To Tidewater Marina
Beez Neez now Chy Whella
Big Bear and Pepe Millard
Tue 21 Jun 2011 22:54
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From Top Rack Marina VA to
Tidewater Marina, Norfolk, Virginia
    We only have to
travel 5.8 nautical miles today to complete the ICW so we treated ourselves to a
lie-in. The workings opposite just added to the sound
of a certain someone's snoring, but he did get up quite a bit more upbeat this
morning and cooked me boiled eggs. WOW.
  Bear's knee is
still very stiff but the nerve pain that has been giving him jip has settled a
fair amount. At least he has a smile on his face this
morning AND he managed to slowly do the ropes as we pulled out of this
odd little marina at ten past eleven. This was a cheap place for fuel, easy
access, free water and as there are no anchorages was the best deal we could
find.
  Despite entering an industrial area it was
pleasing to see the allocation for the osprey
continues
   Our first
bridge has been raised to over seventy feet, no problems for us then,
except I had to wiggle around a tug and
platform. Workmen were 'fiddling'
around with something. Right on the bridge fenders was an osprey nest.
 The next bridge we
had read was an 'on request' but the lady said her next opening was at half past
twelve, a wait of forty five minutes. Luckily this tug and massive platform wanted to go through so we
were allowed to trot on after it. It only just fitted through with a few
inches one side and scraping the other. We thanked the bridge lady profusely.
She told us the next bridge had been taken down - so that’s it for bridge
openings.
 Next
it was the Hunt sisters, Patricia J. Hunt and Hunt
Girl, I was in my element
              For a girl who loves her men and machinery
big, this was wonderful for me to be passing through working docks AND
deep water
   Chums and happy workmen who stopped to give us a salute and
a cheery wave
   The biggest crane we have ever seen - with a crane on
top
  A faithful old lady at the end of her Naval career and
a brand new girl at the start of
hers
   A few
surprises
     Suddenly we went from a vast area owned by the US
Navy to high rise hotels and apartments
  And
finally entering the Tide Water Marina at mile marker 0
In
twenty four journeys, covering 889.78 nautical miles we have done the Intra
Coastal Waterway from West Palm Beach, Florida. We have travelled through
Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina to Norfolk, Virginia. The tally
for 'sailing on the spot' is seven to me and eleven to Bear - although it
is fair to say I made him take the wheel to get us off a few times, so I guess
we are about even. We are proud to say that although we are pleased to have Boat
US insurance, we are chuffed not to have had to call them to drag us off the
mud.
We celebrated with
a late lunch in the marina bar, bought a loaf, settled up and had a game of
backgammon. We were visited by Homeland Security who just wanted to say "Hi" and
look at our passports. They had thought we had just arrived from International
Waters, when we said no just down the road, they went off happily. "No guns".
"No, I'd have shot him by now". "Oh".
We carefully
looked at the weather - the window looks good for a gentle three day passage to
New York, fingers crossed. Bear feels confident that once the girl is set up, it
will be like any other 'at sea' journey that sees us sitting and keeping watch
doing our normal four on four off shift system, we'll see.
 Our last visitor - YUCK.
ALL IN ALL
A GREAT ACHIEVEMENT - THOROUGHLY
ENJOYED
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