A great motor/sail today down the Elizabeth River passing through the US Naval Shipyard at Norfolk VA - an impressive statement of warpower – huge grey hulks including submarines and aircraft carriers, these melted seamlessly into the busy commercial dockyards and as we leave the industrial areas behind us the river banks change from concrete buildings and cranes to trees and flowers.

We reach the Great Bridge Lock on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway to find we are the only boat waiting to go through. The lock connects the waters of Chesapeake Bay in Virginia with the waters of the Albemarle Sound in North Carolina and was hailed as an engineering feat when it was completed in 1859.

Hurricane Irene at the end of August had caused some damage to a swing arm and when we entered the lock today we found ourselves unable to leave for about 40 minutes because of a glitch with the new swing arm.

There is a drawbridge bridge within 100 yards of exiting the lock which raised its arms to welcome us through..