Impulse Cruising Again

We left the dock at Coinjock Marina at 7:30 after Bill filled the water tanks. Very gloomy, but no rain. By 9:30 we had crossed into Virginia – Yeah! We had to wait for four bridges today – and they really added time to our trip. All were timed openings, most on the hour, and we just can’t go fast enough to get from one to the next in time. Great Bridge bridge is followed immediately by the one lock on this route. We pulled in, took our spot on the wall, and then were dropped by over 2 feet as the water poured out of the lock. We left from there and got to the last bridge which lies just past a RR bridge that is “always open.” Well, Bill called the bridge to request an opening and the tender said “As soon as you get here I will open.” But, as we neared the RR bridge, which is just in front of the bridge, the light turned red and the RR bridge closed halfway. (Check photo, you can see the railroad bridge in front of Gilmerton lift bridge.) Turns out they were doing maintenance, but we had to wait for it to reopen. The rub was that it was 3:15 and the Gilmerton bridge doesn’t open from 3:30 until 5:30. We were a little anxious, but the RR bridge did open and we got through by 3:30. Bill does have a “black cloud” that follows him! A ferry pulled out of Portsmouth and would have run into us except that Bill avoided it, then a freighter coming toward us called on the radio and told us he was going to turn around and back in to a slip on our side of the channel. Freighters take a half mile to start a turn, and they move faster than us so Bill scurried out of the way. We also passed the end of the Atlantic ICW - mile marker 0 - as we headed past the Naval Yard. The wind picked up to 25 knots, again, and we found Willoughby Bay and an anchoring spot. We are still rocking and rolling, but hopefully things will calm down tonight and we can head up the Chesapeake Bay tomorrow. Weather Channel is calling for a wild front to pass through tonight, so we are keeping our fingers crossed…

62 miles, 10.5 hours