The Great Dismal Swamp

Clearly, we need to rethink our approach to "securing the cabin."

Salon post-Albemarle Sound crossing

Stairs to galley post-Albemarle Sound

Live and learn.  In our defense, the NOAA marine forecast called for only one foot waves in the Albemarle Sound on Tuesday (May 20) when we did our crossing. Not even close. I am convinced that the forecasters must be female, because I can't envision men underestimating size so badly. Complicating matters were the hundreds and hundreds of crab pots in the Sound.  Bearings that would mitigate the wave action were often filled with crab pots and evasive action would cause us to meet waves in a not-so-comfortable manner. Once we reached the Pasquotank River the water calmed, although dodging crab pots was still necessary most of the way to Elizabeth City NC.

Crab pot--nemesis of boaters

Aside from a brief bicycle ride through downtown Elizabeth City, we were happy to just relax on the boat on Tuesday evening.

Wednesday (May 21) found us cruising the calm waters of the Pasquotank River on our way to one of the areas that we'd really been looking forward to seeing--the Great Dismal Swamp Canal.  Love the name. Apparently the early English and Scottish settlers in the area referred to swamps as "dismals." So I guess the current name really means "the Great Swamp Swamp." The Dismal Swamp Canal is the oldest operating artificial waterway in the country. It was hand dug by slaves from 1793 to 1805. Originally used to transport goods such as logs, since the end of logging in the middle of the 20th century and the establishment of a national wildlife refuge and a North Carolina state park in the Great Dismal Swamp, the canal has mostly been used for pleasure boat traffic. It's a few feet above sea level; therefore, access is controlled at each end by a lock. No-wake speed was required in the canal, which made for a slow, peaceful trip filled with bird songs and a really lovely fragrance from flowering bushes along the banks.

Water like a mirror in the Dismal Swamp

Lon and I cycled along some of the old logging roads in the portion of the swamp that is part of a North Carolina state park.

Lon on Canal Road trail

We took advantage of  free overnight docking offered by the Dismal Swamp visitors' center.  It was us and one other boat, "Epilogue", owned by Tom and Mary Stone of Oriental, NC. We enjoyed chatting with them over "docktails" and cruised in tandem with them much of today. 

Tom and Mary Stone on Epilogue

CARIB II and Epilogue at Dismal Swamp Visitor Center dock

This afternoon we transitioned to urban boating on the rivers in the Hampton Roads area of southeastern Virginia. It was quite a contrast to the solitude of the Great Dismal Swamp.

Battleship on display in downtown Norfolk

Navy ships

Tonight we are docked in downtown Hampton, VA.  We are staying through the Memorial Day weekend, in part so that we don't have to deal with lots of crazy weekend boating on the waters around here, but mostly because we have friends and relatives in the area that we are going to meet up with.  Looking forward to it!