Day of the Crazies

Norfolk, Virginia
36 50.65 N 076 17.63 W

Norfolk is always an abrupt culture shock for us cruisers. Approaching from the south and the solitude of the Great Dismal Swamp, or approaching from the North and the loneliness of the sea, you find yourself abruptly in the heart of one of the busiest ports anyplace. Such was the case yesterday. We were at the end of a particularly uncomfortable and trying passage and at the limits of exhaustion. We hoped to find respite from stress. It was not to be.

The entrance to Hampton Roads is narrow and busy. When we tried to come in we found ourselves in the middle of a pack. The pack consisted of three warships, an ore carrier, a tug pulling a barge of rock, and another sailboat. The warships were the main problem. The navy was conducting training exercises and it showed. One ship had dropped its anchor, then pulled it up again, sailed out the entrance, then did a U turn and came back in. Another was heading for dock, then changed its mind and stopped, then changed its mind again and started again almost running over the barge. On warship 21 we heard the voice of a female on the VHF radio. She kept confusing port and starboard -- which does not inspire confidence.

The captain of the ore carrier was on the radio asking anyone and everyone, "What is your intention." Believe me, it was a great question. But he was confounded by the answers from warships 60, and 81, and 21 because he didn't know which voice went with which boat. The tugboat skipper chimed in, "It's like a three ring circus in here today." Finally as things began to sort themselves out, the tug and barge were passing warship 21 on 21's port side. Then the female voice said, "Please pass on our starboard side." Do you know how hard it is to make two abrupt U turns pulling a barge full of rock?

We no sooner got free of that circus when we encountered a tug and a pilot boat staging an inpromptu race in the harbor. They came right at us at full speed; the tug throwing a huge wake. I'm sure they were racing because their noses were neck and neck for at least a mile while their rails were separated by less than a yard.

We barely recovered from the tug's wake when an US Army Corps of Engineer boat approached us. He came in on our starboard bow, made a U turn behind us and came up on our port and slowed ot match our speed. He was so close that I thought he was trying to board us. At the last second, he put on full throttle, created a huge wake, and zoomed away at top speed leaving Tarwathie rocking violently. I have no idea what he was doing.

But I had no time to contemplate those crazies. At that moment our VHF radios beeped and gave us tornado warnings. There were two storms "capable of producing tornadoes" in the near vicinity. Jeez. I scrambled to wake up my phone to see the weather radar. It balked because it doesn't like the extreme humidity and salt of the ocean environment.  After 10 minutes I finally got to see the picture -- the centers of the storms would miss us, but not the edges.

Then it started raining so hard that we lost all visibility. Our AIS was able to keep us posted on the river traffic all around us. We had no place to hide, no place ot drop anchor and wait it out.  We had to keep going.  The AIS showed tugs, dinner cruise boats, and that crazy Corps guy were on the move within 0.5 miles of us. However, warships don't broadcast AIS, and they were on the move too. All of them would be as blind as us in this environment.  Radar is useless in that environment.  Talk about stress.

Finally we got here to Waterside Marina in downtown Norfolk. One would think that's the end of the story, but no. I turned on the news and heard that a sattelite the size of a bus might come down out of the sky and crash on Tarwathie's forward deck. Another guy was saying that scientists found things that travel faster than light.  Neither of those would surprise me on a day of the crazies.

The next morning you see the view from Tarwathie in the picture below.  We sit among the Navy wet and dry docks. America's newest carrier (the Bush?) is visible on the right.

Tonight we hope to be on the Dismal Swamp Canal seeking peace and quiet.