Depart: Hampton Public Piers 8:50
Arrive: Centerville Waterway Marina 3:30
Distance: 26 nm
Before leaving this morning, we needed to stop at the holding tank pump-out station. Since the marina did not open until 8:30 that defined when we would pull in our lines and leave our slip. After a non-start on pumping out that was fixed by adding water to the tank, we found this to be the fastest pump-out ever. Even with the glitch of some sort of clog, we were done and on our way in under 20 minutes.
Hampton and Norfolk, Virginia are full of commercial and naval vessels. Today's trip through the area gave us a view of lots of interesting ships.
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| Container Ship |
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| US Coast Guard with Crane onboard |
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| Naval Ships |
We heard securite calls for incoming US Naval Ship Bob Hope that was not under its own power. Later, we passed by "Bob Hope" and the four tugs bringing her into port.
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| Tugs on either side of US Naval Vessel Bob Hope |
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| Two tugs per side |
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| USCG Escort for "Bob Hope" |
In addition to the commercial traffic, tall ships passed us.
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| "Pride of Baltimore" |
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| "Virginia" |
We passed by Waterside docks as we passed through Norfolk, Virginia.
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| Norfolk, Virginia |
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| "American Rover" at Norfolk, VA |
We saw one ship with an interesting name ...
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| "Handy Stranger" |
Just as we reached the Gilmerton Bridge, the railroad bridge #7 announced it would be closing immediately. While we waited for the train to pass, a number of other boats joined us to bob around in front of Gilmerton Bridge. When the bridge finally opened, we all lined up and traveled southward. Although some turned off to follow the Dismal Swamp route, a large number of vessels continued on to the Virginia Cut route.
We stopped at Top Rack to fuel up and took on 324 gallons of diesel fuel. Because of a steady stream of customers into Top Rack, we had to wait for a spot to fuel. Fortunately, we got the fast-fuel hose, so our fueling time was minimized. Unfortunately, "Home Too" had to wait while we fueled before they could pull in, so we then ended up waiting for them.
As we traveled, targeting 5:00 p.m. as our end of day, Clark picked out an anchorage for us to spend the night. Approaching the Great Bridge lock, we could not believe our eyes. The lock was not yet in sight, but what we came upon was a line of boats as far as we could see obviously waiting for the lock to open.
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| Uh-oh ... boats waiting for the lock. |
When the lock opened, the lock master managed to get 16 boats into the lock before he had to close the gate to match his lock through with the opening of Great Bridge. After that lot was in the lock, we could see boats still piled up in front of us. Using binoculars, Clark counted about a dozen boats in front of us for the next lock through.
We had missed the 2:00 opening and started to wonder if we would miss the 3:00 opening as well. Clark felt extremely frustrated by the swarm of boats around us. They moved very slowly and refused to pull up close to other boats to allow room for others. He worried that even though there might be room in the lock, we might miss the lock-through because the lock crew ran out of time to get any more boats in the lock.
Eventually, our turn came to come into the lock. By then, thirteen boats were already in the lock, and we worried that our buddy boat "Home Too" would not be able to fit. They were two behind us. We both squeaked in.
At final tally, we had 16 other boats in the lock with us. One last boat called the lock master and begged for a space in the lock. He replied, "Are you the blue-hulled boat I've been trying to call for the last 15 minutes?" Her reply, "Yes, sorry, we only just turned our radio to channel 13." I was surprised he let them join the pack!
As we looked around the boats in the lock, we recognized many of the vessels we had seen at the rendezvous in Hampton. Most, if not all, of them had left earlier than we did from the marina. Given we stopped to fuel, they should have been long gone!
Bobbing around, station keeping and waiting for the lock gave us time to reconsider our plans for the night. Clearly we could not cover the same distance we had anticipated given our duration of time at the lock itself. Clark remembered that a bridge up ahead is closed from 4:00 until 6:00. Given our delay, we could anticipate a two-hour wait at that bridge. Meaning, we would be trying to find the anchorage in the night after dark.
Looking at the options, Clark called the Centerville Waterway Marina. We both breathed a sigh of relief when we found they had space for both "Home Too" and "Sunset Delight". We had to take a space without electric, but at least we had a spot for the night. "Home Too" got to plug in to electric.
As he finished tying up our boats, the dock master said he had room for and expected just one more boat coming in for the night. He told us that boat was expected to arrive after his closing time and asked us to help grab the guy's lines. We agreed to assist.
Shortly after, however, "Paddy Wagon" came along asking if they could grab a spot. The dock master squeezed them in. Bev from "Paddy Wagon" said they left the Hampton Public Piers marina at 8:00 in hopes of beating the crowd. That did not work for them as they locked through with us!
Late afternoon, as I worked on updating the blog, Clark and Franklin put their heads together to come up with a travel plan for the next few nights. They worked through the details for about two hours. As with any boat travel plan, it is good for now, and only travel each day will decide if we can stick to the plan.
Around 6:30 a huge boat, named "Ramblin' Rose", pulled up to the marina to take the last available space at the dock. As agreed, Clark ran down to help. No sooner did they get tied to the dock though than a sailboat showed up saying they had a reservation. I asked Clark, "Which one is 42 feet since that's the one the dockmaster told us about?" He said, "That would be the sailboat".
Clark asked if we should invite them to raft next to "Sunset Delight", and I readily agreed and put fenders out. I could tell that the debate downstream continued, so I went back to work on my blog. I figured if they were going to tie up, I would hear about it soon enough. As I sat typing at the laptop, I felt a boat wake shove the boat up to the dock. I looked out and saw what looked like a party-boat-for-hire go by.
Shortly after that, I saw the sailboat pull into the dock behind "Home Too". I pulled my fenders back in as it was clear they would not be tying up to our boat for the night. Later, when Clark returned, he said that the sailboat declined the raft-to-us invite because there is no electric at this dock, and they do not have a generator. I thought the sailboat had rafted with the mega yacht.
Instead, due to listening to the dialog between Clark and the sailboat, the giant boat that had claimed the space behind "Home Too" decided that, since they do have a generator, they could leave and find a place downstream to anchor for the night. That huge boat, that rocked me on "Sunset Delight" earlier, turned out to be the initial vessel, "Ramblin' Rose", that Clark had helped tie up. I wondered, with all the other boats that continued on from the lock, where in the world they would find a place to drop an anchor.
I just hope that the huge clump of boats that flowed on down the waterway will spread out and allow us to cover some much-needed distance tomorrow and the following days to make that plan that Clark and Franklin put together work for us.
Update: Via connections with Jody on the sailboat "Moment of Zen", Clark learned that "Ramblin' Rose" anchored after the North Landing bridge in the same location as Jody and a couple of other boats. The spot they chose in North Landing River is not indicated on the charts as an anchorage.
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