Day 4, Portsmouth to Coinjock

 Early morning start in Portsmouth, looking across the water to Norfolk.

We had a chance to add to our stink bug collection in our portable vacuum. They have been everywhere in our boat since she spent 4 weeks in the shop. All was going well until Ann accidentally popped the vacuum open and sprayed sting bugs all over me.

Before we left, I did my physical therapy. Here I am with leg band monster walks along the boardwalk outside our marina.

At the Great Bridge Lock, the lock tender told me I had time to let the dog out, so we used our ramp and gave him a break.

We joined a long caravan of boats at the Great Bridge Lock. It was so crowded that we did not fit in the first opening and had to wait an hour for the next one. I was stuck in a cross current without a sky hook, so it was a stressful 30-40 minutes until we got to enter the lock. Ann did not hold my behavior against me because I had every right to be stressed, and she's a good wife.

Leaving the lock, we headed to the Great Bridge bridge (it's really called that), and then caravanned with all these boats the rest of the day.

Took a picture of the chart plotter as we crossed from Virginia into North Carolina. Not sure if my MFD has a screen capture function. Would have been less blurry for sure.

Emotional moment seeing a house in North Carolina along the river showing solidarity with Israel. We have been struggling like most Jews after the recent murderous attacks and kidnappings. It might seem like we're just having a blast on this trip, but our hearts are heavy, and the trip is helping us cope. We were so moved by this.

We arrived in Coinjock around 3:30.

Some boats are rafted two deep, and others are tied up as close as possible to the ones in front, and even closer. The bow of the big yacht behind us is hanging over our swim platform.

Here's the view from our crew quarters transom door.

After a long day, Ann settled down with a well-earned beer. Between line handling at the lock, and fender and line management at the fixed pier in Coinjock, Ann worked overtime today.

Since we had an opportunity to buy fuel in Coinjock, I went ahead and added 350 gallons. You can see the fuel site guides to the left and right of the fire extinguisher. Completely full. Leaving here with 1,750 of diesel tomorrow. We can get to Florida now without fueling again.

Tomorrow, we will have our longest run of the trip so far, about 8 hours through the Alligator River and to Belhaven, NC. The weather should be okay, but windy. Tuesday it is supposed to be very windy and possibly rainy. We will be running an inland river that day to Moorhead City, so that should be fine. We'll figure it out from there once we arrive.