Intracoastal Waterway Day 1

We made an early start from Mill Creek on Thursday 22 November (Thanksgiving Day) as we wanted to get as far as possible along the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) and weren’t sure how things would go with bridges, locks and other traffic.  But to start with we had about 9nm of motoring to get to Mile Zero of the ICW and quite a lot of that was in pretty open waterway. Realistically we could (should?) have sailed some or all of it but we crept away from our anchorage under power and just kept going that way.

HMS Queen Elizabeth

About 45min after leaving the anchorage we were passing the main US Navy docks and there, in amongst the huge American carriers, was the diminutive figure and upturned ski-ramp of HMS Queen Elizabeth.  In real terms, HMS Queen Elizabeth is not diminutive at all, it’s just that alongside all the American naval power she doesn’t seem that big.  And the US Navy ships (and US Marine Corps ships, and US Army ships) go on.... and on…. and on……  It’s a hugely impressive display of military seapower – and these are just the ships, based on the eastern seaboard, that they have in dock for the time being….!

And the military might goes on… The armed forces docks here continue for about 4nm.  Clearly, not all the ships are in service but there are plenty that are.

Hospital Point (with, presumably, a military hospital).  There are small yacht anchorages on either side of the point and, had we arrived near Norfolk earlier the previous day we might have chosen to anchor here rather than in Mill Creek

Hospital Point is at Mile Zero on the ICW and almost opposite is the home (and dock) of the OCC Port Officers for Norfolk, Gary Naigle and Greta Gustavson and there is a good small yacht anchorage on either side of the point.

Grace of Longstone on the dock of Gary and Greta, OCC Port Officers for Norfolk. Their dock is almost directly opposite Hospital Point

The previous evening we had received a text message from Dave and Helen on Grace of Longstone, whom we had last seen in Halifax back in September. They were on Greta and Gary’s dock so we waved at them, and in the general direction of Greta and Gary’s apartment as we motored past.  We hoped to catch up with Helen and Dave at some point along the ICW but in the end that was not to be.

USS Battleship Wisconsinat the Nauticus Centre

A little further along is the USS Wisconsin, part of the Nauticus Centre in Norfolk. Next time we are in the vicinity we certainly will stop in Norfolk.  There’s a lot to see and do and I’m not sure Greta and Gary will forgive us if we rattle past in such a way again!

Approaching the hotel I stayed at when I visited Norfolk with work 17 years ago

Next up on the BV tour of Norfolk was the hotel in which I stayed when I visited Norfolk with work 17 years ago…..

Even central Norfolk is filled with shipyards

….. and then we were passing the shipyards in the centre of the city, including one owned by BAE.

Our first ICW bridge – the Norfolk and Portsmouth Belt Line railroad lifting bridge.  Vertical clearance 6ft when closed and 142ft when open.  Beyond is the Jordan fixed road bridge (vert clearance 270ft)

Beyond that we got to our first bridge of the ICW – the Norfolk and Portsmouth Belt Line railroad lifting bridge. It was fully open and was of no great concern to us at 142 ft vertical clearance.  Similarly, the Jordan fixed road bridge (270ft).

Bridge number 3 – the Norfolk and Western Railway lift bridge.  Vertical clearance 10ft when down and 135ft when up…..or rather less than 135ft when it is only opened just enough for the rather small yacht.  Scary but we got used to low bridges eventually

Bridge number 3, the Norfolk and Western Railway lift bridge was a slightly different story.  It’s opening height is advertised as 135ft so that is what we were expecting.  However, the bridge tender only opened it part of the way, probably about 70ft.  It seemed remarkably close to the top of the mast, though we would see much closer before we got to Beaufort.

Losing track of the bridges. Another one and, yes, it still feels low!

Nicky had wanted to take BV through the Great Dismal Swamp [Ed: if only for the name!] but recent reports on the depths along that route and warnings about the low hanging tree branches decided us to take the ‘commercial’ route, the Virginia Cut.  As it happened, perhaps because we were motoring along the ICW on Thanksgiving weekend, we saw relatively little commercial traffic and similarly few pleasure craft too.

A lock – hooray!  (Top) The Great Bridge lock. (Bottom) The Great Bridge bascule bridge,
which opens on the hour

A couple of hours beyond ‘Mile Zero’ we reached the lock at Great Bridge.  The lock opens at specific times to fit in with the hourly opening of the bridge just beyond it.  So, we stooged, waiting until the northern lock gate opened and we could go in. Locking down was a total non-event. A 20min wait outside and a 20min evolution in the lock to go down all of about 2ft.  And once we had cleared the southern gate we had a further 10min wait until Great Bridge’s bridge opened for us and we were free to helter-skelter onwards.

Great Bridge, famous for a battle and now a lock and a bridge

Our pilot book says that Great Bridge derives its name from the Revolutionary War battle of 1775. Apparently, ‘the Battle of Great Bridge changed the course of history. The complete defeat of the British at that battle allowed the local militia to capture Norfolk, giving the Americans a naval base from which to harry the British.  The battle ended the rule of the British Crown in Virginia’. We’re hazy on the detail as we didn’t stop to visit the battlefield site nor indeed have we done much (any?) Googling on the subject,  but we have visited a number of battlefields which similarly claim to be the site where the course of history was changed.  Perhaps I am just a cynic…

Great Bridge’s bridge in the rear-view mirror

More bridges (Top) Route 168/Highway Bypass Bridge (fixed) with vertical clearance 65ft (now we’re getting blasé). (Bottom) Centreville Turnpike Swing Bridge – the only ‘small’ bridge that on Thanksgiving Day didn’t open on request

Bald eagles

Beyond Great Bridge we passed the Route 168/Highway Bypass Bridge (fixed), which was exciting only because of its 65ft vertical clearance, and then we reached Centreville Turnpike Swing Bridge.  It being Thanksgiving, most of the bridges, certainly all the small bridges, were operating as if it were a weekend and were opening on request.  All that is, except for Centreville Turnpike Swing Bridge. This bridge was still only opening on the hour and the half hour, despite the almost total lack of traffic in the time we had to wait for the bridge to open for us.  Still, we kept the bald eagles amused – or not – they’re very serious looking birds!

Increasingly rural/wild scenery. (Middle row, right) Note the deadhead sticking out of the water a surprisingly long way from the bank. Hitting that would ruin your day

From here on in the scenery became increasingly rural or wild, depending on your perspective.  And with little rushing about to do, and no sail handling either of course, it was surprisingly cold too.

Moored alongside the old face dock at Pungo Ferry – a great place to stop

There was insufficient time for us to get to Coinjock with the remaining light and the only viable place to anchor between Pungo Ferry and Coinjock is too shallow for BV’s draught.  So, depending on how many other yachts we found taking up the space, we decided to anchor or moor up at Pungo Ferry, previous site of a marina and a ferry boat.  In the end, we were the only yachties in residence at Pungo Ferry for the whole night. A catamaran motored past, shortly after we moored alongside the old marina face dock at about 1530 but we have no idea how much further down the ICW they got that evening.  We had a lovely, if chilly evening at our piled mooring. We found the piles still to be in good condition and we saw no less than 2.5m of water alongside them.  It was a good secure berth for the night and we only saw/heard one tug go past overnight.

So, end of day one and BV was at Statute Mile Marker 28 (plus or minus a little).  Only 175SM remaining to Beaufort.

Pungo Ferry, ICW, Virginia, USA