"Great Bridge" bridge
"Great Bridge" lock. Lock 104 on our Great Loop Adventure.
Norfolk harbor
The following series of pictures are of the cruise ship "Enchantment of the Seas" which made a 180 degree turn in front of our dock so it could head out to Chesapeake Bay.
... and away she goes.
At 7:45 a.m. George called the Great Bridge bridge-tender and told him that we were pulling away from the dock at Atlantic Yacht Basin for his 8 a.m. opening which would then coincide with the opening of our last lock on our journey (#104), the Great Bridge Lock. We tied up quickly at the lock and were then lowered only 2 – 3 feet - quite a difference from some of our other locking experiences!
After the lock opened we were now grouped together with two other powerboats and one sailboat for our last timed bridge opening, plus one more highway and three possible railroad bridge closing/openings depending on train traffic. We eventually made it through pretty well, except for an approximate ½ hour delay for a train with 99 coal cars at the Norfolk Southern Bascule Bridge!
The area became very industrial with many shipyards and other marine facilities along the way. We then stopped at the Ocean Marine Yacht Center in Portsmouth for fuel, and then headed across the Elizabeth River to Waterside Marina in Norfolk , where we arrived at 11 a.m. We couldn’t believe that it took 3 hours to go 12 miles!
George took the opportunity to clean the outside of the boat this afternoon while Pat worked on our blog and made phone calls, and in the evening we walked into the Waterside Festival Marketplace. We have been here many times before, but we were surprised to see how quiet it was tonight. Many of the restaurants appeared closed, and we finally went to the Outback Steakhouse, which was open. We had a very nice dinner, and eventually the restaurant filled up with a mostly young crowd, but as for the rest of the establishments we couldn’t tell if they are only open on the week-ends, or if their being closed was a sign of financial difficulties.
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