Day 48: From Swamp to City

4/29/18: Sunday:  The Great Dismal Swamp.  Sounds inviting? 😯  Nobody is really sure how it got its name.  The swamp originally spread over 1 million acres.  It was first surveyed in 1728 to run a dividing line between the disputing colonies of Virginia and North Carolina.  In 1763, George Washington suggested draining the swamp and digging a canal to connect the waters of Chesapeake Bay and Albemarle Sound.  He and others hoped to drain the swamp to harvest trees and use the land for farming.

This was, by far, our earliest morning.  Our logistical calculations said that we needed to get up in the middle of the night.  WHAT?!   (Seemed like it, anyway). We were going to transit through the Dismal Swamp today.  There are a couple of rules to carefully consider.  1). The speed limit in the swamp canal is no more than 6 mph.  2). There are two locks on the canal that are 22 miles apart, which only open at 0830, 1100, 1330, and 1530.  3). The first lock is 18 miles from Elizabeth City, but only about 4 miles of that has a speed limit.  4). The marina in Portsmouth at the other end is about 9 miles from the 2nd lock that we want to reach well befor 5pm.  5).  There is a bridge right here that needs to be opened before we can get going.  Fortunatly it opens on demand.  Calculate all of this together, and the result is to leave the dock here no later than 6:00am which gives us 2.5 hours to get to the first lock by the 8:30 opening.  Get through that lock (which maybe takes 1/2 hour or more), travel the canal, and be to the second lock for the 1:30 opening.  That should get us to the marina before 4:00 and before the dock help goes home.  Who says you don’t need to do algebra and story problems in the real world?

But, before all of that could happen, we needed to sleep.  We got a couple of hours of zzzz’s, and then woke up to a squeaking at 2:00am.  In my sleepy stupor I thought, “hmmm – that’s just the bumper against the dock.”  Uh…Wait – there is no dock on that side of the boat.  I get up and look.  The wind has changed directions, and the side of the boat is up against the piling between us and Ned Pepper.  Captain doesn’t seem concerned, but I get dressed and go out to try to cinch up some lines.  The wind isn’t bad – just a different direction.  So then I try to sleep, knowing we have to get up in 3 hours.  Y’all know how successful that is, right?  We finally get up around 5:00 and get ready to move along.  We let Ned Pepper and Total Eclipse get out first, then us.  We hail the bridge to open, which took no time at all, and away we go!  The morning sky was filled with beautiful color, and the sunrise behind the cypress trees was stunning.

 

The first part of our journey was actually up the very squiggly Pasquotank River.  Total Eclipse was in front of us, and kept eclipsing behind the next bend.

We made it to the first lock about 20 minutes early, I think.  It was a little breezy, so we were on standby around the bend from the lock for awhile.  We just had to float around in the middle of the river, so Captain got practice trying to keep her in a tight space.  We were the number 5 boat for this lock opening.  There were 4 on the port side, and we went on the starboard side.  This would be an 8 foot lift.  The Dismal Swamp is actually 20 feet above sea level. Although originally over 1 million acres, it is now preserved and protected as 126,000 acres.

 

This lock was different than the Lake Okeechobee locks.  Those locks had ropes hanging down the lock walls that we would take and loop around a cleat on the boat, then take in or let out as the boat went up or down the wall.  Here, there are short metal posts along the top of the wall.  We handed a line from the boat up to the lock tender, who looped it around the post for us, and handed the end back to us.  So we have both ends of the line in the boat, and let out or take in line as the boat moves up or down.  This is my post at the front of the boat. The sign shows mileage distances north and south of here.

We were being lifted in this lock, which means the lock chamber needs to fill with water.  This causes current and turbulence.  At one point, the big boat across from us lost grip on their bow line and the boat was drifting over to us!  YIKES!  I was about to tie off my line and grab my dock pole or a bumper to protect Island Girl, when their captain fired up their bow thruster and got the bow back over to the wall.  WHEW!  I didn’t want to have to pull out my Hercules muscles today!  Thank goodness for bow thrusters!!!  Another reason I’m glad we have one, in case anything crazy like that happens to us.

About 1/2 mile after the lock, there is a bridge that needs to be opened.  As soon as the last boat was out of the lock chamber, the lock tender hopped into his truck and drove down to the bridge to open it for us.  This is a one man show around here!

It was kind of funny cruising the canal.  It seemed like we were out in the middle of nowhere, but then we’d look to the right, and there was a highway.

There is a beautiful Welcome Center, which is also a rest stop for the highway.  It is a common place for boats to stop and spend the night for free.  We decided not to stop or stay here.  I know we missed out on a beautiful park.  They have walking and biking trails, exhibits and so on.  Most loopers stop here for a night and make the transit of the Swamp a two day journey.

An interesting fact about the dark colored water.  It looks like coffee being churned up behind us.  It is actually unusually pure and preserved by the tannic acids of the cypress and juniper trees.  These acids make it hard for cooties to grow in it, and it is considered ‘chemically pure and potable’.  Back in the day, (before chlorination and refrigeration) the water from the swamp was a highly prized commodity on sailing ships.  They would keg it up to take on long voyages because it would not go bad.  Today, we associate good water as being clear as glass.  It would be hard to convince my brain that this is good drinking water!

The temperature was about 60 degrees, and we had a bit of a northerly (in our face) wind, plus our own 6 mph.  It was chilly!  We had on our sweatshirts, jackets, gloves, hats and blankets.  We wanted to stay up top for better visibility watching for the elusive just-under-the-surface deadhead logs and such.  We did have three bumps on the hull during the canal transit.  As logs get waterlogged, they sink slowly.  Some may have a bit of floatation left in them and lay suspended under the surface.  And in this water, you’d never see them in a million years.  Fortunately we didn’t hit anything big.  But that is another reason for the slow speed on the canal.  Anything faster will stir up more underwater turbulence, increasing the chance of damage, as well as increased errosion of the banks.  And you don’t want to follow another boat too closely, because its props may stir stuff up, and you want that stuff to settle before you get there.

The canal is narrow.  Fortunately in the spring time, most boats are traveling north like us.  It would be exciting (not in a good way) to meet an on-coming boat.  I think we’d put out the fenders and crawl past one another!  There was a place where there was a big branch right in the middle of the canal.  When we got to it, we went into glide mode, which was -put the engines in neutral and glide by, trying not to get too close to the sides, so that when you do put it back into gear, you don’t want to be too shallow or in other bad stuff.

We made it to Virginia, and there was a WELCOME sign!!  This is state number 5 on our journey.

I don’t know what kind of camp this was, but I liked the sign “Swamp Commander”.

Surprisingly, we did not see a lot of wildlife.  There were some turtles.  Here is one that is on one of those almost floating logs.  It is a very swampy picture where it is hard to discern the difference between above water and reflection.

We made it to the 2nd lock WAY early – almost an hour early! Dangit.  That means we have to sit and hold position for a very long time.  We tried to slow down along the way, but it is very hard to steer when the boat is only moving at an idle for 4 hours.  So here we sit:  Boats to the left of me….

…boats to the righ, here I am – stuck in the middle with you!  (Did you sing that?😁)

It was finally 1:30 and time for the lock to open.  The lock master said that he had no southbound traffic – YAY!  This time, there was a busy traffic road bridge before the lock.  The lock master came and opened the bridge.  There were seven boats now (we picked up two more for our parade from the welcome center.). Then we proceeded to the lock, where we had to wait a little longer for the bridge tender to drive back from the bridge, change his hat to lock master, and start the lock proceedings.  Only 5 boats went into the lock – the two ahead of us decided to tie up to a dock and hang out awhile.   We were number 2 in line this time.  We all got in and got our lines around the posts.  This would be a 10 foot drop.  Then…. the back lock gates wouldn’t close all the way.  Time out.  Everybody relax.  Here we are all lined up and ready, and going nowhere.

We waited about 45 minutes for the lock master to get it all fixed, and then everybody got back on post.  The lock master pulled the plug in the bathtub, and down we go.  Locking down is so easy and peaceful.  No turbulence –  just quiet and easy.  The gates opened up, and Ned Pepper led us out on our way to Portsmouth Virginia.  (Yes, their boat name comes from an outlaw in the movie True Grit.)

It was much windier out on the water, unprotected by the forest in the canal.  There was a big lift bridge that we did not need opened, but a sailboat was waiting, so we got to watch it slide up.  Thankfully the railroad bridge was already open (the one sticking up in the air on the left).  So we didn’t have to request or wait for any bridges.

We were cruising along when suddenly Ned Pepper stopped!  What?!  Why?  OH THAT!!!!  A huge ship with tugs was coming at us around a corner!  Our boats tried calling the ship on both channels 13 and 16, and got no response.  We weren’t sure how to proceed, since we were right on an inside corner.  There was the three of us and the sailboat, all waiting for instruction.  The big ships get to make the call on what they want us to do.  Finally they said they were going to be spinning the ship around in this very spot.  So we quick scooted around and got on our way.  WHEW!  We aren’t in the country any more!  Welcome to commercial traffic!

More evidence of that!  This was going to take a whole new mindset – to be cautious and aware of BIG stuff moving around us!  The radio was busy, the AIS was loaded with beeps alerting us of nearby boats – and the wind was blowing.  Blood pressure was starting to rise.  We certainly found civilization!

We were coming up the Elizabeth River to Norfolk on the east side, and Portsmouth on the west side.  Norfolk Naval Shipyards brought back memories of the shipyard in Bremerton Washington where Kenny spent a lot of time at when he was working.  As we cruised by, he said “boy, I sure don’t miss that!”

It was a long day – 52 miles, and 22 of that was at 6 mph.  The water was choppy and wind was blowing, and we needed to go into an unfamiliar marina.  It is helpful to open up Google maps and get a satellite view.  We were assigned to the same dock as Ned Pepper and Total Eclipse, so we followed them in.  Our slip was right next to the fairway coming in.  Captain did a great job, using the technique we figured out back in Beaufort NC.  Use the wind.  We would go stern in, with a port side tie to the dock.  So he came in, lined up with the next slip upwind, let the wind blow us in the side until we were lined up with our slip, then straight back.  It almost worked perfectly.  Except – we had fenders out on both sides of the boat.  A fender on the downwind (starboard) side caught on piling and pivoted the stern to the starboard – where there was another boat.  EEK!  Captain realized what happened and immediately went forward a touch.  I had already given a stern line and midship line to the dock hands, and they were trying and fighting the wind with all their might to pull the boat to the dock.  We finally got her into the slip and tied off.  The man in the beautiful Sabre boat next to us on the starboard side was very nice.  Of course he saw everything, and knew exactly what happened.  Fortunately, our fender on our starboard stern did save us from bumping him.  Sheesh!  I guess from now on, we will NOT put out fenders on the non-dock side when there are pilings. If we have to change our approach and need them, I can have them in place and ready to flip out if needed.  We are learning something new everyday!

After we were all settled in, we were told there was a happy hour up in the restaurant ‘Fish N Slip’.  I texted our friends on SeaJamm, who are in the marina across the river at Norfolk, and let them know we were here.  We met them last year at a Looper Palooza in Charleston, and have been looking forward to catching up with them.  They said they’d come our way and join us for cocktails and dinner.  YAY!  It was so good to see them again.  While we were enjoying pre-dinner drinks, Elizabeth and Craig from Contentment came in, (we got acquainted with them back at River Dunes Marina) so we all enjoyed a fun dinner together.  Where else can you just walk in and see someone you just met and have so much fun?  We are really loving the commeraderie of being part of this AGLCA.  So many wonderful people, all on similar journeys, commonality in places we’ve been, things we’ve seen or experienced, challenges we’ve had, places we’re looking forward to… such a great time!  We have finished the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway!  At dinner, we all made a toast to making it to “Mile Zero”.  Now we will be in the Chesapeake Bay for the next 3-4 weeks.  New adventures coming our way!