Date: June 3, 2013
Day on the Cruise: 49
From: Portsmouth, VA
To: Portsmouth, VA
Statute Miles: 0.0
Time: 0.0 Hrs
Cumulative Miles: 1,233.1 SM
On Board: Susan, Chuck, Maggie, Trooper, Peanut
We turned the car back in to Enterprise this morning. Thankfully it went without a hitch. They drove me back to the marina. Overall, it was a good experience.
This afternoon we walked through Old Town Portsmouth. We had avoided this on our May visit, but today it seemed like a fun thing to do. Walking along the streets felt a little like Charleston with a Northern flair. The houses are close together with some that have almost zero lot lines. As you walk away from the waterfront, the houses are more recent-like the difference between 1700's and 1900. Most of the yards were landscaped nicely. We even saw some ditch lilies growing along the sidewalks. These lilies are my favorite.
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| Street Scene Looking West in Olde Townie |
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| Interesting House Circa 1800's |
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| Notice How Close to the Street |
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| Newer House Moving Away from the Water |
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| Newer House with Brick Work Circa Early 1900's Probably |
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| Lots of Trees |
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| House with Nice Yard |
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| House with Nice Yard, Probably Circa 1900's |
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| You Think You Would Like to Maintain an Old House? Look at the Layers of Paint on this Porch? |
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| Lovely to Look At, But What a Maintenance Headache!!!!! |
I love seeing the pocket parks that are inserted into the residential areas. What a great meeting place for neighbors! We saw a neat corner pocket park. Beautifully landscaped!
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| This is a Sailor's Grave Right in the Median of a Residential Street |
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| Westminister Square, a City Pocket Park |
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| City Pocket Park |
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| A City Pocket Park |
We walked the 6 blocks or so up through Olde Towne Portsmouth, then came out on High Street which is the main drag through town. Seeing a marine supply store of all things, we went in and bought a replacement flag staff for our pulpit rail. The other one got bent back in the crossing of Currituck Sound, so I don't know how much longer it will last.
We also visited a ship's chandlery that had some great nautical antiques and artwork. This was located right on the river walk near our marina. We also tried to visit the museum for the Norfolk Navy Yard, but it was closed on Mondays. We did walk around the Lightship "Portsmouth" that is on display on "the hard" meaning that it is encased in concrete up on dry land. These ships were used to anchor out in harbor entrances and function as floating light houses. I thought that this old lightship would be a good boat for our neighbor Monty who loves to buy old boats.
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| Old Portsmouth Light Ship |
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| Old Portsmouth Light Ship |
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| Looking Up the Elizabeth River Along the River Walk. Our Marina is in the Distance on the Right. Notice How Close We are to the Ship Yards. |
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| This is the Stern of the USS New York. |
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| The Stern Opens and Hover Craft and Landing Craft Take Marines and Equipment to Shore |
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| USS Iwo Jima In Drydock with New York to the Right |
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| Anyone See Tomatoes Growing on this Sailboat? |
One piece of unfinished business from Sunday. The warship that is in the yard across from us-new since we left in May- is the USS Porter. She is in the yard to get an upgrade to her missile system. She fought a battle against some Somali Pirates in 2007 and prevailed. Last August, she collided with a Japanese Oil tanker in the Straights of Hormuz. She was hit by the tanker right at the front of her superstructure on the starboard side. The repair was done in Dubai, and you can see the patch on the hull. Thankfully no casualties, but the Captain was taken off the ship and reassigned. So much for that career! It seems odd to me, with all the sophisticated electronics that are out there now, how you could sail a ship in front of a huge tanker and let it hit you???? Not sure what the real story is here.
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| USS Porter. Look Carefully and See a "Patch" in Her Hull Right at the Front of the Superstructure. |
Tomorrow we head North to Deltaville, VA. Forecast is for high winds until 11 AM, then gradually slacking off. Waves near Norfolk are 5' reducing down to 2' up around Deltaville. Could be a rough ride!
Thanks for Reading!
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