Saturday, May 11, 2013 – Alligator River Marina (Mile 84) to Great Bridge (Mile 8):

            Up again really early, and after a quick breakfast we are “on the road” by 7:00 a.m.  As we leave the marina the wind was 15 – 20 knots, but from the south so we weren’t bothered by it too much.  We are out in the Alligator River for four miles and then you enter Albemarle Sound and cross this for 15 miles into the North River.  You are warned to be careful of the weather in Albemarle Sound as just a little wind can make the shallow water very choppy and sometimes dangerous, but the weather worked out for us, and we got across in good time.

            There seem to be crab pots everywhere – I guess the season is starting!  We keep a sharp lookout for them as they can be hard to see when the waves are two to three feet!

            The North River has the typical scenery we find in these parts with cypress trees and cypress knees and swamp like areas bordering the river, but it’s attractive in here.  The North River takes you to the Carolina Cut and past Coinjock where we stayed on the way down here.  I wanted to find out where the name Coinjock comes from, but I don’t have very good internet service here, and I may not even get to post this blog.  We are just outside of Norfolk, and I would have thought there would have been no problem with getting online, but apparently not!

A cottage on the water that we passed

            Anyway, the Waterway Guide says that “Coinjock, named by the Indians for the berries still growing in the area…” so that’s as much as I can find out right now.

            After Coinjock we enter Coinjock Bay, which is where we passed the barge on the way down in October.  I think I held my breath the entire way in Coinjock Bay in anticipation of another passing incident!  But, fortunately, we didn’t run into any commercial traffic – nothing except a thunderstorm!  It’s pretty in here, but neither Bob nor I can remember it – we think the barge incident wiped out our memory of that day!

The thunderstorm 

            Coinjock Bay goes into the North Landing River (that’s actually where we passed the barge – in the narrow part!) and Currituck Sound; and at about Mile 34 you enter Virginia!  From there you enter the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal and then you start the parade of bridges!

            First up – North Landing Swing Bridge which opens on the hour and half-hour – we had no problem there.  Then the Centerville Turnpike Bridge, which also opens on the hour and half-hour.  Well, we didn’t think we could quite get there in time for the next opening, so we sort of dawdled our way up there, and we called the bridge tender because we thought he could see us and we didn’t want him to think we were trying to get there in time for the next bridge opening.  But when we called him he said he had another boat coming, and so we hurried on up and got through.  We thanked him profusely and headed toward the next bridge – the Norfolk Southern Railroad Bridge which is usually open.  You know my feeling about railroad bridges, but we got through this one without any trains barreling down on us.  The next bridge was the Great Bridge which only opens on the hour, and we knew we would have to hang around awhile for this one, but I called the bridge tender to let him know we were hanging around, and he told us that there was a tug and barge approaching, and he was going to have to open the bridge for him, and if we would call the tug operator we could coordinate both of us passing through the bridge when he opened for the barge.  Well, the barge/tug captain was listening, and he broke in and gave us instructions about how to coordinate both of us getting through the bridge – so that worked out great!

The barge we passed at the bridge

            Next up was the Great Bridge Lock which opens when the bridge opens, but I was concerned about who was going to be let into the lock – north or southbound traffic so I called the lock tender earlier to find out how to coordinate the bridge and the lock.  He told me that they would be taking northbound boats, and he also gave me instructions as to where to tie up, etc.  So that worked out much better than we anticipated.  The bridge opened early for us because of the barge, and the lock tender (who was also listening in on our conversation because it was all done over Channel 13 which the bridges, barges, and locks all monitor!) let us in early whereupon we had a nice conversation with him while waiting for the lock to open up for us.

Waiting for the lock to open

            Finally, we just had to get through the Steele Bridge which we thought opened only on the hour, but when we called the bridge tender, she said she opened on the half-hour also.  So we got through that one in pretty good time.

            Immediately after the Steele Bridge was the Top Rack Marina where we were going to stay for the night.  They offer fuel at a ridiculously low price, and if you have dinner at the restaurant, they left you stay in the slip overnight for free.  You can’t beat that!  And dinner at the restaurant was fabulous.  It happened to be “prom night” and all the kids were beautiful and handsome in their tuxes and prom dresses and on their best behavior!

            Once we got tied up in our slip, I informed Miss Kitty that we were “here” and she could come out now!  Which she did, but I noticed that she seemed like she didn’t feel very well and actually a few minutes later she had a little tummy upset.  I guess she finally succumbed to all the rocking around and maybe got a little seasick.

She perked up right after she ruined one of our dining chairs (no, no…just kidding!!).

            Tomorrow we are going to try and make it to Deltaville – another long day, but we will be that much closer to home!

            Oh, by the way, I finally found out via the internet that Coinjock means either “Land of the Mulberries” or “the place of blueberry swamps.”  Take your pick.  You can’t put anything on the internet that isn’t true, right??