Wanderers : The Great Dismal Swamp 15-17 Oct

Immediately after passing under High Rise Bridge (MM 7), you have two choices. Continue straight on the Albermarle & Chesapeake Route aka the Virginia Cut or turn immediately right to enter the Great Dismal Swamp Canal. The canal is 22 miles long with locks on either end -- Deep Creek Lock at the north end and South Mills Lock at the southern. We were originally going to anchor in front of the lock but arrived exactly 10 minutes before the last 3:30 opening of the day! We called an audible and decided to hail the lock master on channel 13. We received exact instructions to put out fenders on the starboard side and to have two lines at least 20 feet in length ready for-and-aft. The light turned green and we entered the lock.

Since this was our first lock experience, Sharon was a nervous wreck but did great!

Locked in

Out we go.

Robert-the-Lock Master is probably the most famous lock tender in the world. He entertained us with cruising 'rules', played us a song on his conch shell and invited us over for coffee in the morning. Our boat was raised about six feet. Immediately after leaving the lock, we turned right and tied up to Elizabeth's Dock (free -- no electric or water). There were two other boat at the dock, a northbound sailboat and a southbound trawler that a guy, Mark, was single-handling.

We decided to get some steps in and walked to Food Lion to get some steaks for dinner. There's a convenience store at the end of the road and a further walk to Hardees, Food Lion, Pizza Plus (they will deliver to your boat!) and a Dollar General. You can dinghy down the canal to get to Food Lion (a much safer option given the traffic on a road you need to cross).

The next day we went to visit Robert and enjoy a cup of coffee. Not only did he give us coffee but pumpkin cake, bagels w/ cream cheese and a yogurt parfait! We hung out with him for at least three hours listening to his stories and history of the canal.

This is just a small sample of Robert's conch shell collection.

Boaters have been bringing him shells for years.

Our spread for breakfast!

Inside the lock master's house (no, he doesn't live there)

Robert even invited us along for a bridge opening. We hopped in his Jeep and off we went. Robert is not only the lock tender but a bridge tender. BUT he said his primary job is to control the depth of the water in the canal. Southbound boats go through the lock first, then Robert races down the canal and opens a drawbridge. Vice versa for northbound boats.

As popular he is as a lock tender, he's just as UNpopular as a bridge tender.

He gets coffee and eggs thrown at him regularly.

He even showed us a bullet hole where he was shot at while inside the building.

Elizabeth's Dock has 24-hour only docking signs. They are there in case boaters 'overstay their welcome'. We were originally going to go several miles down the canal to the Visitor Center for the day/night to wait out a rainy day. We decided to just stay put. The other two boats stayed put as well. There's room for four boats at the Visitor's Center and it's customary to put fenders out so other boats can tie up to you but we never made it there.

Thursday we cruised 40 miles to Elizabeth City, NC. The ride was beautiful, peaceful and quiet. We 'buddy-boated' down the canal with Mark following about a 1/4 mile behind us. The reason for the distance between us is that there are a lot of sunken logs in the canal. They get kicked up by passing boats and need time to settle back down. We experienced two unsettling thumps when we hit a log. It's not a problem of sailboats and single-engine trawlers (like ours) because our props are protected by a keel (sailboat) or skeg (trawler). A lot of the canal and Pasquotank River (after South Mills Lock) was blanketed with duckweed. It's pretty to look at but gets sucked up into your engine strainer and can cause overheating. There's a pedestrian bridge at the visitor center that was closed as we were approaching. It opened automatically for us. After 22 miles, we arrived at South Mills Bridge and Lock. We were about 45 minutes early for the opening so we tied up to a wall immediately before the bridge. We then helped Mark tie up and cleaned our strainer. The second lock was a piece of cake and Sharon wasn't even nervous. This lock tender is nothing like Robert at the south end! He barely grunted two words at us. After leaving the lock, we traveled 17 miles to Elizabeth City. The duckweed was really thick! Eventually it disappeared and the Pasquotank widened and I went to our normal cruising speed of 8 knots. I kept a close eye on the engine temp but it only was a degree or two higher than normal. Elizabeth City is very cruiser friendly and offers several places with free docks/bulkheads. We originally wanted to go EC Free Wharf but there is a bridge that doesn't open between 7-9 and 4-6. Naturally, we arrived around 4:30. So we selected Mid-Atlantic Christian University. Someone helped us tie up and then we helped Mark tie up. Andy-the-Athletic Director greeted us and offered us a place to take a hot shower. We politely declined but a Hollywood shower sure would have felt good! Cleaned the strainer and hit the town. There isn't much here but we went to Grouper's by the Free Wharf with Mark. Enjoyed some cold beers and dinner.