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| norfolk in the grey mist |
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| mile marker zero |
there are a number of bridges to pass on the elizabeth river and most were either open or high enough for us not to have to ask for a bridge opening so we really didn't pay any attention and completely forgot that ALL of the boats behind us are sailboats WITH MASTS! in any case, at some point, these guys are going to have to ask for their own bridge opening eventually but this time tom did it for them and i really dropped the ball on this one, completely unprepared. the bridge tender did not answer the radio call on channel 13 and the phone number on the guide was apparently an old one that was out of service. i was able to get the new number by using the binoculars to read it off the sign that was on the bridge. well, that slowed us down a bit. oops... at the gilmerton bridge which is the last one before the turn-off to the dismal swamp canal, one of the boats behind us, LOVE AND LUCK, turned around abruptly at speed, scaring the heck out of the guy behind him! they did not know the vertical clearance of the bridge - apparently, they did not do their homework! and that wasn't all - at some point, the boat broke down. we were having trouble with radio communication with that boat but another boat called us for them and all tom could say was "drop the anchor and call towboatUS." we, on the other hand, had made the turn into the dismal swamp route and had to deal with a dredge barge that was blocking nearly two-thirds of the channel making for a very narrow passage. we really felt bad for those folks but what were we supposed to do? there was no room to turn around even if we wanted to. it was hard to believe that so soon into the journey, these people were already knocked out. last we heard, they said their propeller "fell off." they got towed in and will be having a diver look into the matter.
the next thing was deep creek lock. the fleet had more or less divided into two groups: the doyles on SEMI-LOCAL, TADHANA, L'ATTITUDE and ADAGIO were the first group. the second group was the rest, herded by wally, and were way behind so we just went ahead and locked through. the famous robert peek, lockmaster at deep creek lock was not on duty that day. instead, we got harry, his assistant. harry allowed me to let consuelo out to pee. she had to get off from the flying bridge to do so as we were in low water. i just waited on the boat and called her back when she was done. in any case, locking was cool and we didn't mess up on that one except that i forgot to put out the fenderboards and two of my fender covers got a bit dirty from the lock walls. oh well, the rain will take care of that eventually and i will never forget again.
even though it was a grey, misty day, the scenery on the canal was beautiful and we just meandered along watching out for landmarks pointed out in the guide, as well as submerged logs. there isn't much water in the canal so we really couldn't go any faster even when pushing up the throttle - venturi effects.
we passed the VA/NC state line, as well as the NC dismal swamp canal welcome center - we glanced wistfully at the docks and the manicured park but since we were the ones ahead, we had to keep going, cross the pontoon foot bridge, the south mills bridge and tie up at the south mills bulkhead and leave the welcome center for the rest of the fleet as there was limited space. as it turned out, i'm glad that we were ahead because our group did not have to raft up like the rest did - meaning, if you were on the outside, you'd have to get on someone else's boat, possibly two, to get to land. it wouldn't have been convenient for us especially with consuelo's needs.
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| going forward |
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| looking behind |
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| the color of the water |
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| we finally left virginia |
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| tadhana on the south mills wall |
we got tied up to the wall at south mills at about mile marker 33 and i opened up the hatches to the engine room and the heat released from down there warmed up the boat nicely. as i had previously said, it was grey, misty, at times rainy - just not a really great day to speak of. tom, consuelo and i took a walk into "town" and found a barbershop where tom had a badly needed haircut with a very chatty barber. on the way back to the boat, the scent coming from the market at the gas station was too much to resist and we ended up going home with some fried chicken. that night, it blew like crazy and it was COLD. there is no electricity at the wall so we ran the generator for a while to warm up the boat for showers, etc. i worked until midnight but the next morning, everyone except for consuelo knew about reverting back from DST and she was ready to go at 6:30 which was actually 5:30! oh well... luckily, because we were right on the wall, it was so easy to toss her outside and get her back in after she did her business and then crawl back into bed. unfortunately, an hour later, she was grumbling about not having had any breakfast yet. one simply does not mess with an old dog's routine.
sunday morning was our usual pancakes and bacon breakfast. it was raining, it was cold and it was nasty out but it cleared up by noon and at about 12:20, donna from the welcome center drove over in a bus and picked us up. they had a presentation for our group at the welcome center about the dismal swamp canal and robert peek gave it and played his conch for us. it was pretty cool. they even had a little reception afterwards with snacks and drinks. we also took a walk around the park and when all of that was done, our little group was bussed back to the south mills wall.
it is pretty cold out again as i write this but i wanted to get it done. i figure i won't be blogging every day but the first day had to have a page of its own. it's been pretty special :)
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