Dismal Swamp Canal - NC Visitor Center - 19 Oct

 

   Another very early start, anchor up and underway before 7am.  We have to get through the Gilmerton auto bridge and Railroad bridge #7 and then down the river to the Deep Creek Lock before 0830. If there is no delay its a 1.25hr trip.

   Had a very quiet night off Portsmouth/Norfolk. The Carnaval cruise ship departed just after midnight. Guess all the guests are onboard by then.

   Through all the bridges with no delays. Turned out the Railroad #7 bridge closed about 10 minutes after we passed through. That would have stopped us from making the 0830 lock opening.  All good so far this trip.  

(Of note, the photo is Railroad Bridge #5 for those interested). #7 is around the bend next to the Gilmerton auto bridge. No pictures of it as that is a congested area where we are doing circles waiting for the opening. 

   In the lock and ready to ride up 8ft. There were 4 boats in the lock for this opening. We heard Great Bridge, the alternate route to the Dismal Canal route, is averaging 25-30 boats per opening as they are on restricted opening hours. Glad we are over here. We aren't advertising it but more boaters should take this route - as long as they have a protected prop. Plenty of logs along this route.

   The Dismal Swamp route is definitely a prettier transit than the Virginia Cut but, there are shallow spots, overhanging trees and, sunken and floating logs to avoid.

   We saw two medium size floating tree trunks and had one very minor bump along the route.

   North Carolina has a very nice Visitor Center along Route 17 and the Dismal Swamp Canal route. There is a very interesting Nature Center here at the State Park.

   Key feature for us is the easy access to green grass where Rivah can do her business. Otherwise she has to go on the bow on her potty rug.

   Tides Inn tied up at the Visitor Center. There is room for 3 boats on the dock, then others will start rafting up to the moored boats. We got here early after passing though the first lock opening of the day so we get an inside berth which is great for Rivah to hop on and off the boat. Others arriving later in the day will have to raft up outboard of us. 

  A movable pedestrian bridge at the Visitor Center allows you to walk over to the State Park where the Nature Center and multiple walking trails are. The Nature Center is pretty interesting place with lots of info on flora/fauna of North Carolina and the Dismal Swamp.

      Tides Inn tucked in at the end of the dock. Arriving boats are starting to raft up and by the end of the day we had two boats outboard of us. 

   We need to leave at 0800 tomorrow so all 3 of us will be getting underway early in the morning. 

   Had great weather today, the wind picked up to 15kts and higher in the afternoon but down to near zero after dark. Rain is coming through tonight at midnight with wind and gusty conditions but, back to light winds by morning. 

   We're off to Elizabeth City in the morning.

Underway for Florida 2025/26 Cruise - Oct 18

 

   

   Departure day is here and the weather is cooperating at least partly. The winds will be light and on the nose most of the way so we will be motoring, but that's ok.

    We are heading to the Dismal Swamp Canal to transit to Elizabeth City, NC. But, the last lock opening is at 1530 which is a race for us to get there and if we are delayed at the opening Gilmerton Bridge, which is frequent, we can't make it to the lock. So the plan is to anchor in Norfolk and head to the canal tomorrow.

   We're off and heading south. Its very nice to depart with no wind as we have to take all the dock lines off and take them with us to use in New Bern and later in Florida. With no wind, the boat doesn't get pinned to the dock after the lines are removed. It was an easy departure. 

   A brisk 52 degrees but sunny and the boat cockpit will warm up with the sun shining.

   Three hours later we are passing the Norfolk Naval Base piers. Here's Harry Truman, CVN-75. The HW Bush, CVN-77 was also in port.

   Marine traffic was heavier than we are used to with it being the middle of October. We've been departing in January the last 7 years when there is almost no traffic.  Lots of other cruisers heading south.

   At Hospital Point anchorage off Portsmouth. The anchorage is pretty full with 15 boats here and still only 3pm. There were still several open spots to fit into.

   The winds are light today and tonight so there should be no problem with boats dragging their anchors.

   In addition to the naval, merchant and private boat traffic, the Carnaval cruise boat arrived just a few moments after we anchored.  Busy day.

   This is officially mile marker Zero of the Intra-Coastal Waterway here at Norfolk. Tomorrow we will work our way down through the bridges, locks and canal to Elizabeth City which is mile 50. Will take most of the day. 

   Time for dinner now. Was a great day with no problems. Good start for the trip.

   

Last bit of Maintenance

 

   Our last maintenance item is to mount a new wind instrument at the top of the mast. Our 23yr old sensor is stuck and won't rotate to give wind direction. 

   Sue goes up the mast for any mast repairs as she doesn't want to be hoisting me.

   One obstacle in going up the mast is that the hoisting halyard and the safety halyard are on different front/back of the mast which means when you pass the spreaders, you have to disconnect the safety line, run it over the spreader, then reattach.

   Up at the top and getting to work. Sue has to remove the old sensor device and insert the new one. A fairly easy job if all goes according to plan, which is rarely the case.

   New sensor in place. 

   We had a momentary scare as the new sensor was not passing data to the instrument at the helm. We reinstalled the old sensor and learned that we had to recycle the power. Put the new sensor in place and recycled power and all is working perfectly.

   Time for some sightseeing and photos as long as you are 55feet up with the birds.  Looking to the west up Chisman Creek.

   The view to the east down the creek towards the Chesapeake Bay.

 

   Other things to check while up the mast. Our anchor (white) and tricolor (red on port side) light is in good condition.  The windex to the right is working fine.

   Long ways down there to the deck. In the old square rigger sailing days the topmen went up 3 times higher than this.

  All maintenance completed. Now its time to provision the boat. This Fall, we are only going for two weeks to New Bern, NC, so not as onerous as 3 months to the Bahamas with no grocery stores. 

   The Island Packet has lots of room to store things but we also have to store spare parts, emergency flares and sextant, emergency bilge pumps, tools, electrical parts, fiberglass repair, 4 types of oil, filters, etc. And one compartment for the spinnaker. Every compartment is full of something.

Out of the boatyard.

 

   All work is done and its time to launch. 

   I touched up the boot stripe and the yard painted the bottom. 

   Travel lift in place to raise the boat. The one issue with being pulled at Wormley Creek - their lift is fairly small and you see that I have to lean the wind generator pole over so the travel lift crossbar can clear the wind generator.  The positioning is pretty exact to get the lift and straps in the right position with the cross bar between the backstays and pole and over the radar. It just fits with inches to spare. 

   Transiting down to the launch basin. 

   Plenty of water in the basin today with extra high tides and northerly winds. They can't launch the boat if it is an unusually low tide. 

   Heading down into the water. All worked out well for launching today with Sue off from work and the weather sunny and breezy. Great day for a sail back to our marina with a clean bottom. 

   We had a brisk sail back to Dare Marina with 15-20kt northerly winds. The zig-zag path was our transit up to Wormley Creek with extensive tacking into the northeast wind last week. The straight line is our path back with a north wind. We had to make one jibe in the Poquoson River compared to 12+ tacks on the way up.

   Back home at or slip at Dare Marina. 

   We got back to the marina just in time to ride out a Nor'easter storm with some flooding. Water levels a couple feet above normal. Our dock was fine.

Preparing for 2025/26 Trek to Florida

 

   We'll be heading to Florida again this winter and its been two years since the boat was hauled and bottom painted so it's time.  

   After being "stuck" in Yorktown for 3 weeks last January because of successive snow storms and, encountering sheet ice in the Currituck Sound, we decided we should leave earlier this year and stage the boat in New Bern, south of any ice/snow delays.

   So the journey south will start in later October as we head for New Bern.

  The poisonous bottom paint stops barnacles from growing on the hull but we get plenty of slime accumulation in the Chesapeake which slows you down. Next year I'm signing up for periodic bottom cleanings to wipe this slime away.

   The white patches at the waterline is where last year's ice breaking activities in the Currituck Sound scraped away bottom paint. Fortunately above the waterline so we didn't accumulate barnacles. 

   A week of long days in the boatyard. I took off the gunwale stainless so we could get 4 coats of Cetol on the teak and protect the wood. 

   Two and a half full days to clean and wax the hull. 

   We continue to have patches of bottom paint peel off from when the original paint was applied in 2002 by the dealer and the molding wax wasn't properly removed. Not a big deal, just a bit more work to apply an undercoat before repainting. 

   Its a day job to scrape the barnacles off all the metal surfaces below the waterline where the bottom paint doesn't stick for more than a year. All the metal has to be cleaned shiny, then metal primer paint applied to help the bottom paint stick (for at least a year or so).

   This season I'm putting PropSpeed on the propeller since I still have some available. It is a super slippery epoxy paint that is supposed to make the propeller too slippery for barnacles to adhere. It works for a year or so, about the same time normal bottom paint stays on.  Should be great for our trip down to Florida. 

    Weed shoe has been recaulked and painted with metal primer paint. Ready for bottom paint. The green teardrop is a sacrificial zinc covered in tape so it doesn't get paint on it.   

   All ready for the yard to repaint the bottom. I normally do this job but this year we could only get a spot in the boatyard if we paid them to paint the bottom. My back will greatly appreciate this situation.