Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Portsmouth Va

Wow,  What a ride. After Annapolis, we took off for Cornfield Harbor, thanks to a tip from Anthony on Magnolia. From there we ended up in Fisherman's Harbor/Bay just the other side of Deltaville. Nice anchorage. It was quiet until the south wind picked up later in the night, which made me gopher many times in the evening, so not much sleep for Captain Pauly.
Morning light saw us pull up the muddy smelly anchor (need a deck wash), and head for Portsmouth.

What a slog. We had about 15-20 on the nose, and 2-4 ft seas. Like we never left Ontario for crying out loud. Oh, wait. One big difference...It wasn't friggin cold!!!  :)
We got to the Elizabeth river about 4pm, and then it took almost 2 hrs to get through to the marina, which is Tidewater marina. Nice place. Good people. Along the way I got us in a bit of a jam, on the wrong side of a stream of military vessels. I was hugging the port side coming up the river, and was greeted by an attack boat with a not so friendly face on the bow with a 50 caliber machine gun. "Sailing vessel, you are in a restricted area, please move to the inside of the channel". "Roger Captain, I am waiting for some rather large boats to pass, then will proceed to the other side". "Roger Captain, we'll be watching". And they sure were. Deb did not snap a photo, as she was frozen in place. We made fast for the other side after this big black ship went by, and the gunboat kept an eye on us. Yikes.

About to head for the ICW.

Cheers!
Paul and Debra

At anchor in Cornfield Bay

More creepy lighthouses

Fisherman Harbor. Well protected.

Quiet too

Can't get too close, or you get a machine gun in the face

Portsmouth Va


2 comments:

  1. Sorry, I forgot to mention the gunboats in the river near the shipyards.
    So.... in that light, I should probably tell you to watch out for the yellow flashing lights near Mile Hammock Bay (Camp Lejune). The flashing lights mean they are using LIVE FIRE on the practices ranges..... Remember to duck!
    alan

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  2. A guy with a machine gun ... I wouldn't dare take a photo either .. LOL! Nice pics!

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