Norfolk to Coinjock

Thimble Shoals Light
The entrance to Hampton Roads.
The home of the US Navy fleets in the Atlantic,
the Med and the Indian Ocean.

I wonder if you could get this close to a ship like this in Russia??

The great diversity of the types of ships based here is amazing.
We saw everything from this SWATH catamaran,
 the supply ship and the amphibious support ship to
Presidential Class Aircraft Carriers!

There had to be twenty Moran tugs pushing or pulling in the harbor.
 Everyone of them named after a Moran family member,
 either a very big family or they're making up names.

More and more ships of every kind.

Downtown Norfolk, notice the rainclouds?

As modern as the navy is what could be prettier than a classic tug.
We met some guys in Connecticut that out the electronics on these new tugs.
Guess how much per tug?
 Several hundred thousand dollars!

Berthed permanently in Norfolk is the WW II battleship Wisconsin,
tied up alongside it is a wooden schooner,
 what a contrast
 and then compared those to the modern ships in the harbor.

A cruiser in dry dock for repairs and upgrades.

The Ike
The USN Eisenhower , one of the largest class of aircraft carriers ever built.
This ship and it's escorts can take the American flag anywhere in the world.
They could be in support of tsunami relief or launching airstrikes against ISIS,
whatever the country needs these ships are ready.

The ships went on and on,
what a boom to the Hampton Roads economy.

This it the last large ship we saw as we left the Norfolk area.
 We got to study it pretty good,
we idled for forty five minutes next to it waiting on a railroad bridge.

This is the lock at Great Bridge, Virginia.
This officially means that we are leaving Chesapeake bay
 and heading into the headwaters of Albemarle Sound.

Here we are leaving the lock headed
 into the Chesapeake and Albemarle Canal.

Heading south in the canal.
Let's hope we don't find one of those tree stumps!
Next stop, Coinjock, N.C.