Beaufort, NC to Portsmouth, Va

Our jog from Beaufort to Belhaven was wet and rainy, but otherwise uneventful.

While we were browsing in the commercial fishing supply store, Lisa made the mistake of telling the salesman how much we liked Belhaven. That's when we learned that the town had voted the mayor out of office 3 times before he got the idea that he had been fired. He had been mayor for 28 years. After briefing us on the dirty deeds of several other city officials, the salesman looked Lisa in the eye and asked "so what is it about Belhaven that you like?" One thing we don't like is that our cell phone doesn't work there.

We waited for favorable weather for our next leg. It involved 20 something miles on the exposed Alligator River and then crossing the Albermarle Sound. While transiting the Pungo River/Alligator River Canal we spotted a black bear eating berries not too far from the water. He scurried off when we passed him. A couple of miles later we saw some deer on the opposite shore. This from a crew who did not spot a single alligator from Texas all the way to Florida. We anchored at mile 59 on the ICW in the middle of 3000 crab pots.

Our final day on the ICW involved a healthy supply of restricted bridges and 1 lock. All went very smoothly. Our anchor was up at 5:35 am and we spent most of the day in the vicinity of a 2 pack tow that had anchored across from us at mile 59. He ended up in the lock with us and about 6 other boats. He took up the whole north side of the lock.

We made it to our anchorage near Hospital Point in Portsmouth/Norfolk by early afternoon, but it took 2 tries to get the anchor set. It is nice to be done with the ICW for a while. There is a 5 mph speed limit in the ship channel here, so there are virtually no wakes even though there is a ton of traffic. Because of all the ship traffic and ship yards it is quite noisy here, so if you are trying to get away for a weekend it may not be your first choice, but we get plenty of time in secluded anchorages so the noise doesn't bother us much.

Cruise ships dock right across the water from where we are at. Patrol boats keep a constant guard. One patrol boat stopped about 15 pleasure boats in a 2 hour span when we first arrived.

We are also right next to the turning basin. It is amazing watching these monsters turn 180 degrees on a dime.


Using his thrusters (maybe pods) to spin around.


After about 15 minutes, he completes his turn and heads out to sea. The next cruise ship was from the Carnival fleet and was much newer and bigger--but you can only take so many pictures of cruise ships.


German restaurant in Portsmouth.  You would think of all people, the Germans would know how to spell beer.

Monday morning we had a nice chat with a World War II veteran while we were waiting for the Memorial Day Parade to start. It is always interesting listening to a WW II vet talk--we listen with reverence and great gratitude. A big THANK YOU to ALL our veterans (and their families) who gave their lives for this incredible country. We do not take you for granted.


After the parade, we took the ferry across the river to Norfolk. We visited the Naval museum and toured the USS Wisconsin. It served in WW II and retired after the Gulf War.


Me thinks his anchor chain is larger than our anchor chain. The ugly foot is in a size 13 flip flop.