not fuel again until we're on the Western Rivers.


The Corps of Engineers has modernized. QR code at the lock.

As we were fueling we noted lots and lots of families dressed in their holiday finery coming out of the on-premise Amber Lantern Restaurant, and we realized it was Mothers' Day. We made a note to find a casual place for dinner. We were off the dock by 3pm, and headed downriver to the free docks in Portsmouth.

We got stopped in our tracks by the Belt Line railroad bridge, which was down and had a train on it, dead stopped. Four boats were already station-keeping for the bridge. We could see the train inching in both directions between stops, clearly switching cars, and realized we could be there a long while; we opted to pull off-channel and drop the hook (map). We ended up anchored for over a half hour.


Portsmouth at left, Norfolk to the right. All the boats that whizzed ahead of us at the Belt Line bridge had to stop on USCG orders and wait for the departing Carnival cruise ship to spin around.

We pulled in to the High Street ferry basin in downtown Portsmouth just before 5pm. All the docks were already full, and we knew the ones at the North Landing were out of commission. We tied to the bulkhead where they sometimes park idle ferries (map); I called the ferry skipper on the radio and he informed me they had a boat out for maintenance for another week. We made a good choice, because the wood docks were completely underwater for a couple of hours each tide cycle, as it happens, right at dinner time.

Between the mile round trip walk to the grocery store and a lot of standing during the fueling process, Louise's feet were too far gone to walk down High Street for dinner. We ended up eating at the new brew pub right at the landing, Legend Brewing Depot. The food was quite good, and they had a lovely brown ale that I enjoyed very much, along with some other nice brews. We liked the beer so much that we went back Monday for drinks and a pretzel.


Vector at the High Street landing. The ferry is in front of us. If you look closely you can see the docks to the right awash. Legend Brewing is in the curved building at center.

Fully fueled and well docked, we turned our attention to tracking the weather and trying to decide between waiting for an outside window or pressing on up the Chesapeake, through the canal, and back down Delaware Bay. For most of Sunday and well into Monday it looked like we'd have no window for either route until the weekend, and we contemplated cruising up the James River to Richmond, a five-day (round trip) journey.

By Monday night, though, it looked like we'd get weather for the Chesapeake route, at least, by this morning, and so we decided to stay put and see how things developed. That also gave us a chance to take the ferry to Norfolk last night for a nice stroll around town and dinner at the Town Point Club, one of our favorites.


While we had goslings at Great Bridge, at Portsmouth we had ducklings. Mommy is looking for a handout.

By this morning it became clear we would have a very short window outside, perhaps not all the way to New York Harbor (our preference) or even the NJ coast, but at least as fare as Cape Henlopen. The best weather should be overnight tonight. Leaving the option of Atlantic City by end of day tomorrow meant a quick departure this morning right after making the decision to go, and that's also given us a favorable tide all morning. We just whizzed through the  Bridge/Tunnel ship channel with over a knot behind us. In another hour we'll be rounding the corner at Fishermans Island and making our way north along the coast.

Seas across the mouth of Delaware Bay are the great unknown at this point. If they don't look promising when we change the watch at 0300, we'll steer for Cape Henlopen and be in the harbor of refuge by breakfast, where we will hunker down until the next window. If things look good, we will aim for Atlantic city and be there by dinner time. And if the window has opened up further by then, it's another night all the way to New York Harbor.


I'm trying to keep the new helm chair fur-free. If I don't remember to turn it around or fold it up, this is the result. Kitty has the conn.