PARADE OF TALL SHIPS

Today we watched a spectacular parade of boats in the Norfolk/Portsmouth Harbor! We enjoyed great viewing of the event both from our boat and from the seawall of the Tidewater Marina in Portsmouth. It was so exciting to see hundreds of ships sail up the Elizabeth River into the harbor! The parade was led by the US Coast Guard Sailing Vessel The Eagle, escorted by fire boats spraying hugh plumes of water into the air and smaller Coast Guard escort boats. The harbor was also filled with all types of pleasure boats dressed in full regalia flying many flags. The parade continued for more than an hour featuring more than 20 beautiful international tall sailing ships with their crews standing at attention on decks and yardarms of masts that reached far up into the sky. Many of the ships were playing music, cannon salutes were blasting, helicopters were circling and fighter jets flew overhead! It was all so impressive and absolutely breathtaking! It was a very warm sunny day, so when we got too hot from standing in the sun at the sea wall, we went back to the MollyBelle and watched from the fly bridge. The parade ended shortly after one o'clock with some big Navy ships and a partially submerged submarine. The surrounding pleasure boats, including us, blew their horns in salute to the Navy and Coast Guard vessels. This was a fantastic experience and well worth the discomforts of the past few days at sea! Although I took many photos with my iPhone, none of them could possible do justice to the awesomeness of this event. So I have attached a photo from the OpSail brochure to my email about this blog.