27 April 2023
no boat travel
So, we returned to the Riverview Café yet again - this time to try out their breakfast menu. As I paid for breakfast, I was told that the scones I ordered yesterday were ready to be picked up. I love scones and cannot get enough of them.
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| Riverview Café |
When I left the restaurant, I was stuffed. I spent the afternoon on the boat working on and submitting a Blog update. I thought we would have a light dinner, but Clark insisted, having eaten at both Riverview and Stella's, we needed to try the third restaurant nearby - Bistro.
The water-facing sides of the three restaurants near the docks are shown in the picture below. In order nearest to boat to farthest - Stella's, Bistro, and Riverview Café. The latter has two picnic table with umbrellas for outdoor dining. They also have a dock for dock-and-dine.
The Bistro had a shrimp in crab sauce served over a croissant that I savored while Clark enjoyed their Filet Mignon. While we ate dinner, we studied the pictures on the walls. One entire wall was dedicated to musicians - specifically Mick Jagger. I walked around and found out that one of the owners played guitar, and then the decorations started to make sense. I also saw a picture of the first owners standing by a car in 1947 France. Interesting place.
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| Interesting wall decorations at Bistro |
We finished off the day with a so-so sunset and a Facetime meeting with our grandkids in Connecticut.
28 April 2023
no boat travel
Today turned out to be wet and dreary and the ideal day to stay inside. I spent the day working on word puzzles, reading an historical novel, and doing some art. Lowering the level of his mounting email kept Clark busy.
I snuck outside in between rain drops and got some pictures of the plant located further along the river beyond Plymouth.
29 April 2023
Depart: Plymouth, NC Town Dock 9:20
Arrive: North River / Public Creek anchorage 4:30
Distance: ~58 nm
Conditions: Dreary Day / Overcast skies but warmest day of the week
As we have stayed at the free dock, we have a couple of boats that sped by with no regard to whatever wake they might create. Today, being Saturday, the boats started speeding by very early in the morning. Today was our planned departure day, and we were glad to leave the boat wakes behind us.
As we pulled away from the dock, I took one last look at the dock where we spent a fun few days,
and one more picture of the CSS Albemarle as we passed by.
30 April 2023
Depart: Public Creek (NC) anchorage 7:30
Arrive: Great Bridge free dock, Chesapeake, VA 12:00
Distance: ~36 nm
Conditions: storms brewing, high winds coming
After looking at the weather forecast for winds and heavy rain, Clark said we should leave early today. 7:30 is early for us!
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| Heavy rain coming later |
Having traveled this route many times, the scenery starts to look very familiar.
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| Nothing here but a dock and bushes |
For a short distance, we saw houses on one side of the waterway and no structures on the other side.
As we traveled, we kept a diligent eye on the weather. Fortunately, we saw that we were in an area where the storms were around us but not on us.
As we made way on the river, Clark got a phone call from a fellow boater who called for consultation on an issue he is having with his electrical system and GFI faults. Clark handed over piloting the boat to me while he talked on the phone. I got the twisty-turny part of today's route.
We had a couple of bridges to get through today that are timed to only open at specified times. The first of these was the North Landing Bridge that only opened on the hour or half hour. We arrived at 10:58 for the 11:00 opening. Phew! When we arrived, a sailboat was waiting to transit the bridge as well.
As we waited for the bridge, I noticed a dock at the side of the water. A boat was docked there, and a pickup truck was parked on the shore.
Our next challenge became getting to the Centerville bridge in less than 30 minutes as this bridge only opens on the hour and half hour. We left the sailboat well behind us as we made our way to our next obstacle. Thankfully, we arrived before time for the 11:30 opening!
As we approached, the bridge tender told us that the water level was extremely high and requested that we traverse the area very slowly. Clark took him at his word and practically crawled through the bridge opening.
As we approached the bridge opening, Clark noticed the clearance sign that said 13' 9". Given the bridge is just above the water, he said, "No way! Oh wait, that's the clearance for the road traffic!"
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| Cars waiting for us to get out of the way! |
We noted that the bridge tender was not kidding when he said the water was high. A large wake here would flood the shore.
The next bridge was open, so we could pass right through without waiting for a bridge tender to do the job. Before Clark even asked me to, I got out with my camera to get the "looking down the tracks" picture.
One more bridge before we reach our destination for today.
When we got to the Great Bridge bridge, we had a decision to make - go through and tie to the wall on the other side or stop before the bridge and tie up to the dock. The far side has the advantage of being close to the stores with the disadvantage of a less-than-inviting wall to tie up. I wanted to tie up to the fixed dock at the park. It is much more boater friendly but a bit of a hike to the stores across the bridge.
Looking at the fixed dock, it seemed unlikely that we would be able to dock here because the boats already here were tied in such a way that we could not get in between them given the current windy conditions that were only expected to get worse.
Just as I was ready to give up hope on tying up to the fixed dock, a boater there yelled to me, "Do you want to tie up?" I said, "Yes, but I don't think we will fit." He said that they were only tied up temporarily while they waited for the bridge, and we could have their spot. Yay.
They pulled out and we pulled in behind them. We managed to get our lines on before it started to rain. Unfortunately, with the heavy winds, we needed to work on fenders and add fender boards. Before we could complete that task, it started to rain and then it started to pour! It took 20 minutes to get things adjusted in preparation for the bad weather that was predicted. By the time we got out of the rain, we were soaked. Had we traveled through the bridge to tie up on the far side, it would have been much worse for us as we would have been docking in the rain as well as tying up.
Given the "monsoon" there appeared there would be no way we would be going to the store today. I pulled out some art supplies to practice my drawing with colored pencils. Meanwhile, Clark was on the phone with the boater with the ground fault problem all afternoon. From 2:00 to 4:00 the rain cleared and for a while the sun came out.
I looked at the weather radar and thought about a trip to the store but knew there was no way to I could drag Clark away from the ground fault puzzle he was working to solve. I could hear his side of the conversation and could tell they were hot on the trail.
When we watched the news, we saw that tornadoes had passed through Virginia Beach leaving destruction behind. Chesapeake City, where we were docked, is way too close to Virginia Beach for comfort.
1 May 2023
Depart: Great Bridge free dock 9:50
Arrive: Hampton, VA anchorage 4:15
Distance: ~17 nm
Conditions: High winds making temps in the 60s feel quite chilly
What a difference a day can make. The storms had passed, and although we still had wind, we no longer had a threat of rain. Clark said that we had a choice of bridge openings - the 10:00 or the 12:00. We decided that we would start the day with a trip to the food store and aim for the 10:00 opening.
We used the bikes to speed up the trip to the store. I managed to buy most of what I wanted. (They did not stock some things I wanted to buy.) We got back to the boat at 9:45. Instead of putting the food away, I immediately started helping Clark with the lines so we could make the 10:00.
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| Sign says "Welcome to Chesapeake Virginia" |
I noticed something this time through here that I have not seen before. Each of the posts with life rings had a bird statue with it.
We were the last boat in the queue to tie up in the lock. The lock tender said we were going down by one foot only.
On our way out of the lock, we saw the board that tells us how far we have yet to go.
After exiting the bridge, I stowed the groceries and tidied up the lines in the cockpit. Before I could take a breath, Clark announced, "We are there". I knew he planned to stop for fuel and a pump-out, but I did not realize we would get to Top Rack so quickly. I had to run around and get lines set up for docking.
We got ourselves in the slip (in strong winds) and tied up. Then, the attendant told us that the computer was down and they could not pump fuel. He said that the only services they could provide were water and pump-out, so we opted for a pump-out.
Afterwards, Clark asked if we could hang out for a while, and they said yes, so we ate lunch while he checked the wind forecast. When we came into Top Rack, we had gusts up to 34 knots. He thought that if we waited the winds might decrease.
He also looked for an alternate source for fuel somewhere on the Chesapeake. Just as we were ready to leave, we were told that the pump was now working so we could get fuel. We arrived at Top Rack at 10:45. We left at 12:55. Two hours to get fuel must be a record.
Shortly thereafter, we reached our next hurdle. As per usual, we got up at the Norfolk Southern Bridge #7. We had to wait for not one, not two, but three trains to go through before the bride would open. We floated in circles for about 45 minutes while we waited to transit. We had lots of company with multiple trawlers and two sailboats heading north and two barges waiting to go south. I decided that the motto for the day was "Hurry up and wait."
The blue-hulled boat below made a big wake when he passed by Top Rack. Going fast there did not buy him anything, because he was waiting at the railroad bridge when we got there.
If a boat could pace, this one was doing either that or sitting in front of the bridge practically begging it to open.
A passenger train went through first. When the bridge failed to open, we figured another train was coming. This one turned out to be a long and slow freight train.
Finally the third train passed by. When I counted 5 engines pulling the cars, I figured we would be there a while longer. Surprisingly, the train length was short. Finally we heard the announcement we had been waiting for, the bridge would be opening shortly.
For a while we thought we would stop in Norfolk so Clark could continue to work on the ground fault problem he spent time on the day before. Alternate plans were made between Clark and his new friend, and we went straight to Hampton to anchor. When we reached Hampton Roads exiting the Elizabeth River, the winds were only gusting at 20 knots. The wait at Top Rack turned out to be helpful after all.
Clark saw the sun shining on the boat below and asked that I take a picture. His instructions were vague, and he did not care for my results.
We traveled 17 nautical miles (20 miles statute) today, and it took us almost 7 hours.
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