The Captain doing a quick window clean in the middle of the bay.
Monday morning we left the marina at 7:30 and headed through Norfolk. Most of the bridges in Norfolk, have either been raised, demolished, or are in permanent "up" position, so it is much easier to go through that area than in times past.
The parade of boats going through Norfolk on Monday morning.
We took the turn over to the Dismal Swamp Canal route. While waiting for the eleven o'clock opening of the lock, one of the sailboats in front of us went aground in an area where the Lock master said he had never had a boat go aground in his 16 and half years of lock-tending. One of the sailboats tried to get it free, but was unsuccessful and the Lock master asked if we would move up and see if we could free him with our bigger engines. Even we could not free him. The boat said they would see if they could get free when the tide rose later in the day. We hated leaving them and hope they are able to get some help. (We later heard from boaters that came through the next lock opening, that Tow Boat came and rescued them.)
The Dismal Swamp route is a pretty narrow canal. As yet, we have not run into anyone coming the other direction, but in the past, we have hit logs and stumps in the water. A state highway follows the canal, but you can barely see it for the dense trees. Because there are locks at the north and south ends of the canal, you pretty much go through the canal as a "pack."
The "pack" south of us in the canal.
The "pack" north of us in the canal.
View of the dense foliage along the canal.
There was a Corps of Engineers dredge boat in the middle of the canal that we all had to pass. It was a very close pass for all the cats, but we made it.
Photo of the sail catamaran behind us passing the dredge boat - pretty darn close!
We touched the trees on that pass and ended up with leaves inside the boat!
We stopped for the night at the Dismal Swamp Visitor Center, which is a rest stop for the highway that parallels the canal and is free for the boaters. It is just a wall that people tie up to that only holds about 3 or 4 boats. When more boats arrive, they just raft up to the boats that are there, sometimes filling and blocking the canal. Since the canal can only be accessed through the lock, once the last boats arrive for the evening around 5, you know more will not be coming. If you want to go ashore, you have to jump from boat to boat to get there. It certainly results in making it easy to get to know the other boaters you are cruising the canal with!
We crossed over the canal across a lift bridge to a small museum of the Dismal Swamp and spent some time reading about the history of the canal and its use for logging in the past. After that, there was a get-together at a picnic table on shore near the dock with the other boaters. One boat had come from South Africa! I'm impressed, I would never do that.
Everyone was up and underway by 7:30 in the morning in order to make a lock opening at 8:30. It was so cold last night, I slept in all the polar fleece I had on the boat under all the polar fleece blankets we had on the boat. There is no power at this stop, so no heat in the boat. Bob and I both slipped on the deck this morning, but luckily caught ourselves. We just weren't expecting that. It seemed like the start of ice forming.
Next stop lovely, welcoming Elizabeth City!
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