We got out of the Chesapeake bay finally.  We delayed one extra day because of the high winds, that was the Norfolk day.  We left at 7:00 in the morning to get a good start on the day so we would have plenty of time to dock before dark. The ICW, or Inner Coastal Water way (A.K.A. the big ditch) can take us all the way around Florida to the Mississippi river if we wanted to go that way.

We had to go under 5 or 6 bridges that we had to wait to open, plus the one lock.  No very high, just 2 feet.  Having been to Peterborough Ontario, and watching the worlds largest lift lock (65 feet), this was a little on the dull side.  But we can now say we have been in a lift.
And most of the passage was not very wide.  Leaves are starting to turn colours down here.
 
But then you have to deal with Barges.  This was the only one we saw today, and of course we met it right at a bridge.  We were in a group of about 4 boats, having just waited for a different bridge to let us through, so we were clustered together.  So we pulled over and let him by.

We were docked next to 4 other Canadian boats in Norfolk.  We met the owners of Seawolf.  Nice people from Etobicoke (Toronto area)



After going 50 miles, it was only 3:00, so we decided to go an additional hour to an anchorage.  Tomorrow we need to cross Albemarle Sound.  About a 15 mile crossing of a shallow area that if the winds get high can be rough.  So we are leaving at 6:30 in the morning to get across quickly and early.
We anchored with a great sunset, taken by Sahara