Deltaville to Norfolk VA in pictures

Yesterday was a looooong day.   It's not that far from Deltaville to Norfolk.  About 45 miles.  But like Delaware Bay or the Jersey shore, there's just not much to see.   Add to that a strong adverse current that had us going as slow as 4.6 knots SOG (speed over ground, for my landlubber friends) and it was a dull day.  I'm glad we waited and left on Tuesday instead of Monday though.  Tuesday was cool, overcast, and rainy.  At least we had sunshine to warm up the boat.

The above pic is leaving Broad Creek in Deltaville.  Wander outside of those day markers and you'd be in a foot or two of water, hard aground.  It's well marked though, and I'd encourage anyone stopping in the Deltaville area to consider Broad Creek.

This is the Stingray Point weather buoy.  It gathers and broadcasts weather data.   There are weather buoys all over the world.

If you go to the NOAA weather buoy data center and look for station 44058 off Stingray Point, you can see what the weather is doing before leaving Broad Creek.  Yesterday at 9 AM the wind was 1 MPH gusting to 2 MPH, from 140 degrees.

Since there's nothing much to look at, it's exciting to see even a barge.

It was in the 40s outside, but the helm station was warm and toasty because we were headed south and the helm windows gave us a nice greenhouse effect.  It was in the low 60s in the main saloon, and soon we were joined by Gertie (the cat) and Chevy (the dog) who seeked warmth.

Ruby stayed on the sofa, covered by a blanket.  Yes, she is under there, and spent the whole day there.

At one point, I looked in on her and she was sound asleep with her foot in her ear.   By the time Pam got the camera she woke up, but she kept her foot in her ear.

Little to see, so passing a lighthouse was a big deal.

We have all the latest electronic gizmos on the boat, including a state of the art chart plotter.  But I still like the big overall picture that paper charts provide. 

Here a Navi-Nut (patent pending) marks our position. I'd move the Navi-Nut (patent pending) every five or ten minutes using the GPS coordinates from the chart plotter.

Pam had enough of Gertie hogging the chair and scooped her up.  Gertie loves to cuddle up in the crook of your elbow.

Finally, the Thimble Shoal lighthouse outside Norwalk!  We're here!

The channel into Norfolk is fairly wide, but I was a little concerned about a cargo ship approaching from behind us.  We took a left into the Elizabeth River and I figured the ship would continue on.   Imagine my surprise when I looked out the window and saw it passing us to starboard.

I really need to pay more attention.  I was busy looking at all the Navy ships on my port and never looked behind us or to starboard.

Looks like a transformer, eh?

I figured we'd arrrive in Norfolk around 3 PM, which we did.  What I didn't realize, nor did I check on, was how far it was from the entrance to Norfolk and Waterside Marina.   A mile or two maybe?  No.  About ten miles, and we had the current against us, slowing us to 6 knots.  They closed at 5 and we had to beat feet to get there.  We finally arrived at 4:20 PM.  After tying up, we walked the dogs and then headed to Outbacks for dinner.

It's very nice here, right in the middle of a park and many places to visit. 

It's also very colorful.  I love being on the water at a glitzy place like this.  The reflections in the water double the effect.

I'm writing about Tuesday's events today, on Wednesday morning.  Already, I've taken photos of interesting things traveling on the Elizabeth River, and a dog has gone for an inadvertant swim.  Updates tomorrow.

We plan on staying here a couple of days, doing some sightseeing and waiting for sunshine.  It's 10:15 AM and 48 degrees, pretty nice weather for upstate NY folks.