Moving equipment on the river/ photo taken from Flight

Monday 10/6/08
We left Dozier’s at 07:15 hoping to make it to Portsmouth if sea conditions permitted, otherwise we would go to plan “B” and find a comfortable anchorage, maybe in the York River. We wanted to be in Portsmouth before the stronger winds that were forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday, arrived. The first 2 hours underway, were marginally uncomfortable but when we got to a point where our heading turned more southwesterly, it put the wind and chop on our port quarter and made the ride quite pleasant. No plan “B” today – we will be in Portsmouth even earlier than we hoped, due to a favorable current all the way.
We had decided to go to Ocean Marine Yacht Center because some friends told us they had real good diesel prices and we knew it to be a nice facility to stay at for a few days. We arrived at the fuel dock about 1:30 and pumped 153 gallons into our tanks. It is the first fuel we have purchased since late June and the price was $1.12 per gallon less. We also pumped out a few gallons from our waste holding tank and gave it a good back flushing with fresh water. After moving to our assigned slip and getting the boat settled, we just relaxed aboard, happy to be secured for the coming high winds.

Portsmouth has become a favorite destination for us because of the activities going on along the Elizabeth River. Directly across from our slip was one of the ship dry dock companies and several U.S. Navy ships were being worked on, day and night. Also, there is just about constant traffic moving along the river - tugs with barges, Navy security patrol craft, fire boats and even ocean going freighters and the occasional guided missile cruiser. When there is no interesting action on the water, you can find a large Navy helicopter flying by at 200 feet AGL with gun barrels sticking out of each side door. We also like Portsmouth because it’s waterfront is very boater friendly. It is a close walk to High Street where there are some nice places to eat or get a cup of coffee and sweet roll in the AM. There is also a continuous ferry running between the Portsmouth and Norfolk waterfronts. As officially “old people”, we can ride for 75 cents each way. Norfolk’s waterfront has a mini version of the Baltimore Inner Harbor complex. It’s just a pleasant place to hang out for a few days.
We also have some boating friends who live aboard their Monk 36 at Ocean Marine. Patty and Alan Sutton work at their careers in the Norfolk area and have lived at Ocean Marine for several years – Patty stopped by our boat to say hi.