Mile Zero

Today we reached ICW Mile 0.  An hallelujah moment for Jamey!  He has been yearning for Mile 0 for some time due to his fear of cold weather creating misery for us if we don't head south quickly enough.

Red buoy 36 marks Mile "0"

The Intracoastal Wateray (ICW) is 3,000 miles, starts from the bottom of the Chesapeake Bay and runs down along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.  It is sort of like a continuous dot to dot connection of rivers, bays, canals and other bodies of water.  By traveling on the ICW, you can save yourself the dangers and discomfort of open ocean travel as you head south.
 
In colonial times, these waterways were super important in offering protection from rough seas, weather and enemies.  I imagine that discovering and/or making each portion of it navigable must have been really significant milestones for the country's expansion and invaluable for the development of transport, communication, trade and defense.

Entering Norfolk and Portsmouth where Mile 0 is located surrounds you with a cacophony of sights. Even before the early colonists, the Chesapean and Powhatan Indians were already battling over these river banks that hold the strategic location of being at the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay.    The world's largest naval base is located here.  As we motored along the Elizabeth River, there were impressive ships and massive industrial sites all around us.  It was a marked contrast to the relatively empty James River we had left this morning.

Nauticus is a huge science and maritime museum that we hope to visit one day.  Jamey's schedule had us just passing by today.

Boats have to keep at least 500 yards from these Navy ships with no unauthorized vessel allowed closer than 100 yards.  We saw lots of patrol boats guarding the ships.

We love anything and anyone named Indigo! 

Right after we saw the catamaran named Indigo, we saw this cool boat named Phoenix.  Like the sisters, the boats are very different but both so amazing.

 

Having learned about tugboats at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum two weeks ago, it was especially cool to see this.  

This reminds us of a scene out of WALL-E.

Jamey liked the humanoid-like throwing action going on here.

There are six bridges in this part of the Elizabeth River.  Some mostly stay open, some open on signal or at set times during the day.  There are restricted hours for openings during rush hours.  Jamey had planned our arrival here to coincide with the 1:30 pm scheduled opening. 

This is a vertical-lift bridge.   A span of the bridge rises to allow us to pass underneath.

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WHERE WE STARTED:  James River, our peaceful anchorage across from Jamestown.

WHERE WE ARE: The Deep Creek Lock Pond, free docking -- more on this in tomorrow's post.

THERE TO HERE:  60 miles, 9 hours, motoring all day, minimal wind, an awesome current on the James River that helped us go 8 mph.  Jamey at the helm with some help from the girls.

Phoenix, Indigo, Sage and Skye.  Today's entertainment involved markers.