Coinjock NC to Hampton VA

Apr 13 thru Apr 15

—Blogpost written by Bob

Coinjock to Great Bridge

After a delicious prime rib dinner, we slept like babies last night. We were one of the last boats to leave Coinjock Marina this morning—it was 8:30 AM on Saturday, April 13. As we departed from Coinjock the sky was overcast. You could feel the humidity in the air. The temperature was a cool 68 degrees F and the wind was blowing at 16 knots out of the south. Fortunately, we were in a small body of water (and eventually a canal) most of the day heading due north. (The weather forecast included the likelihood of a thunderstorm in the afternoon.  This morning before leaving our slip I added the weather and wind conditions to our travel plan for the next nine days. This additional information allows us to better judge when to simply stay in a marina for the day or to venture to our next destination.) 

Motoring along the North Landing River
before the rain started.

At 10 AM it started to rain and the visibility diminished almost immediately.  The route that we were transiting is called the Virginia Cut. (The alternative to this route is the Dismal Swamp.)  The Virginia Cut is comprised of the Coinjock Bay, Currituck Sound, North Landing River, and the Chesapeake-Albemarle Canal.  (There were a lot of logs floating in the Chesapeake-Albemarle Canal.)

The image above is the upper reaches
of the North Landing River near the
North Carolina-Virginia border.

s/v Rainy Days tied to the free dock just south
of the bascule bridge at Great Bridge VA.

By 2 PM we were tied up to the free dock (it's part of a park) just south of the bascule bridge at Great Bridge VA.  Two swing bridges had to open for us today: the North Landing Swing Bridge and the Centerville Turnpike Bridge.  We never saw the predicted thunderstorm while underway but we had lots of rain during the day.  We traveled a total of 38 miles today.

The bascule bridge at Great Bridge VA.

The thunderstorm struck while we were at the slip in Great Bridge VA.  The torrential rain was almost deafening.  We spend the duration of the thunderstorm inside the boat but Captain Jack remained in the cockpit sleeping.

What thunderstorm?

Great Bridge to Hampton

We were up early on Sunday (April 14) to catch the 8 AM opening of the bascule bridge at Great Bridge.  Before leaving Maggie had to bail all the rainwater out of the dinghy from the thunderstorm late yesterday.

Maggie bailing out the dinghy.

A family of geese in Great Bridge.

We were held up about an hour at the Gilmerton Lift Bridge because the railroad bridge was down.  After about 15 minutes a long train chugged across the railroad bridge.  The bridge stayed down another 15 minutes after it has passed through.  As we motored further into Norfolk the sky was dark and it rained heavily at times.  

The sky was overcast as we passed 
by Norfolk's Inner Harbor.

The Cape Ray sits at the 
dock in Norfolk

We passed a large shipping container carrier
entering Norfolk's harbor.  This ship
was not in the shipping lane.

The visibility was very limited as we came in the channel to Hampton.  We arrived at the Hampton Public Piers in time for lunch at the nearby Bull Island Brewing Company (pizza and craft beer).  We traveled about 23 nautical miles today.

Stay Over Day in Hampton

We planned a stay over day here in Hampton because the wind forecast for today (Monday, April 15) is 20-24 knots out of the west and gusting to over 30 knots.  As it turned out, the WINDY app's forecast was pretty accurate!

The sun was shining brightly when we woke up.  My morning hot shower felt specially good since my last hot shower was 3 days ago when we arrived at Coinjock Marina.  (We can take hot showers on board but it is messy and we try to avoid it.)

s/v Rainy Days in Slip #5 at
Hampton Piers on April 15. 
It was very windy!

I spent a lot of time in the morning on our travel plan and revised it according to the revisions in the weather forecast.  (The main thing we try to avoid it heading into stronger wind because it makes a rough ride and slows us down considerably.)


We ate lunch out in Hampton (Marker 20 Restaurant) and did some minor grocery shopping afterward.  (The last time we went grocery shopping was in Beaufort, about 7 to 9 days ago.)  We had to throw out some chicken thighs that we bought in Beaufort--chicken doesn't seem to keep well refrigerated.

Tomorrow we plan to leave Hampton for Onancock, VA, a distance of 55 nautical miles, diagonally crossing the Chesapeake Bay.  Our next blogpost will be published from Onanacock, VA, where we will be staying for several days.


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