Goodbye Great Bridge, Virginia

Goodbye Great Bridge, Virginia. After spending three nights in Great Bridge, which is just south of Norfolk, at the Atlantic Yacht Basin shipyard, we finally got “AWEIGH”.
We had pulled in late Monday afternoon to have them look at our starter problem. We had been playing with the starboard engine starter for about a week, and had mastered starting even though the solenoid was balky and difficult. Tuesday, a very small framed mechanic, was able to wedge himself in and remove the starter which was then set out for rebuild. Of course it didn’t come back as soon as promised and it was Wednesday afternoon before it returned and was installed. By that time, it was too late to depart since there are about six or eight low bridges through Norfolk and several did not open during rush hour from 3 to 5:30pm. We waited until early this morning and again because of the bridges, we didn’t enter the Chesapeake until 11 am. Such is boating.

As part of the repair, we also had the shipyard rework our propellers that “touched” bottom down in Florida, as well as find a service man who still worked on our dishwasher, which had bounced out in some bumpy weather. Enough of our minor problems. Atlantic Yacht Basin is a great yard with very friendly and co-operative people and a large place also. It’s fascinating to watch them haul an eighty foot vessel out of the water and stand it up on dry land. They probably had twenty to thirty large boats out of the water for repairs or painting.

Judy and I went walking almost every day to a grocery store in a shopping center several blocks away. The only hassle is trying to carry plastic bags of groceries back to the boat. Of course, we found several eating places in the evening within walking distance.

Unfortunately, I used a different camera and took some interesting pictures of the Great Bridge area, ( It was the site of a Revolutionary War battle at the bridge), but am unable to transfer them to the computer for uploading since it uses a tiny special cable, that I forgot to bring.

In spite of the bridges and harbor congestion, Norfolk is a fascinating area with all the ocean going ships, the shipyards and all the Navy vessels. Because of Navy security you cannot get close to any warship, so the pictures of the aircraft carriers are from afar.

We came up the Chesapeake this afternoon, making good time and pulled into an area called Solomons Island, with dozens of marinas and a forest of sailboat masts. We plan a quiet evening on board and an early night, since we started before six this morning.

The one picture is of the aircraft carriers and that’s as close as we could get and the other shot is of the Wolf Trap Light house in the Chesapeake. Notice the outhouse hanging over the water. Actually the lighthouse is automated today and no one lives there any more.

Looking forward to reaching Baltimore tomorrow afternoon and having Herb and Mary Jones join us for a week of activities with our Gulf Harbour Yacht Club group.

Ned