At the end of the swamp, there is another lock that drops us 8’ back to sea level.
We had
heard the lockmaster here is a “hoot”! He collects conch shells, and
many boaters who have been in the Bahamas bring some to him on their way
home every spring. On this lock thru, we heard him give out a big
“WHOOPEE!!!” One of the boaters had not only brought him a conch, but also
a bottle of his favorite rum - Fire In The Hole from the Bahamas!
That’s the lock master down on the end in the red life jacket. You can
see his shell collection in the garden.
Portsmouth is a major US Navy port, and they do a lot of repair work here on the
war ships. The two on top are being prepped for paint, and the lower
picture shows a carrier freshly painted.
We wound our way through the
ship yards, and found Ocean Marine Yacht Basin to spend the night.
Michele’s sister Jeanine drove down from Chesapeake to have dinner with
us.
We all went to a small family owned /
family run restaurant downtown that had been recommended to us. The
Lobscouser was indeed a good choice. The food and service were
exceptional, and the price reasonable.
This was a
“last dinner” for awhile with our travel companions Marc & Michele.
They are staying in Portsmouth for a few days so they can visit Marc’s
sister. Then they are attending the AGLCA Spring Rendezvous in Norfolk.
We are going to keep heading north. Hopefully we will meet up again down
the waterway. Bye guys - we’ll miss ya!!
As we pulled out of Portsmouth Tuesday AM, the ship yards, freight
terminals, and Navy yards went on and on for miles! There are some BIG
ships here!
We always have the marine radio scanning channels 13 & 16, and began
hearing security calls for navy ships leaving their berths. They state
that everyone is to stay 500 yards away from the ships, or deadly force
may be used! This destroyer pulled out right in front of us, so we
stopped and let him on his way.
A little further down, this carrier pulled out of his berth. The smaller
boat is the military police making sure we don’t get too close! We
followed the carrier, at a proper distance, out to the end of the
channel, where he headed to sea, and we took a left up the Chesapeake
Bay to our destination of Yorktown.
We arrived at a small marina right in the heart of the historic district of Yorktown by noon.
That gave
us plenty of time to do some sightseeing. Yorktown is where the British
Lord Cornwallis surrendered to the American and British troops in 1781
to end the Revolutionary War. There is a lot of history here, and
numerous preserved structures from the 1700’s.
We toured the Yorktown Victory Center, and walked through the historic district. There were demonstrations of 1700’s cannons and muskets.
One of the houses had been hit with cannon balls, and had one embedded in the brick!
It turned out to be a beautiful
afternoon for brushing up on our history. The holly and azaleas were in
bloom to top off another wonderful day on the Loop!
Captn Ken
No comments:
Post a Comment