The Unexpected

 

This is a front-on view of the surprisingly narrow bow of The Wisconsin. It was built for WWII. The last time she saw action was in 1991 during Operation Desert Storm. We toured it on Mike’s 60th birthday.

QUICK TRIP TO ALBEMARLE PLANTATION

"Are you okay going out for three hours in major wind, Elaine?" Asked Mike. We saw a 25-knot wind forecasted and it would hit us mostly head-on. Not ideal.

"Okay, let's see what Sacagawea can do in four or five-foot waves. That's why we picked this boat instead of a smaller one like the Nordic Tug(1), right?" I agreed.

"We can always turn back," Mike reminded us.

Why did we put ourselves in this position, you may ask? After one day, we really wanted to leave Albemarle Plantation. 

Mike met a kindly gentleman Gold Looper (2) at one of the marinas in Florida. They were discussing great stops and he emphatically stated, "You have to go to Albemarle Plantation in North Carolina. It's like a resort with everything you'd want...". We decided to budget three days there because who would question an ardent recommendation like that? 

Albemarle Sound is a one-day deviation from The Looper's route. It is a large body of water, running East-West for forty miles, yet very shallow (fifteen-foot average depth).  It's like a mini Chesapeake Bay, which we discovered was filled with a checkerboard of crab pot buoys. It's very shallow on the sides and has a channel in the center. In other words, getting in and out of Albemarle was no picnic.

Here’s one of hundreds of crab pot buoys we have avoided. This one was easy to spot. Some of them are colored dark black or blue!

As you already know, Albemarle Plantation was a big flop for us. Finding nothing at the marina besides a pizza place, we stretched our legs by riding our bikes around the flat, 1990s-era neighborhood looking for amenities. Instead of a nice resort, we only found a dated community center. Besides the pizza place and a fancy restaurant exclusively for yacht club members, there was nothing else for visiting boaters. The people we met were welcoming and they also went out of their way to profess their love for living there. Sort of a mantra? So we left.(3) 

In the end, the pounding sea conditions did not feel unsafe. But it was not fun. We will avoid them in the future.(4) And, we'll do more research when we think about deviating from the Looper route. Unexpected can be fun--but it can also be a bellyflop. 

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

Sometimes our days are so filled with cruising that we don't have time to plan much. When Mike is skippering, I like to look down at my iPhone as little as possible. So we don't know much about what's ahead. That's part of the fun.

Our next few stops began the American history phase of The Loop in Virginia. We stopped in the twin cities of Portsmouth and Norfolk, which are split by the Elizabeth River. Since I did no research, I was surprised to see a two-mile waterway lined with Navy shipyards. This was unexpected considering just a few miles South we experienced many days of rural canals and small towns.(5) 

On our left was a wild combination of old Navy barrack vessels and new ships being built with tall, multi-level equipment platforms like the one in this photo. On the right were new ships, perhaps, but they looked closer to completion. Or, perhaps they were getting refitted/repaired.

Here was a three-story barge pusher passing us on the Elizabeth River. It was the cleanest and one of the largest ones I’ve ever seen. It looked freshly painted in yellow stripes.

We learned that these shipyards are steeped in history and tradition. They have been the powerhouse of Naval strength since colonial times, before the Revolutionary War, in 1767. Snug in our marina, we heard a low thrum of power tools humming away day and night. 

There were more than just Navy vessels in Portsmouth. I guess these two cargo ships were loading to or from a railroad. Busy waterway!

I'm so glad we were able to celebrate Mike's sixtieth birthday in Norfolk in style. Mike discovered an excellent, fancy-pants restaurant for his birthday dinner. (6) 

We also toured the USS Wisconsin, per Mike's birthday request. What a great way to get up close and personal with the old Navy shipyards surrounding us. 

Mike on the Wisconsin deck in front of the impressive 16-inch guns. The tour was like other Navy ships…bunks, radio room, dentist office, and so on. The intimidating guns were new for us. Also, the Wisconsin had teak decks! 

“WARSHIP 72, WARSHIP 72, THIS IS MV SACAGAWEA..."

Mike kept to the Eastern, right side of the wide waterway as we left Portsmouth and continued North early on the overcast morning. We passed many vessels like tugs, military police, and a handful of recreational boaters like us. As we plied the water on the grey morning Northwards, we spied an enormous Navy ship coming toward us in the middle of the channel. It was a little like the Wisconsin we toured the day before. Three powerful tugs were guiding it. We were in awe of its size and importance. 

"Calling white yacht traveling North in Elizabeth River, this is Navy Vessel 7," we heard squawking on the VHF. We quickly glanced at each other and Mike immediately picked up the handheld. 

"Navy Vessel 7, this is Sacagawea on your port bow." 

"Move to the West side of the river immediately!" Came the disembodied voice. 

“Copy that,” said Mike as he made a hard left which scooted us quickly across the bow of the behemoth ship. At the same time, the tug boats released her and she turned left, apparently going back into the maintenance bay, which we were passing! "Well, that was exciting," I said. 

Very soon, as we continued on the left side of the river, we spotted yet another huge Navy ship coming towards us down the river. Mike looked at it through binoculars. I think we had the same thought: "Not again!"

Without missing a beat, Mike picked up the handheld, "Warship 72, Warship 72 this is MV Sacagawea on your starboard bow on 16." 

"Go ahead," we heard a casual reply from the awesome Destroyer. 

"Am I okay continuing my course here?" 

"Yes, continue your heading. Thanks." 

We've heard from trusted sources that commercial vessels appreciated hearing from recreational boats like ours in tight waters. They can't put on brakes. And, they have the right of way. Navy vessels are probably "in the same boat" with that opinion.

The Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) ends in Norfolk, as the Elizabeth River empties into Chesapeake Bay. With the narrow, shallow channels and awe-inspiring shipyards behind us, we looked forward to the unexpected in the great Chesapeake Bay. It was much more like cruising in SF Bay or Puget Sound. We were not exposed to ocean swells, but the waterways were deeper and wider. Next stop: Yorktown, Virginia.

FOOTNOTES FOR FUN FACT FANS

(1) Unwine’d, our Nordic Tug, that we took to Glacier Bay, was thirty-four feet overall and was not comfortable in four to five-foot waves. We discovered that in small-craft warning conditions on San Francisco Bay one day a few years ago. On another note, we sold our Nordic Tug! A couple in Seattle bought her with help from our excellent broker at Seattle Yachts.

(2) Gold Loopers are people who have finished the Loop. They are continuing on a second Loop or just cruising around and flying the gold burgee. They are a wealth of knowledge, usually!

(3) As we departed the marina, seeing waves with foam in the distance, I realized they never took my credit card number. I called them to say we decided to leave early and he said, "That's okay. The first two nights are free." You get what you pay for. 

(4) Boaters take head-on waves at an angle, not straight on. It takes a little longer to get to your destination, but it's safer and slightly more comfortable. We hit a few six and seven-foot waves that day too. I think the pounding may have produced two broken items: a bolt on an engine battery post clamp and a broken hydraulic fluid filter cartridge in the stabilizer fin hydraulic system. So, in the end, we could take the pounding, but delicate items in the engine room may not have. Mike can now add stabilizer fin mechanic to his growing list of accomplishments.

(5) We also noticed the first hill on our trip. It was just South of Norfolk. Turns out it was a capped garbage dump, but we did begin to notice small hills at this point. It's hard to explain this, but it was refreshing to see uneven land.

(6) Mike's only trousers on the boat are the blue jeans kind! Our working schedule had us in a one-restaurant town called Coinjock for Mike's birthday. I was glad we cut Albemarle short so we could have a gourmet experience.