This stay will take several posts. We will be here for a while and it is so much easier to write and read something shorter than longer. So this first Norfolk post will cover
logistics and marinas. The next post will cover the lovely people we are
meeting and some thoughts about beginnings and endings.
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| That white cover thing in the background is the bandshell |
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| Portsmouth historical district and main street are right on the water |
In my last post I described how we arrived in Portsmouth VA just ahead of Tropical Storm Andrea on Thursday June 6. We stopped at Ocean Marine Yacht Center, a
nice marina immediately across from the Navy Yard where all sorts of huge
vessels are being repaired. This marina is in the heart of the Portsmouth action. As Mike's mom Hattie corrected me, Portsmouth is pronounced Porch-mit. Ok, got it?
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| Dead boat just off Portsmouth they are everywhere! |
The outdoor band shell is next to the marina. We arrived smack in the middle of Harborfest across the river in Norfolk and another festival in Portsmouth so the place was hopping. Some of the concerts, like Saturday night with Earth, Wind, and Fire, were already postponed due to the weather but there was lots of activity anyway.
Ocean Marine is about a block from High Street with all the restaurants and museums and right next to the river walk with plaques and interesting things to see.
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| Portsmouth is very pretty at the waterfront |
We were scheduled to stay until Sunday so we explored leisurely. We rented a car on Friday morning to visit Mike and Judy's home and tour around without getting wet. Mike drove us all over with instructions but we still had trouble getting back after dropping them in Virginia Beach and driving back to Portsmouth alone in the dark. Never leave us alone in a strange city with or without a GPS. It always leads to arguing!!
All driving revolves around figuring out when the Navy Yard because you don't want to get caught in the traffic jam when shifts begin and end. Everyone told us, "Stay off Effingham Street from 3pm to 6pm".
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| Mike waiting for us to gas up and leave - he sure can be inpatient! |
Friday was spent touring around with Mike and Judy. We should have toured faster because on
Saturday morning, Mike decided we needed to move to Hampton with him. So rushed around to return the rental car, untie the lines and off we went, not realizing that we wouldn't get back to see Portsmouth again.
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| And off we went |
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| See the soldier? See the big gun on the big ship? |
One September led the way up the Elizabeth River to the Chesapeake Bay passing larger and larger Navy ships. There is security everywhere - little police and military boats - and every big ship has soldiers with guns that you can see with the telephoto lens, like this guy.
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| Harborfest in Norfolk |
The weather was great... a first.... Doesn't Harborfest in Norfolk look like fun? Wish we could have gone...
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| One September leading the way |
Instead we continued our water tour of some of the biggest naval ships I have ever seen up close and personal.
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| Row after row of ships |
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| Some with familiar names |
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| Even foreign naval ships in for repair It is cool how they cover the entire ship with tarps |
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| Huge cranes everywhere |
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| We put on our life jackets because there were so many harbor patrol boats and we didn't want to get stopped |
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| Mount Trashmore - first landfill, now a golf course You can see the golfers in the lower left |
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| Comfort |
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| All protected by security barriers |
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| The tow was the Katherine!! We said hello They thought we were nuts |
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| Even the tows look big - this one came very close to us |
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| A submarine!! |
Crossing the bay was a lot like traveling in Lake Erie so we
were not at all intimidated. That is until we turned around to look behind us in the middle of the bay to see dark, ominous clouds
completely surrounding us on all three sides. The wind picked up. We knew a big
storm was coming and we got nervous. Oh crap.
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| That is Norfolk you can't see in the background |
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| Double crap - it is raining |
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| The little sailboat we nerfed out of the way - check out the white caps |
We nerfed a little sailboat out of the way then said ooops
when it heeled over and almost capsized. Our bad.
Then we entered the channel to Bluewater Yachting Center in
Hampton. The wind and current were crazy and we ended up sideways and
perpendicular to the dock crosswise to the channel. Our bad.
Nothing went right. We finally subdued Good Karma with lots
of lines and a bunch of guys to haul her to the floating dock. Our bad.
Then Kermit had to listen to every fellow on the dock give
him advice on how he should have handled the situation; hard to take when you
have been successfully handling the boat for 11 months. Our bad.
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| Nice folks in this nice marina |
Bluewater Yachting Center is not very big but they have a
top notch repair facility that focuses on large boats, particularly Vikings so
Mike takes One September there for regular maintenance. Unfortunately, without
a car there is nothing to do even though the place is loaded with interesting
sites. Nothing is in walked distance at all. I mean nothing within miles of walking.
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| Air and space museum - we couldn't get there either |
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| Hampton University - we couldn't get there |
I walked around the neighborhood with Rusty which got me a
little exercise. I tried to walk to the Air and Space Museum but couldn’t
figure out how to make that happen. All the roads seemed to dead end or take me
in the wrong direction.
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| This is the vehicle of choice at this marina! |
Hampton University is just across the river but we
can’t get there either. It is a shame too because they have a famous museum of
African American history that I would like to have seen. We could see this stuff but had no way of getting anywhere. So we stayed on the
boat and rested.
To make it worse, as we finished tying up in Hampton we heard Jim’s Joy on the radio. They just pulled into Ocean Marine in Portsmouth, the place we just left! Drat. Timing is everything.
On Sunday morning Mike’s son Matt and dog Jaxson dropped him
off so Mike could pilot us to Cavalier Yacht and Golf Club where Mike and Judy
keep their boat. We will make this our home base for a while as we explore the
southern Chesapeake.
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| Lots of jet skis around Jim's Joy |
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| Hampton Lighthouse |
We picked up Jim’s Joy at the mouth of the James River just
outside the Bluewater Yachting Center. The trip from Hampton to Virginia Beach
is pretty long. At our traveling speed this is another 3 hour trip.
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| Hampton Bridge Tunnel |
To get to Virginia Beach you have to go over the Bridge
Tunnel. This is a long road that goes over the river and through the woods to
Grandmother’s house over a bridge, under a tunnel, over a bridge, under a
tunnel, and over a bridge again connecting Virginia Beach with Hampton and
Newport News. It is very cool to travel in the water in a boat knowing you are
riding over a tunnel over cars for a change.
The water inside the channel is about 60 feet to allow for
Navy ships but inside the channel it is shallow, only about 10 to 20 feet or
sometimes less. When we crossed from Hampton to Virginia Beach we saw at least
5 freighters sitting in a row in the Atlantic at the entrance to the Chesapeake
Bay waiting to be called into either Maryland on the way to Baltimore or
Norfolk.
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| Virginia Beach |
After crossing over the tunnel you turn to the starboard and
head to the Lynnhaven Roads. This whole area is called Hampton Roads because in
the olden days all travel of any significance was done by water. The different
rivers were called “roads”. So the
entrance to Lynnhaven River is called Lynnhaven Road.
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| Hattie's apartment building is on the right |
The best part of this journey was waving to Mike's mom. She lives in a high rise right along the Ocean/bay or whatever it technically is at this part. She stands in her balcony and waves to people she knows. So there we were waving like crazy and snapping photos hoping we will see her in editing. And sure enough, there she is waving a red towel!! Mike waved a blue towel on our boat. We all looked like idiots but we had fun!
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| Can you find Waldo, I mean Hattie? |
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| Mike waved a blue towel on Good Karma |
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| There she is!!! |
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| Lynnhaven Channel entrance |
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| See how narrow? You have to make a sharp port turn |
Virginia Beach is bordered on the east by the Atlantic Ocean but the entrance for boats is through Lynnhaven Roads. The entrance to the channel is very narrow. You can see sand pretty close to the channel so we were very careful. Under a bridge then a hard turn to port among a gazillion small boats and jet skis behaving like crazy people. It is Sunday after all. This cut made Jim's Joy very nervous because it is really skinny: shallow and narrow.
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| These guys are pilots - they live in the pilot houses and wait to be called to bring a freighter in |
Judy and Mike’s son Matt is a pilot for the Maryland Pilots. He takes captains out to freighters bound for Baltimore. Another group, the Virginia Pilots takes captains out to freighters bound for Norfolk. This is a great job for someone who loves the water and boats. He works all sorts of hours and in all sorts of weather but he really loves being outdoors on the water playing with boats all day.
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| We ate at Chicks - yum |
We took that channel for about an hour down, around, up and down.
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| Ospreys are EVERYWHERE |
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| This is a reproduction crab boat used as a party boat... we saw a lot of them around here |
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| Sunday at the waterside... feels like home |
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| A beach scene is not complete without the beer belly... feels like home |
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| Yes, she is pucking - this is quite the party town |
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| Jay and Sandy Tischler's house - we traveled with them when they visited One Sept in Demopolis AL last fall - great people |
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| Pretty house in a pretty neighborhood |
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| Mike and Judy's home when they are not on One Sept |
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| Mike leading us to Cavalier - his home base |
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| Cavalier Golf and Yacht Club |
We passed Jay Tishler’s house on the starboard and the Hechtkopf house on
the starboard in a cove then finally arrived at Cavalier. It is a pretty but
small marina attached to a golf club. It is private so you won't find it on the charts.
The boats are like Sunrise Marina but the marina is smaller and much prettier. The staff is so helpful!! We are tied up to a floating dock
on a t-head so we have lots of room.
There are few people here during the week.
We have the place pretty much to ourselves. The showers are luxurious. We have
the use of the pool and the fitness center is one of the best of the trip!! We
visit every day. They have this great lateral machine that is like being on
roller blades. My quads are screaming. It is about time!!
By the way, it is steaming hot here. Have I mentioned that? After the tropical storm it got HOT HOT HOT, in the 80s and 90s with very high humidity. Rusty is threatening to melt.
Mike took us to the Mariner Museum in Newport News on Tuesday 6/11. What a great museum!!
They have pieces pulled up from the ocean
floor of the original USS Monitor, the first US ironclad involved in the famous
fight to a draw in Hampton Roads of the Monitor and Merrimack, better known as
the CSS Virginia, the Confederate ironclad ship. The movies brought the battle
of Hampton Roads to life.
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| The cannon from the Monitor, with the end blown off from battle |
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| They reconstructed the face of a sailor who went down with the Monitor - the skull was found in the wreck |
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| What the Monitor looked like at the wreck site |
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| Kermit with the red lantern - the last thing seen before it sunk |
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| a depiction of converting the Merrimack into the CSS Virginia |
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| Joy watching a little video about building the CSS Virginia |
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| The movie depicting the battle of Hampton Roads in 1862 |
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| The whole room came to life during the movie |
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| Jim walking on the replica of the USS Monitor The entire ship floated just below the water except the turret |
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| the propeller from USS Monitor |
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| this is the actual turret (with me in the reflection taking the picture The turret will remain submersed in chemicals until 2029 to clean it up without corrosion |
We also saw a great exhibit about being lost at sea called
“Overboard”. The stories of shipwreck survivors made us want to check our ditch
bags to be sure we have everything we would need to stay alive if we had a
problem. It also gave us the creeps. Too close to home!
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| what would you take? |
Jim's Joy left on Wednesday morning for York River. Mike and Judy picked up One September in Hampton later in the afternoon. Both are going on the Cavalier club trip for the weekend, returning on Monday or Tuesday.
Here is our plan: We rented a car to go to Washington DC to visit
Marissa on Thursday, returning the following Tuesday. Along the way we will visit some places
we can only get to by car like Smithfield VA for some ham, Jamestown and
Williamsburg, and maybe the Eastern shore. We plan to meet Headquarters in DC on Thursday night for docktails and probably dinner with Marissa.
We plan to meet Jim's Joy and maybe One September to tour the southern Cheasapeake then return to Cavalier for July 4th
festivities. We plan to join an informal Looper Rendezvous in middle
Chesapeake on July 15 then hook up with the Cavalier annual cruise in mid-July before heading north in
August/September.
Next post: Observations about beginnings and ends with One
September.
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