Kids and grandkids' great adventure on Moondance.

We have spent the last week at the Tidewater Marina, Portsmouth, VA.  Portsmouth is adjacent to the Elisabeth River, Mile 0 on the AICW. Claiborne, Addie, Luke and Jude have been with us, and we have not stopped!  Norfolk, VA is across the river from Portsmouth, and water taxies run back and forth all day, so we explored both cities.  Norfolk was having its annual Harborfest, so we saw all sorts of ships, pirates and military vessels.  The 30 minute fireworks display on Saturday was fantastic.  We went to Atlantic Beach, VA and did the beach.  Inland was Busch Gardens and Water Park, fantastic.  Portsmouth is home to the Virginia Children’s Museum, another great stop.  Norfolk has Nauticus a naval museum with hands on children exhibits, and the Battleship Wisconsin on display.  This has been a great place for the kids and grandkids to join us, and we didn't get to all the fun places!  We dropped them off at the airport today, and have been napping ever since….  Most of the pics are of the grandkids… after all we are proud grandparents!! Tomorrow we head to Yorktown, and will continue our more boring history posts.   From there we re-enter Chesapeake Bay and head slowly north toward Baltimore, then through the C&D Canal to the Delaware River, Cape May and New York City.

The USS Cole, which lost many sailors during a terrorist attack was in the Harborfest boat parade with all hands on deck in dress whites.  This area is rightfully proud of its naval history.  

These Army river boats ran mock attack runs, strafing our marina.  The simulated cannon fire was deafening.  

Simulated rescue by the Coast Guard. 

Nauticus is the building in the background. 

The marina pool was a hit!

On the water taxi.

With a dead soldier! 

The Army river boat. 

Luke the Pirate!

Or artist?

Many local boats rafted up for the fireworks display that night.  At the marina, we had a front row seat!  

Jude drives the firetruck at the Children s Museum.  

Busch Gardens.

Piloting a Tug at Nauticus.  

The Wisconsin participated in the battle of Iwo Jima, where my father was a naval forward observer in the Marines.  He would have directed fire from this ship, and others.  

Jude goes 100 mph then crashes.  This was his spot on Moondance.

Kiwis and Moondance stare down the US Navy-Not.

We are now in Virginia.  We stayed one night at Chesapeake, VA and ran into New Zealanders, Monica and Warren aboard Untide.  They are Loopers also, and Monica lived in Maui and met my first cousin Tom Faught who lives there.   Small world.

After running the gauntlet of Norfolk/Portsmouth, we are anchored in the Hampton River, adjacent to Hampton, VA.  The Norfolk area has a huge naval presence, and Moondance had to run the gauntlet.  In all my years of boating, I have not experienced anything quite like Norfolk.  I’ll let the pics explain:

Coinjock Marina-our first stop in Virginia.  The marina is just before the gauntlet of locks, bridges and warships, and it was full of boats taking a respite before tackling the 50 miles to Norfolk.  The steakhouse was great.  

The lock into Norfolk heading north on the ICW.  Full of pleasure boats.  

The first thing we encountered was a Navy shipyard.  The security boats kept a close eye on us as we passed.  

Downtown Norfolk.

 Portsmouth is just across the ICW.

                                                                                    

A stealth ship?

Untide was ahead of us heading toward this carrier.  

What we did not know was that the carrier battle group was mobilizing  to head to sea.  

The carrier announced on the VHF that is was departing, and pulled out in front of Untide and Moondance.  

The Coast Guard cutter (small boat to the right) announced that there was a 500 yard security zone in effect, and lethal force was authorized to be used on any vessel beaching the zone.  We stopped!

This AWAC buzzed us keeping an eye on things, and enforcing a no fly zone as well.

This foreign flagged sailboat was flustered and hailed the Coast Guard asking them to please tell them what to do to not get shot!  

The carrier headed out and we resumed our trek to the Hampton River.  

We had time to visit Hampton.

A relative?

Hampton, home to Langley Air Force Base, has the Virginia Air and Space Center.  We will tour it tomorrow.  Enough for one day!  

Rivers, swamps, bombs and bears, oh my!

We have spent the last two nights at North Carolina anchorages, deep in the swamp, with no cell coverage.  I did not anticipate North Carolina having so much rural area along the ICW.  We have seen beautiful cypress swamps as well as brackish to salt marshes, with duck blinds, crab traps, and commercial fisherman.  Just like home!  We have seen a black bear swimming across the ICW, Pileated Woodpeckers galore, feral hogs, deer, warblers, cardinals, wrens, finches, and skimmers.  A veritable birder’s paradise.  Along the way we have passed North Carolina towns and cities such as Beaufort, Oriental and Belhaven.  Tonight we stop at Coinjock, our last North Carolina stop before Virginia.  Coinjock is a popular spot to lay over before taking the final leg of the AICW into Norfolk.  It is also noted for its steakhouse.  We will let you know!

We have traversed many rivers such as the New, Neuse, Pungo, Alligator, and Albemarle Sound.  The ICW here is a series of small channels connecting natural rivers and sounds.  It has been a relaxing part of the ICW, without the traffic and bustle of more urban stretches.  All that will change soon as we approach Norfolk, one of the busiest ports in the nation, with a huge naval presence.  Like home, we must monitor VHF channel 13 and stay out of the way of the commercial traffic.  We will also have a lock to deal with at Norfolk, and recreational traffic has the lowest priority, like the New Orleans locks.  Our AIS system comes in handy with the commercial traffic, as we can obtain the names of the tows/ships, and contact them on 13 for navigation instructions.  It also enables the captains to identify us and often they will call us by boat name, and tell us what side to pass on, etc.  On the whole, commercial captains have been very helpful, as long as you obey the rules of the road, and contact them for info.  Every now and then a big sport fisherman will blindly wake tows, and charge through the area at full speed, and all recreational boaters are tainted.  You should hear the VHF traffic when that happens!  Both Alexis and I have taken the Florida and Louisiana on line boating courses (even though because of our age, we are exempted from doing so), and are very familiar with the rules of the road.  Anybody contemplating this trip should also do that, and read Chapman’s book on seamanship at a minimum.

 

In a few days we see our grandkids (and their parents) and are very excited.  Stay tuned!

The AICW runs through Camp Lejeune, the USMC base.  Because of live fire exercises, the waterway was shut down for about an hour.

These guys made sure even the big sportfisher boats stopped!

Note the osprey taking in the bombings.  We could hear and feel the artillery shells exploding.  

Blowed up sir!

Beaufort, NC.

Ready for a night on the town in Beaufort.

Oriental, NC.

Fog on the Alligator River.  

We were buzzed by several of these.  Do any of you pilots out there know this jet?

We saw lots of duck blinds, but this one by the houses was interesting.