Last night we enjoyed dinner at the Coinjock Marina Restaurant... no prime rib for us... Susan had fried chicken and I special ordered a hamburger (not on the menu).... it was quite good.

Another short day for us today with our destination being Alligator Creek Marina. Forecast was good with light winds and seas less than 1 foot for crossing Albemarle Sound...We left the icy docks at 0745 and headed out.

passed some commercial traffic heading out from Coinjock and a small sailboat... one boat that was at Coinjock last night passed us... other than this there was no boat traffic within visual range... heard quite a few on VHF but b=never saw them.

We arrived to Alligator Marina at approximate 1230 and we were securely docked at 1245... Our position tonight is 35°54.353'N, 076°01.778'W. We traveled today for 5 hours covering 31.5 nautical miles averaging 6.3 knots.

We left from Atlantic Yacht Basin this morning at 0800... Today's forecast... small craft advisory... NW winds 15-20 knots with gusts to 30 knots... not great conditions to cross Albemarle Sound so we opted for short day destination Coinjock, NC.

Discovered that the Centerville Turnpike Bridge that I had planned our departure time based on their opening schedule was open... under construction... so we could of left anytime and not had to worry about it... but we still had the North Landing Bridge that we were running just a bit late for it's 0900 opening... we made it on time but found the bridge tender to be a very unpleasant person... just no reason for the attitude he had... anyway we made it through at 0900... bound for Coinjock.

We were securely docked at 1300... Our position tonight is 36°21.008'N 075°56.876'W. We traveled today for 5 hours covering 31.7 nautical miles averaging 6.3 knots.

We had a great time in Hampton with Judy and Wayne, Mike and Michelle and our new friends Ray and Beckie... we always look forward to this stop as they are cherished friends.

We were away from the docks at 0915 and headed out of the Salt Ponds to the Chesapeake Bay... the entrance to the Salt Ponds is currently being dredged and they were hard at work as we exited this morning... it was just after low tide and there was plenty of water and with the incoming tide we had a nice boost in our speed to Norfolk and beyond.

We were running right on schedule to make the Great Bridge Lock for the 1300 opening and we came to the Southern Railroad Bridge #7 adjacent to the Gilmerton Bridge.... it was in the closed position with maintenance trucks and works on it... not a good sign... we received a hail on the VHF from what I must assume were the workers on the bridge... saying they were clearing off so the bridge could open... the wait was maybe 15 to 20 minutes... not terrible but long enough to cause us to miss the lock at 1300... :(

Once through the bridge we continued slowly toward the lock arriving at 1305... next opening 1400... so we waited... :(

The lock went smoothly and we through it and Great Bridge Bridge arriving to the Atlantic Yacht Basin at 1415 and first stop was the fuel dock... time to feed SAILS... nice high speed pumps... less than 30 minutes and we had taken on 600 gallons of diesel.

We could not spend the night at the fuel dock had to move down about 300 yards to our slip for the night... we were securely docked at 1500... Our position tonight is N36°43.210', W076°14.037'. We traveled today for 5 hours covering 26.4 nautical miles averaging 5.3 knots.