Norfolk and Portsmouth, VA

Wednesday, July 4, 2001

We arrived in Portsmouth on June 30, and are staying in "Holiday Harbor," which is the name the locals have for Crawford Bay, the little bay between the Naval Hospital and downtown Portsmouth. It's a popular anchorage since it's close to both Portsmouth and Norfolk. It's not too rolly, and there's always something to see, such as tugs manuvering a container ship or helicopters overhead. When we came in on Saturday, there were two other boats here, and more slowly come in, including boats from France, Australia, England, and Austria. By dusk on July 4th, the bay is full, and Luke waits on the boom for the fireworks to begin.

Adrian went into Portsmouth on Tuesday to pick up some hardware. Robbie's "Do it Best" Hardware (757-399-6301) will pick up visiting cruisers, bring them to their store, and then bring them back. Ed, the store manager and part owner, picked Adrian up at the docks in his personal car, and brought him to his store. When they got to Robbie's, Ed basically assigned an employee to him, so the shopping went very quickly. Never has Adrian had such a wonderful hardware shopping experience. Ed is super nice, and brings Adrian by the Post Office to pick up the mail, and Food Lion for groceries, thus knocking out all the chores which require transportation. Incidently, the store is very well stocked, and has a good number of marine goods.

Portsmouth doesn't really have any dinghy docks, and the marina (Tidewater Yacht Agency) is not too accommodating for anchored cruisers. Adrian mentions this to Ed who agrees that the town planners (non-boaters) could do a lot more to welcome yachties. We wound up tying the dinghy up in a corner of the provided basin, using a stern line to keep the dink off the barnacles. What Portsmouth really needs is a floating dinghy dock right in Holiday Harbor.

Norfolk, on the other hand, has a very nice dinghy dock at Nauticus, and is a good bit more accommodating to yachties. The most-excellent Norfolk Public Library, adjacent to the MacArthur Center, offers free Internet access for visitors (you must sign up), and Kinko's provides a free link-up for cruisers with laptops. The only catch is that one must dinghy across the Elizabeth River (the shipping channel) to get there - but it's actually closer than dinghying to the Portsmouth public dock. On the Norfolk waterfront, there is a quay with free tie-ups for yachts, but overnighting is not allowed.

We explore Norfolk, visiting the USS Wisconsin, an Iowa class battleship now retired from active service. This battleship served in WWII, the Korean War, and the Gulf War, and is now "in mothballs" on the Norfolk waterfront. The Hampton Roads Naval Museum and Nauticus are both next to the Wisconsin and offer exhibits about the battleship. On July 4th, a Navy brass band plays patriotic music on the rear deck of the Wisconsin. At the waterfront, Kristina and Luke find an anchor weighing 30,000 pounds - that's as much as our boat!