Day 196 - April 27, 2013: The Portsmouth area

After a number of days cruising, we needed some time to catch up. I spent the morning washing the boat, which was heavily coated with salt, wind blown dirt and dead insects. In addition, I cleaned the in-hull speed sensor and removed the bow thruster for some maintenance. Anne was busy with laundry and reorganizing and getting rid of unnecessary travel books and brochures.

We are staying at the Ocean Marine Yacht Center, which is right in the heart of Portsmouth, and there are a number of boaters living on boats here or cruising through the area. The couple next to us is preparing the sailboat they purchased in Florida to cross the Atlantic and go back to their home in England. They have never done this before and were sitting in the cockpit today reading a book on how to cross an ocean. I admired their courage, but then remembered we started on a 6,500-mile cruise without having done that before as well.

Our marina in Portsmouth, with Great Laker visible in the back row next to the office building

Mid-afternoon, we took advantage of the sunshine to walk the Portsmouth Waterfront and Historic Home District. There is a Naval Shipyard Museum and a Lighthouse Museum and several blocks of shops and restaurants, all within easy walking distance. From the marina and the waterfront, we could see the shipyards supporting the Navy Station at Norfolk, VA, directly across the Elizabeth River. There are two patrol boats in the river monitoring boat traffic here at all times, and if boaters get too close to the ships, they get a stern warning to stay away.

Ships undergoing refitting and a patrol boat in the channel

For dinner, we ate German food (for the first time on this cruise) at The Bier Garden, one of the highly recommended restaurants in town. This is great if you like beer, as they have between 400 - 500 beers of all types on the menu! The beer, brats, cucumber salad and red cabbage were delicious.