October 5 2017  Yorktown to Norfolk, VA

“Wheels up” at 6:30 am as we head into a beautiful sunrise.  Wanted to get an early start to beat any wind and rising wave heights as we neared the mouth of Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean on our way to Norfolk, Virginia.  We had the water mostly to ourselves during these last few hours of our awesome 10 day cruise on Chesapeake Bay.  Unlike our approach and transit through the Hampton Roads area, one of the busiest harbors we will experience. We saw foreign and domestic vessels of all kinds: commercial, government, military and recreational.

Norfolk is located at the core of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area, named for the large natural harbor of the same name located at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay.  It is one of nine cities and seven counties that constitute the Hampton Roads metro area. The city has a long history as a strategic military point. The largest naval instillation in the world, Naval Station Norfolk, is located in Norfolk (along with one of NATO’s two Strategic Command Headquarters) and is home port for the US Navy’s Atlantic Fleet, encompassing aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers, frigates, support ships, nuclear submarines and Admirals’ barges.

The Joint Expeditionary Base at Little Creek is a few miles east over land and is the world’s largest amphibious base.  Steve spent part of his time in the Navy in both of these bases.  He said, “Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base, the largest amphibious base in the world, that’s where I started the yachting part of my 4-year naval career.  I was on the loaner ship program.  I got to drive one of Uncle Sam’s 465 footers, he used to loan it out to us and we were allowed to go anywhere in the world.  After wreaking havoc, we could bring it back and they would fix it for us and let us take it back out again.”

Continues below pictures

Our stop in Norfolk, VA is both the end of our Chesapeake Bay cruise and the beginning of our 986 mile transit down the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW).  We passed Mile Zero on the Elizabeth River, the “official” beginning of the 1,243-mile-long Atlantic ICW, just before arriving at Waterside Marina.  The Waterside District is one of Norfolk’s recently rejuvenated waterfronts filled with shops, restaurants, hotels, museums and historic sites.  We had a great time wandering the nearby Granby Street, a culinary cornucopia, and Waterside District to check out the popular and lively happy hour scene.

Tomorrow our adventure begins down the ICW with our first stop being Coinjock, North Carolina. Let the adventure continue!!!