New Bern Trip Day One - Into the Dismal Swamp!

We left our home on the York River near Gloucester, VA early on the morning of June 18th.  The plan was to fuel up and pump out the holding tank in Norfolk prior to entering the Dismal Swamp Canal.  We had read so much about how the Dismal Swamp was a "must" for cruisers, so we decided to take that route, at least on the way out.  We thought there was an outside chance of getting through the canal by the last lock opening at South Mills, NC if we could get into the canal at Deep Creek, VA early enough.  The alternate plan was to spend the night at the Dismal Swamp Visitor Center not too far from South Mills.

We decided to fuel up and pump out at the Ocean Marine Yacht Center since it was a BoatUS participating marina rather than at the Tidewater Yacht Marina at ICW "Mile 0".  I made a wrong turn off of the Elizabeth River, and it took me a little time to get straightened out and go down the correct branch to the marina.  After fueling and walking the dogs, we started toward the Dismal Swamp Canal.  I did not realize ahead of time that much of the route around Norfolk was a no wake zone, so it took much longer than I had anticipated to get through the area.  In addition, we got caught for about a half hour at a railroad bridge that was lowering as we approached it for a train to creep across.  Consequently we didn't arrive at Deep Creek Lock until after the scheduled 11:00 am opening.   After calling the lockmaster on the radio, we found out that the lock was not operating because the power was out.  There was a northbound motor vessel stuck in the lock that would have to finish locking through after repairs were made, then we could get on our way.  We anchored out and waited.  It took until the next scheduled opening at 1:30 pm before the power was restored to the lock.  As it turns out a squirrel had gnawed through some wires, so it took a while to locate and repair the break.

After the northbound vessel finished locking through, we entered the lock for our first locking experience.  The lockmaster's instructions made it easy for us, and with Sharon handling the bow line and me on the stern line we went through without incident.

My plan had been to start the kicker motor and shut down the main motor once we were in the canal to save fuel.  The kicker will easily push the boat at the required no wake speed in the canal, so there would be no need to run the main motor for this 22 miles of the trip.  Of course, even though the kicker had functioned flawlessly about two weeks before, it refused to start.  I tried it on several occasions as we proceeded along the canal, but no luck, so we just motored along on the main motor at 6-7 mph.  The day was HOT!  I believe it was the warmest day of the summer so far, with temperatures hovering around 100 degrees.  With trees lining both sides of the canal, there was no air moving except for the minimal breeze we generated as we crept along the canal inside of our aluminum oven.  Luckily, we had a fan we could plug into the boat's 12 volt outlet, so we could get some minimal relief from the heat. We were very glad to see the Visitor Center when we finally arrived about 5:00 pm.

There were two sailing vessels tied up at the Visitor Center sea wall, one at each end, so we maneuvered between them and tied up.  The Visitor Center is a nice free place to tie up for the night, there are clean bathrooms but no showers or electricity hookup.  In addition there are nice picnic tables with roofs over them, and a nice area to walk the dogs.  We found out that there was one water faucet available, but it was in use by the sail boat on the north end of the bulkhead.  The bulkhead is only 150 feet long, meaning there is only room for about 3-4 boats to tie up, so if you are traveling during a busy time there may be no room for you to dock.

The boat on the south end of the bulkhead was a sail boat based in Oriental, NC.  A couple was traveling back to their home there, I did not find out where they had been.  They were traveling with their dog, with whom Kimi promptly picked a fight after slipping out of her collar, even though he outweighed her by about 40 pounds.  Sharon had to separate them, getting a small bite in the process.  There were no other injuries.

The sail boat on the north end was based in Norfolk.  It was an older man traveling with his parrot, since his wife would not go sailing with him any more.  He had left home on October 24th to sail to Florida, and was just getting back after having some boat trouble in Florida.  He had been tied up here for over two weeks because his motor was shot and he was waiting on a new one to be delivered in about another week.

After showering on the dock using "north bound's" hose, we retired to a sweltering night.