The Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal connects Chesapeake Bay and Albemarle Sound. This is part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway ("The Ditch"), which connects Norfolk, Virginia, to Brownsville, Texas.

The ditch starts near buoy #36 in the Elizabeth River, about a half-hour walk from our place.

Above is the Atlantic Yacht Basin, in Great Bridge, Virginia. This view is a few hundred yards east of the Great Bridge Bridge. (Yes, that's the name of the swing bridge at mile marker 12.0)

We had stopped there to find a Geocache (GCZYA2). "Great Bridge" was just a name on a map.

Then we saw the boats and realized where we were. This was "The Ditch". How many articles had I read in Cruising World on the ditch? Dozens. And here I was.

You know you've got it when you have to walk along the dock and eyeball each boat critically. ("too big", "too much teak".) You're jonesing when you have to hang out there waiting for the bridge to open (it opens on the hour) to watch the parade of boats go through and comment on each one of those, too. ("50 feet?" "Not an inch over 45 feet?" "Valiant? Love that canoe stern, double-ender.")

When you're jonesing you wonder if the price on this Peterson is really that far-fetched. Maybe it's reasonable?

Over coffee, in the clear light of day, it is far-fetched. But Deltaville is only about 2 hours away. Maybe there's some flexibility in the price. How long has it been sitting on the hard?

Next weekend we'll visit friends and look at this Morgan 38, which may require too much work to justify the price. Or, perhaps some people have a low threshold for "project boat". Or perhaps we don't know enough to recognize a hole in the water into which we'll throw money.