Day 9, March 9, Tuesday

 Willoughby Bay

We started late from Great Bridge, VA. bridge because we knew it was going to be about a 20 mile day.  We thought it would be good to let the sunshine warm up the cockpit.  It did. 

The first order of business was to transit the Great Bridge bridge which is followed immediately by the Great Bridge lock.  All told it took a half hour to get through both.  After the bridge tender opens the bridge he leisurely walks down to the lock and operates it.  

We headed on up the Waterway timing our arrival at the next bridge which was 5 miles away.  When we got there we found that the bridge had been replaced by a 65 foot overhead that was of no concern to us.  So on to the next bridge.  When we arrived at the Gilmerton Bridge we found that the corresponding rail road bridge, which is usually always open, was down for repairs.  The bridge tender had no idea how long it would be before they opened and they weren't talking.  We did donuts for most of an hour and decided to drop a lunch hook to wait them out.  About 5 minutes after the anchor was down the RR bridge announced that they were opening.  The Gilmerton Bridge said they would open in 5 minutes and we were eventually off.  All told we lost about an hour.

We soon reached mile 0 of the Intracoastal Waterway and the end of our trusty Chart Book that we have followed from the Florida Keys to here.  Now it was time to get out the big charts and try to figure out  where we were and where we were going.  Lynda says the big charts are like putting together a puzzle with no idea how the pieces go together.  We eventually found our track and made our way through the military/industrial  complex. There are big ships and military destroyers with small boats with 50 cal. machine guns mounted on them to advise you not to get too close to them.  At the end of the day we came to Willoughby Bay which is just off the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay.  Tomorrow we will make the short distance and be in the Bay.  Our current plan is to take an anchorage just outside of Deltaville.  

Did I mention that this anchorage is located just by the military base used for helicopter training.  There are copters flying in all directions. You can see them drop people from the helicopter into the water and then an inflatable zooms by and picks them up on the fly. They are flying really low and loud.  Lynda maintains they are flying over us seeing how low they can get without hitting our mast.  It sounds like it anyway.  Things will quiet down some after dark.  I hope.  We knew what to expect as we stayed in this anchorage as we brought the boat home when we bought it.