Hampton River to Norfolk

On Wednesday we decided to move on from the Hampton River in Hampton to the Waterside Marina in downtown Norfolk.  Exiting a dock is not quite as harrowing as entering but it does make us anxious.  The skipper who fended us off the previous afternoon stood by with an extra fender in his hands ready to drop it between us at any point that we might make contact.  Again the Hampton Piers staff was extraordinarily helpful in handling our lines and pushing us off the dock.  Our exit was smooth despite the fact that our propeller tends to walk our stern to the left and the current was pulling us to the left.  Once out of the river we encountered winds gusting to 39 knots and 3 foot waves in the harbor.  The boat was quickly covered with salt spray. Every once in a while we would get a little spray in our faces.  The boat hobby horsed and slowed down to 2 knots against the waves, wind, and current but most of the time we could make about 4 knots.  We dodged a couple of barges and one very large ship heading in the opposite direction.  It took us 3 hours to cover the 12 mile run.

As we were trying to orient ourselves for our approach to Waterside Marina we got a powerful reminder of the need to keep a careful watch in all directions.  As we strained to see the entrance to the marina a tug and small barge seemed to materialize out of nowhere.  At less than 100 feet we were only a few seconds from a collision when Maryanne yelled: "Turn right, turn right!"  I spun the wheel to the right and revved up the engine.  The barge and tug were very small, gray and blended well with the background.  I was surprised that the tug captain had not sounded his horn because we were literally seconds away from a collision.  I also felt incredibly stupid.  These are the kind of mistakes that you just can't make.  A few seconds of inattention can have a horrible outcome.

Still shaken, I made my way into the marina and made a poor entry into our berth.  With a line fixed to a cleat amidships and Maryanne giving a little forward power from the helm the two Waterside dockhands were able to muscle Symphony around the corner of the dock into her berth.  Our entry was far from perfect but the help we had was excellent.  Phew!

Mermaids are everywhere in Norfolk.
This one is at the Waterside Marina

One of the ships we avoided on the way in.
They are really BIG!

These two mermaids were at Half Moone Cruise
and Celebration Center next to Nauticus.  The Center is
billed as a "gateway to Bermuda and the Bahamas."  Hmm...
I wonder if that's how we should have done it?

Princess Azelea at Nauticus

We found this mermaid
headed skyward

USS Wisconsin at Nauticus, Norfolk, VA

Tall ship sunset cruise from Waterside Marina

Figurehead of the tall ship.

We didn't spend a lot of time sight seeing but we did walk by the USS Wisconsin and spent some time in the Douglas MacArthur Memorial.  Maryanne was looking for any mention of her father's group: Edson's Raiders but didn't find any.  With bad weather forecast within the next few days we decided we would head to the ICW and the Dismal Swamp Canal the next day.

View of the food court & Norfolk Skyline from our boat.