ICW: Day 1

OMFG! I can't believe how naive I was about the ICW! This is the image I had in my head: Lazing around in the cockpit, passing through beautiful marshland and watching wildlife, with the occasional bridge to clear, and letting every other vessel pass us; the kids pointing every which way in amazement as they saw osprey, bald eagles, and alligators. All that with the shiniest grins on our faces.

Let me repeat the opening phrase: OMFG! The first day on the ICW was nothing like what I had imagined!

We left Hampton early in the morning (early for our standars: 7:45). Unfortunately we had to see Norfolk and Portsmouth from the cockpit (it's getting cold and we need to get moving south). We saw one aircraft carrier and all manner of navy vessels, including a blinding white hospital ship. Did I mention the aircraft carrier? Beautiful behemoth. Too bad humanity is building those, but they're still impressive machines.

After the navy base, the traffic started. Tugs pushing all sorts of vessels, wakes that put those of weekend power-boaters to shame, small craft, big craft, everyone knowing where they were going but us. Overwhelming? Nah...

Navy shipyard?

Waterborne traffic subsided as we left the port and shipbuilding areas. But then the bridges started. Railroad bridges and highway bridges and county route bridges and bridges that seem to be there just to kill that tranquil image I had of the ICW. The railroad bridges, thanks be to Gaia, are "usually open," meaning that boaters don't necessarily need to contact the bridge operator to request an opening. We lucked out on all railroad bridges, especially on the first one, which was closed not 10 minutes after we passed under it.

Some bridges are closed unless an opening is requested. They open on a schedule, typically every hour or half hour, only if requested to do so. The bridge operators were courteous, curt, patient, and annoyed; the whole gamut of human moodiness. Most importantly, they did their jobs and we were able to motor on with minimal wait. We lucked out there too, because, even though we were told to control our speed and arrive at the bridges on their scheduled openings, we found the exercise tiring (whiny as we are) and decided to roll the dice and play it by ear. And it worked out too!

There are also fixed bridges. We motored under one that is 65 feet high. The tip of our mast is 62 feet off the water. It was tight. From the cockpit it looked like we were going to scrape the bottom of the bridge's deck. Fortunately, we didn't. This boat has gone through the ICW before without hitting any bridges. And we measured the mast specifically for this purpose. We should be fine...

The first few hours it seemed like there was a bridge every 10 minutes, leaving very little time for lazing around and bird-watching. Fingers quickly mucking with the chart plotter to make sure we were getting to the same bridge we were reading about on the cruising guide; eyes going frantically from chart plotter to other boats around us to the cruising guide to day markers to the bridge; brains on the verge of implosion. Frantic, incessant activity. It was interesting. Enjoyable, not so much.

We also experienced our first lock, called the Great Bridge Lock (and not to be confused with the Great Bridge Bridge!). The lock is there to move boats between the different heights of the Virginia Cut and the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal. We entered the lock, tied up to the south wall, the gate was closed behind us, and a few minutes later the gate in front of us was open. I think we were floated up about a foot. An easy lock, fortunately, given our nil experience maneuvering Taia into and out of locks.

Great Bridge Lock

The Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal is a man-made canal, and empties into the North Landing River. This river winds through marshes and forests. It is beautiful. The 2 or 3 fishermen we saw, people who look like they just walked out of a Cold Mountain set, add to the character of the river. We're anchored in a bend in the river, just a few miles north of the Virginia-North Carolina state line. The wind is quiet. We trust the stars are there but neglect them in favour of staying warm in the cabin.

Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal

The ICW is nothing like I imagined it. The first 30 miles of it require a little more work than I expected. It's the only place of its kind that I know. It's unique.