April 12, 2007 - Norfolk

Norfolk:

The weather was wonderful today as we tracked south past Newport News and Norfolk. It was interesting seeing the huge commercial vessels delivering the worlds goods into the harbor. We saw two Maersk ships loaded with containers - which was particularly interesting to me, since IBM is working with Maersk on GPS/ RFID tracking systems for the containers on ships for security purposes and ease of clearing customs. We even saw the huge cranes which pick up the container, the size of the back of a tractor trailer truck, and load it on the ships. They were stacked six deep – pretty amazing. Ironically, I was studying a book on Radio Frequency Identification on board today which is one of the technologies used in the Maersk solution.

We also saw at least five aircraft carriers, a number of large military vessels and a huge ship in dry dock in the naval ship yard. Norfolk is really a working, military nautical area. Police boats cruised the channel where you passed by the gray fleet.

Tom made his first catch off the boat today. We dropped anchor while waiting for the Steel Bridge to open and when we pulled it up, the anchor brought up a gift, an old tire. Tom was on the bow with the boat hook and quickly dislodged the tire. We also went through our first lock late this afternoon, where you come in at one level, and go out into a waterway two feet lower. This was by the new (2005) Great Bridge on the intracoastal waterway where we are docked for the night. Once again, there was a beautiful sunset and glorious sky over the water.