Last Day on the ICW

5/2/22

The trek from Coinjock North Carolina to Norfolk Virginia is the last day we travelled on the protected ICW before heading into the more open Chesapeake Bay. Norfolk is a good place to spend an extra day to provision and prepare for the transition. It also serves as a good place to catch our breath after the 50 mile trip spent negotiating the narrow North Landing River and Albermarle & Chesapeake Canal, while sharing the waterway with many other boats and negotiating passage under 5 low bridges, through the Great Bridge Lock and large commercial traffic in Norfolk harbor. The day required lots of radio communications with bridge tenders and other boats, along with holding position (in wind & current) waiting for bridges to open or timing an opportunity to pass slower boats. An interesting day but not the most relaxing one we have had.

Going through the Great Bridge Lock
Swing bridge closing behind us

Arriving in Norfolk, we docked at Tidewater Marina, where we had stayed on the way south. This marina is located within a short walk to town but we were discouraged from walking beyond the downtown area and chose to Uber for groceries. The Krogers grocery store in Norfolk is the most enormous grocery store we have ever been in. A standard Home Depot could easily fit in one corner.

Norfolk harbor…LPG tanker towing a tug? OK we’ll let them go first

After shopping, we took a water taxi across the River to ”Waterside” which is a restaurant/bar and entertainment complex, currently hosting an event for boats traveling The Great Loop. We heard there were 55 boats attending this event, all of which are headed north and many of which will be staying in the same marinas that we would like to stay in. This may create a logistical problem for us and we will be certain to make reservations early for our more critical stops.

Police boat confrontation
Taking the water taxi across the harbor to Waterside
Great Loop boats are identified by the AGLCA burgee
whole lotta fudge
Chesapeake route of the Great Loopers

The plan for the next week is to enjoy the Chesapeake. Dockside conversations have recommended several interesting locations and we are planning to visit Jackson Creek in Deltaville, Tangiers Island, Solomons and Annapolis on our way north, before transiting the C&D canal and heading south down Delaware Bay. At least thats the plan. Stay tuned for updates!

6 comments

  1. Hi Kathy and David! Haven’t checked out the blog in a while. I hope you enjoy the eastern shore of MD, apparently a quirky and historical location–Chesapeake Bay watermen and Civil War/Underground Railroad history. I read about it in a very good novel, “Song Yet Sung,” by James McBride. Hope this part of your journey is a little more relaxing than the previous stretch! Soak it up!

  2. You will love all those stops in the Chesapeake Bay area. Safe travels.

  3. Hi David and Kathy, it’s so much fun to catch up with your travels and adventures. “Little Buddy,” sounds like a possible, “friend” for life. I can imagine you back in Riverside flipping steaks on the grill to turn around and discover you’re one plate short.
    I’ve been meaning to ask you: At some point when you listed your navigational gear you mentioned a gizmo that would reveal what’s on the sea/river/waterway/canal floor. So what’s the coolest or oddest thing you’ve seen? An untold number of outboard motors? Too many to count, “whoops, slid off the grill,” pans and utensils? One skeleton chained to a cement block bearing the initials J.H.? Just curious.
    Ann

    1. Haven’t seen anything yet but we’ll keep a sharp lookout, particularly when we go through the East River in New York

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