Chesapeake, VA to Hampton, VA

I had a great visit with good friend Robin Terry, who was kind enough to host me for an overnight in Raleigh last week.  I showed up at her door with suitcase in hand and said I have no house, no car, and sometimes I sleep under a bridge but she still took me in. Thanks so much to Miss Robin.  I also spent a wonderful 5 days in Pennsylvania visiting my mom, sister, her husband, and my nieces and nephew.  I got a lot of things done and was really able to enjoy myself. 

While I was away, Captain Keith accomplished a lot with Southern Style at Atlantic Yacht Basin.  He got her stabilizer leak fixed, had a top to bottom wax job, as well as fresh coat of bottom paint and new zincs.  She is standing tall.  Keith and I returned my rental car Tuesday morning, put 1,014 gallons of fuel on Southern Style and left Atlantic Yacht Basin for Hampton, VA catching the noon bridge opening.  This is the Great Bridge bridge.

Tug waiting for the bridge ahead of us

Boats coming through the bridge with us

Here are some of the boats coming through behind us

The town of Great Bridge, VA is the site of the first Patriot victory of the Revolutionary war.  For you history buffs; Dec. 9, 1775 Patriot forces won a battle here against the British forcing them to evacuate the area.  Even the British Governor Lord Dunmore left Virginia after the battle.  This denied the British the Port of Norfolk, the finest sea port between New York and Charleston, SC. 

Appropriately an eagle flew over the boat as we passed by

The stretch of water along Chesapeake Virginia and Great Bridge Virginia is known as the A & C Canal (Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal).  This canal provides a connection between the Albemarle, Pamlico, and Currituck Sounds in North Carolina and the Chesapeake Bay.  At the north end of the canal is the Great Bridge Lock.  This canal and lock was completed in 1859; and at the time, it was the second largest lock in the US.  The other water route connecting North Carolina and the Chesapeake was the Dismal Swamp Canal which was started in 1793 and dug largely with slave labor.  The A & C Canal and Lock however was dug using 9 steam powered dredges operating on floating platforms.  It was an engineering marvel of the time.  When opened a toll was collected from boats traversing the canal and lock.  In 1912 however, the US government purchased the canal and did away with the toll.  Today the A & C Canal and Lock as well as the Dismal Swamp Canal are operated by the Army Corps of Engineers.

Boats coming out of the lock behind us

We traversed the Great bridge lock and continued through Norfolk, VA.

Welcome to Norfolk

Navy boats in the yards are everywhere in Norfolk

We arrived at the Hampton Public Docks at about 3:30 PM.  A nice easy day with calm water all the way.  Tomorrow we press on to Kingsmill Resort and get to see Keith's niece Lydia who attends the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, VA.