The Dismal Swamp

On Thursday, May 29, we departed the Elizabeth City Docks at 6:40am with three other boats: Sojourn, Libations and Oceanus, all Great Loopers! It was only 50 degrees when we left-BRRRR!! Bob finally had to wear his blue jeans, breaking his record for wearing shorts everyday since leaving Western New York. I was in my usual turtleneck, sweatshirt and sweatpants, as well as my winter coat. All the boats made it through the EC Bridge by 6:45am.

There are two water routes to choose from in North Carolina to travel up to the Chesapeake. One is the Virginia Cut, which has only one lock at Great Bridge, Virginia and the other is the Dismal Swamp Canal, which has two locks. We chose the Dismal Swamp route and hope to try the Virginia Cut route another time.

The Dismal Swamp earned its name in the early 1700’s, when traveling through the swamp was a miserable experience. Today the Dismal Swamp is anything but dismal. It’s a beautiful, lush, quiet waterway connecting northern North Carolina with Virginia and the Elizabeth River. We love the gorgeous reflections in the fresh, black water of the swamp. The swamp water is called “Juniper Water” after the juniper, gum and cypress trees that color the swamp with their tannic acids.

While waiting for the South Mills Lock to open, several sailboats caught up with us, including “Magic”, our dock mates in Elizabeth City. We were able to capture a beautiful reflection of their sailboat in the black water. We also spotted several turtles sunning themselves on some fallen limbs along the shoreline.

The two locks in the canal operate on the same scheduled openings: 8:30am, 11am, 1:30pm & 3:30pm. Everyone was able to make the 11am opening, so we had 9 boats tied up in the lock chamber.

Our next stop was the DS Welcome Center, where dockage is provided free for the night in a terrific park like setting. The Center is located off US Highway 17 and is the only such facility in the country that greets visitors from both a major highway and an historic waterway. The center has a 150’ dock with room for 4-5 boats to tie up, with rafting expected. TOM-KAT was right in the middle of an 8 boat raft-up. We were tied between Sojourn and Dragon Lady, a catamaran. The 3 boats almost completely blocked off the canal! There are several walking and biking trails around the Welcome Center, but the center warns of ticks, mosquitoes and SNAKES, so we stayed close to the boat!

The following day, Friday, May 30, we all headed out toward the Virginia State line. We passed by the Superintendent’s House. Let’s hope the restoration process starts soon! We arrived at the Deep Creek Lock for the 11am opening. The lockmaster’s house was one of the cutest we’ve seen on any of the canals we’ve traveled. The lockmaster also keeps a conch shell garden and welcomes donations from cruisers coming back from the Bahamas.

Just after noon we exited the DSC and entered the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River. We had to wait for a couple of bridges to open for us. The first bridge operator called the second bridge to tell him that “3 sails and 8 motors” were headed his way. Love the terminology!!

We passed by the Norfolk Naval yards and several ship repair facilities and experienced culture shock. What a difference, seeing all these huge ships and all the traffic around Norfolk after two days in the serene and peaceful Dismal Swamp. The picture of the large aircraft carrier is the USS Eisenhower, which is in dock for 6 months of scheduled maintenance and upgrades. The Eisenhower was launched in 1975 and commissioned in 1977. It’s propelled by two nuclear reactors. It’s 1092’ long with a 134’ beam. On May 22, 2001, the USS Eisenhower entered Newport News Shipbuilding for her first and ONLY refueling in her 50 year life span. WOW….that’s fuel efficiency for you! (The refueling and refit did cost $1.5 billion dollars…not sure how many miles/dollar that is!)

We soon pulled into Tidewater Yacht Marina in Portsmouth, VA. We pumped out and fueled up at $4.45 a gallon and then found our slip. We saw Phil and Alice on “Wonderland” and a while later “Oceanus” came in to dock. The last picture shows the marina’s “floating pool”.

Total Mileage: 4792nm

Red Skies at Night,

Sue and Bob