Sailing Mystic Hearts

Day 2 – 10.3 nautical miles

The first few days of our winter cruise south were off to a slow start. After leaving Portsmouth, we proceeded down the Elizabeth River, through the lock in Chesapeake, and we had hoped to make up some ground and arrive in Coinjock for the night, but the ICW was frozen over just south of the Chesapeake free dock. We haven’t dealt with an iced over waterway before and thought it best to just turn out and head back to the free dock. There was only one boat docked when we arrived and we learned from them that they were the other cruisers who had in fact damaged their gel coat by plowing through the ice the day before. We made the right call by turning around and waiting for the temperatures to rise. Fellow young cruisers on Moondrift followed us into the free dock. They sailed from Maine on their beautiful wooden schooner and have similar winter plans as us. We spent the late afternoon hours taking a walk around the museum park situated next to the dock (there’s a nice trail that winds through some marsh area) and making a plan to visit their museum the next time we pass through (a Revolutionary battle took place right there in the Great Bridge section of Chesapeake).

Day 3 – 31.6 nautical miles

When we woke up in Chesapeake on day 3, there was STILL ice at the dock and on the waterway! A cruising boat from Rhode Island plowed through the ice anyway and cleared out a nice path that hastened the melting. A quick look at the forecast was reassuring enough as temperatures were projected to rise significantly beginning around 11 am that day. We left by 10 am and the only significant amount of frozen water we encountered was right at the dock and the first 100 yards or so past. It was a relief to get past the ice and know that the upcoming forecast meant that we likely wouldn’t be dealing with ice for the rest of the trip. The cruise to Coinjock was uneventful. We had hoped we could go further, but with the late start and the amount of miles we had to cover, we knew it wasn’t possible. Coinjock is always a nice stop. We didn’t eat at the restaurant this time (we’ll try to stop on our way north – their steaks are fantastic), but we did enjoy hot showers in their bath house and a little heat at the dock.