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| John is standing just right of the light pole |
We had a nice surprise, while cruising past Norfolk & Portsmouth's shoreline full of Navy ships, shipyards & loading docks we found our nephew John in front of where he works, on the shore, waving Good-bye to us! What a thrill! Again, we had a great visit, thanks & catch you on our way back north in the spring!
New ground broken again today; entered the ICW (Inter-coastal Waterway) heading south & hopefully to warmer weather. It has been a tad chilly on & off, esp at night. We had to make a decision whether to travel the Dismal Swamp or the Virginia Cut. Everyone we spoke with, suggested we had to "do the swamp" at least once. I admit I had reservations regarding the "Dismal Swamp" just because of it's name. We decided to go for the swamp, we are on an adventure, after all. So tonight we anchor @ Deep Creek right before the beginning of the swamp & the first lock. Only 2 locks to go through on this ditch. Our anchorage was surprisingly pretty and protected. It is a cove surrounded by trees with a few small sand beaches. The water is brackish but calm. The sun was out & it became quite warm in the afternoon, warm enough for me to sit on the bridge with shorts & a sleeveless top on while reading & chatting on the phone-love it! We shared the anchorage with only one other boat besides us & Waterford. Love the isolation & quiet. We could hear some highway traffic but is was nothing compared to the Navy PA system across from our dock in Little Creek. At our dock in Little Creek, we could hear commands & other garbled communication beginning before dawn everyday & into the evening. The cool part of that was listening to taps with the raising & lowering of the flag. In the mornings with the raising of the flag in addition to the bugle, they would play patriotic songs that we would sing to while still in bed. Doug wondered how we knew all these songs & I said we had our grade school music teachers to thank for that.
The next morning was a bit gray & overcast. It had rained during the night but we were secure in our protected anchorage. The rain had stopped so we pulled up anchor and headed for the lock. We met up with a few other boats before we reached the lock. We locked through with 5 other boats and met Robert the Lock Master. Robert was friendly, knowledgeable and very helpful. He also was the bridge tender, so after locking all of us through, he then hopped into his truck & met us @ the bridge so he could open that for us. We locked up 8 feet; Robert handled our lines for us; the walls were not slimy or muddy and it was a very gentle transition. Piece of cake after our experience of locking through 74 locks this summer.
We now were officially in the "Dismal Swamp". It was quite pretty, lots of lush greens & some fall colors beginning. The history is: this ditch is manmade, mostly hand dug by slaves back in the late 1700's. It took 12 years to complete into the 1800's. George Washington was one of the founders. It is hard to imagine how they were able to complete this daunting task. The shoreline is thick with trees, brush, bushes, grasses & anything else that grows wild. The swamp is supposed to be full of wild life: bears, snakes, eagles, bobcats & other living animals but we didn't see anything moving along the shore or even flying in the air. The water is full of tannins so it looks like coffee.
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| Welcome to North Carolina |
There really isn't much room to pass along the ditch and it has a required no wake speed, which is about 5 mph so we just all followed each other for about 20 miles. The ditch is very straight with a few turns thrown in. Our stop for the night, was a Welcome Center. What we found out once we arrived is that it is a Welcome Center for North Carolina's highway and just happens to have docks too. We started the Dismal Swamp in Virginia but passed into North Carolina along the way. The Welcome Center, a roadside rest stop, had lots of information & brochures and a restroom. It was odd to have semi's pulling in along side us. There also was a State park visitors center across a pedestrian bridge on the Swamp side. We checked out the area & hiked the nature trails but still didn't see any wildlife. No, Kathy there is not a campground here, I checked. We had to raft our boat to other boats in order to stay here. The wall is only about 150 feet long. We rafted along side the sailboat, Mahnoo owned by Ed. Then the sailboat, Neverland with Jim & Cynthia rafted off of us. This was also a first for us with our Krogen. Years ago, when we had our SeaRay we would raft in downtown Toledo on Friday nights for Party in the Park and at Put in Bay on South Bass Island. Everything worked out fine.
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| Welcome Center rafting |
The next morning, most of us shoved off early in order to make the 8:30 lock opening. We have bumped something 3 different times along the way here in the swamp, probably logs or stumps but nothing visible. We don't like to hear & feel that but no harm, no foul so far! The depth the whole way has been good, nothing less than 3 feet on our depth finder and there isn't a tide here. It took about an hour's cruise to reach the lock. Some boats had tied up to the wall for the night between the bridge & lock, so there were 9 of us to lock through. Waterford & Day Dreams used the port side of the lock & this lock master wasn't quite as helpful but a fellow boater helped with our lines. Our parade of boats arrived at Elizabeth City, which has courtesy slips & a wall. There also is a marina but they didn't have room for both of us. We are too big for the slips, (they were full anyway). We were the last of the parade, so we ended up rafting off the sailboat, Navigator with Cliff & Cathy, who the night before had rafted off Waterford at the Welcome Center. Waterford was able to grab the only wall space left and it had a sign to save that space for trailerable boats but we had read & were told that it was ok to tie up there. We got settled, paid our $5.00 for a shower, checked out the Historical museum than walked to Key West Grill for a nice dinner.
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| Elizabeth City Courtesy dock |
Next stop: Alligator River, oh my!
We have been so lucky, enjoying beautiful weather, calm seas, sunsets & awesome stars. Our next stop is River Dunes, a real swanky place with 5 star amenities but not anywhere near the most expensive place we've stayed. What a good mix. We pumped out here & it was a do it yourself kinda thing & included with dockage. The dock hand was there to assist. The docks are floating docks, full size: very nice. There is a 2 story clubhouse & dining room with rocking chairs on the front porch & fireplaces on both floors of the screened porch. The pool has cabana's & hot tubs. Of course there is a work out gym & laundry room. This is my favorite facility so far, although South Jersey in Cape May still wins on best bathrooms.
Our first night, we sipped our cocktails sitting in the adirondeck chairs on the lawn watching the sunset. We cooked on board & then after dinner, we retired to the hot tub with our after dinner drinks.
Second day, we signed up for the 2 hour courtesy car to check out the town of Oriental. We filled our empty Propane tanks @ the Hardware, purchased coffee @ the coffee shop across from the town docks & bought some clothes @ the cool shop called Nautical Wheels. We ran out of time so we were unable to make it to the grocery store; we do have our priorities. It hit 80 degrees today, so we hung out @ the pool in the afternoon & actually went for dips in the pool to cool off. River dunes planned a Cruisers Dinner Buffet for the evening so we signed up. First we enjoyed cocktails on the second floor screened in deck next to the gas fireplace which was crackling & pleasant. The buffet was scheduled for 6-8:00 PM & we went in @ 6:50 & all the prime rib was gone and after we waited for awhile they brought out chicken & that was gone in a flash. Jacque & I complained and the bartender/manager gave us a free bottle of wine & comped our meals & told us they would be bringing out more food. After 10 minutes or so, he brought us another bottle of wine. Needless to say, we were given 3 bottles of wine & went to bed drunk but hungry. They did start a fire in one of the fire pits, so we sat around that for awhile after leaving the gas fireplace in the porch. 
