May 2, 2019
After a peaceful night tied up at the Dismal Swamp Welcome
Center dock it was time to shove off at 8AM for the final 18 mile stretch of
the canal. This entire canal is a no
wake zone so speeds of 5-7MPH are required. That’s fine with us as it’s so
rustic and natural it provides an opportunity to look for wildlife. Today was mostly just ducks, geese, turtles
and snakes. On a good passage you may catch a glimpse of a deer, fox, otter or
even a black bear.
8 AM start and off the dock
Geese taking flight
This one threw us off - it's actually a decoy someone put on the log
Beautiful natural scenery
The only navigating we had to due while in the canal was
around a dredge at the feeder creek that comes out of Lake Drummond. That lake provides water to the canal and allows it to remain at its fixed
level. Unfortunately, over the years the area had become
very silted in and shallow, so it was good they are working on clearing it out. The dredge did a nice job of pulling far to
the side and gave good instructions for passage. However, his submerged piping was still a bit
off the bottom, and we had a minor “thump” as we passed over it. No damage –
just a surprise as we had read the day before they were trying really hard to
get that pipe to lay hard against the bottom after another boat said he made
contact. That was our only real contact
in the canal. Thankfully it’s just a hard rubber hose and not some metal
piping. I hear all these stories about
boaters with 3’ draft boats that swear they will never do the dismal route
again after smacking all sorts of floating debris, damaging props and bending
shafts. Somehow our almost 5’ draft boat
has passed through twice with hardly an issue and it remains one of our
favorite areas when traveling up or down the ICW.
Dredge in the canal
Bit of an oddity - sign on this old bridge says "Live gunfire and hazardous chemicals present"
Made it all the way through NC without any real issues - YEAH US!!!
We had timed our departure
to arrive at the Deep Creek Lock for the 11AM opening. Got
there about 15 minutes early and had to idle around for a bit. There’s a bridge about ¼ mile before the lock
and the lockmaster has to come open the bridge, let us through, close the
bridge, drive back to the lock, open the lock entry gate, direct each boat
in , and help tie them up. Then he closes
the back lock doors, empties the chamber to drop us about 8 feet before finally
opening the bottom lock gates as we officially exit the dismal swamp
canal. That lock keeper has been
stationed there quite a while and has a reputation for his jovial nature. He has a collection of conch shells at the
lock keepers house that cruisers who have been to the Caribbean pass on to
him. Before opening the gate and saying
our farewells he played a short tune on one of his conch shells. A sign at the lock station said it’s 458
miles to Charleston. It has taken us 11
travel days to get from there to here and a little over 68 engine hours. We are
averaged about 6.6 mph, 2.1 gph and a little over 3.0 mpg
Deep Creek Bridge going up
Conch shell collection at lock keepers house
Charleston - 458 miles away
Lock keeper blows a tune on his conch shell
Out the lock we all go
Just off the dismal swamp route we took a turn and headed south
about a mile to Top Rack Marina. We stopped
and stayed here on our way south in the fall.
Nothing much going on as it’s primarily a dry stack boat storage facility,
but they have the best diesel price around, inexpensive slips, and an
unbelievable restaurant. So we’ll park
it here until Saturday then head into Norfolk proper and Waterside Marina for
the Looper Rendezvous. Our chartbook covering Norfolk to Jacksonville is about done. Time to start pulling out the charts for the Chesapeake Bay.
Journey for May 2, 2019
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