Part
of our discussion last night with Greg and Kate revolved around today’s travel
and the weather forecast. Our original
plan was to spend the night at the Welcome Center in the Dismal Swamp, but the
weather forecast has changed that plan.
Although today should be nice, rain, wind and possible thundershowers
are moving in making travel tomorrow less appealing. So we have decided to go all the way through
the Dismal Swamp today and make our way to Norfolk, VA.
Don’t
let the name fool you – the Dismal Swamp is anything but dismal. A bit scary maybe, but not dismal (more on
that later). The Great Dismal Swamp
National Wildlife Refuge was created in 1973 when the Union Camp Company
donated its swamp holdings, but travel through this area and along this canal
has been going on much longer. The north
part of the canal was proposed and then construction supervised by George
Washington (yes, the first president of the United States) in 1763. This portion of the canal was dung by hand by
slave labor. The plan was to drain the
swamp and harvest the timber. Washington
ultimately sold his interest in the land 30 years later. In 1909, a lumbering company purchased the
swamp and continued harvesting timber until the 1950s.
Now,
on to our trip through the Dismal Swamp.
This is truly one of the most beautiful places we’ve seen on the Loop so
far. The “scary” part of traveling the
Dismal Swamp is the fact that it is extremely narrow and extremely
shallow. Also, because this is a canal
through the woods/swamp, there are lots of logs and deadheads to look out for. The water in the Dismal Swamp is very brown
because of tannins, so you can’t see what is in the water. We had three “thumps” to the boat as we
transited the canal – we don’t believe any of the “thumps” were serious, but
we’ll know more next time we get the boat up on plane – we’ll check for any
vibrations and if there are none, we’ll know that we really are OK.
We
got to go through two locks today. First
we were raised about eight feet up into the canal and then of course back down
eight feet at the end. It has been a
LONG time since we were in a lock. Fred
did a great job getting us to the wall (and back off the wall) in both locks
and both lockings were uneventful.
Exiting
the Dismal Swamp into the Elizabeth River is like culture shock. You come out of a beautiful, peaceful wooded
area and into a heavily industrial area followed by the largest Navy base in
the United States. There are many Navy
ships here being worked on – we passed by a number that are having exterior
work done and being repainted.
The
wind kicked up as we got to Norfolk and the clouds are definitely moving
in. We are very happy with our decision
to come all the way to Norfolk to stay for a few days while the unsettled
weather moves through.
Miles: 43.9 Bridges: 12 Locks: 2
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| going through the railroad bridge just north of Elizabeth City |
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a bald eagle along the Pasquotank River just before
we enter the Dismal Swamp |
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| we're not in the Dismal Swamp yet, but the river is getting narrower |
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| another picture before we get into the actual Dismal Swamp |
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| in Turner's Cut approaching the South Mills Lock |
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| looking backward down Turner's Cut |
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| a bit more wildlife along the river |
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| South Mills Lock - we are waiting for the 11:00am opening |
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| through the lock and into the very narrow Dismal Swamp canal |
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| as you can see in the wake behind Boreas, the water is very brown with tannins |
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| the Great Dismal Swamp canal |
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| in the Elizabeth River |
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| a big change in scenery from the Dismal Swamp |
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| a Navy ship that has recently been painted |
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