Back to Virginia

Our destination calls to us. (I could describe it as the homing instinct, but that would contradict a point made in an earlier blog.) We left Beaufort, NC knowing we had five days of travel ahead of us to return to our base marina in Mobjack Bay off the lower Chesapeake. Unlike the more southern portions of the ICW, this last leg should be plenty deep as long as we stay in the channel. There are no tide issues once we leave Adams Creek just north of Beaufort a ways until we reach the lock south of Norfolk. This is a stretch quite familiar to us, since we've traveled most of it seven times before. On the whole, this portion of the ICW is pretty benign. The one exception some might say would be the Albermarle Sound. About fifteen miles across, this relatively shallow body of water can be easily stirred up into a rather nasty state, and it has the reputation of being like this rather frequently. For us it wasn't too uncomfortable. We had the wind behind us, and we managed to get across before the afternoon winds kicked up the waves.

As cruisers head north across the Albermarle Sound, they are required to make a decision to either turn west and head for the Dismal Swamp route or more or less straight north to the Virginia Cut. Many fellow cruisers have told us how beautiful the Dismal Swamp route can be, but we've never opted for this route. The water depth is not that great, and logs have been known to lie under the surface. Boaters report that an occasional bump rarely causes harm. This spring the water depth was supposed to be pretty good for boaters, but we still passed on it in favor of the familiar Virginia Cut. As I reported in the beginning of this blog, our Virginia destination calls, and it appears that the Dismal Swamp option would likely require an extra day. Perhaps another year.

Now that we've traversed the Cut again in the spring, we were reminded of how beautiful this route is also. One travels in rather remote areas with aromatic smells of spring. We are certain there was jasmine growing out there. We just couldn't see it, but the distinctive smell wafted our way more than once. Additionally there were osprey nests on top of many of the navigational aids complete with chicks eager for their next meal. We're not sure the parents were happy with boat traffic so close to their nest, but we certainly enjoy the views. We even saw an adult osprey appear to be taking a bath right in the ICW channel. Fortunately the bath was finished and the bird was up and away by the time we passed. What a beautiful stretch of waterway!

We abruptly moved from the natural beauty of the remote areas to the noisy traffic, passing barges, busy shipyards and all the ugliness that is found in the back channels of the port of Hampton Roads - a huge change of scene! But moving through this got us to an important and well known spot on the ICW known as mile marker 0 – the northern terminus of this waterway – where we are now anchored. To the cruisers familiar with the ICW, this anchorage is known as Hospital Point and is directly across the Elizabeth River from downtown Norfolk. From here we can watch large ships and barges go by. Our night is lit up with all the city lights from both Norfolk on one side of the river and Portsmouth on the others.

And most important, from here we can reach the end of our boat travel for a bit, as tomorrow we sail up to the Severn River Marina off Mobjack Bay. It was from here that the travel began, and from here we launch other adventures. After a break from boat travel for about a month, we'll head out again still heading north. Our destination will be the coast of Maine. Future blogs will cover that travel, so stay tuned.

Captain Bob

Carpe Diem