east coast fun

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Ortolan crew does Norfolk

Each time we pass through Norfolk (to the NE) and Portsmouth (across the river to the SW) we say, “one of these trips we’ll check out Norfolk.”  Finally, this was the year. The Nauticus Museum was a wonderful and well laid out way to learn about Norfolk’s naval and maritime heritage, from tugs and tankers to battleships and destroyers. The battleship Wisconsin is berthed next door and is truly an imposing sight. One of the most useful items in the museum was a Detecto scale; the kind you’d find in your MD’s office. How could I resist?  Hadn’t weighed myself in nearly a year; can you imagine!!?

Bow on shot of Wisconsin, Nauticus Museum is to the left

Town Pointe Park is next to the Nauticus with a view of the river front. This weekend was a big wine festival and as we walked through it during setup it was clear many, many people would be shelling out big bucks for a reserved table, not to mention general admission. The southern end of the park invites you to sit and relax on cushioned rattan chairs… or play a game of Killer Bean Bag Toss. Russ dared to challenge the Queen of Skeeball and lost miserably.

Killer Bean Bag Toss Queen lounges after the big win

Waterside Marketplace, where several chains call home, sits a few feet up from Waterside Marina, where for $3 you can leave your dinghy all day with no worries- and dump your trash. Joe’s Crab Shack brought us back for tasty libations, many served in 16 oz canning jars which you can take home with you. The shark from the Shark Bite is also yours to take.

Joe’s Crab Shack at Waterside with mermaid sentry

Mermaids floated in every direction, one after the other they popped up; by Nauticus, the Marketplace, the marina, in town; you name it. They seem to be primarily the work of one artist, commissioned by others- each with cute mermaid sentiments.

Princess Azalea welcomes you to the Nauticus Museum

When we approached the marina dock ‘lo and behold there sat a boat we knew in the slip a few feet away. Ah, no more could I lament not knowing any of the many boats we’d seen pass through. Side by Side, an Endeavor power cat whose owners Tony and Bente we’d met last fall, most recently on display at the Annapolis power boat show, we’d last seen at Green Turtle Cay.  We chatted and they extended an invite to join them for a movie, preceded by dinner at Outback.  Argo was playing in Aud 12 and we all agreed it lived up to the intriguing previews.

Once again I was grateful for the nice weather which made walking around very pleasant and the dinghy ride out to the anchorage, very easy and dry!  I commented that no doubt we’d be paying a price for the great weather.  Seems whenever we are in NC, the big winds come to play.

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41 Hours: spotter and spottee

The weather window opened and we jumped…. oh if only we did not have to make any overnights- and THEN we nearly lost our senses and turned the trip to Norfolk into two overnights. See what happens when you’re out at sea (well not quite)? The mind is the first to go.

We slipped off our mooring ball at 5 am Monday and found the Lower Bay waters calm. Rolled up one of the front panels for better visibility. 45 mins later we reached Sandy Hook Channel; wide and well lit with large buoys it was empty of boat traffic and we motored at 8kts with the current helping us along.  Once around Sandy Hook, seas were a friendly 1-2 ft and by 8am the wind allowed us to raise Ortolan’s sails and scream along at 9-10kts. Average speed for the first 45 nm was 9kts; much better than the 7.2kt ave we needed to arrive at Norfolk by 6:30pm Tues.  As you know, good things don’t last and by noon we were motor sailing with plans to drop the main as soon as the wind and waves calmed down more. You know, like the forecast predicted. Wrong. Not only did the wind pick up to 15 +, our angle to it worsened so that we couldn’t even motor sail. I wouldn’t let Russ go up on the roof to do his usual assist the main down and fold into the stack pack.

So if the story is starting to sound like we’re not going to arrive on time; you are right about that. By sunset we decided that in order to leave the main up and not damage it, we’d need to tack. Great, lose more time.  Dodged around another s/v and a few commercial fishing boats, then finally (can you sense the relief?) the wind died down to 11kts, we dropped the main. Amazingly it dropped on its own nicely into the stack pack and Russ secured the reef lines near the end of the boom without having to go up on top. We’d make it pretty later.

Jumped back on that straight line course and spent a very long time getting by the Delaware River entrance. Several shipping channels converge there with ships on the move or anchored out waiting for a pilot. AIS let’s us keep track of them and radar shows objects and vessels without AIS. All buoys are large and lit; thank goodness.

Once past the Delaware entrance, Russ caught a nap. I was too wired to sleep but managed to catch a couple hours after he got up.

The final leg, along the coast of Maryland and Virginia is unremarkable. No big cities, just 100 miles of basic coastline devoid of pots. This part would be ideal for nighttime; very worth doing considering for the Spring trip.

Now I’ll get to the point of the title. At 10:10 am, with a 10:11 pm arrival time displayed on the chartplotter, I looked over and was delighted to see- no not a whale- a dolphin! In fact a bunch of them who put on a great show, mostly while I was down below getting the camera- naturally. They didn’t follow along and the waves cause so much motion, making photography difficult. Dolphins this far north- wow. Looked at the big paper chart- well wouldn’t you know it; we were on the edge of Porpoise Banks!

This next part needs some background. I know you’ve all good imaginations so I’ll toss out a few key phrases then get to the good part. Ready? Night time, passing the Delaware, Coast Guard calling s/v Golden Eye, calls other vessels in area asking if they’ve seen s/v Golden Eye.  Sounds like an overdue boat situation. Fast foward to 1pm Tues. The Coast Guard calls “sailing vessel southwest of sea buoy suchandsuch.” Um, us? Check the chart. No we aren’t SW of any buoy we can see on the chart, but then again we are 5 miles off the coast and the chart only goes shows a few more miles out. A few minutes later we hear the distinctive chopper sound and the CG is hailing us, “This is the Coast Guard Helicopter calling the s/v off suchandsuch inlet”. Yep, sure is us. Within seconds they are 60 ft behind us, the sound so loud we can hardly hear the VHF as Russ responds and tells them our boat name. I look up, camera nearby and forgotten, and can see the men at the chopper door looking at our stern through binoculars. They tell us we aren’t the boat they’re looking for and fly off.  Since I didn’t have the presence of mind to grab the camera, here’s a pic I found on-line showing pretty much how it looked to us.

SPOTTED BY THE COAST GUARD OFF VIRGINIA

Later, more announcements confirmed that s/v Golden Eye had departed Sandy Hook the day before us with 3 men on board, bound for New Bern, NC. We hope they turn up safe and sound and only had communication problems.

Night fell as we began the long 4 hour trip around Cape Charles and up into Norfolk. More ship channels, more well-lit buoys, more vessels of all kinds. Fortunately, the water smoothed out a bit, helping us do 6kts against the outgoing tide.

Dropped anchor at 10:15 pm Tues, in Point Comfort anchorage. A medium-sized, mostly protected spot next to a military base. Five other boats anchored and still plenty of room for us in 13 ft.  No pots like we found in the Spring; thank goodness.

Exhausted, we slept well and uninterrupted except for that one time I made Russ get up to check the anchor because I’d heard a few new chain noises. hey, better safe. ..