Ah, Norfolk Virginia. What an industrialized body of water the Elizabeth river is. Luckily I’d decided to follow our neighbor who tied up across the canal from us in Great Bridge. The Kennebec is a huge contraption run by the coastguard and my best guess is that it pounds those telephone pole size marker posts into the bottom of the ICW to mark the channel. I figured not only would he know where he was going but he’d have a little more pull with the bridge operators. I was right. You really can’t believe how complicated they can make an opening schedule.
Closed M-F, 6:30 to 9:30am and 3:30 to 6:30pm excluding holidays. 9:30am to 3:30pm M-F and 6:30am to 6:30pm on Saturday, Sunday and Federal Holidays, on signal hourly at the half hour. Verbatim out of the guide book! The Kennebec’s Capt. would just say good morning Gilmore Bridge and the bridge would open, instead of hours waiting.
We’re anchored across from Downtown Norfolk Virginia and aside from a broken throttle cable on the Honda outboard making river crossings a very long process, we’re enjoying a little civilization. Lots of schooners and energy.
