Day 65: Coinjock, NC to Norfolk, VA

First a 70' motor yacht slipped out into the channel, then the huge 130' mega yacht glided past The Great Loop without making a sound and headed south. We were the third boat to leave at 7:10am. We were heading north up the North Carolina Cut, leaving Coinjock Marina in our wake.

We soon entered Coinjock Bay paying close attention to the marks through this large, shallow body of water. Next came Currituck Sound which has an average depth of 6'.

Ten miles later we entered the North Landing River and began another 10 miles of twisting and turning through the swampy passage. Nowhere along this river was there a safe anchorage due to the stumps and dead heads along the way. This is why Coinjock Marina at the south end and Atlantic Marina at the north end of this stretch at Great Bridge are so popular.

Thirty miles after leaving Coinjock we came to our first swing bridge.  It had a vertical clearance of 3' - something that we could not limbo under with our 22.5' air draft with mast and VHF antenna up. The North Landing Bridge opens on the hour a half hour and we caught the 9:00 opening.

Thirty minutes later we arrived to the Centerville Turnpike Bridge which opened on time. We had 30 minutes to go three miles to the next opening bridge so throttled back to save fuel.

38.5 nmiles north of Coinjock we came to the Great Bridge Lock and the lockmaster invited us in. This lock raised us two feet or so from the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal to the head waters of the Elizabeth River which flows into the Chesapeake.

It was not long before we began seeing evidence of civilization once again - huge cement and power plants, as well as industry which relies on barges to move raw materials efficiently. Then came Portsmouth to port and the first Navy shipyards, then Norfolk to starboard and even more Navy shipyards.

We tied up at the Waterside Marina in downtown Norfolk, just a short walk from the maritime museum and the WWII battleship USS Wisconsin. It was 12 noon.