Made it to Norfolk VA and Mile 1 of ICW

Well We are now in Norfolk VA

Since last we blogged we sailed down the New Jersey Coast.  We overnited in Barrneget Bay (Washingmachine entrance with 3 knots of outgoing tide, massive waves and to our delight 3 huge commercial fishing boats going out as we came in so that it knocked everything out of cabinets, off countertops and rolled us to approx. 35 degrees) which ended up being a lovely anchorage though difficult to enter due to shifting shoals.  Boat U.S. and TowBoat US were both waiting like starving vultures for vessels to run aground.  Our next stop on the Jersey coast was Rum Point in Atlantic City.  This was a wonderful surprise anchorage opposite the city that had a narrow entrance into a broad bay.  Great place to hang out and access to miles of beaches that vehicles are allowed to drive and park on.  We were told that in the summer the pickups are 3-6 deep on the waters edge (glad that you can't do this in Maine).  Our last day on the Jersey coast yielded our worst winds and seas.  About 14 miles from Cape May the wind picked up off our stern quarter with 45 degree opposing 4-5 foot waves.  This made for a very rough ride and just as I thought I had it under control I saw 3 spoutings off the bow.  Ended up being either a pod of very large dolphin (10-12 ft long) or small whales.  The kids thought it was cool but I just didn't want to deal with them diving around the boat.  We arrived at Cape May and thanks to our new friend Jonathan (single hander from Isle of Shoals) we had a quite anchorage for the nite and much to our delight a surprise visit from Mr. Chris (our Paul's Marina Buddy) we had a friendly and warm evening.  Jonathan left before dawn and gave us all a copy of the last Harry Potter Book that all of us are reading.  We left at dawn for the Cape May Canal and the trip up the Delaware Bay to the C&D Canal.  Many folks have told us that this could be the worst water of the trip but we were extremely lucky and had a great sail and motor to the Canal and an easy trip through (however we were passed by our first 2 gigantic cargo ships that were awsome in their magnitude).

Our first night in the Chesapeake Bay was spent in the Bohemia River and we were met by our friends from the Bofix (2 daughters 11 & 8) and the Were Playing. We stayed an extra day in the Bohemia and then sailed to the Sassafras River.  The Sassafras is a lovely river with red dirt banks and weeping willows to the shore and old plantations on the hills.  Some of the plantation are right out of Gone With the Wind and you can imagine the majesty from that era 200 years ago.  We made it to the Severn River to anchor in front of our friends the Kerrs and Doug was good enough to take me to the Annapolis Boat show.  What a circus.  It was 95 degrees out and packed with other sailors and boat lovers.  Mr. Chris magically appeared again and Doug, Chris and I struggled with the complexities of the new electronic systems (I am still not sure how I will handle communication in the Bahamas).  Charlotte meanwhile took Chris and the kids to the St. Micheals museum (thank you both).

We next stayed with our friends the Bennetts at the mouth of the Severn River and Charlie drove our whole clan to downtown Washington and gave us a tour of the city by car and the Schoenbergs spent the whole day walking around DC.  We cruised thru the Air and Space Museum, some of the Smithsonian, Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, WWII, Korean, and Vietnam war memorials, Academy of Science (Albert E's statue), the National Archives (saw the Declaration of Independance, Bill of Rights, and the Constitution), and on the mall there was a wonderful exhibit being set up by about 20 universities that was a competition of which university could build the most energy efficient and non-fossil fuel driven home. 

We said goodbye to our friends the Bennetts and sailed to the Solomon Islands to wait out and hide from 2 days of very high winds.  We were in amongst about 70 boats all cruising down to the ICW.  We are really beginning to feel like gypsies.  By day we sail alone or near a couple of boats, but at night all the same boats congregate at the published anchorages (Thanks Skipper Bob) such that if you don't get to the anchorage by about 3:00pm you end up searching for a place to anchor or have to move on to a less desireable spot.  Several times we have pushed through for a 50 mile day (9 hours of motor sailing) only to have to search out an anchorage that can accomodate our boat.  Since we are on a tight budget we try to anchor as much as possible, so we tend to be amongst the same boats.

Our lavish expenditure (paid nights on moorings) was to sail up the York River and spend a couple of days visiting Yorktown and Williamsburg.  These cities are set up for living history lessons and since we are home schooling it was a perfect opportunity to stroll through this historical time of our countries early beginnings.  The harbor master at Yorktown was wonderful (even lent us his car so that we could do a little shopping).  I think the most memorable encounter of this history trip was talking with the  slave "actors" on a Williamsburg plantation.  These men were almost militant in their perspective and teachings regarding slave life and the hardships that the negros of the pre-civil war times endured.  I think the impression on the kids was most profound. 

We finally made the last sprint to Norfolk (30 miles) and I was blown away by the size and number of commercial and military ships in the Norfolk harbor.  On the one side of the harbor was rows of Military ships including several aircraft carriers, destroyers, and a hospital ship, and the other areas of the harbor were filled with the comings and goings of cargo vessels and barges.  When the Moran tugs would go by us they would put up a 4 foot cresting wave that would wash over our deck.  We finally anchored at Hospital point opposite the battleship Wisconsin. 

We plan on heading down the ICW starting Oct. 24 and begin our next leg of this wonderful adventure.  We all still love each other and are willing and ready to take on the Dismal Swamp.