Nearly there…

Coinjock Marina was our next destination. This is a popular marina on the way to the Chesapeake that use to be family owned. It has been recently bought out by a marina company but they are hoping little will change and steal the quaintness of the place. There is a restaurant on site that is famous for its Prime Rib meal. Therefore we had to give it a try. We split the 16 oz prime rib, that’s their smaller size, and it was excellent.

The following day was planned to be a short day. The Great Lock had an electrical issue this spring causing a curtailing of operating times. Back ups had been reported earlier in the year and we needed to go through. The distances between bridges that needed to open and the lock were almost too far to do leisurely. So pushing the engine we and another sailboat rushed to make all the bridges and the lock in a timely manner. Otherwise we would have been delayed for 1 to 2 hours. Thankfully one bridge the operator did wait about 5 minutes for us to get through. The good news is that we just made the Great Bridge and Great Lock for their assigned opening times. The 2 sailboats were the only ones in the lock. The lock master was very friendly and helpful. After that is was a short trip to Portsmouth/Norfolk.

After tying up at Tidewater Marina we took a ferry from Portsmouth to Norfolk to go exploring.

In Norfolk there is an Episcopalian Church that has a cannonball stuck in an outside wall that we went to see. Supposedly the ship Liverpool fired the shot in anger as the last Royal Governor of Virginia was fleeing during the American Revolution. The funny part of the story is that the cannonball fell out of the wall later and in 1830 was put back in.

Also in Norfolk is the MacArthur Memorial. An interesting museum about General MacArthur. Norfolk has a large naval presence and it was fascinating to see all the ships.