Its time to start provisioning for our winter trek to Florida. With Covid restrictions, cruising to the Bahamas is difficult and risky so we will restrict ourselves to Florida waters. This year we are departing in December, prior to Christmas, again because of Covid. We spent Thanksgiving with the grandchildren but it was too difficult for everyone involved to repeat the quarantining for Christmas, so we will set off on 20 Dec.
Sue has been accumulating our provisions and staging them in the dining room. Time now to start loading the crates and carting down to the boat. By the time we are fully loaded with food, water and fuel, the boat sits a couple inches lower in the water.
Departure morning. With both cars parked at the house, we are walking the two miles back to the boat. The 2x4 I'm carrying is one last modification. My sleep doctor recommended we raise the head of the bed so I cut a 2x4 that we can insert under the bed. Has worked out well, although I'm not sure it makes any difference to my sleeping.
Underway, and heading down the Chisman creek. It was nice there was zero wind which made it easy to get all the lines off the boat and dock and stored below, then an easy back out of the slip.
It was forecasted to start raining departure morning and it started a light sprinkling just as we left the slip.
We motored down to Norfolk through the continual light showers. It was nice to have the tidal current in our favor providing us an extra half knot of speed. By noon we were passing the Navy Base and carrier piers. USS Eisenhower and USS Ford were in port. The USS Ford is still having work done on the new technology electronic catapults which aren't functioning properly.
Not much activity at Norfolk Waterside this December. The marina was completely empty as we passed by. Not much boating activity at Portsmouth on the other side of the Elizabeth River either although the shuttle boat was still operating and passed by with a couple of passengers.
We were soon down at the Great Bridge Lock for the 3pm lock opening. The rain was still drizzling and the temperature in the low 40s so we got to break out our cold weather foul weather gear. With our new full enclosure we haven't used this cold weather gear in a couple years.
No problem moving through the lock without any assistance (due to Covid again). Of course the lock water level lift was about 6 inches this time through. The level depends on how the winds are blowing between the Chesapeake Bay and Abermarle Sound.
Our first opportunity to be "flexible cruisers" at Atlantic Yacht Basin. We called to check on berthing availability and were first told they were full, then they called back and said they had room, so we passed through the lock and arrived only to be told, "No, no room for you." So we got fuel and water and then moved to the free dock on the other side of the ICW where, the dockage is free but there is no power so no heat. Fortunately, it wasn't that cold. We fired up our portable Honda generator for a couple hours which lets us run the electric blanket and a small space heater.
After a quiet night, it was off to our next stop and hopefully some power and heat at Coinjock. Another uneventful motoring day down the ICW. Only one bridge to pass through today at North Landing as the Centerville bridge is permanently open due to damage from an encounter with a barge last month. Its a short 5hr jog down to Coinjock, then that's the last marina to stop at for the next 80 miles.
We asked about the 32oz Prime Rib but passed at the $53 tab, particularly since we were not dining inside due to Covid. We ordered a Rib-Eye for $20 which was excellent and provided dinner plus sandwiches for the next 3 days.
