tdappleman
Active Member
- Dec 17, 2007
- 1,608
- Boat Info
- 1996 270 Sundancer
- Engines
- New twin 4.3's - 235hp each with Alpha 1 Gen 2 Drives
It has been a crazy couple of weeks so just now getting to post a trip report from September 13 & 14. We towed the boat from the house to a boat ramp on the ICW a few miles south of the Great Bridge area. We went north until we hit Great Bridge - called for the opening and went through - you can just see the Great Bridge locks down the water.
The lock was a new experience - had never been through one before. Followed the instructions and tied off with slack on the port side and sat back and waited. It looked like the water level difference was about 2 feet. Here the lock gates are opening for us so we can continue our trip into the Portsmouth/Norfolk area.
We brought both dogs on the trip - Tigger the Boxer and Buddy the Mutt - they appeared to have a great time!
On the way up we took a little detour into the Dismal Swamp Canal. You can almost make out the sign.
We found a small beach and let the kids and dogs off for a swim.
After our little detour we went under the High Rise bridge - seeing the cars like this was a bit strange....
We finally made it into the harbor in Portsmouth and took a little tour. We saw the Disney Magic in drydock which was cool since it was the boat we had taken our cruise on a couple of years ago.
It was now starting to get a little late so we started looking for a place to stay for the night. We hadn't done much planning but didn't figure we'd have much problem. We ended up at the Tidewater Yacht Marina - really nice place - really nice place to hang out. It rained briefly while we were cleaning up for dinner but we ended up with a great sunset.
We had a great dinner at The Deck at the marina and went back out sleep on the boat for the first time. It was nice to have the A/C on and coming back to a cool cabin after it had been so hot during the day! Kids getting ready for bed:
The next morning we continued our tour of the harbor. We saw the USS Harry S Truman - looked like it was in for some work as no planes or personnel were onboard.
We went out a little further and saw a container ship being loaded up. Was a cool thing to watch after just having watched a similar thing on Discovery with the kids. Always better seeing the real thing!
We decided to start heading back as we had seen a cool little cove near the High Rise bridge where we wanted to go swimming and have a picnic. On the way out we got a good shot of the ferries which run in the harbor.
We made our way back to the Dismal Swamp Canal entrance and went down a little less than a mile and found a party going on.
Had a great cookout - little BBQ chicken and we were on our way home. The weather was great and it was just a wonderful weekend on the boat with the family!
The lock was a new experience - had never been through one before. Followed the instructions and tied off with slack on the port side and sat back and waited. It looked like the water level difference was about 2 feet. Here the lock gates are opening for us so we can continue our trip into the Portsmouth/Norfolk area.
We brought both dogs on the trip - Tigger the Boxer and Buddy the Mutt - they appeared to have a great time!
On the way up we took a little detour into the Dismal Swamp Canal. You can almost make out the sign.
We found a small beach and let the kids and dogs off for a swim.
After our little detour we went under the High Rise bridge - seeing the cars like this was a bit strange....
We finally made it into the harbor in Portsmouth and took a little tour. We saw the Disney Magic in drydock which was cool since it was the boat we had taken our cruise on a couple of years ago.
It was now starting to get a little late so we started looking for a place to stay for the night. We hadn't done much planning but didn't figure we'd have much problem. We ended up at the Tidewater Yacht Marina - really nice place - really nice place to hang out. It rained briefly while we were cleaning up for dinner but we ended up with a great sunset.
We had a great dinner at The Deck at the marina and went back out sleep on the boat for the first time. It was nice to have the A/C on and coming back to a cool cabin after it had been so hot during the day! Kids getting ready for bed:
The next morning we continued our tour of the harbor. We saw the USS Harry S Truman - looked like it was in for some work as no planes or personnel were onboard.
We went out a little further and saw a container ship being loaded up. Was a cool thing to watch after just having watched a similar thing on Discovery with the kids. Always better seeing the real thing!
We decided to start heading back as we had seen a cool little cove near the High Rise bridge where we wanted to go swimming and have a picnic. On the way out we got a good shot of the ferries which run in the harbor.
We made our way back to the Dismal Swamp Canal entrance and went down a little less than a mile and found a party going on.
Had a great cookout - little BBQ chicken and we were on our way home. The weather was great and it was just a wonderful weekend on the boat with the family!
