On to Norfolk

On to Norfolk   ...   Wednesday 17^th October 2012

I can’t believe that I was so worried about New York City earlier on, yet I never gave a thought to Norfolk.  It’s such a busy port with the added excitement of the jumbo Navy ships.  Why didn’t I realize what it would be like?

We left the little cove near Deltaville at 7:20 this morning after a fantastic sunrise.  We motor-sailed with the genoa for a while until our route took us on a more southerly track and the sail was flapping.  Then it was a question of settling down for a lot of motoring. As we approached the Thimble Shoal light, I started to get an inkling of what was in store—a tug towing a barge was followed closely by a very large vessel. Once we crossed over the shipping channel and turned toward the Hampton Rhodes Bridge and tunnel, there seemed to be an endless precession of giant boats.  Just after passing the bridge/tunnel, we started to see the docked Navy vessels, including what we took to be two aircraft carriers.  Making our way into the Elizabeth river we went past huge containers ships being loaded, a large coal dock and finally to the USS Wisconsin—a battleship. 

Having negotiated all that traffic and passed all these amazing sights, the docking adventure did not disappoint!  The marina is called the Waterside Marina.  Mike had phoned in the morning to reserve a slip.  When we were within a half-mile he phoned again for some directions. Apparently the chap on the phone wasn’t overly clear.  Mike reported that we would be coming into the slip bow first with the dock on the starboard side of the boat. When we arrived we found the marina behind a protective seawall.  I think this might be the smallest place ever to call itself a marina.  We inched inward, peering about to try to figure out where we should be going.  Finally we saw some guys who seemed to wave us on.  Even getting between the end of one floating dock and the sailboat tied up on the interior seawall seemed impossible.  As we approached the intended slip it became clear that we would have the port side to the floating dock.  This sent me rocketing around the deck trying to set the dock lines correctly.  Then Mike decided that we should back into the dock!  I think I stopped breathing for quite a while. Fortunately the captain can stay calm under duress.  I managed to throw the spring line to one of the fellows on the dock.  Mike managed to get the boat partially turned by going forward past the end of the slip and then backing up.  At this point we were able to throw the stern line to the second fellow on the dock.  He pointed out that the bow was starting to drift out.  I ran forward to get the dock line at the bow and threw that to the chap holding the spring line.  And so we were pivoted into position and made fast to the slip after another mad rush to get bumpers out. The captain is very pleased with himself.  Without a doubt he did a fantastic job on a maneuver he had never attempted before.  He thinks that my breathless state upon arrival was the result of his awesome docking skills.  I put it down to sheer panic.  It’s all a matter of your perspective.

Now we are in the very center of Norfolk, near to the tall buildings and waterfront parks.  Across the river is an occupied Navy dry dock.  If you think those vessels look large in the water, you have got to see what they look like out of the water.  It seems quite odd to be in the middle of all this hustle and bustle after the relative quiet of our days on the Chesapeake Bay.

p.s. this is our first ever night on a dock and the first night we have paid for "accommodation" since heading south from East Greenwich.

Gloria

36 50 38.7 N, 76 17 34.9W

Aircraft carrier

Futuristic looking warship

Naval helicopter

Coal Processing

Two cranes having a tiff 

 Downtown Norfolk