Hampton VA to Belhaven NC - 2018

Nov 5 thru Nov 10

—Blogpost written by Bob

Hampton to Great Bridge (Nov 5)

It was warm and windy and overcast with a light rain early this morning. The rain is expected to clear up by 10 AM, when we plan to leave. We left the marina in Hampton at 9:15 AM. It rained very heavily after we got through the Hampton Channel and it continued to rain heavily as we came through Norfolk and into the ICW. I’m glad we had our cockpit enclosure in place—we stayed warm and dry. By the time we got to the Gilmerton Lift Bridge, the rain had stopped. However, we had a delay at this bridge because the railroad bridge just on the other side of the lift bridge was closed—we were delayed about an hour.

We made it through the Great Bridge Lock without incident and, after a 1/2-hour delay, made it past the draw bridge just below the lock. We arrived at a complimentary slip in Great Bridge VA at 3:15 PM, six hours after leaving Hampton. Three other sailboats were tied up at the same long dock.

s/v Rainy Days docked at a complimentary
slip in Great Bridge VA.

The first day on the ICW was very frustrating for me—I’m not used to delays anymore. I have to get used to it—I’m know there is more to come. It’s me—I have to adjust my attitude to a slower pace again.

About an hour after we docked, a tug pushed
a long barge through Great Bridge.

Lola spent most of the day in the cockpit—this was a big change for her after hiding below most of the time while we were coming down the Chesapeake Bay in the strong winds. 

Great Bridge to Coinjock (Nov 6)

Today is the mid-term elections—we’ve already voted in Florida by absentee ballots.

The weather forecast was for a high temperature of 83 degrees! (and a 60% chance of rain late in the day). The start of our day was overcast and near 60 degrees F.

We left our (complimentary—it sounds better than “free”!) slip in Great Bridge at 7:30 AM to make the 8:30 AM opening of the Centerville Turnpike Swing Bridge (we were early!) and the 9:30 AM opening of the North Landing Swing Bridge. These were the only two opening bridges we faced today.

We wait for the 8:30 AM opening of 
the Centerville Turnpike 
Swing Bridge.

Between the two bridges we met a very wide barge traveling northward. Because of his draft he had to be in the center of the channel. We got over as far to the right side as we could. Our depth alarm was sounding at 5.8 feet of water. We steered back closer to center of the channel after he passed us.

A tug was pushing a very wide barge in
the Virginia Cut which used most
of the ICW channel.

Typical scenery along
the ICW's Virginia Cut.

The Virginia Cut is a pleasant part of our ICW trip—the depth is a consistent 12+ feet and it is just winding enough to make it interesting.  So far, we have stuck to our plan of short travel days and more marina stops.  Today’s trip was a very reasonable 38 miles.

As we got into the Currituck Sound, the wind kicked up to 25 knots out of the south—this made short choppy waves on the shallow Currituck Sound. It slowed us down a little and caused some salt spray on our front dodger window but nothing insurmountable.

We docked at Coinjock Marina a little before 2:30 PM. We immediately filled our fuel tanks—it only took 27 gallons of diesel fuel to get here from Annapolis, our last fill up.

I am still amazed at how they can pack the boats into this marina—there is about 18” between us and the boat in back of us (as well as in front of us)! Even though there is very little tidal range here, there was a strong tidal current when we docked.

Coinjock to Little Alligator River (Nov 7)

We departed from Coinjock Marina at 7 AM. The sun was just coming up and it was clear and somewhat cool. Fortunately, the power boat that was docked behind us was out before we were—otherwise, it would have been a lot more difficult.

Lola stayed in the cockpit most of
the day today—today was
her first birthday!

Shortly into our day’s journey, we decided to travel all the way to the entrance of the Alligator River-Pungo River Canal. We decided on this because we got an early start, it’s a beautiful and very mild day (70 F) and rain and high wind is in the forecast for tomorrow.

This image, taken while we were motoring along
the Alligator River south of the swing bridge,
was what our day was like today.

Except for a very minor delay at the Alligator River Swing Bridge, we motored all day at 7.5 mph on autopilot. We arrived at our anchorage in the Alligator River at 3 PM with plenty of time to cook dinner on the grill before darkness. (We have anchored in this area two times previously—I place an anchor waypoint on our electronic chart with the date for all our anchorages.) We ended up making up a day on our travel plan.

We had no cell phone service in this anchorage but it’s not the fault of T-Mobile since I recall not having cell phone service here when we previously had AT&T as our carrier.

Who cares about cell phone
coverage with scenery
like this?

Alligator River to Belhaven (Nov 8)

It had rained at 2:30 AM—I know the time because I got up to close our overhead hatch.  By the time it was getting light, the rain had stopped but the sky was still overcast and it looked like more rain was on the way.  Maggie bailed out the dinghy, as the engine warmed up for the day’s run.

We weighed anchor at 7:30 AM and immediately entered the 22-mile long Alligator River-Pungo River Canal.  We arrived at the Belhaven Marina at about noon, tied up, and went into town for lunch.

s/v Rainy Days is tied up to the
long dock at Belhaven Marina.

More on our visit to Belhaven NC in our next blogpost...stay tuned...


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