Goodbye Chesapeake…Hello ICW!

After a cloudy, chilly, rainy, and you guessed it…foggy trip from Reedville, VA to Deltaville, VA we spent we spent the next three nights at anchor waiting out a bunch of rain and some heavy winds. On the fourth morning, the winds had died down, so we made our way out of Deltaville in yet more fog. The trip to Portsmouth, VA, and mile marker zero on the Atlantic ICW (Intracoastal Waterway-the link is to a nice little presention giving an overview of the ICW and it’s history) was another rain and fog filled day. Oh joy!

There is a HUGE Navy presence in Norfolk, VA, which we had to pass through on our way to Portsmouth. There were Navy ships of all shapes and sizes, police boats, tour boats, etc. everywhere! I kept expecting to be hailed on the VHF radio by someone telling me we were somewhere we shouldn’t be, but I guess we must not have done anything wrong. Whew! It was pretty nerve wracking.

There are two free docks in Portsmouth (we LOVE free docks!), and we were able to secure a spot for the night at the first of the two. Poor Jim though…when we pulled up to the dock, he jumped off the boat and onto the dock to secure us, but as soon as his feet hit the dock they slid right out from under him and he landed flat on his keister! You’d have thought there was ice on the docks they were so slippery. It was cold out, but not THAT cold! Fortunately he hopped right back up and wasn’t hurt at all…well, except for maybe his pride.

We were now officially out of the Chesapeake and on the ICW, so to celebrate we headed to the Bier Garden for a celebratory beer after dinner, but not before making a quick stop at the Dollar General to pick up some half priced candy corn…cause every well-stocked cruising boat must have it’s fair share of candy! 🙂