Our plan was to leave on Friday morning, October 21st, and we managed to stick with that plan. However as we began, we were reminded of Mother Nature's impact on our plans. We knew we had to leave fairly early in the morning because the tide would out later and prevent us from moving the boat out of the slip. Given the weather a day earlier, the winds had blown some extra sea water out of the Bay, resulting in lower than usual tides. Hence we scooted out at 7:30 AM with just a few inches left under our keel.
I then had a pleasant surprise. Due to the wind direction, we were able to sail all the way down to the entrance of Hampton Roads – no engine needed. Now you may wonder what is so surprising about this. You're on a sailboat, aren't you. Well, the trip down the ICW is really a motor trip not a sail. There are times when there's enough wind to motor-sail, that is have the sails up to help us move along better than we could with engine alone. However, there are few days during this trip when we can just sail. We've done it sometimes during offshore portions of the trip or in a bay, but seldom do we find the wind strong enough or blowing the right direction to help us enough to avoid firing up the diesel. Much of the trip has us following winding rivers or along protected portions of the coast with little wind to help us. Since the trip is a long one, we're reluctant to be satisfied with sailing if we must do it at half the speed we could manage if we had the engine helping us. Therefore, I really enjoyed the fine sail down the Chesapeake Bay on our first morning of the trip.
I was reminded recently that many of those who read this blog have never been down the ICW and therefore know little about it. (For those who've made the trip, please forgive me. Feel free to skip this portion of the blog.) The ICW was originally conceived a long time ago. Portions were started at least during the time of George Washington. In fact, he promoted the idea. Basically, it a series of rivers, bays and sounds along the East Coast between Norfolk, Virginia and Miami, Florida that are dredged in places to assure that they are navigable. Then these bodies of water are connected by man-made canals of varying lengths in order to form a waterway the entire distance that is all protected waters. There is no need to sail in the ocean and add that risk to the trip. While it was created for commercial traffic, it is also used today by lots of pleasure boaters like us. Commercial traffic is still important along portions of the ICW, mostly in the form of tugs pushing or pulling large barges loaded with everything from gravel to heavy equipment. During these first two days of travel south from Norfolk, we covered a number of miles on the canals that help to make up the ICW. The longest one to date is twenty one miles long and connects two rivers in North Carolina. These canals aren't wide like rivers you'd imagine. They are less than 100 feet wide in places and usually about 12 – 16 feet deep. As we head further south, we'll see many expensive homes built along canals of the ICW – great examples of expensive, man-made waterfront property.
What we've noticed that is special about these first days of the trip are the contrasts that are so visible. On the first day we sail into Hampton Roads, the largest natural harbor in the world. We are quickly reminded that, not only is this a major commercial port, but it's also home to the Navy's Atlantic Fleet. We anchor that first night at mile marker 0 at the northern of the offical ICW. The anchorage there is called Hospital Point, since it's a cove by a large veterans hospital on the Portsmouth side of the Elizabeth River. On the opposite bank is downtown Norfolk with tall buildings and lots of lights. On the river, the traffic is steady with ships, tugs, ferries and pleasure craft. Since the Elizabeth River is narrow, one must continually be alert to traffic that may enter the river from any of the docks that line both sides. The river could look empty one minute and have a tug bearing down on you the next. We anchored in this mix for the night and awoke the next morning to find a Carnival Cruise Liner parked not 200 yards in front of us.
After dealing with bridges which must open to let us through and the hustle and bustle of the port, we soon found ourselves on a canal in what looks like ancient swamp and marshes with no signs of civilization. As we traveled down that long canal in North Carolina, we found ourselves even out of cell phone range in addition to no physical sign of civilization for miles. We'll see more of this sort of contrast as we continue south. It's part of what makes the trip so fascinating...at least the first time. For us now the trip has become familiar and less surprising. It's a long trip and we may skip some of it via an ocean passage. That's all weather dependent. Of course there's much for us to see and always some new sights as we travel down this protected route.
Captain Bob
Carpe Diem
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