Chesapeake, VA
Top Rack Marina
May 10, 2012
We left Coinjock Marina on Thursday and were going to Chesapeake, VA which was only 9 miles from Norfolk but there was a bridge closed so we had to wait until Friday to go to Norfolk. Between Coinjock and Chesapeake there were three low bridges and one lock that we had to navigate. The bridges do not open on demand. Some of them open on the hour and some of them open on the 1/2 hour, so unless you want to be sitting in a narrow channel waiting for a bridge it is best to time your approach. I (being my usual anal self) had setup a schedule to make all of the bridges and the lock and arrive at the marina at 12:15 P.M. We left Coinjock at 6:30 A.M. and had 30 miles to get to the first bridge at 10:00 A.M. The chart plotter software on the computer tells you the estimated time of arrival based on your speed so we mainly watched that and adjusted the speed accordingly. We were a little early but that was fine and we got through on the 10 O'clock opening. The next bridge only opened once an hour on the 1/2 hour and was five miles away which meant we needed to average 10 MPH to make it. It was close but we made it fine. The next bridge only opened once an hour on the hour but it was only a few miles away so we went slow and make the 11 O'clock opening. Right after the bridge is a lock and it is timed with the bridge so the lock master was waiting for us and we got through with three other boats. The next bridge only opened on the hour so we needed to get there for the 12 O'clock opening, which we did, and then the marina was only 1/4 mile from there. We decided to stay at Top Rack Marina which is mostly a dry stack marina with a few nice docks for transients. The wind was blowing pretty good and the docks were perpendicular to the wind which made docking a little tough but we made it without damage. The marina has a deal that if you eat in their restaurant your dockage is free so we made reservations for 6:00. About and hour after we docked I saw "Passport" and "Raydiance" heading towards the dock from the opposite direction. I got on the radio and "Passport" said they were staying at Top Rack but "Raydiance" was going to another marina to have their generator fixed. We changed our dinner reservation to 4 people and I had the best meal that I have had on the trip. I am pretty sure that the others really enjoyed their meal also. I would highly recommend staying at Top Rack if you have a chance.
A very nice ship that passed us
Top Rack Marina
The marina office and the Amber Lantern Restaurant
The transient docks at Top Rack
Norfolk, VA
Waterside Marina
May 11-12, 2012
We were going to Norfolk, VA on Friday morning. There are two bridges between Top Rack Marina and Norfolk. One of the bridges is a railroad bridge that is normally open except when a train is coming. The other bridge is only about 50 yards from the railroad bridge and it is a drawbridge for cars. The railroad bridge was closed for three days for repairs and was scheduled to be operational on Friday. The drawbridge is closed from 6:30 A.M. to 9:30 A.M. during the week for rush hour traffic. What all of this means is that we were going to go under the bridges at 9:30 A.M. The bridges were only about 2 miles from the marina so we were going to leave a little after 9:00 and go slow. The bridge right before the marina that we came through on Thursday only opens on the hour so all of the traffic behind that bridge would come through at 9:00 and get to the next bridge at 9:30. This was the plan, but at 8:45 the bridge before the marina opened and about 10 boats came through with a tug boat leading the way. The reason the bridge opened early was that tug boats have priority and the bridges open for them anytime. The tug was moving fast heading for the next bridge which we all assumed would open before 9:30, so all of the boats in our marina scrambled to get in line and follow the tug. Remember I said the railroad bridge is normally open except when there is a train, well there was a train so all of the boats (including the tug boat) had to wait. By the time the train was done it was 9:30 and both bridges opened to let all of us through. Some days everything goes smooth and other days not so much. After the bridges we had about 5 miles to the marina and most of it was no wake so we putted along and took in the sights of Norfolk. It kind of reminded me of when we went through Mobile, AL. You had hundreds of miles of nothing but small towns and all of sudden there is a big industrial city with with large ships on both sides of the river and little boats everywhere.
"Passport" was staying on the left side of the river and we were staying just across the river on the opposite side so we said goodbye again. The marina where we stayed was the site of the recent AGLCA rendezvous so there were a few other Looper boats still there. Since we arrived early in the day we decided to go to the Nauticus Museum and tour the Battleship Wisconsin. We spent most of the day there and it was great. We did a self guided tour of the top of the ship and then took a guided tour below decks to see how the men lived and where they worked. When we got back to our boat we found that "Raydiance" was docked next to us. They had some friends on board so we had happy hour on their boat and then went to a nice Italian place for dinner.
The next day, Ginny and I took a local city bus to a AAA office and got some maps and tour guides for the upcoming weeks. When we got back we decided to go to a wine festival that was in a park next to the marina. You could buy a ticket for $15 to get in the festival or you could buy a $30 ticket that would allow you to have samples of the wines. Why am I always a sucker for these kinds of things? I bought the $30 tickets thinking I could drink $15 of different kinds of wines. There were about 15 wineries with tents and the line at each one of them was long. My thought was that each winery would have small glasses of their wines and you could just get one and go but of course that is not how it worked. You had to stand in line for an hour and when you got to the front of the line you could sample the wines and hopefully you would buy a bottle. I wasn't going to stand in line for an hour so we just bought (a separate line for buying) a bottle of wine walked around. After a while we got tired of the crowds so we walked to a an area of the city know as "Freemason Abbey" which is a very old section of the city. We went back to the boat and we hosted a happy hour on our boat for a few other Loopers that were there. We didn't want to walk far for dinner so we ate at "Joe's Crab Shack" next to the marina.
The bridges right before Norfolk
One of the many Navy ships being worked on
In front of the Nauticus Museum
These guns are huge
Spec's for the ship
This was high tech for the day
We saw the sister ship to this in Lauderdale
The wine festival
Freemason Abbey
Another mermaid on the waterfront
The Lone Sailor
Even at the widest angle you can't get the whole ship in
Happy hour on our boat
Deltaville, VA
Doziers Regatta Point Marina
May 13-14, 2012
We were going to stay in Norfolk for another day but the weather was changing so we decided to leave on Sunday morning for Deltaville where we would be leaving the boat and going home for a few days. We left a little after 6:00 and when we got into the river we were hailed by "Passport" who was also traveling on Sunday. They were thinking about stopping at Deltaville but they decided to run all the way to the Potomac River and get off the Chesapeake before the weather turned. The trip up the Chesapeake was very nice and it was great to be back in water deeper than 10' with no twists and turns. We set the autopilot and relaxed. The trip was uneventful and we arrived at the marina around 12:30, pumped out and docked. There were several Loopers and we had happy hour on Sunday night with Ross and Laura on their boat called "The Zone". Ross and Laura are from New York and their boat is a 52' Jefferson.
The next day we got our rental car from Enterprise and drove around the city a couple of times and stopped at several of the stores. We had lunch in town and then went back to the boat to pack for the trip home. There was a happy hour at 5:30 on the veranda of the marina. We met a lot of people, had some great snacks and had a good time. We went to dinner at a local place called "Taylors" and split some ribs and a baked potato. We passed on the desert and headed back to the boat for some TV and then bed.
Leaving Waterside Marina
Mile Zero of the Intracoastal Waterway
Regatta Point Marina
Where we are leaving the boat for a week
Columbus, OH
Home of Craig and Deb David
May 15-20, 2012
We got up early and left the marina by car at 6:00 for Columbus, OH. We arrived to our destination around 4:00. We are once again staying at the home of Craig and Deb David. We stayed here after we sold our house for a month, when we came home in October and now. They have a great house and kids and we feel very welcome. We are visiting family and people we have not seen for a while, going to the doctor and relaxing a little. When we leave on Sunday, our daughter and son-in-law are going to follow us back in their car and spend 5 days with us on the boat.
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