It was a thrill to come around the bend and see Hospital Point, sort of like seeing New York out the window of an airplane on return from a trip abroad. The ICW and this wonderful portion of the trip lay behind me with the fringe of the world that has been familiar to me for all the sailing years of my life just beyond the bow.
23 days from Saint Marys in 20 travel days. Much less weather delay than I expected. Ironically, the trip would have been a lot longer if the weather had been better as I would have done more shore exploring
It is about 715 ICW miles (statute) or 622 nautical miles by guidebook from Saint Marys. The GPS shows 735. My side trip up to Washington, NC accounts for 50 so 63 miles were added in short side trips to fuel docks and ports and wandering slightly off the charted track.
Longest leg was 62 nm and the average days travel was 37 nm.
A little earlier, I was passing the navy shipyard when someone yelled and waved from the bulkhead. “I’ve been following you on your SPOT.” I turned over towards him and asked his name which I couldn’t quite hear but the patrol boat started a U turn as soon as I headed towards the shore and I figured I’d better get out of there. He checked in on a thread below. This has happened a few times and I’m always bemused that people hang around waiting to see me, one of many boats, go by. I’ll take it as a compliment on my writing, thank you.
A good stiff breeze was springing up as I left the waterway behind. Fortunately, it was abaft the beam or it would have been a very unpleasant end to this part of the cruise. It would have been a great sleigh ride if I’d unrolled the jib but I was still recovering from pulling on ropes during the anchoring adventure and just feeling lazy.
I’m now anchored in Hampton in the spot where I met Lee and Lynn. I arrived to a bizarre scene. Every transient slip in the public piers is occupied by what appears to be the entire fleet of law enforcement craft in Hampton Roads. There is some kind of conference going on. They anchored one boat right next to me and then spent the afternoon doing boarding drills with toy guns.
Maybe they had someone come up from the Volusia County sheriff department to provide instruction but I sure hope this isn’t the new SOP for “courtesy” boardings in this part of the world. It was all about intimidation. At full volume (according to instruction, muted a bit in consideration of the surroundings) “HANDS ON TOP OF YOUR HEAD! DO NOT TURN AROUND. IF YOU TAKE YOUR HAND OFF YOUR HEAD OR TURN AROUND, YOU WILL BE SHOT. DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?”
This went on all afternoon. It was both amusing and a bit nightmarish to watch. Some of the amusement came from watching the target boat slowly dragging down the harbor. I heard someone on one of the boats say, “That sailboat isn’t dragging.” A truly unique sight was uniformed offices in PFD’s and handcuffs being held with their heads over the rail and their necks pressed on the gunwales with their cuffed hands behind their backs. It gives me the shivers just thinking about it. You all better be good while boating in Hampton Roads.
Shortly after sunset, there was a parade as most of the boats left the harbor with all their blue, red, and yellow lights strobing. It was quite a sight. I thought the conference was winding up but they all returned a couple hours later, I presume after some drills in the dark. They are all tied up again this morning but I’m not sure what they will be doing in the driving rain. I’ll be reading and starting to make plans for the next chapter of my adventures.
23 days from Saint Marys in 20 travel days. Much less weather delay than I expected. Ironically, the trip would have been a lot longer if the weather had been better as I would have done more shore exploring
It is about 715 ICW miles (statute) or 622 nautical miles by guidebook from Saint Marys. The GPS shows 735. My side trip up to Washington, NC accounts for 50 so 63 miles were added in short side trips to fuel docks and ports and wandering slightly off the charted track.
Longest leg was 62 nm and the average days travel was 37 nm.
A little earlier, I was passing the navy shipyard when someone yelled and waved from the bulkhead. “I’ve been following you on your SPOT.” I turned over towards him and asked his name which I couldn’t quite hear but the patrol boat started a U turn as soon as I headed towards the shore and I figured I’d better get out of there. He checked in on a thread below. This has happened a few times and I’m always bemused that people hang around waiting to see me, one of many boats, go by. I’ll take it as a compliment on my writing, thank you.
A good stiff breeze was springing up as I left the waterway behind. Fortunately, it was abaft the beam or it would have been a very unpleasant end to this part of the cruise. It would have been a great sleigh ride if I’d unrolled the jib but I was still recovering from pulling on ropes during the anchoring adventure and just feeling lazy.
I’m now anchored in Hampton in the spot where I met Lee and Lynn. I arrived to a bizarre scene. Every transient slip in the public piers is occupied by what appears to be the entire fleet of law enforcement craft in Hampton Roads. There is some kind of conference going on. They anchored one boat right next to me and then spent the afternoon doing boarding drills with toy guns.
Maybe they had someone come up from the Volusia County sheriff department to provide instruction but I sure hope this isn’t the new SOP for “courtesy” boardings in this part of the world. It was all about intimidation. At full volume (according to instruction, muted a bit in consideration of the surroundings) “HANDS ON TOP OF YOUR HEAD! DO NOT TURN AROUND. IF YOU TAKE YOUR HAND OFF YOUR HEAD OR TURN AROUND, YOU WILL BE SHOT. DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?”
This went on all afternoon. It was both amusing and a bit nightmarish to watch. Some of the amusement came from watching the target boat slowly dragging down the harbor. I heard someone on one of the boats say, “That sailboat isn’t dragging.” A truly unique sight was uniformed offices in PFD’s and handcuffs being held with their heads over the rail and their necks pressed on the gunwales with their cuffed hands behind their backs. It gives me the shivers just thinking about it. You all better be good while boating in Hampton Roads.
Shortly after sunset, there was a parade as most of the boats left the harbor with all their blue, red, and yellow lights strobing. It was quite a sight. I thought the conference was winding up but they all returned a couple hours later, I presume after some drills in the dark. They are all tied up again this morning but I’m not sure what they will be doing in the driving rain. I’ll be reading and starting to make plans for the next chapter of my adventures.
