Our intentions were to leave Deltaville on Thursday, 9
October. On the 7th, however, Mother Nature decided to remind us that
she was the boss, as she unleashed quite a wind and rain storm. The winds were 25
gusting to 30 MPH, the visibility was from 1 – 3 miles, and the rain was
constant. Even when it wasn’t raining it was damp. So we postponed out departure until Saturday
when the weather was supposed to let up a little. The good thing was that the
port side of our boat got “power washed” by the wind and rain (we were facing
east), though the starboard side – not so much.
On Saturday we disconnected the power cables, unhooked the
water hoses, re-jiggered the lines and cranked the engines … er … I mean we
cranked one engine, as the other didn’t want to start. My diagnosis was that it
was another bubble in the fuel line – but fixing it was beyond my meager
mechanical talents. We obviously had to call someone and just as obviously no
one was going to be at work – it was a Saturday. The best we could do was contact
Deltaville Boatyard; they said they would have someone here first thing Monday
morning. I must admit that I was impressed by their determination to solve my
problem.
While we were waiting to leave, we didn’t completely waste
time. Earlier in our stay in Deltaville we met Tom Hale and Christina Sison
aboard their trawler Tadhana. Tom is
the Managing Editor of the Waterway Guide, a set of publications we – and other
cruisers – use extensively as we roam up and down the ICW. Tom and Christina
take every chance they can to cruise on the Chesapeake (Tom and Christina are
both still working (poor folks) so they can’t cruise full time). This weekend
they were going to Urbanna, one of our favorite towns in Virginia, just a
little ways up the Rappahannock from Deltaville. Since we couldn’t take the boat out, Tom and
Christina lent us their car so we could meet them and have dinner. Needless to
say, they are very nice people. The restaurant was so-so, but the company was
really great!
John from Deltaville Boatyard was there, as promised, bright
and early Monday morning. He determined that we had air in our fuel line and bled it
– just like I thought he should. Of course the fact that he knew how to do it
and I didn’t, makes him just a little better mechanic than I am. He also spent
some time trying to track down the cause of these air bubbles. We thought we
figured it out last time (in Baltimore), but since they keep happening we aren’t
too sure what is going on. Anyway, on Wednesday, we will be ready to throw off
the bowlines and head south. Our first stop will be the Top Rack Marina in
Norfolk.
16 October – Top Rack
Marina, Chesapeake, VA
On our first day we traveled 68.7 miles from Deltaville to
Chesapeake, VA. There were two main reasons we wanted to stop at Chesapeake.
First, the Top Rack Marina advertises the “best diesel prices” in the area.
Since we needed somewhere around 400 gallons, the price of fuel was important
to us. In the event, if it was not the cheapest around, it had to be close. Two
weeks prior we had paid $4.40 for about 100 gallons at one of the marinas in
Deltaville. (We didn’t buy more than that because we knew we would be coming
here.) At Top Rack we paid $3.54. Even if most marinas would charge $3.90, we
still saved about $144. We now have our
complete complement of 700 gallons aboard.
The second reason we stopped at Top Rack was because they
had a “dock and dine” special. If you go to their restaurant and spend $75 or
more, your docking for that night is free. That sounded great! Now, the Amber Lantern
isn’t one of your typical Chesapeake restaurant/bars, it is a fairly high class
place. (Thank Heaven, though, I could still wear shorts – otherwise it might
have been a no-go!) Anyhow, we figured that their prices might be a little high.
We were right. It is true that when we ordered we wanted to make sure we would
meet the $75 minimum so we went for appetizers and for entrees at the high end
of the menu. Well, we needn’t have worried. As you might have expected, they
have done this a lot more than we have and have figured out how to make money.
We spent a total of $123 for dinner. That is about when we would have spent if
we would have paid for our dockage and gone to a little less pricey restaurant.
Still, it was a good meal, but the best part was the fact that we met our
marina-mates Peter and Ann.
Peter and Ann are full-time cruisers aboard their beautiful
(almost) new Kady Krogen 52, Keeper. (Their
Krogen holds 1400 gallons of diesel! Wow!) Peter is an airline pilot who takes time
away from the boat periodically to move people from one part of the country to
the other. We ended up following them all the way from Top Rack to Belhaven.
Locks, Bridges and
Broad Creek
We had a great plan. We were going to leave Top Rack at
0845. We would catch the bridges and locks on time so we would have to do
minimal waiting. Well, it didn’t quite work out that way.
Here is the bridge/lock schedule:
Name
|
Opening
|
Mile Marker
|
Steel Bridge
|
On the Hour
|
8.1
|
Great Bridge Lock
|
Quarter past the hour until quarter ‘til the hour
|
11.7
|
Great Bridge Bridge*
|
On the Hour
|
12.1
|
Centreville Bridge
|
On the Hour and half-hour
|
15.2
|
North Landing Bridge
|
On the hour and half-hour
|
20.2
|
*NOTE: No, that’s not a typo. The location is Great Bridge,
Virginia. The town of Great Bridge has both a lock and a bridge; thus, the
bridge at Great Bridge is Great Bridge Bridge. Now why they didn’t name it the
John Smith Bridge or something like that, I don’t know. But I’ll bet that back
in the day there was a bridge-naming guy who was sitting in his chair in
Richmond laughing saying something like, “Hey guys, watch this. I’m gonna name
this bridge the Great Bridge Bridge. Get it? Get it?” Anyway …
From the chart, you can see the possibility. If you get
under the Steel Bridge at 0900, you can get into the lock right away, then
through the lock to the Great Bridge Bridge, then to the Centreville Bridge by
half past, then of you can go 10 MPH you can make it to the North Landing
Bridge on the hour. So you could make it through the system in about 2 hours.
Unless.
 |
| Just a few of our fellow travelers after the bridge at Great Bridge was FINALLY raised. |
Corps of Engineer barges have the right of way in the lock
system. So, if a northbound barge comes up to the lock at the southbound time,
the southbound traffic has to wait. If the same northbound barge has a
fender-bender in the lock, then the barge captain has to get all the information
for an “incident report” before he can leave. I think you can see where this is
going. The worst part of it was that right after we got through the lock, we
had to wait nearly 40 minutes for the Great Bridge Bridge to open. There were
about 12 good-sized boats in a very small area. Luckily, there was only a
little wind and current, so boats could stay in place fairly easily. If there
had been some wind – well, it wouldn’t have been pretty.
After the bridge finally opened, we went in line to the next
bridge. I stopped well before the bridge so we wouldn’t end up in the same dense
mass of boats that we had earlier. And wouldn’t you know it. Two of the boats that
had been in line behind us decided that they just had to cut in front. That
wouldn’t have been so bad, except that one of them was slower than we were. In
fact, his top speed was only 9.5 MPH. Now take a look at the last entry in the
chart. If you cannot average 10 MPH between Centreville and North Landing, you
are going to have to wait another half-hour for the next bridge opening. The
canal is really too narrow to pass – unless you don’t mind waking the other guy
– so we just followed in line. Luckily, the North Landing Bridge Tender took
pity on us (there were about five boats in the group that had become separated
from the faster group) and held the bridge for a few more minutes. Needless to
say, immediately after the bridge I passed our sluggish brother.
 |
| Sunrise near Broad Creek, North Carolina |
The rest of the trip through Virginia and into North
Carolina was not particularly interesting. We pulled into our Broad Creek
anchorage at about 1600 and we were “Engines-off” and anchored at about 1630.
Belhaven
From Broad Creek to Belhaven is about 74 miles. Belhaven is
a peculiar little town. The best thing about it is the size of its anchoring
field; it is huge. We anchored the first night with about four other boats and
none of us was anywhere near the others. We will be back to anchor here again.
We had heard that Belhaven was trying to become a cruiser
Mecca like Georgetown, Elizabeth City and others. Moreover, our friend Tom Hale
asked us to stop and say hello to Les and Brenda, the owners of the marina, and
to take some pictures of a new restaurant called, “The Tavern at Jack’s Neck.” Our
plan, therefore, was to anchor one night, then to put in at the marina for the
second night. That would give us time to see Les and Brenda, to check to the
town and to go to dinner and take pictures of the Tavern.
 |
| New York has its cows, Norfolk has mermaids, Annapolis has its chicks and Belhaven has its crabs. |
About 4 we called the Tavern and found that they would be
open that evening, but not for dinner. They would only be serving beer, wine
and popcorn. Well, we went, had a glass of wine and took a lot of pictures –
most of which were very dark, even with a flash. Now, I have to tell you that
the Tavern itself is beautiful. They have a teak bar, teak tables, magnificent
wood ship models and I could go on and on. It is truly worth seeing So, while
we have included a picture or two, please realize that they do not convey the
true beauty of the Tavern.
Then we had a stroke of luck. We went across the street to
eat dinner at “Spoon River Artwork, Market and Café.” Well, they had wonderful
food. I usually order seafood, but, since I wasn’t expecting much I just went
for the fried chicken. For those of you who know me, you know I am something of
a connoisseur of fried chicken – I have been eating it for more years than I
can count. I am here to tell you it was some of the best fried chicken I have had
in a long time. Moreover, it was
presented extremely well – on a bed of jasmine rice and sweet potato sticks on
the side. It was just moist enough Mmmm I can still taste it. Ann had shrimp
and grits served in a very unusual manner. First, there were a lot of shrimp.
Second, it was served on a bed of dark, slightly sweeter-than-normal grits. The
taste was different, but excellent. That with a bottle of wine and piece of
very chocolate cake came to about ½ the price of our dock and dine in
Chesapeake, VA.
 |
| One of the wooden sculptures at the Tavern at Jack's Neck |
ANN’S NOTES: I cannot
tell you how happy I am to be back on the water again. Sure there have been a
few hic-ups but nothing that a few more boat units can`t fix.
I was happy to discover that my anchoring skills all came
back … I even thought of a new way to measure out the amount of snubber we need
for the anchor. Plus now Michael wants to put the brake on the windlass when he
back up on the anchor. That small step takes a lot of the pressure of the windlass
and more on me … just kidding. It takes me a while to change a routine I have
had for two years but I have added the extra step without my brain going into
over drive.
In the past few days we have meet some really nice people
and have enjoyed their company at dinner. Hearing about other adventures makes
cruising so much more fun.
What can I say about poor little Belhaven…it has a long way
to go before it becomes a mecca to cruisers. The town and the homes are
beautiful and the walk pleasant. One can just imagine what it was like when
there was any sort of industry … mostly lumber along with hunting and fishing
lodges. They even have a small hospital that will be closing its doors soon. It
has been flooded so many times that they have a mold problem that only tearing
down the building will solve. Sad but true. The meal at the restaurant was so
very good. My shrimp and grits was served with a fried egg on top. I know what you are thinking … for most of you
that know me I do not venture very much when it comes to food … ok … STOP
laughing. Anyway, after a glass or two of
wine I figured what the hell – and I am
glad I ordered it because it was yummy.
I know Michael wants to get this posted today so I am going
to wrap my part up…
YES….LADIES AND GENTLEMAN ….I have a wildlife count…small
but nevertheless a count..
First I have to amend the last posting…when we were
traveling out west I did see the following…
Twenty-nine Palms CA in the parking lot of the Base Exchange
·
1 roadrunner (MEEP ... MEEP)
Green Valley AZ in Mom`s back yard
·
several Quail families
·
Lots of lizards in the west…too many to count
Thursday 17 October 2013
·
1 Bald Eagle at the Great Bridge Lock
Friday 18 October 2013
·
many flocks of geese and ducks. They better
start flying way south because duck hunting season will open soon.
Thank you for reading our blog
Traveling Soul…OUT
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