Day 9 - The ICW
Today was a long but very interesting day. We left the dock in Hampton, VA headed for the ICW at 7AM. We passed the naval shipyard, which was huge. Each ship is tied to a dock with a large gated area so boats cannot approach the ships. There are naval police patrolling the water all around. It was so impressive. I must confess that the blah gray battleships are not very pretty but I bet when they are rescuing you from the enemy you would think they are gorgeous. Shout out to all the men and women in our armed forces. Thank you for your service and our protection.
We had to go slow by the military bases and up to buoy 36 which is mile zero of the ICW. We finally start the trek down the ICW. I have heard the ICW starts in Maine and I have heard it starts in Manasquan, NJ, and Virginia claims mile zero. You can decide.
The first new experience was the passage through the Great Bridge Lock. Southbound they open the gates at 20 past the hour and northbound they open it on the hour. We lucked out and only had to wait a few minutes. We were the second boat in line. We were fortunate to have the starboard side that has the rubber fenders. We rigged out fenders and fender boards (thank you Emma). We really didn’t need them. By the time the lock was full we had 13 boats tied to both sides of the lock. I was expecting this big gush of water to happen. That was a bit of a let down. The lock manager told us we might move down 6 inches. As soon as the entrance gate closed the front gate opened. We thought the boats would exit in the order they entered. That is not the case at all. It is everyone trying to get out first. The big joke is that you can only go as far as the next bridge and you all get backed up until the the bridge swings open. We had to wait there about 20 minutes. Everyone is jockeying for the lead. It is actually pretty funny. Some people are super nice and others just blow by you. Most of the beginning part of the ICW is a no wake zone. Doug’s need for speed was tested several times. Once we got through the second swing bridge we finally could move faster. The channels are very narrow in some places and wider in others. The wide open spaces are deceiving because if you venture out of the channel you may be in 2-3 feet of water. We crossed Albemarle sound and ended up in Alligator River Marina. It was a 7 hour trip and we only traveled 86 miles. When we leave here tomorrow we will have to pass through another swing bridge to get back on the ICW. We are hoping to head to Beaufort, NC tomorrow. That trip will be about 120 miles. Today we took on 146.5 gallons of fuel at $3.39/gallon. Dockage was $2/foot.
At the marina there is a boat fueling spot and a car fueling place. There is a small grill inside. I swear I had the best philly cheese steak sandwich I have ever had. Doug got that and popcorn shrimp. It was all delicious.
It was a gorgeous sunny day. It was 82 by the time we docked at 2PM. It was windy so we did have chop crossing the Albemarle Sound. It is supposed to rain later tonight and get cooler. I will post pictures of today’s trip