Crisfield to Norfolk to Manteo

Today is the fifth day of our trip, and I haven't blogged since Day 1. Things have been busy and active, and I have gotten back to the boat each night too exhausted to chronicle everything.

We remained unimpressed with Chrisfield as we woke up Thursday morning and headed towards Norfolk, our next destination and one of my favorite boat stops. Last time I approached Norfolk harbor, there was an incoming aircraft carrier escorted by multiple helicopters directly in my path. There were military speedboats with big guns on the front all around the carrier, yelling at any boat that came anywhere near them. It was quite an intimidating sight. The harbor is extremely busy, with fast speeds until you reach close to the city center. As a result, it required all my focus, checking the channel for fast boats coming towards me, slow barges in my own travel lane, military instructions on channels 13 and 16 on the radio - in general, I'm on high alert as I come in. I was alone on the flybridge, and so able to concentrate. I saw a bunch of aircraft carriers and other battleships, and barely had time to take a few pictures, as I needed to pay attention to what was going on around me. Busy place!

Two huge military ships seen at the entrance to Norfolk harbor

Our marina in Norfolk, Waterside, does not have fuel, and I knew this from my previous trip, so we stopped at the place across the harbor called Tidewater, and Elana and Benny set my lines as I performed a tricky docking maneuver. They had a boat tied to the main fuel pier, and there is a secondary one there which barely fit me. Furthermore,  it was quite windy, and there was barely enough room to turn around, which made me pretty nervous, but everything worked out.

Elana sets the lines as I get ready to fuel up

Sababa tied up at the fuel dock at Tidewater in Norfolk

Getting set up at Waterside was tricky. The marina entrance is really narrow, there was a lot of wind, and I had to turn the boat around inside. I probably had 10 feet to spare in front and in back, which sounds like a lot, but spinning a 59' boat in 80' of water on a windy day is not for the feint of heart. I am feint of heart, but I still managed to pull it off. I backed into a slip with a short floating pier to starboard and a full length fixed wall to port. I've never tied up in that situation before, and it took us some time to get all the lines exactly right. We'll be staying there again on our return home in a week and a half, and I hope it goes more smoothly then.

All tied up in the center of town in Norfolk

One thing we weren't crazy about is that the dock is literally on a wall in the middle of town. There is no security, and anyone walking by could easily get on the boat and rob or harm us. Luckily, nobody did, although some weird people tried to talk to me. Sababa attracts attention, some of which I can't help but enjoy, but being a little less conspicuous would be better. 

One of my favorite things about Norfolk is walking along the waterfront and admiring all the boats that are docked or traveling by. Now that I have my captain's license, I notice more things, and sometimes I stop to talk to boaters about their boats (and later they probably blog about the weird guy who talked to them). I couldn't help but crack up at this tie up job done by one of the big dinner charter boats. They should know better! Hope they never have to leave in a hurry!

How not to tie a cleat knot

We toured the awesome naval museum in the harbor as well as the battleship Wisconsin. I'm constantly amazed by the engineering, ingenuity and craftsmanship that goes into these incredible boats.

After the museum, we went back to the boat, showered, got ready for dinner, and found a nice Asian restaurant where I had eaten on a previous trip to Norfolk. Wasn't as good as I remember, but better than Subway! Next, we walked around the big indoor mall in downtown Norfolk, and Benny and I played a game of giant chess.

Benny pondering his next move

Finally, we settled in on Sababa to get to bed at a reasonable hour because we wanted to get a very early start the next day. 

Sababa at night with downtown Norfolk in the background

We woke up on Friday at 6:00, and by 6:20, we were under way. The trip from Norfolk to Manteo, NC is complicated, gorgeous, potentially frustrating, somewhat treacherous, and exhilarating at the same time. First, you go through a winding no-wake zone through an industrial/military area. Some of the scenery is breathtaking, if you are into boats like I am. Saw this beauty after leaving our marina.

Next, you have to deal with bridges. Some bridges open by lowering or raising a section of road. Others swing out or up or down. And the bridges open on certain schedules, except when they don't. If you are unlucky, you can lose 2 hours of travel waiting for bridges to open. If you time it well, it is an unparalleled joy. 

We got past the no-wake area in about 25 minutes, and hit the first railroad bridge. The last time I was there, I spent 45 minutes waiting for a seemingly endless train to go by. This time, the bridge was open, and we sailed through.

We continued on the canal through various no-wake zones, until we reached the Great Bridge Lock. In the lock, water is raised or lowered depending on the tide. Boats enter one end, tie up to the side of the lock, and wait for the other end to open. When boat traffic is busy, you may have to wait for several shifts to go through, and it can take hours. Luckily for us, we were the only boat approaching the lock, and we got through in 20 minutes.

Entering Great Bridge Lock

As we were exiting the lock, we had 10 minutes to get to the redundantly named Great Bridge Bridge. That bridge opens on the half hour, and we barely made it, which is better than making it with time to spare. We had to wait a few minutes outside the bridge, and then it opened for us.

Great Bridge Bridge

Elana enjoyed taking pictures of some of the cool bridges we saw. I was able to time our trips between bridges so that we were never waiting too long, and our longest wait at any bridge was under 10 minutes. We completed the trip to Manteo in about 5.5 hours. I had told Ann anywhere from 6-8 hours depending on the bridges and the lock. We beat the best case scenario, and I credit the really early start because there was so little traffic at the lock.

Elana, taking a picture of a swinging bridge

The canal can be so peaceful. Here we see houses along the ICW, as we approach Coinjock where we will spend a night on our return trip.

The approach to Pirates Cove Marina in Manteo is quite difficult. There is a long and extremely narrow channel, with shoaling at various points. I spoke to the marina in advance and was told how to navigate various sections. 

We had yet to pump out our holding tanks, which were getting full, so I figured we would do so once we were docked. The marina had fixed piers with tiny finger piers and pilings for tying up. It is a configuration we are less experienced with, and we had to put in significant effort, along with help from a very capable dock hand to get tied up properly in the slip. I commented to Ann that I was glad we were going to stay put for the next 5 nights because I can't imagine getting in and out of that slip again. The situation was not ideal, as it was very difficult to get on or off the boat. We put some plastic stairs on the swim platform, but it was still a bit tricky, and I tried to help the others get on and off whenever possible.

Tied up in Manteo at Pirates Cove - not the floating docks we are used to back home

And then I was told they had no pump out station at this marina!! 

YIKES!

Many boaters, unfortunately, when caught in this predicament, illegally dump their sewage into the water. I had disabled our macerating system on the boat, knowing that we would never do that. So, we were left with two choices. Only use the toilets at the marina, which involves getting off and on the boat, which was really tricky - or taking the boat back out, going to another marina, which required navigating a really tricky channel, and coming back and docking the boat in this difficult slip. 

I was so worn out from the trip that I could not bring myself to either conclusion. Both seemed overwhelming. So, we just went to the marina to use the bathrooms and went to sleep.

I woke up the next day refreshed and determined that I am a boat captain, and I can't be afraid of no narrow channel with shoaling, and I can't be intimidated by a difficult slip, and I have a great crew, and gosh darn it, we were going to go pump out! It turns out that the Manteo township marina is the only pumpout in the area (leading me to the conclusion that others probably dump illegally very often), and they only pump out by appointment. Turns out that the guy in charge of the pumpouts was away, but he had designated George to cover for him. After some phone calls, I was able to get George on his cell, and he was one of the friendliest people I have ever encountered.

George told me in great detail how to get there, and I have to admit I was quite scared. The shoaling in the channel gets down to 3.5 feet, and Sababa draws 4 feet. I have to hug the green markers up to a point, take a sharp turn here, don't go over this line there, etc. I was pretty sure I had it memorized, so it was time to go, before I forgot everything he said.

I was worried about tying up again when we returned, so I suggested to Elana and Benny that we keep all the lines at their current lengths, remove them from the pilings, and keep them on board. We would use the stern lines at the pumpout dock as a bow and stern lines so that all our spring and bow lines would have the proper length already measured out. I have to say that the two of them impressed me with how expertly they managed the lines and we got out with no problems. The channel was terrifying, but I kept to the instructions, and nothing bad happened.

When we arrived at the pump out location, I saw that the place to tie up was nowhere near as long as Sababa. Our pump out on the deck is on the port side bow, so I maneuvered the boat appropriately and called George on his cell. He was a jovial older guy, and we moved the stern line to mid ship and tied up with about 15 feet sticking out the back. It was awkward, but it worked. George helped me pump out, and our nautical enema complete, we felt refreshed and good to go. I tried to give George a $10 tip for his help, but he refused it. I had not seen that before. He gave us some other good local information, and we were on our way.

Halfway back to our marina, after navigating the hardest part of the turn in the channel, I was asked on the radio to stop and be respectful. Off our port side, a boat had stopped to dump the ashes of a loved one. Since I was directly downwind, I was not thrilled to stop there, but it was far enough away, that I think it's doubtful that any portion of their loved one reached our boat. I gave my condolences, and he proceeded to tell me about his wife's mother and how wonderful a person she had been, and that she was with god now. I think he really wanted to talk, but I had to finish navigating the channel and dock my boat in a tough slip, so I was on my way after giving him a few more kind words.

Back at the slip, I called for the dockhand. I knew he was not too impressed with us after all the help we needed coming in the first time. I was very proud of the kids when we backed in, and they slipped all the lines right onto the pilings, and the boat just fell into place. We tied up our stern lines, and within seconds it was as though we had never left. It was extremely satisfying that everything went so smoothly. We now had several days worth of bathroom usage on the boat, and we came up with a few strategies for conserving our holding tank space, and I will spare you those details!

In the afternoon, we picked up our jeep, which we rented for several days so that we could drive on the beach.

Our first stop was to the Wright Brothers memorial where we enjoyed hearing the details of the stories of the Wright brothers. Truly fascinating history, and I found it very moving (no pun intended).

Elana reenacts the first flight

Next, we went to Duck, where we enjoyed the very long boardwalk and various shops and restaurants there. Benny's favorite was the Donut On A Stick store which actually had some vegan donuts that my family enjoyed while I had a normal one.

We stayed in Duck until the beautiful sunset.

Sunset in Duck, North Carolina

The next day, we hiked the sand dunes in the Nags Head state park. At the highest point, you get a view for at least 10 miles in each direction, with Atlantic Ocean on one side, and the Bay on the other.

After the dunes, we showered and had dinner in our marina restaurant and then went to see the Lost Colony show. It's quite a production. Benny and I were bored completely out of our minds, but the ladies enjoyed it.

Elana got to meet one of the cast members.

So, finally, getting the blog all caught up. Today was a beach day. We toured the town of Corolla and climbed the famous lighthouse there. All 220 steps.

The views from the top were spectacular! 

The view from the top of the Corolla Lighthouse

Next, Benny and I watched the World Cup Final at a sports bar while the women shopped.

I was rooting for Croatia because of our good friends the Bogovics, who are from there, but France was too much today. What an exciting game - 6 goals!

Next, we let out air from the tires on the jeep, down to 20 PSI, put it in 4WD mode, and headed to the beach. We drove on the sandy beach, saw some wild horses, and finally settled in for some regular beach time.

And so, I'm all caught up. 

We changed some of our plans. Elana is leaving us Tuesday and flying home back to her job. We are staying in Manteo until Thursday, and then taking Sababa down to Ocracoke for 2 nights. We decided that we'll explore Hatteras by car because coming there with a boat and no car is apparently not as good an idea.

Up until now, we've had fantastic weather. The boating has been easy, and we've enjoyed everything we've seen. The forecast for the remainder of our trip looks a little less promising, so stay tuned. We'll either have an easy time or a more interesting blog!