After three or four days of sustained 20kt winds with 25kt gusts, yesterday was finally settled enough for us to depart mid-afternoon. While I was a little sad to leave Deltaville behind, I was happy to finally move on.
Periods of rain and drizzle mixed with sunny skies, creating amazingly dramatic skies, including a few rainbows. We had great sailing for a bit, but as the day faded, so did the breeze and we had to turn on the engine when we started showing a 3am arrival.
I’m terrible at the helm in a following sea and I thought about asking Chris to do the whole run, but I knew I needed the practice. Towards the end of my watch, steering felt more natural and I was able to hold a steadier course. I honestly didn’t love sailing the bay at night since we were in a busy, constricted area with lots of commercial shipping lanes. Scanning the horizon, it looked at points like someone had just haphazardly thrown channel marks into the water. It’s not something I’d choose to do regularly, but it also wasn’t bad enough to say “never again.”
I’m really glad we waited for settled conditions to make the run. As we got closer to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel and the approach to Hampton Roads, there were some sloppy spots that I imagine would have been miserable with stronger winds. As it was, I was glad to get into more settled conditions behind Old Point Comfort. Passing the Navy yard was impressive to say the least, as were all the shipping terminals, and all the infrastructure was a huge change from quiet Deltaville. Chris picked a quiet anchorage off the Norfolk Yacht Club’s docks, and when we dropped anchor after midnight, I couldn’t wait to crawl into bed.
The anchorage was an interesting contrast – beautiful homes on one side, a shipping terminal on the other. As we passed the terminal on the way out, we noticed signs reading “Oyster sanctuary – no harvest”, which I thought was really cool.
We were escorted out by dolphins playing in our wake. It was so interesting to see all the industrial infrastructure as we made our way to the marina this morning. We’re at Waterside Marina right in downtown Norfolk, and I can’t wait to spend the next couple days exploring!
