Norfolk VA (2013-11-11)

N36° 50.302', W76° 17.762'

We're finally in Norfolk VA, with the Chesapeake Bay behind us, and
the AICW ahead of us.


We left Solomons MD on Saturday. The marine forecast had good
conditions predicted for both Saturday and Sunday, so we were
cautiously optomistic. Unfortunately the conditions didn't hold.
After we passed Reedville the winds started picking up. By the time
we were off of Fleets Bay the conditions were at our comfort limits,
so we pulled in and picked an anchorage on the creek above Little Bay.

Checking the conditions on the VHF that night (we weren't able to get
on the Internet where we were anchored) it seemed that yet another
Small Craft Advisory had sprung up on the bay, and was going to be in
force until Sunday night. So much for our two days of good
conditions.

We took it easy on Sunday, puttering about on the boat taking care of
some minor maintenance items. We also took some time to enjoy the
scenery, as the spot we were anchored was quite nice. We even spotted
a bald eagle flying around the bay.

Monday morning we checked the marine weather forecast on the VHF and
found that while the conditions were rough for the morning, they'd be
steadily improving through the day. We decided to give it a try,
knowing we could bail out and head into Deltaville if it was too
rough. We also knew that if we didn't try we'd end up stuck for two
more days, as the conditions were supposed to worsen and not improve
until Thursday.

As we headed out into the bay we were met with a fairly significant
swell, about 3 feet, rolling in from the northeast. We headed out
into the waves for about 15 minutes before turning to the south, which
placed the swell on our port stern quarter. For a boat like ours,
significant following seas can be challenging. Each wave pushes the
stern of the boat, picking it up and tossing the stern back and forth
as the wave passes underneath it. This made steering a steady course
a bit of work for the first hour or so, but just as forecasted, the
conditions did improve as the day went on.

We made it to Norfolk late in the afternoon, entering the harbour at
about 1530. We had planned on anchoring at Willoughby Bay, spending
the night there and then heading south to a free dock in Portsmouth
the next day. Because we had arrived earlier than expected we decided
to press on, and headed to the Portsmouth free dock right away. It
was about an hour further south from the harbour entrance, so we kind
of crossed our fingers, but we made it to the free dock with about 10
minutes to spare before sunset.

Our plan is to spend a couple days taking care of some errands, and
then head out to Elizabeth City NC via the Dismal Swamp Canal.