19 June 2013 – Wednesday

We got up early this morning suspecting that we might be fogged in but it was only cloudy.  The large yacht in front of us was untying its lines ahead of us and the un-official crew member was running up and the dock like a monkey heaving lines on board.  The yacht was being forced away from the dock by the wind and current.  The Captain finally crashed the bow of the yacht into a dock piling (he would not be working for me today) and the monkey man jumped aboard.  That was the last we ever saw of them. Now we are headed to the Norfolk/Portsmouth, VA area today.  We are finally back in civilization and have to deal with bridges that require them to open as we are too tall for them.  Several are on a schedule and will not open on demand.  This requires timing and pacing to arrive at the next one to minimize idling and circling time.  There is also one lock to go through with a low bridge just beyond it. The bridge is timed to open simultaneously with the lock.  By the time we got to the lock, our group consisted of 6 large sailboats and three power boats.  The sail boaters apparently had not much experience with locks as it took them forever to get into place.  The lockmaster was repeatedly urging them to hurry up (reaming them).  Once through, we sped up to get to the next bridge opening.  We were early for the official opening, but it appeared that we could easily get under the bridge with it closed.  But we waited.  Once through, it was determined that the cruising guides were not current and the old low bridge had been replaced with a new tall bridge.  On we headed to Norfolk.  The area we were travelling through was filled with shipyards doing much work on U.S. Navy ships. 

 We arrived at Ocean Marine Marina and checked in.  The people here are super.  We secured the boat in the slip in which she will sit for the next month or so and relaxed.  We all walked to the Portsmouth downtown area, about a mile away.  We had dinner at Roger Browns Restaurant, he is a former NFL player from this area.  He played pro ball during the early 60’s.  Food was great.  We than stopped next door at the dollar store to get some essentials, (cookies).  There we were cashed out by “Wes” who told us he is really a recording artist, just not today.  We walked back to the boat and turned in.