Tuesday, August 12, 2008

May 25-26 - On the Chesapeake from Norfolk

Leaving Norfolk, you pass many military ships. This one was also headed for the Chesapeake.When you first enter the Chesapeake, you are close to shore and can easily see the little towns.As you progress north, the Chesapeake becomes vast. All you see is water. Robert prepared for a day's run the night before on our boat's navigation system. He set way points and much of the time we ran on autopilot. We would still keep a constant watch for other boats. We would also watch for buoys to stay in the channel. With all the water, you think you are in the ocean. However, unless you are in the channel, the depth can rapidly and drastically plunge to yikes. When traveling into a town or other places where the water level lowers, we look for crab pots. It is not a good thing to hit a crab pot...the line can get in the props. In some areas the crab pots are so thick that dodging them can be a challenge. Needless to say, Robert takes it off autopilot and drives the boat himself when avoiding crab pots. Here you can see the next buoy ahead. You can barely see the shore on the right side. Our first night out of Norfolk, we stayed in Deltaville at the Dozier's Regatta Point Marina. Deltaville is a little town on the Rappahannock River. It is a very nice marina with lots of rocking chairs on the front porch and a boaters' lounge. We used their loaner car to do a little provisioning.

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