10 May 2025
Depart: Great Bridge Wall 7:00
Arrive: Chincoteague, VA anchorage 8:00
Distance: 99 nm
Travel Time: 13 hours
We timed our departure to coincide with locking through the Great Bridge lock at 7:00. Two sailboats came through Great Bridge bridge to join us in the lock. We rose a whopping great 0.5 feet. It was hardly worth using lines, but one must follow the defined rules in the locks.
Just a short distance down the waterway, we stopped at Top Rack to pick up fuel. It was by far the least expensive in the area. We took on 375 gallons of diesel. We did a pump out of the holding tank at the same time, and the attendant was kind enough to take our garbage as well. A fresh start! We left the fuel dock at 8:30 to start our journey today.
After our bridge experiences yesterday, I worried that we might get stopped at the South #7 bridge in Norfolk. Amazingly, we did not have to stop at any bridges. We did, of course, have to traverse the Norfolk area at "slow speed no wake" RPM. I took way too many pictures as we wove our way past Norfolk. I focused on the variety of architectures I saw along the way.
Bridges ...
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| Tall, fixed bridge |
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| Lift Bridge |
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| Curvy Bridge |
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| Even taller fixed bridge |
Work sites ...
Buildings of various sizes ...
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| "Welcome to Norfolk" |
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| Waterside Marina |
Work boats ...
Ferries ...
American Cruise Ship ...
Sailboats ...
Naval vessels ...
Interesting antique? wooden? naval vessel being pushed by a tow ...
Cargo ships ...
As we left Norfolk heading toward the Cape Charles Inlet for access to the ocean, we heard a call on the VhF radio from "Warship 71". He was coming our way. We had just passed a tow, and 71 was haling the tow for a passing discussion. When Clark heard "71" saying he was on the way out, he moved to the far side of the main channel to get out of the way before he got any closer to us.
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| Tow and "Warship 71" exiting Norfolk |
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| Tow pulling barge |
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| Warship 71 heading out to sea |
Our autopilot started misbehaving as we travel home to NJ. Clark has tried a few things but says he needs a new motor, which he will add to his growing repair list for when we get home. As we headed for the ocean, Clark did not use the autopilot - saving it for use on the ocean.
To get out to sea, we passed by the lighthouse at Thimble Shoal and went over a tunnel part of the Chesapeake Bay bridge.
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| Thimble Shoal Lighthouse |
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| Sun on lighthouse |
The map below shows us on our way out Cape Charles inlet to the ocean.
We had to go over the Chesapeake Bay bridge tunnel.
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| Chesapeake Bay Bridge |
When we finally got to the ocean, Clark turned on the autopilot for the trip north.
After this, there was nothing to look at but water for over 7 hours. As we arrived at Chincoteague, Virginia, the sun was getting lower and lower in the sky. To pass the time on the trip,, we listened to NPR, music, and weather reports. I did some crochet and puzzles like Wordle and eventually ended up taking a nap.
The cloud cover made the sky have an interesting appearance.
Coming into the Chincoteague inlet, something disturbed the birds in the area and huge flocks of birds flew over head. As they went over the boat, I ducked inside just in case! I did not want a mess on my head.
As we headed to a place to drop anchor, we passed a marina and a trailer park.
Finally, after 13 hours and 99 nautical miles of travel, we had the anchor down at 8:00. Time to go make dinner. Thankfully I had leftovers in the fridge from our dinner out in Chesapeake, Virginia.
