March 7

Woke up in great bridge va to see a house waiting outside our window to get through the bridge and lock.  

We crossed into North Carolina around 1 pm today!

Also,  we hit 200 miles on the trip odometer!  

We shut down the engines at 4pm. We are anchored a few miles south of Coinjock nc. 

An expedition to explore the surrounding marsh revealed we were anchored just offshore of a bear sanctuary! I guess we will have to eat all the sweets to keep the bears from raiding the boat! 

Over the river and through the bridge...and lock

Day 4

Started the day in Hampton Roads and made our way through the Great Bridge lock and bridge. We found a nice 24 hr tie up just past the Great Bridge Bridge.

Free 24 hr tie up just past the Great Bridge bridge.

The weather is starting to get better and the water is starting to get warmer! The water is 50° in Great Bridge, almost time for a swim!

We went through the industrial/ navy/ government portion of the ICW in Norfolk and encountered quite a few air craft carriers, destroyers, and container ships. We were definitely dwarfed in size!

Some navy ships as we passed through Norfolk.

The In Sanity tied off to the left in a small harbor in Norfolk where we stopped for free water, a pump out, and a quick walk around.

One of a few sliding railroad bridges we went under in Newport News/ Norfolk area


One piece of bad news to report, we broke an impellor on the generator and need to find a replacement tomorrow. Not to worry, we grilled out on the back deck, a perfect night for it. Tomorrow we'll head over to a nearby marina store to ( hopefully) find a replacement and be on our way. We also passed the mile marker "0" for the ICW and the entrance to the Dismal Swamp route. We are headed through the Virginia Cut for this portion of the trip.

Waiting in the Great Bridge Lock.

Great Bridge bridge just before we went under it. 

Out of the Bay, on our way!

We headed out early this morning from Cornfield Harbor and made it 75 miles down the bay (!) To Hampton Roads, Virginia. Thats the furthest trip clocked on the In Sanity since we've owned her. We also hit our 100 mile...and then some...mark on our trip! Only a little under 800 miles to go!

 100 miles into our trip!

 Captain Wade taking a turn at the helm.

Coming into Hampton Roads harbor we encountered a flock of over 1000 Northern Gannet. They were all dive bombing a school of bait fish , which we could see on the fish finder as we went by. Swimming through the bait ball were a few dolphins, maybe common bottlenose? Not sure, we weren't close enough.

 Coming into Hampton Roads.

1000+ Gannets flying overhead.

We headed into town on the dinghy ( AKA Ding- Bat) to get a taste of the local night life and ended up at a great bar called Marker 20. Killer nachos and beer. Would recommend it to anyone passing through that area.

Marker 20 in Downtown Hamptons Roads.

Captain Gabe and Ms. Maizey exhausted after a long day. 

Cornfield Harbor / Potomac

Maizey dog staying nice and toasty warm.

We dropped 2 anchors last night to secure the boat for winds out of the north, and man are we happy we did! Tucked up in Cornfield Harbor we're only clocking a max of

19 mph winds and maybe 1 ft seas, but you can see 3-5 ft seas in the bay just around our protected harbor. We got about an inch of snow and feeezing rain last night, nothing too bad. A snow coating on the boat is like being in an igloo right?! More insulation! We'll be waiting it out here until tomorrow morning and calmer seas. Hopefully cabin fever doesn't set in on day 2...

Cornfield Harbor

What's left of the snow

The bay is just to the right of that point....our protection from choppy, windy seas!

Go time!

After a few days waiting around for a weather window, we set sail out of the Narrows around 6:30am. It was smooth sailing and sunny skies for most of the way down the bay. About 70 miles total (10 hrs on the engines) the longest trip on the In Sanity yet! With the forecast calling for snow and crazy winds for Friday, we pulled in the north shore of the Potomac River and tucked into Cornfield Harbor to wait it out.

Still stuck in the slip

3/2/2016
In like a lion is right!  Our lazy day in the slip yesterday is paying great dividends today. We were able to complete a couple small projects but mostly we went stir crazy.  Unfortunately we will be twiddling our thumbs again today while this cold front comes through. The weather bureau is warning of gusts to 50!! We have felt them as strong as 26 this morning in the marina.

Prepping for GO

2/29/15
Loaded 9 days of groceries for 3 people,  130 gals of diesel, and 120 gals of water.  Grand total: 2000+ lbs. Literally a ton.  The water line is 2-3 inches higher.

A buddy of ours,  Wade,  is coming along to help for the first week or so.  It will be good to have another hand add we learn this cruising thing. He's staying the night so we can get an early departure tomorrow.




3/1/2016

Rabbit rabbit!  Happy March!  We woke up this morning to this beautiful calm day.  A perfect day for departure. ...except for the weather forecast.  Noaa says there's a small craft advisory for this afternoon and a hassle warning tonight and tomorrow.  We'll be leaving Thursday unless the weather man is wrong.