Headed to Norfolk

Departed Alligator River Marina to Norfolk.  The trip was 85 miles and took 13 hours.  The river was beautiful with lots of osprey, bridges and our first lock.  

We experienced our first “pucker factor” when we got to the Gilmerton Railroad and highway bridges.  Both were down.  The clearance on the railroad bridge only 10 feet and the highway bridge 35 feet.  We called the bridge operator and was able to get the railroad bridge opened, but the highway bridge was not scheduled to open for another hour.   We calculated our height and decided that we should clear the highway bridge with our antenna down.  We slowly approached the bridge with Tommy and me on watch.  We cleared the bridge with 5 feet to spare!  Thank goodness!

After clearing the Gilmerton bridges we came upon the Naval Yards and downtown Norfolk.

A little storm just missed us as we headed to our overnight anchorage.  We stayed at Mill Creek anchorage in front of Fort Monroe.  As we approached we were met by dolphins!