Tuesday October 29th, 2019

We continued on at first light, which is now about 7am, towards Elizabeth City.  The Dismal Swamp Canal was just as weed infested as yesterday.  We met some of the other boats we moored with last night at Elizabeth City, and apparently some of the power boats had troubles with their water cooling systems getting clogged and engines overheating.  Our outboards did not have that problem.  Our issue was that our props would frequently get fouled with weed and we needed to put the engines astern to clear it. 

If you’ve ever been in a harbour with large ships coming to and fro, you’ve probably noticed that every so often you’ll hear 3 very load blasts on a ships horn.  It’s annoying for landlubbers, but serves the very useful purpose of signaling “My engines are going astern” to other ships – it’s not at all obvious, but very important to know.  Anyway in almost 40 years of sailing I’ve never had a legitimate reason to use this sound signal – until today.  With several boats in convoy along the canal, I signaled the boats behind me that my engines were going astern with 3 blasts on the horn!

Just before Elizabeth City is a lifting bridge.  We had stopped to refuel, but by the time we got to the bridge, our companions were still waiting for it to open.  Apparently, the bridge opening mechanism was broken.  The frazzled bridge tender was getting shorter and shorter with his replies every time someone radioed him for a status.  It all worked out perfectly though, we tied up, had lunch, washed dishes and then were on our way.  We passed through and tied up on the town dock in Elizabeth City, 36° 17’.937N 076° 13’.095W. 

The towns people were very welcoming and friendly.  One even brought a flower for the 2 ladies on the dock.  Teresa still has hers on our saloon table 2 days later. 

Ships Log: 7138.1  Trip: Log fouled with weed.  Trip Total: 478.5

Monday October 28th, 2019

Much nicer weather today, just right for exploring the Great Dismal Swamp.  We set off at 8:30 and reached Deep Creek Lock at 10:30, ready for the scheduled lock opening at 11am.  The river was beautiful up to the lock and Ron joked with the lock keeper that his swamp was not very dismal.  The reply was that we wouldn’t see the swamp until we were through the lock.  The lock keeper was very entertaining.  Not only did he enlighten us on some of the history of the swamp, he also gave us some useful information for transiting the swamp and dealing with the weeds we were about to encounter.  And he finished up by showing us how to play a conch shell, complete with a demonstration song which was very impressive. Uh oh, I’m writing this as Teresa is cooking vegetables and she’s just told me that the propane has run out.  Excuse me while I change the gas bottles …… OK, where was I?  Oh yeah, the swamp.  We locked through with 5 other boats, and 4 of us continued down the Great Dismal Swamp Canal, which was full of Duck Weed (I think we call it Daphnia in England), and a few fallen branches and logs.  Not quite so pretty – well maybe, but in a different way. 

We rafted next to “MV Simple Life” at the Great Dismal Swamp State Park, 36° 30’.406N 076° 21’.360W, and were invited aboard for a drink along with the crews of the other 5 boats moored and rafted here.  We went for a walk in the park – not very exciting – and returned to Quinita for dinner – grilled chicken legs and veggies.  While we were cooking dinner the gas ran out.  Oh wait I’ve already covered that!

Ships log: 7129.3, Trip: 20.7, Trip Total: 543.5

Sunday October 27th, 2019

Strong headwinds, rain and thundershowers, why bother?

Saturday October 26th, 2019

Norfolk looks like a nice city, so we decided to have a lay day and explore.  The weather was great – sunny and warm all day.  Ron had a lazy start to the day while Teresa defrosted the refrigerator.  We unloaded our bikes and rode the Elizabeth River Trail.  It’s a really nice trail – flat, easy cycling and very varied throughout its 10.5 miles.  Our marina is almost at the eastern end so we rode to the end and were able to ride the whole trail. 

On the way back we loaded up on groceries, but we sadly did not have carrying capacity to replenish our beer and wine supplies. 

Teresa had found an Indian restaurant, ½ mile walk from the boat, and of course we couldn’t miss that opportunity.  On the way to the restaurant, downtown was buzzing, with Halloween revelers in their costumes and an outdoor charity concert for cancer research.  It seems weird, being on the boat during Halloween, and walking around in T shirts. 

Dinner was excellent, although service was pretty slow and not very good.  On the way back we passed a 7-Eleven store and popped in to see if they sold beer or wine.  Surprise, surprise – they did, so we stocked up and walked back to the boat.  Of course we over ordered on food, and brought back at least half for dinner tomorrow night.  A pretty good day!

Friday October 25th, 2019

The sea was like glass with no wind at all as we set off for Norfolk and the Intracoastal Waterway. 

The pelicans were out in full force again and we saw them fishing.  They flew along the surface of the water and when they spotted a tasty morsel, they dived in after it.  One took off and flew around Quinita giving a great view of these powerful birds in flight.  The glass like sea made it easy to spot dolphins and we were also entertained by them. 

We docked in Waterside Marina in Norfolk, VA, 36° 50’.622N 076° 17’.525W, and found ourselves right downtown.  Went for a walk to the library to print some documents we needed.  Libraries are so useful, and excellent value for so little money. 

We returned to Quinita as the Friday night local boats started turning up.  Pretty soon it was dark, and we dined aboard on Spare ribs and potato salad.  The sunset was beautiful.

Ships Log: 7108.6, Trip: 33.3nm, Trip Total: 522.8

Thursday 24th October, 2019

We set off with headwinds and a very lumpy sea in the shallow water outside Deltaville, which promised a not very pleasant trip to Cape Charles.  However, after an hour or so, the winds decreased to 5-7 knots, the water was deeper and the combination of the 2 flattened the seas.  Not enough wind to sail the distance we needed, so we motored with a fair tide at speeds over the ground up to 7 knots.  Thank goodness for fair tides. 

On the way in we saw several pelicans sitting of the water. 

We docked at 4:20, 37° 15’.867N 076° 01’.093W, tidied up the boat and went for a walk ashore. 

On our return, the lady and gent on the boat next to us were fishing off the dock with their radio playing country music.  She told me that she fishes for “fahv” songs and if she hasn’t caught anything she gives up.  I guess we’re in the south now!

Ships Log: 7075.4nm, Trip: 22.0, Trip Total: 489.5

Wednesday 23rd October, 2019

We had N/NW winds today – perfect.  Based on the forecast we had planned a longish day to Reedville – about 40 miles away.  So we set off at first light, not knowing how fast we’d be moving.  

As it happens, we got to the turnoff for Reedville about 12:30pm and decided to take advantage of the winds and head for Deltaville, 37° 33’.592N 076° 18’.796W, another 16 nm further on.  This would give us a couple of easy days to Norfolk and the start of the NC section of the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW). 

The winds died at the end of the trip, but we still made great progress and docked around 4:30pm.  This morning, we started out with lots of layers to insulate against the N winds and gradually shed them throughout the day.  By the time we docked we were down to T shirts, on a bright sunny and very warm day. 

The sun has now gone down and taken the heat with it!

Ships log: 7053.4, Trip 46.7, Trip Total: 467.5