2021: Pungo River NC to Hampton VA

 6 May 2021

Depart: Tyson Point anchorage, Pungo River NC 9:40

Arrive: Lutz Creek anchorage, North River, near Albemarle Sound, NC 6:10

Distance: 71 nm

Today we traveled along the Pungo River through the Alligator River - Pungo River Canal along the Alligator River through the Alligator River swing bridge and across Albemarle Sound. Clark had an anchorage at Buck Island picked out for tonight. As if often the case, we did not stay in that particular anchorage however. When we arrived there, we made a decision to spend the night at the Lutz Creek anchorage nearby. 

On our voyage we got to travel lots of tree-lined waters with many stumps and logs along the edges to keep it interesting. The motto of the day was "stay in the middle of the channel"!

Typical view today

Lot of stumps / dead-heads along the edges

We did pass a few barges heading in a southerly direction as we worked our way northward

Barge loaded with metal scraps

Winds today reached somewhere around 15 knots. That was good because the Alligator River Bridge will not open if winds reach 35 mph. We have been here in the past where we worried that the winds would be too high for the bridge to open. No such worries today!

Just passed through the Alligator River Bridge

Cars on the bridge waiting for the bridge to close

As we left the Albemarle Sound, we had two choices of travel - the Dismal Swamp path or the Virginia Cut. We chose the latter route.

Two choices for ICW  travel

Sunset at Lutz Creek

7 May 2021

Depart: Lutz Creek anchorage, North River, NC 9:15

Arrive: Great Bridge Free Dock, VA 2:25

Distance: 40 nm

Conditions: Cold over night, overcast with rain coming, Temps in the 60s

Anticipating rain, Clark planned a relatively short travel day for us  today. I was happy to be stopping at the free dock at Great Bridge because I had a full load of garbage to dispose of on shore! Grocery shopping is within walking distance of this stop, but since we filled up recently on supplies, we did not need to make the trip.

Before traveling, Clark religiously does engine checks to look for any potential problems, i.e. low fluids, leaking fluids, etc. Today he noticed some rust which drew his attention and resulted in him  finding a crack in our fiberglass exhaust hose. Something we will need to repair in the near future. For now, he applied the tried-and-true, fix-all solution of duct tape! As we traveled today, he made a few visits to the engine room, and the duct tape appeared to be doing its job!

Scenery today resembled scenery yesterday - more tree-lined waterway, more stumps, a couple of bridges, and some commercial traffic.

More stumps today

We passed Coinjock Marina that has an exceedingly long dock for boats to tie to. Today only one boat was tied to the dock. Sometimes the dock is so full, there is no room for one more! That may have been because we passed by the marina so early in the day.

Coinjock Marina

Coinjock Marina Restaurant

Looking back at the
very long dock at Coinjock Marina

Across from the Coinjock Marina,  we saw a couple of buildings that looked like they have seen better days.

Tate's Marine

Cannot read the sign on this one - covered in ivy

Note: Coinjock Marina is near mile marker 50 on the ICW. At mile 34, we crossed over into Virginia from North Carolina. One more state down and a few more to go!

A tug passed us pushing a double-decker of barges. This is still a small load after what we saw when we traveled the western rivers of the Great Loop, but a bit of a novelty here.

Tug pushing two barges

Later, we crossed paths with the Currituck Ferry. 

Currituck Ferry

Along the way we passed a tug / tow at dock ...

Sign on vessel reads:
WARNING
DANGEROUS CARGO

Tug attached to dangerous tow

Looking back at the docked tow

As we made our way along the ICW, another boat followed us. He haled us on the radio and asked if we were also anxious to make the opening of the upcoming bridge on the half hour. Clark confirmed that we would be looking for the opening. The boat passed us anyway to be sure he got there in time. 

North Landing Bridge
Swing bridge: Closed height 3'

We had to wait for two bridge openings today. We made the first one and then wondered if we could travel the 4.5 nm required in a half hour to make the next one.  Fortunately, we got some help from the current.

Scenery between bridges: More dead trees and 
stumps hiding in the water

Last time we came through here, the Centerville Turnpike bridge was under construction and open. We arrived 5 minutes early for the bridge!

Waiting for the Centerville Turnpike Bridge
(Delivery captain in boat ahead of us)

Centerville Turnpike Bridge open

We arrived at the Great Bridge bridge at 2:20. Clark planned on transiting the bridge and tying up on the other side of the bridge for tonight's stay. However, as we approached the bridge, we heard the bridge tender tell the boat in front of us that the next opening would be at 3:00. After hearing that, the captain of that boat pulled over to tie up temporarily to the free dock.

Clark followed suit, and I threw out lines and fenders. As we pulled up to the dock, I whined at Clark that I did not want to stay on the far side of the bridge. I prefer tying to the dock. His reasoning was that the dockage on the other side, although not as nice (there is no dock to walk on), is convenient to the grocery store. With rain predicted, it would give us a shorter walk to the store.

My reasoning was that I had seen enough bugs, I did not intend to walk through tall (potentially wet) grass to get to the store, and I only wanted to get rid of garbage - not buy food. Surprisingly, I won! We tied up for the night at my choice of location! The first thing I did was get rid of the garbage!

At 2:45 the delivery captain pulled away from the free dock to await the 3:00 opening. He said he had to make Hampton, VA tonight to deliver the boat to his client. As the afternoon turned into evening, we saw other traffic pass by us.

One of the boats to go through the bridge later in the day was the same "Dangerous Cargo" one we saw earlier at dock.

Tug with "Dangerous Cargo" tow passing
through Great Bridge Bridge

This area seems to attract a lot of sculling boaters. We always see multiple crews when we stay here.

Sculling at Great Bridge Bridge

8 May 2021

Depart: Great Bridge Free Dock 8:55

Arrive: Hampton Yacht Club 12:10

Distance: 23 nm

Conditions: Chilly, sunny

I thought we might target the 8:00 opening of the bridge, but we were still in bed at 8:15 so that was not going to happen! I figured we better hustle or we would miss the 9:00 also.  While Clark did his engine checks and opened up the upper helm, I adjusted all our lines for easy release at departure. 

While I waited for 9:00 to arrive, I got a chance to look around at the scenery. I saw a flock of geese swimming up the river towards me. Two adult geese led a pack of too-many-to-count goslings. Then there was a gap and two more adult geese followed behind with two more goslings. What a brood!

The lead goose stopped a couple of times to bite at an itch. When it did, all the little goslings bunched up. Apparently they did not know to stop!

Uh oh! Someone's got an itch!

All bunched up on each other!

All in order again!

Museum at park with free dock
at Great Bridge bridge

Sign: Virginia is for Boat Lovers

Sculling crew

Just before 9:00 Clark called the bridge tender to request an opening and we pulled away from the dock to line up for the bridge. When I looked back, three boats had appeared behind us also waiting for the 9:00.

Waiting for Great Bridge bridge

The bridge is timed to be in synch with the Great Bridge lock.  We pulled up to the front of the lock and threw our lines around the cleats on the port side of the lock. This side has a rubber wall and requires no fenders. Normally, when we transit locks, I am at the bow and Clark is in the stern. Here, however, I took the stern as we have found in the past that we need to grab that line first due to current in the lock.

Clark at the bow waiting for the lock to start filling.
Life jackets are required in the lock.

When we exited the lock, we found a line of sailboats waiting to enter from the other side.

Line of sailboats waiting for the lock

On our way to Hampton, we passed through Norfolk and got to see the usual naval scenery.

Norfolk Naval Shipyard Water Tower

Naval ships were not the only ones we saw through this area.

Sailboat up on the hard

Paddleboat

Sailboat at Waterside Marina

I knew we were close to our stop when we passed Hampton University.

When we reached the dock at Hampton Yacht Club, our friend Clayton was there to grab our lines and help us in. After checking in, we spent time with our friends, Clayton and Dorothy.  To thank them for their hospitality, I handed them a picture of their dog and Clayton that I painted on our way to see them.

Clayton and Maxx onboard "Flight"

 

Later, while Clark and Clayton did some work on their respective boats, Dorothy took me to her home to visit and use her laundry facilities. Before dinner we got a tour of the Tiki hut next to their currently-closed pool.

Dorothy treated us to a delicious Italian spaghetti dinner with her special recipe sauce. Yummy! After dinner, Clayton drove us back to the marina.

9 May 2021

No boat travel

Clayton and Dorothy stopped by for a while this morning to chat before leaving for family, mother's day activities. I spent the rest of the day doing miscellaneous tasks - cleaning, blogging, baking, ... Clark worked on the stabilizer fix yesterday and completed it today. The work must have worn him out because he spent a large part of the afternoon napping. We get to test his repair tomorrow when we leave Hampton.

I had the pleasure of video chatting with both of my sons, their wives and their children.