Beginning The ICW (The Ditch)

After the storm moved north, it turned nice very quickly. We visited Iain and Jan on Jock's Lodge to plan the next few days and agreed on a 6:00 am departure, just before sunrise, when we would have first light. Later that afternoon, we visited the Virginia Air and Space Center. They have a good collection of planes, and the interactive displays were quite good. We noticed that young teenagers really enjoyed these. Later that evening, Ted and Alice on Windsong checked in with us and decided to join our small group. Monday morning, we were off at 6:00 am as planned.

Passing the Norfolk Fleet

At 9:00 am, we reached ICW mile mark 0. The Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) is a 3,000-mile recreational and commercial waterway along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Some lengths consist of natural inlets, saltwater rivers, bays, and sounds; others are man-made canals. It was a very busy day on the waterway. We went through our first lock ever at Great Bridge with a batch of 13 boats in the lock.

Great Bridge Lock

It was only noon, and they had already put 104 boats through. This early part of the ICW has a lot of bridges, and so we were slowed waiting on openings, which made for a long day before we could drop anchor. After we were all settled, we invited everyone aboard Ariel for drinks and snacks. Iain and Jan kept us entertained with stories of cruising in Cuba. They are Canadians, so there is no issue with visiting Cuba. We agreed that 6:00 am worked well, so we agreed on another departure at the same time. Our actual departure was at 7:15 am as we were awakened to find we were in a heavy fog. The next day, we crossed Albemarle Sound, which can be and was very rough. The going was slow as we were pounding into the wind and waves. Suddenly, we noticed Jock's Lodge dead in the water. The rough conditions had stirred up gunk in the bottom of the diesel fuel tank, which then actually clogged the pickup tube. The day was getting late, so we took them under tow while Iain worked to solve the problem. After about an hour, the problem was fixed, and we dropped the tow line. Bad luck struck again immediately as the tow line got caught in their propeller after Jan mistook a hand signal and powered forward before Iain had the line completely pulled in. Windsong took them under tow for the remainder of the day. The sun went down as we were approaching the mouth of the Little Alligator River, so we dropped anchor there even though we were still in open water. I told Jock's Lodge I would come over after sunrise with our Hookah system to work on untangling the line. It was a very rough night as the boat bounced in the waves. Our Hookah system (a compressor on deck that provides air through a hose to the diver) worked great, and actually, Jan did the diving. The line was wrapped about six times but came off easily. The air temperature was in the 50's and the water was in the mid 60's. We both only had shorty wet suits, but they were more than adequate for a short dive. We were on our way at 7:30 after fixing the problem and stowing the gear. The next day was uneventful, and we all went out to dinner in Belhaven after getting settled on our anchors. It was Iain and Jan's treat. We all agreed to stay another day at anchor in Belhaven.