29 April 2022
No Travel.
Conditions: high 40s overnight; 55 degrees in stateroom this morning; ran generator before getting out of bed to get dressed to heat up the room
Boaters are allowed to moor near the Great Bridge bridge for up to 48 hours, so we took advantage and stayed for two nights. When we arrived at the bridge, I was disappointed that we could not tie up to the fixed dock and had to tie up to the wall on the far side of the bridge. After realizing that not only groceries, but laundry, the Dollar Store, and Walgreens, were within walking distance of the wall, I changed my mind big time.
Because we were so close to everything, I got multiple chores knocked off my list with Clark's help. The first thing I did was collect up all our laundry and hike it up to the laundromat. Clark came with me to babysit the laundry while I went to the Dollar Tree, Walgreens, and Kroger's grocery store. As I was throwing clothes in the washing machine, I got a big surprise. Suddenly, someone in the laundromat said, "Is that Clark and Evelyn Woodworth I see?"
I turned around and found our boating friend Robin McVey also in the laundromat doing her wash. We agreed that the amazing thing about our boating lifestyle is that we never know when we might run into someone we have met on the waterways. Robin had a car, so I asked her to run Clark and the groceries back to the boat while I folded laundry. The car she had rented was the size of a peanut. It barely held 2 people. I told her to be sure to return Clark, and she agreed to give him back to me.
When Clark returned and with my folding done, we headed back to the boat for lunch. Robin offered to drive us again, but I told her it was so close there was no need. We headed off towards the boat, and Robin and another boater with her headed off to Walmart.
As I made lunch, I realized that, in my haste to do the shopping, I had forgotten some items I meant to buy. I convinced Clark to walk back to the stores with me to do a bit more shopping. This time we went to Dollar Tree, Walgreens, and Krogers. (The same list as before!)
Walking to and from stores, we passed a monument. I finally walked over to look at it and found that it was a Revolutionary War Memorial erected in 1900 by the Daughters of the American Revolution! The statue had been moved here at some point from its original location.
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| Revolutionary War Memorial |
After my second shopping expedition, I set to work repairing holes and torn seams in the dinghy cover. By the time I was done, I felt like I had resewn the entire cover. Every dart and seam had torn stitches. Using my mother's rule, "a stitch in time saves nine", I decided to attack every place with worn stitching. It took me all afternoon to do the sewing. Thank goodness my Singer is a real trooper!
When I was done, I realized I was covered in pollen from dragging the cover around to work on it. Achoo! I quickly changed my clothes after a good wash! I had planned on doing some other work on the boat, but after the amount of time it took for the dinghy, I had no energy for another project.
Later, when I went to pull food out of the freezer for dinner, I realized that I had not bought meat thinking I had a sufficient amount. Unfortunately, what I had was an excess of frozen meatballs making it look like I had a pretty full freezer. Unfortunately, I had very little of anything else. This turned out to be my worst day of food shopping preparation.
30 April 2022
Depart: Great Bridge bridge wall 11:50
Arrive: Hospital Point anchorage, Portsmouth, VA 3:00
Distance: 10.5 nm
Conditions: Sunny, cool, in the 40s overnight
I thought it would be quiet and boring moored at the wall, but that could not have been further from the truth. We had interesting boat traffic pass by.
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| "Knock Na Shee" |
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| Huge pleasure craft with 7' draft. (Previously used by the military.) |
A family of geese swam by with mama goose honking every few seconds to keep her babies in line.
We woke to find the grounds nearby covered with parked cars. Today was day two of a 2-day plant sale by local Master Gardeners. It appeared to be hugely popular.
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| Garage sale outside Amateur Radio building |
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| "Battlefield Park South" location of Master Gardener Plant Sale |
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| Lots of interested buyers |
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| Antenna on top of Amateur Radio Building |
Clark said we should leave the wall just before noon to catch the 12 o'clock bridge / lock opening. Having dwelled on it overnight, I asked Clark if we could take one more walk to the grocery store to buy meat to fill the freezer. We got back at 11:00, and I had time to put the meat up in the freezer before we got ready to leave.
When we pulled away from the wall, Clark called the lock master to let him know we would be in line for his next opening. Clark wanted to be first in line for the lock. We did not know how many boats would be coming through when the bridge opened.
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| Multiple power and sailboats behind us tied up on the lock wall as we wait for the gates to close. |
Clark had heard from Robin at the laundromat that the marina "Top Rack" had "good" fuel prices. He wanted to stop there to take on fuel and empty the waste holding tank. The good news here, besides the price, was that they have a high-velocity fill. It only took 20 minutes to add fuel to both tanks. After another 10 minutes for the pump out, we were on our way.
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| Top Rack Marina: Diesel @ $4.60 / Gallon We took on about 280 gallons. |
As we approached the Norfolk area, we encountered slow moving boat traffic and had to wait for the Norfolk #7 RR bridge to open. For a short distance, this portion of the trip always seems to take a lot of time.
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| Slow LPG-carrying vessel with tug |
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| Work boat with large crane |
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| Obligatory Norfolk Warship photo |
We finally arrived at the Hospital Point anchorage Clark had chosen for the next two nights just before 3:00. The view from the boat included Norfolk Nauticus Museum on one side and the Naval Medical Center on the other.
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| Blue dot marks our anchoring spot |
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| Nauticus |
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| NATO Festival near Waterside Marina, Norfolk |
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| Naval Medical Center |
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| Also visible from anchorage |
1 May 2022
No boat travel.
Since we planned to attend the AGLCA (America's Great Loop Org) this week, we spent today at anchor cleaning the boat. Clark said that if I cleaned all the chrome (railings and steering wheel), he would follow along behind and apply wax to try to help it stay clean longer. It took us hour to do the whole boat.
As I busily scrubbed the chrome rails in the cockpit, two ducks came by expecting to be fed. They were disappointed.
After we finished the chrome polishing, we took down the window shades in the pilot house and scrubbed the dust off of them. When we had finished both jobs, I was entirely spent. I told Clark, "I have nothing left in me!"
Around 5:30 we got a call from our granddaughter in Idaho looking for a guitar lesson from Clark. Last time he taught her the G Chord. Today he worked with her on the C chord. He gave her homework to practice.
2 May 2022
Depart: Hospital Point Anchorage, Portsmouth, VA 11:20
Arrive: Waterside Marina, Norfolk, VA 11:30
Distance: negligible
Conditions: huge difference in temperatures, 80s today; ditched the long pants and hoodie for shorts and t-shirt
With check-in time at the marina being 11:00, we had time to kill before we left the anchorage. I took the opportunity to spruce up the inside of the boat. Clark added our name to the list of boats that folks could "crawl" on / explore during the rendezvous. Given that, I wanted the boat to look its best. Having been traveling non-stop for weeks, the boat needed some cleaning up to get rid of the "lived-in" look.
We had some entertainment at the anchorage.
A copter went over. What a racket this guy made as he went overhead.
At one point, I looked out the window and got quite a surprise. A cruise ship was in the process of docking across the way from us.
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| Ocean Liner "Norwegian Joy" backing up to dock |
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| Pleasure boat appears in miniature next to ocean liner |
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| Even the LPG tanker looks small in comparison |
At 11:00 Clark called the marina and got the go ahead for us to come into our slip at Waterside Marina. We got a convenient docking spot close to the restrooms.
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| View from our cockpit |
We did find a significant drawback to this particular slip. It is right next to the ferry to Portsmouth, VA.
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| Ferry at Waterside Marina |
Starting at 6:00 a.m. the ferry begins its trips back and forth between Waterside Marina and Portsmouth. Every 20 or 30 minutes, the ferry blasts its horn one long and three short jarring blasts! Every boat in the marina can hear the horn, but we are the closest and get the brunt of the impact.
Once settled in, we went up to register for the AGLCA Rendezvous. We should have eaten lunch before going. I thought we had a limited window of time in which to register. Instead we stayed there a very long time chatting with vendors and other loopers. We finally ate lunch much later than usual. I had to drag Clark away to get something to eat.
As we sat on the boat relaxing, along came a longtime friend of ours, Kevin from "Koastal Karma", to say hello. He lives nearby in Virginia Beach, but I was still surprised to see him. He brought his daughter Kelly with him, and their visit was delightful. After spending some time with us, they walked the marina looking for other loopers they knew and found some.
Dinner this evening was an AGLCA banquet funded by one of the organization's sponsors. After dinner our host gave out some door prizes. They spun a roulette wheel and it randomly chose the name of a rendezvous attendee as the recipient of a prize. Clark's name actually came up as a winner. He told them to spin the wheel again to hopefully give the prize to someone currently looping. The person whose name came up on the spin whooped in joy at getting the prize.
The educational sessions begin tomorrow, Tuesday, and conclude on Thursday. Clark gives a presentation on "How to Survive the Jersey Coast" on Tuesday morning.
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