We were up and off a little before 7am. There had been a heavy dew this morning but we had a quiet night at Coinjock. The wind picked up as we travelled along but it was a perfect clear, sunny day, quite cool.

Today was our last day on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway we have reached mile marker 0. We are at the Waterside Marina at Norfolk, Va.

On our journey up Coinjock Bay, Currituck Sound and North River Landing we passed through perfumed pine forrest and newly leafed trees. The were a lot of Cyprus trees and dead trunks poking out of the water. We saw two Bald Eagles today sitting majestically atop a dead tree which is their favored roost. We have not seen any bear although we did see what may have bee scratching trees with no bark an them.

To arrive here we had to pass through 3 swing and 1 lift bridge and one lock. Some opening on the hour some on the hour and half hour and the lock on the hour. We adjusted our speed to cover the miles to the next bridge in order to arrive at each bridge a little before the opening time. It's a process we call hurry up and wait! Our traveling companion Pegasus went ahead at the first stop as they are faster than we are. All our plans were working out fine. The jolly lock keeper helped each boat in turn to tie up with ease even though it was quite windy. The swing (the Steel Bridge) bridge after the lock has very recently been replaced by a fixed bridge, great! Our hearts sank a bit when we heard that the normally open railway bridge just before the last lift bridge was due to close. When we arrived there was a red flashing light on it and it was open, the Gilmerton Bridge keeper opened up on request and told us to come through. This Bridge closes for rush hour at 3:30 pm until 6:30pm so it was a relief to be ahead of our schedule, we would not want to wait for three hours!

Norfolk has a very busy waterway, we had to keep a good lookout for large vessels and beyond the area patrolled by the navy. We saw 2 aircraft carriers in the repair yard and many other ships



After we were settled in our slip we joined the crew of Pegasus for a walk around town and to the Navy Museum where we walked around the battleship Wisconsin.

Our companions are leading us astray and we will dine Italian tonight. Good food and good company. It's always fun to have a buddy boat to travel with.

The weather for the Chesapeake tomorrow is suspect, lots of wind again and we have to cross Hampton Roads, a large body of open water before we enter the Chesapeake which is not very here sheltered either.