9 May 2025
Depart: Tuckahoe Point anchorage on Alligator River, NC 7:15
Arrive: Great Bridge Wall in Chesapeake, Virginia 6:15
Distance: 80 nm
Travel Time: 11 hours
Once again we were out of bed early to get underway.
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| Sunrise on the Alligator River |
Our travels today took us through the Alligator River swing bridge.
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| Start of bridge construction |
We crossed the Albermarle Sound and entered the North River. There are stumps here dangerous stumps to props.
Clark tried to time our travel to avoid bad weather up ahead on our route. He kept the RPM lower than normal to delay our arrival in the weather "danger" zone.
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| Blue dot = us Really bad weather where we are going! |
Eventually we found ourselves in the Virginia Cut where we passed by the Coinjock Marina. We wondered if the marina was full of boats early today due to the forecasted weather. Though, it might be they all want the Prime Rib dinner here.
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| Boats at Coinjock Marina |
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| Park across the street from Coinjock Marina US flag, NC flag, and others |
Later in the day, we had an "interesting" time figuring out how to get through three bridges that we needed to transit before we could get to our destination for the night. The first bridge was the North Landing Bridge. The second was the Centerville Bridge. The big issue for us was that the Centerville Bridge would not open between 4:00 and 6:00 due to rush hour traffic.
Clark crept along the river to arrive at the North Landing bridge for the 5:00 opening. Once through, he planned to then dawdle along to catch the 6:00 opening of the Centerville Bridge. Unfortunately, as we made our way to the North Landing Bridge, a storm cell came through. I was down below and heard a very loud noise. I asked, "What was that!?" Clark replied, "Thunder!"
The storm passed very quickly, but it was extremely scary while it was going on. Clark tried moving to the lower helm due to the lightning. Since we could not see a thing, I went to the upper helm to check out the view and found I could actually see the river! Clark quickly repositioned to the upper helm.
As the rain came down, Clark called the bridge tender on the VhF radio to request the 5:00 opening. We originally got no answer, and I wondered if he would even open the bridge in the storm. Eventually, though, he did reply that he would open at 5:00. By 5:00 the rain had stopped, and we could travel safely onwards.
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| Looking down the road passing through North Landing Bridge |
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| Looking back at North Landing Bridge (only one span opened) |
The cold rain landing on the river generated fog rising from the river. I tried to get a good picture of the eerie appearance. They were no where near as good as the real thing!
Then, the sun appeared, and I quickly grabbed some reflection pictures.
Cloud reflections are beautiful.
The segment between the two bridges (North Landing and Centerville) was more interesting and entertaining than we expected.
At 5:20, the unexpected happened. We could hear the tender of the Centerville Bridge talking on Ch 13 saying he would be opening "right now" for a "Red Flag". A "red flag" is a vessel that the bridge tender must open for when they appear.
We found the conversation between the tender and a boat approaching the bridge to be entertaining.
Boater: "Did I hear you say you are about to open? Can you wait for me to get there?"
Tender: "I'm opening the bridge for you!"
Boater: "Oh, alright then! I'm bringing it on!" (in southern drawl)
As we had been purposefully poking along, we were not close enough to the bridge to take advantage of the opening and continued to mosey.
When we transited the North Landing bridge, another power boat followed us through the opening. As we made our way towards the Centerville bridge, the boat behind us haled us on the VhF radio asking to pass us.
Clark told him he could pass if he wanted to but the bridge would not open until 6:00. Whereby, he replied that he thought there was a 5:30 opening that he was rushing to. Clark explained about the 4:00 to 6:00 restriction and told him that unless there was another "red flag", we had a long wait until 6:00. With that, the boater settled back behind us to mosey along.
As we approached the bridge, we had the VhF tuned to Ch 13 as usual. A few minutes later, paying attention on that channel paid off big time. A commercial vessel haled the bridge tender and said he needed an opening. We did not catch all of what he said, but we heard the bridge tender say, "Oh, you're my 'red flag'?!" (So, who was the other guy?)
We were a bit closer to the bridge now, and Clark decided to jump on this opening if at all possible. He called the bridge tender to ask, "If I can get up there, can I get through on this opening?" Once again, the bridge tender got confused by the radio traffic and thought, even though Clark announced that we were 'Sunset Delight', that Clark was haling him from the 'red flag' vessel.
As Clark tried to sort things out with the tender, he pushed the throttles up and up and up! That's the nice thing about having the option to go faster when needed. This was just such a case. At 8 knots, we would not make that opening - no way, no how. With the throttles shoved up to max, we had a chance! Clark kept the boat flying as he kept talking on the radio.
I knew the boater behind us was in a hurry from his earlier desire to get past us for the non-existent 5:30 opening. So, as we flew down the river, I kept looking back. Apparently, he does not listen on Ch 13 because he was still moseying along. After about the 4th or 5th time I looked back, I could see his boat making a wake. He had finally woken up!
Eventually, the captain of the 'red flag' replied to Clark's inquiries that once he was through the opening, the two of us boats coming from the south could go through. At 5:30 the bridge opened.
As the vessel appeared, it looked very wide as if it just barely fit through the opening!
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| The real "red flag" vessel |
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| Our turn! |
After we got through the bridge, the captain in the boat behind us started talking on Ch 13. "I thought you said there was no 5:30 opening!" He must have thought we were playing a dirty trick on him or something. Clark replied, "There would not have been if not for the 'red flag' that needed to come through."
Then, he said, "What about the other 'red flag'?" Since I knew the bridge tender could hear every thing said between us, I told Clark to be careful how he replied. Clark just said, "Unknown." and left it at that. The conversation ended as we heard the other boater "grumble, grumble" and that was it.
Because we got through at Centerville at 5:30, we could now aim for the 6:00 opening of the Great Bridge bridge. Our original schedule, with Centerville opening at 6:00 put us in the unenviable situation of then having to wait for the 7:00 Great Bridge bridge opening.
Boating friends of ours (dating way back a few years to our Faro Blanco days), Robin and Charlie, saw my latest post on Facebook and knew we were getting close to their current position at Atlantic Yacht Basin located next door to the Great Bridge bridge. They reached out on Facebook to let us know they were in the area.
With some back and forth texts between Clark and Charlie, we made arrangements to meet them for dinner tonight after we got tied up at the free wall there in Chesapeake, Virginia. Given our original schedule, they made a reservation for dinner for 7:45. When our plans changed, Clark contacted Charlie to let him know we would be arriving an hour earlier than originally expected!
As we approached Great Bridge bridge at 5:45 - once again at mosey speed, the boater that had followed us through the other two bridges haled Clark on Ch 16 on the radio to request a pass on our starboard side. Before Clark could reply in any way, the US Coast Guard was on the radio making an announcement. Clark had to wait until that was done to reply.
Finally, Clark got his turn and asked the boater to change to Ch 17 as a "working" channel to talk. Then, when Clark looked behind him, we found the boater up tight to our starboard stern already trying to pass without our response. Clark said (to me), "He's an idiot!" Clark told him, "Look out for the tree stump that is directly ahead of you!" He clearly had no idea there was a big hazard waiting to snag him!
With that, he backed off to pass us on our port side. I just shook my head as he finally passed and said to Clark, "We'll see him again in 5 minutes waiting for the bridge to open!" We did. He was waiting for the bridge to open when we arrived. His buddy was in the boat's cockpit with a fishing line hanging off the back of the boat. I just shook my head!
Clark was happy to let him get out of the way, but only if he did not take up the last spot on the wall where we planned to tie up for the night to meet Robin and Charlie. Clark asked him his destination and he replied, "Newport". We decided he must have meant Newport News, because we were pretty sure he wasn't going to New England tonight.
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| Our 'friend' going through the Great Bridge bridge |
As it turned out, there was no one at the wall when we got there except Robin and Charlie who had walked over from their marina to catch our lines as we landed.
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| "Welcome to Chesapeake, Virginia" Wall for overnight docking on right side of picture |
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| Looking at Great Bridge bridge from the wall |
After we got the lines secured, we sat on our boat and chatted. We had a long wait now until the restaurant reservation at 7:45. As we talked, Charlie tried repeatedly to contact the restaurant to change the reservation. He finally got through, and they said they could seat us at 7:15! Yay!
As we waited for time to go to the restaurant, we chatted. We told them our bridge saga. They told us stories related to the most recent AGLCA rendezvous in Norfolk. Robin and Charlie are harbor hosts and give a presentation at the gathering about what to expect when traveling the loop through their section of the trip which starts in Tennessee.
Earlier in the day, when we made plans to meet over text messages, Charlie gave us some options for a restaurant choice, and I chose Italian from the list. We went to a place called "Vino's", and they served great cuisine. Clark and I have walked past this restaurant many times and thought it was a bar. Little did we know!
Vino's offered the food in large or 'tapas-sized' portions. I ordered the small size, but they brought me the large. I took half of it home for another meal. It's never a problem on the boat to have leftovers! Robin and I shared almond / amaretto cheesecake for dessert.
After dinner, the four of us walked to the local supermarket so I could buy a loaf of bread. (I found a couple of other things as well.) Afterwards, we walked together back towards our boat. The turn off for their marina was on the way back, so we shared hugs goodbye and went our separate ways.
They are the type of friends that we can go months or years between seeing them, and we pick up as if we saw them last week! What a treat to get to spend time with them! In our excitement to visit with Robin and Charlie, we forgot to take any pictures of the get together.
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