AquaFennatic Great Loop Blog: Belhaven North Carolina to Portsmouth Virginia

May 18^th – It was a hot hot hot sunny day with the winds increasing throughout the day. We left Belhaven and headed 79 miles north along the ICW to an anchorage in Broad Creek which is on the north side of Albemarle Sound in North Carolina. And yes we had to cross Albemarle Sound which was a little lumpy but nothing compared to some of the crossings that we’ve done. We pulled into a very protected anchorage and dropped the hook for the night. Tomorrow we will be leaving North Carolina and we’ll move on to the state of Virginia.

May 19^th – It was a hot sunny day with moderate winds. We left our Broad Creek anchorage and headed 15 miles north on the ICW to Coinjock North Carolina and stayed in Midway Marina. We expected to go farther however Brian from Mar-a-Lago called us on the VHF as we passed by their boat and he let us know that a bridge 30 miles north of us was closed for repairs thus we turned around and they helped us on to the dock. It was amazing how many boats were docked at both Coinjock and Midway marinas … they were rafted all the way down the river. I did a couple of boat jobs including fixing the forward head which had a problem due to a blocked vent line plus I washed the boat. While I was washing the boat another boat pulled on the dock in front of us and almost hit our boat … I had to use all my might to hold them off … what a close call. They gave us a container of strawberries later in the day to thank us for helping them avoid damage. Later we got together with Gold Loopers Henry and Debbie (Seven Tenths) and Canadian boaters Brian and Jane (Mar-a-Lago) and had blue crabs, fresh bread and strawberries for dinner.

May 20^th – It started out as a hot day with moderate winds and transitioned to a cold cloudy day with high winds. We left Midway marina and travelled 47 miles north to Portsmouth Virginia and pulled into a free dock. We left Midway early to try to beat the traffic north, however many other boaters had the same idea. The VHF was busy with boaters calling other boaters to pass plus it was challenging to get to the bridges to meet their opening schedules as well as getting through 1 lock. We stopped for fuel at Top Rack Marina and then stopped for the day at a free dock in Portsmouth Virginia with the help of Henry and Debbie on Seven Tenths. Afterwards a catamaran pulled onto the dock and hit our boat on the way in, however luckily no damage was caused to our boat. Unfortunately they did sustain some damage on theirs but they did a fairly good job docking in a high wind situation. They were very apologetic about the whole situation, however SH!T happens, however twice in 2 days?! Directly behind us there is a beer, wine and BBQ festival with a live band … great entertainment while we enjoyed the comfort of our own boat.