The Trip: 11/1/12 Washington D.C. to North Carolina

Hi everyone,

It has been a while since DC, so I thought I would do another blog post. We have been steadily working our way down the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway) with the next major stop in mind being my Grandma’s house in Wilmington, North Carolina. Some of the places we have stopped in include Norfolk, Virginia; Great Bridge Bridge; and Morehead City. Most of the time in the ICW we stop in little bays with nothing in sight for miles, and other times we anchor in busy towns that are not unlike what we would find at home. Norfolk definitely fits the description of a busy town, with a full fleet of navy ships and waterfront area big enough to dock a cruise ship. We had a memorable afternoon watching the huge ships slide by as we made our way up to the anchorage. Later that evening we headed out to dinner at Joe's Crab Shack. That night we managed to get the TV antenna working and we watched the third presidential debate. After an hour of watching two people who hate each other try to act nicely on national television, we went to bed.

We usually stay in new places for only one night, however there were two exceptions: Great Bridge Bridge and the Pungo River. I will talk about Great Bridge Bridge first because it was the happier of the two experiences and it also happened first. Great Bridge Bridge is a bridge located on the Elizabeth River, directly after Great Bridge lock. While waiting at the Great Bridge lock we had decided that, if there was a free slip between the lock and Great Bridge, we would stop for the day because we had been travelling non-stop and were very tired. Just as we got to the free slips along the edge of the river, a boat pulled out and we happily took their spot at the river's edge. Elizabeth River is about a hundred yards wide, flat calm, and located in the middle of bustling town. Next to the free marina there was an open park, perfect to run around in and burn off some of the energy that we had accumulated over the past week. Just after we pulled in to dock, a man from the boat docked ahead of us came up and introduced himself. His name was Jean-François and he was from Canada. He, like us, had recently embarked on a one-year trip with his wife, Stéphanie, and fifteen-year-old daughter, Virginie, down to the islands. Their blog can be viewed here, and it is entirely in French. Despite speaking French, Jean's English was very good. We quickly became friends with their family, and during the three days that we were at Great Bridge we did almost everything together. On the fourth day, we both crossed under Great Bridge Bridge and pulled up at a marina for water and fuel. Jean had to go back to Canada for a week, so they would be staying at the marina until his return. Meanwhile, we had to continue on. What we didn't know, however, was that a then-tropical storm Sandy was about to sweep up the coast and make our trip considerably less enjoyable.

We got as far as the Pungo River, in North Carolina, before we were forced to seek shelter. We went as far upriver as possible without being in danger of running aground, and under Sandy's malevolent gaze put out all two-hundred feet of our anchor chain in six feet of water. The next three days can only be described as lifeless. We had to stay inside because it was raining in a continual, icy downpour, and the howling of the wind whistling through the rigging kept us up at night. Sandy left us after the third day, but it was a couple more days before we saw the sun again. In that time, a low-pressure system had formed and brought cold air from over the Great Lakes. With the temperature dropping into the mid forties at night, we continued on. The next few days we spent traveling. Yesterday we pulled into the Morehead City marina for a night in civilization. We went out to dinner at Sanitary Fish Market, and, being that we are now in the "south," our waiter brought us hush puppies to start our meal instead of rolls or a loaf of bread like a restaurant from Connecticut will do. It was a new and interesting experience for us, and it made our dinner that much more memorable. Julia and I both ordered a slice of pumpkin cheesecake for dessert, in the spirit of Halloween. This morning we woke up early and left the dock before the sun was up in order to catch the tide. The temperature was 46 degrees, which we all agreed was unseasonably cold for North Carolina, even though it was the first day of November. After passing under several bridges and having the antenna at the top of our mast hit every beam on the underside of the bridges, we pulled in at Camp Lejeune, a military base in North Carolina. We took photos of all the interesting things we have seen, including a Harrier jump jet and a VTOL(Vertical Take-off and Landing) aircraft. Tomorrow we should arrive at Grandma's house in Wilmington, N.C. where we will spend a week or so visiting and provisioning for the next part of our journey. For now, I will leave you with photos of our journey thus far, and as always, thanks for reading!

-Paul

Sunset

A high-tech military watercraft outside of Norfolk, Virginia.

Sitting on the bow outside of Norfolk with an aircraft carrier in the background.

Julia up on the bow.

Dad at the helm.

Fort Wool outside of Norfolk. This fort has been protecting the harbor since 1817.

The navy and their toys.... and our tax money.

This unnamed military boat passed us doing about 40 mph. I bet it goes a lot faster.

A battleship in Norfolk.

A perfect day!

Huge military ships.

Compare the size of this gun to the pickup truck next to it.

We couldn't figure out what this was, but it was mounted on a few of the ships. Maybe for intimidation?
"I'm not sure what this does, but you don't want to be nearby when I turn it on."

A patrol plane banking in for a landing. Battleship in the foreground.

Speaking of battleship, Mom and Julia decided to play a round of battleship as we
were passing by all the navy ships.

Aircraft carrier dead ahead!

Enjoying a burger at Joe's Crab Shack.

Julia looks like she is enjoying her burger, too.

Mom and Dad.

Cruising through a few bridges .

Tying up at the Great Bridge lock.

The water is flooding into the lock. In the background is the Elizabeth river where we tied up.

Island Cat at the dock in Great Bridge, with Misty, the boat owned by our new friends, just ahead of us.

Virginie, Julia, and I at the park next to the Elizabeth river.

Here we are playing Rummy on Misty.

Dad removing the wind instrument at the top of our mast. Our mast is 63.5 feet high and the lowest bridges in
the ICW have 64 feet of clearance, so we decided to take it off before it was taken off by the bottom of a bridge.

Dad took a camera to the top of the mast. What a view!

This is what our boat looks like from 63.5 feet in the air.

Dad and Jean-François stringing up a new bow trampoline.

Great Bridge Bridge opening for us.

The Elizabeth river stretching into the distance. Some of these canals are
so long that you can see the curvature of the Earth.

The great soccer ball rescue! We saw a floating soccer ball and decided to pick it up.
Maybe we will give it to local children we meet in the islands.

Here I am doing schoolwork in the main salon.

Bald eagle spotted!

Dad holding our GPS to make sure that we do not start to drag during the hurricane.

Waiting out the hurricane.

Prepared for the storm!

We wrapped a table leg in sisal rope to make a cat scratching post.

Dad, Julia, and I returning from a cold, three-mile dinghy ride to get fresh shrimp for dinner. We made a spicy shrimp jambalaya that was so good that I had a second, third, and fourth helping at dinner.