10/24/2009

We have enjoyed a lay day here in Broad Creek. As forecast, a front came through today bringing 20 knot southerly winds with 28 knot gusts. As our next step is to cross Albemarle Sound (in a southerly direction) and as that stretch of water is notorious for kicking up a bad chop in strong winds we felt no need to try it. We have been lucky in that we only had a very brief shower and otherwise enjoyed a warm, sunny day.

We did spend some time fiddling around with our depth sounder which has been giving us some erratic readings - this is very disconcerting in the skinny waters of the ICW. The control unit is very old, the transducer is only two years old, so we suspect the control unit. We even have a spare unit but when we hooked that up it was even less useful than the original one - so much for being prepared with spares!!! Tom cleaned up some connections so we are hoping that will do the trick. We really don't want to have to put in a new unit - so fingers crossed. Otherwise, everything else is working and we have had a lovely day tucked up in our little world aboard Osprey.

Another amazing sunrise today!

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10/23/2009

Photo shows the early morning light as we followed a barge down the Virginia cut.

We were up at sparrow's fart again today - planning on catching the 7.00am opening of the bridge and getting a jump start on the crazy hoards of boaters. As luck would have it a massive barge came along just as we were pulling away from the dock. By keeping up with the barge (along with 4 other sailboats) we were able to pass through all the restricted bridges without delay. This made it a very easy day for us as it seemed as though we kept ahead of the main traffic all day. We made it to our chosen anchorage in time for tea! The days get nice and warm by the afternoon and we were able to bask in the sunshine and even had a cockpit shower this evening. This is a new anchorage for us - it is really peaceful with no habitation in sight. There are 3 other boats here as well but we are all spaced out nicely. Blessed Spirit decided to continue on a bit later than us and have crossed Albemarle Sound - probably a wise move as the forecast does not look good for crossing the sound tomorrow. At this point however, we are quite content to sit here for a day until the South winds blow out.

Cruiser's notes - Broad Creek anchorage, mile 61.2. About 1.7 miles off ICW. Fairly easy entrance (unmarked) nose your way in and up the creek. Well protected from all directions. Room for 6 - 7 boats. No landing possibilities that we could see.

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10/22/2009

The day started bright and early at 6.15am - a bit of a struggle for us after our long slog yesterday. But we were up and at it and pulling anchor at first light. We were one of the first boats out of the anchorage along with Blessed Spirit. Our first goal was the Gilmerton Bridge that was scheduled to open at 8.30am. We arrived in plenty of time along with about 16 other boats!! It is definitely peak migration season and a lot busier than when we headed South last time. Mind you we are about 4 weeks earlier than we were before. Unfortunately, common courtesy was not the name of the game amongst the crowd of boats today. There was a lot of jostling and unsafe maneuvering at the bridges and then a mad scramble for the lock as we all tried to make sure that we all fitted in! All in all it was a very stressful experience. We were tempted to head down the Dismal Swamp route as this appeared to be much less traveled but it is longer and for some reason we feel as though we are in a rush - we both agree we need to slooooow down and chill! But we all locked through without mishap and then Blessed Spirit and Osprey pulled off the highway and tied up to the free dock here at Great Bridge. This is a good stop (mainly because it is free!) and close to a good supermarket so we were able to resupply with milk, fruit and veg. We have spent a lazy afternoon basking in the warm (hot!) sunshine, reading and generally luxuriating in the fact that we are cruising at last. Tomorrow we plan on heading out early again and hope to make up some miles. Rain is forecast for the weekend so not sure how far we will get.

Cruiser Notes: About 18 -20 boats fitted in the lock - so generally there will be room for everyone. Great Bridge tie up - 24 hour limit but does not appear to be enforced. Fresh Market close by - good provisioning stop. Coin Laundry also in the same plaza.

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10/21/2009

We are here! Finally, some warm weather and lovely sunshine. We had a tough journey down from Cape May, the forecast Westerlies were nowhere in sight and instead we had steady SouthWesterly winds blowing about 12-15 knots (we were traveling south-west!). Not only that but the seas were awful and we were slamming into 3 foot chop the whole way. The only consolation was that it was a beautiful sunny day and then a crystal clear starlit night. The sunrise this morning was amazing and followed shortly thereafter by sightings of Dolphins and Pelicans - an indication that we had arrived in the south. It took us several hours to reach the anchorage here in Norfolk where we jostled for position with a lot of French-Canadian boats. Our day was complete when we spied Blessed Spirit here in the anchorage. After establishing radio contact we arranged to head over to them for celebratory drinks - Ahhh we are cruising at last!

The photo shows the amazing sunset from last night. The second photo shows our little hitch-hiker who joined us for part of the way- a little yellow rumped warbler. As you can see he was very tired.



Total distance: 168nm
Time taken: 30 1/2 hours

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