The first of many loads of stores to be loaded up for our 4 month cruise to Florida for the winter. Fortunately we had several days of good weather to move all the food and supplies we needed on to the boat.
The challenge is that you have to bring about everything you are packing onboard before you can work out your plan for where everything will go. The items you use least often have to go behind the ones you need to get to frequently. Sue does almost all the packing because she has to know where the various foodstuffs and supplies are stored. She does keep a list, but having done this about 10 times now she knows where she normally puts things. I keep my tools and spare parts in the same storage spots they have been for the last 20 years.
All stored away and ready to head out to sea.
And we are off bright and early on 6 Jan 2023. We normally leave shortly after spending the Christmas holidays with each of our son's families. This year we were shooting for a departure around 1 Jan, but the weather was not cooperating. On the 6th, it was finally a sunny day with just a light north wind. Not good for sailing, but a good motoring day with no waves bashing over the bow.
Heading out Chisman Creek into the rising sun. We'll turn north and out the Poquoson River and then east down the York River to the Chesapeake Bay and then south to Norfolk.
We were able to put the sails out and get a little help down the bay to Norfolk but the winds were light the whole day.
Four hours later and we are off Hampton passing the Old Point Comfort lighthouse on Fort Monroe.
Still a sunny day which is great for us sitting inside our full enclosed cockpit. About 60 degrees inside the enclosure while 40 degrees outside.
After the lighthouse comes the Chamberlain Hotel (now a retirement community) on the point of Fort Monroe.
Past the fort, we pass over the Hampton Roads bridge/tunnel, leaving the Chesapeake Bay and into the James and Elizabeth rivers. We had a nice tail current coming down the Bay, but at this point the James and Elizabeth rivers are both emptying into the Bay and the current is on the nose.
Into the Elizabeth River and motoring down past the Norfolk Naval Base. First is the carrier piers, then the cruisers and destroyers, then the submarine piers.
20 years ago you could cruise by here right next to the piers but over the past few years they have place strong floating defensive fencing across all the piers and a security patrol boat places itself between you and any of the nuclear powered units.
Several hours later we are off downtown Norfolk Waterside and at the official Mile Zero of the IntraCoastal Waterway. We will ultimately make our way as far south as Marathon, Florida, in the Keys at Mile 1195. At 6mph, that's about 200 hours of transiting. This time of year (short days) in the Intracoastal you can make about 8-10 hours a day, so about three weeks if you traveled every day. But weather and sightseeing and visiting friends means it will be near March before we get to Marathon.
Got through the Norfolk area bridges without any problems and arrived at the Great Bridge Lock by the end of the day. In the Spring this lock can get very busy and full but on 6 Jan, there were only two boats passing through.
The lock operator takes your bow and stern lines and places them over the bollards, then Sue on the bow and Mark on the stern hold the lines and keep the boat in place as they raise you up about 2-3 feet, the height of the Virginia Cut which feeds into the Albermarle Sound. If you take the Dismal Swamp route, the Deep Creek Lock raises you 8 feet to the canal height, then you drop back down at South Mill Lock to the Albermarle level.
At Great Bridge you have a choice to stay at the Atlantic Yacht Basin where there is electrical power - which means heat for us, or tie up to the free dock near the bridge where there are no services. Since it was a sunny day with temps in the high 40s, we decided we could bundle under the covers. The next day it will be on to Coinjock and temps are forecasted to drop so we will be stopping at the marina there and plugging in.
A very successful first day of our trek to Florida for 2023.
