Heading down the ICW at a snails pace

Waiting for the Gilmerton Bridge

October 26th/30th -  Getting through Norfolk, VA takes a little planning and proper timing. Norfolk, Va is MM 0 of the ICW and for the first 20 miles, everyone moves at a snails pace. Why you ask? Well, there are 5knot speed limits through Norfolk and let's just say frustrating low bridges (even for powerboats) on hourly schedules and locks. We had timed our departure from Portsmouth,VA to make the first scheduled opening at 9:30 at the Gilmerton Bridge MM 5.8 (15'height restriction). There were 24 boats waiting patiently by the time the bridge was lifted. It's a good thing that in a few years there will be a new high rise bridge and navigating these waters will become less time consuming.
At MM 8 our first stop was Top Rack Marina where we topped up our diesel tanks 162 gallons at $3.369/gallon. This has been the best price since December of 2010. We've been keeping our diesel burn below 3 gallons/hour which is great! The marina has a new deli so we grabbed a couple of sandwiches to go, I mean how can you beat $5 for Pastrami? We had untied the lines just in time to catch our next bridge opening WHEW!!!
Less than 3 miles later we had the Great Bridge Lock which for some reason was only a 1foot lift. It's hard to figure out why there is even a locking procedure. We stopped in between the lock and the bridge.  So, how far did we get in 4 hours? 11 miles!! Yes we can hear our good friend Craig Briggs, calling it the ICW slog,  today we definitely felt like snails.
Our good friends Mike and Jane Ross drove down from Kitty Hawk, NC to meet us for dinner that evening. We met Mike and Jane 4 years ago in Oriental,NC during Hurricane Noelle and have kept in touch ever since. Our reunion was wonderful  as we reminisced about the time we joined them aboard their boat Blessings in Key West for New Years and wore tin foil hats. Very sweet and wonderful memories, Thanks Mike and Jane, we love catching up and miss you both!

Well the weather has been doing circles for the past few days. One day we had 30knot winds out of the South and then the next it was coming from the north.The temperatures had dropped from 80 degrees to 50,,brrrrrrr and at night the interior of the boat was 40*.NOAA had predicted gale force winds on Currituck sound which is the next body of water we'd have to cross. Normally its not a big deal, but the sound is very shallow and winds create waves and travelling through makes it difficult to stay in the very narrow channel. So, we've sat here with 8 boats waiting for the weather to settle. One night we all enjoyed a potluck dinner and had a great time. It was dark when everyone returned to their boat just in time for the north winds to blow heavy once again. On that note, it's not too bad, we've received photos from Judy and Peppi in New Jersey and they were in the midst of an early snow storm,, YUCK!

Potluck Just before the weather change

Bailey Not Enjoying the Snow courtesy of Judy

Winter Wonderland in Morristown courtesy of Peppi