Dismal Swamp and Locks, July 7, 2007

Our trip through the Dismal Swamp was enjoyable for the most part except for a couple of detractors. As mentioned in the last section, the Pasquotank River was gorgeous, peaceful and serene. It ran right into the Dismal Swamp, a very narrow canal with few other boats—fortunately. We passed at most three other boats and wondered each time if we could manage to get over far enough to let them by. Of course, we did, but it was iffy. We were very surprised at the amount of debris in the water. We were constantly on the lookout for floating logs, tree branches and other possible dangers. Since we were motoring, we didn’t want to chance getting anything caught in our props. This constant watchfulness became wearying towards the late afternoon when the extreme heat coupled with a zillion deer flies finally got to us.

However, along the way we had two locks to go through. The first was the South Mills Lock, pictured above. There we were one of two boats to go through. We had a great time visiting with Jim and Linda Allred on Boogaloo, an attractive trawler. After this lock we came to the Welcome Center where a rather large sightseeing boat, Bonnie Blue, was tied up. Before she tied up, however, we saw her coming and were sweating out her passing by us. We were sure it would be a very tight squeeze. Fortunately, no worries, as it turned out.

Then we traveled to the next lock at Deep Creek in Virginia. While waiting for the bridge to open—which occurs just before the lock—the heavens broke loose with a downpour. It continued to rain as we passed through the lock. The lock tender, Robert Peak, was quite a character. He had a collection of conch shells and gave us a demonstration of his ability to actually play a conch shell. He not only could play different notes, he could do trills! He and Mike were going to have a contest on who could play the best, but we quickly determined there was no contest. Instead he gave Mike a lesson on playing the shell. Robert also gave a short lecture on the history of the Deep Creek lock and the Dismal Swamp, all the time managing the three boats going through.

Shortly after the lock, we found a pretty little anchorage a few miles from Portsmouth, Virginia, where we spent the night before going into Portsmouth on July 8.

Belhaven to Elizabeth City & the Pasquotank River , NC - July 4-7 , 2007

We left Oriental, NC, a small, but friendly town across the Pamlico River, to Belhaven, NC. Belhaven is a charming small town noted as a place friendly to sailors with old-time July 4th festivities. We arrived around 1 p.m., dinghied to town in search of a town picnic. Some friendly townspeople invited us to join them at their private picnic on the waterfront so we had some fried chicken and moved on to find the rubber ducky contest a few blocks away. Indeed there was no town picnic but instead lots of booths selling the usual things one sees at block festivals including lots of southern food like crackling and barbeque. We found a charming little restaurant, Wine and Words, where after having a glass of wine, Mike managed to buy a coffee mug he wanted. Mind you, the coffee mug was not for sale. The owners use it and others like it. Later that evening, after attending a feast put on by a realty firm for the townsfolk, we were treated to a spectacular fireworks display. We had front row seats as it was right on the water not far from our anchorage.

The next day we proceeded on our way up the Alligator River. We anchored on the Alligator River with the wind whipping wildly around us. The next day, July 6, we proceeded to Elizabeth City on the Pasquotank River. Of course, we had to cross the Albemarle Sound, a body of water that can be nasty when the wind is up. However, although we had a lot of wind, we actually had a wonderful sail for a couple of hours to the Pasquotank River arriving at Elizabeth City (pictured above) around 3 p.m. We wandered around the small town on a very hot afternoon somewhat disappointed because the celebrated Welcome Committee, which presents visitors with roses, was not there. It is said that the tradition of giving roses to visitors is to remind them to take time to smell the roses.

With a long day ahead of us up the Dismal Swamp Canal, we decided to get up early enough to make the opening of the Elizabeth City Bridge at 7:30 a.m. Saturday, July 7. The bridge tender opened the bridge a little early as there were two boats already there, ready and waiting. That got us off to a good start up the beautiful Pasquotank River. It was very still—no current, little wind. The reflections of the trees in the water made for a pastoral scene. In fact it was so relaxing that I felt comfortable leaving the cockpit and lounging on the front of the boat.