Casually we raised anchor and motored to the other side of the highway bridge and headed into Hampton, Virginia. We had always hustled over to Portsmouth or continued south but with the offer of a free night at Hampton Public Pier we couldn’t refuse it.

Of course we do know how to have fun so off we went to do some laundry. Jim from Kismet joined us and we had a wonderful time. Later we reacquainted ourselves with some of our old cruising friends and met a few new ones.

At daybreak we were up and waiting for Kismet. I took a few pictures and when I checked, they were gone. We hurriedly released the lines and played catchup. Since we were no hurry we chose the Dismal Swamp route. We arrived at the Deep Creek Lock just before they started to load boats. We caught Kismet there. They had thought we would be right behind them when they pulled out. They didn’t realize I had a sunrise to photograph!

The Diz is a case of follow the leader. There is little room to pass and, hey, what’s the hurry anyway. This is why it’s so nice. Not many power boats, only occasional trawlers.

Approximately midway is the North Carolina Visitors Center. It serves US Highway 17 and the Dismal Swamp Canal. You can stay overnight for free but this time of year brings many boats and as night fell we had fifteen rafted three deep for the evening. Our boat was second out in the first row but Kismet was on the dock. The unfortunate reality of this “parking system” is that the late boats leave first to get the free dock spaces at Elizabeth City. There was plenty of grumbling going on as dawn broke over the Diz. We decided there was no rush so we let the pack fight it out in the cramped and full South Mills Lock and later the mad race for the free slips.

We took the 1100 lockage and arrived in Elizabeth City with most of the slips full. We found space on the wall and were very happy with our good fortune.

The weather turned sour so we stayed in EC for three nights. We did have a great meal aboard Kismet and tried to talk them into slowing down but to no avail. They left in wind gust to 30 mph and a pretty rough Albemarle Sound. We smugly stayed another night for “better” weather. I (John) have been coming down with a cold so I was trying to work every angle to stay in bed. Mary wanted to go and the calm benign morning begged us to go. By the time we hit the Sound we were picking up a steady 15 knots of wind from behind so we set the headsail and headed for the Alligator River. So it was 20 to 25 knots and we were seeing occasional 4′ waves but mainly three footers.

Those of you have been following this blog for awhile no the angst I went through the last time I navigated the mouth of the Alligator River. After bumping the bottom soundly four times in June I wasn’t anxious to be back. I had advised a batch of new cruisers on the “right” line through the markers back at the Visitors Center and it was time to test it for myself. No problem! I saw nothing less than 12′. The sailboat a half mile in front of me showed me what I must have looked like in the spring as he went aground.

Calling it a day, we checked in at the Alligator River Marina. Not a lot of luxury but boy they have nice hot showers. We had dinner with Mo and George on Passages, another Island Packet. Mo made a delicious apple crunch. YUM! They headed out and we stayed behind. This was becoming a standard pattern for us. Weather still hadn’t improved much so we stayed a second night.

Still creeping along we headed for the north end of the Pungo River / Alligator River Canal. A beautiful but usually boring twenty mile stretch of ditch through a swamp. We anchored at Tuckahoe Point early that afternoon. The wind was blowing pretty good but holding was great. We were treated, as usual, to some aerial displays by a couple of F14 Tomcats. They came out several times that afternoon for some simulated “dog fights”. A year earlier we had witness them using flare counter measures which are quite cool, but no such luck this time.

That evening as we settled in for bed, they decided we hadn’t had enough so they roared overhead. I got up to watch. I noticed three very bright orange lights equally spaced out in the swamp to the east. They looked like spotlights on “very” high poles since they were so far above the trees. As I puzzled over what they were, they slowly went out, one by one. Hmmmm ….. The planes roared past several more times and went home so I went to bed.

Before raising the anchor that morning I surveyed the horizon with the binoculars for any tall light poles but to no avail. We motored along and by mid day we pulled into Dowry Creek Marina near Belhaven, North Carolina. This is about as far as we can go with our insurance requirements until November first.

It’s very depressing to be a controlled so much by something so boring as insurance. The cruising life is all about the freedom to go places and do things that most people just dream about. Ah, the warmth of the distant shores beckon, but wait! We can’t be south of Cape Hatteras before November 1st. That means if we leave to early we have to hole up somewhere north of there until November 1st or time our departure from Solomons just right.

We were pretty much ready to go until the drip was noticed from the raw water pump on the engine. This is not something you put off. We ordered a pump and needed to wait for it to be delivered. While we waited our friends Tom and Lisa on Symmetry came and went south. Then it was Dave and Ginger on Avalon. And then it started to rain and rain and rain! It rained for 4 days. A nice steady rain or drizzle with temperatures hovering in the high 40’s during the day and near freezing at night. TIME TO GO!!!

Finally we managed to get our provisioning done and the car put away and Monday morning we slipped out of our cozy anchorage and started the trip south. It was cold, and if that wasn’t enough the wind was blowing about 25 mph from the north. Traveling with the wind isn’t too bad but the waves were rolling at us from the stern. Lumpy but not unreasonable until we reached the Potomac. This is always a rough spot and this day wasn’t a disappointment. Waves built to 4′ with some 5′ ones thrown in to make life interesting. The sound of a breaking 5′ wave on your stern can be a little disconcerting. After clearing Smith Point things calmed slightly and we headed for a favorite anchorage on the Indian River, north of Deltaville. We were the only ones there for a short time. Two other boats joined us later. Pitman’s Cove is very sheltered and the evening was almost too quiet.

The next morning sunrise was tempered by the mist rising from the water as it lost its heat to the very chilly air.

The sun soon started to melt the haze and a beautiful day dawned.

This day was the total opposite of the day before. Virtually no wind and very little wave action. We motored to Norfolk where we dropped the hook for the night in Old Point Comfort anchorage. Next door our our friends, Jim and Laurie on Kismet. Cruising is a friendly way of life. We chatted with them as the sun set below the bridge leading to the tunnel to Norfolk. Jim remarked about all the people driving home from WORK!

It was really pretty funny. The separation anxiety as we finally pulled out of the slip in Combs Creek was intense. We painfully unplugged the shore power and slowly let go the dock lines. Good bye unlimited electricity, good bye unlimited fresh water. Good bye shore showers. The boat pulsed at idle as it crept towards the exit to Breton Bay. The not so delicate maneuvers required to leave the creek were performed, well almost flawlessly, and off we went.

High tide was at 1300 and you need as much water as possible to get out of the creek and into Breton Bay. We left at 1145. As it was our anticipated arrival time at Solomons would be 2000 (8:00 pm). We didn’t want to arrive too much later. The trip out the Potomac was pleasant, very little wind and hardly any boats were out. We made Point Lookout around 1700 or so and picked up enough wind to put up the sails until nightfall. The current in the Potomac had been against us and the flow was also against us as we headed up the Chesapeake. It was looking like maybe a 2100 arrival at best. It got dark pretty quick and early. The AIS was working and I could pick up ships and tugs from quite a ways out. Pretty cool little gizmo.

Arriving into port at night is always interesting. Everything takes on a new look. Staying in the deeper water at least keeps you from having to look for crab floats so we took the longer and deeper approach to Solomons. The flashing red and green markers all kind of meld together. It takes some imagination to place them into what you remember from daylight hours. We crept into our anchorage up Mill Creek and had the hook set by 2130.

Slowly the boat is filling back up with stuff that we had taken off earlier. She’s on a severe diet and a lot of stuff is staying ashore. Our goal is to see 5′ draft once again. Final maintenance items are being completed and the last of the items to be ordered have been and we should receive them soon.

I’ve commented before about how hard this environment is on the boat. The Bahamas is especially hard on things. There is a lot of very fine suspended sand in the water in most anchorages. Our outboard’s thermostat froze up. Upon removing it you could see where the sand had pitted and eroded all the parts. We’ve ordered a new raw water pump for the main engine as the old one has worn through its bearings and is leaking. Now we’re looking for wear and finding it everywhere. Even the cabin sole has worn more than normal from sand on our feet.

Well. we’re off tomorrow for the Annapolis Boat Show to see if there is anything left that we haven’t already bought.