Elizabeth City and the Dismal Swamp

The Elizabeth City slips were filled by the time we arrived so we tied up on the wall. It was a nice wall so we remained there for the rest of our stay.

Rather than taking the quicker, faster moving Virginia Cut, we again decided to go along the Dismal Swamp canal. It's a route made slower by 2 bridges and 2 locks, but it's picturesque and worth the time. The Dismal Swamp experience begins or ends at Elizabeth City - depending on your direction. The town courts cruisers by supplying fourteen free spaces in slips and at an adjacent wall - and, if there are 5 or more boats, a wine and cheese welcome at 4:30 each afternoon. At the welcome, the major gives a talk describing places to go and sites to see: the dinner and a movie theatre, the free Albemarle Museum, the historic areas, a free shuttle to the Fresh Foods grocery store. Sam - one of the original Rose Buddies - the group of men that started the wine and cheese welcome tradition and gave roses to all the ladies - now sits in his truck most days waiting to drive cruisers wherever they need to go. We stayed for 3 nights and had a fine time. Along with the crews of 5 other boats, we went to Thumpers for dinner (Bob loved his $5 Thumper burger with fries) and the next day I joined the women for a fancy tea and sandwiches lunch. We walked through some of the historic areas taking pictures of homes, toured the museum and went to the dinner and a movie theatre with Barb and Ken - the X-Men movie was OK but quite violent and also somewhat incomprehensible - but ordering dinner from a phone before the movie was fun.

Saturday morning we left at 9 to make the 1:30 bridge and lock opening and then continued on to raft up with everyone at the Visitor Centre dock wall in the canal.



Boats ahead of us going into the first lock.








Crew from the 8 rafted boats gathered around a picnic table for drinks and shared hors d'oeuvres before dinner.

Boats rafted along the Visitor Centre wall.

Today, along with Sandcastle, Plumpuppet, Riff Raff (Jimmy and Linda's large motor vessel) and Daniswan (a small power boat single handed by Jim), we moved on a little way along the Swamp route to tie up at another free dock - some of us positioned just before the second bridge and some just beyond it. Tonight crew of the 5 boats will go to a Mexican restaurant close by - reputed to be "authentic". We didn't go through the second Swamp lock as a railway bridge up ahead is closed for repair and we won't be able to continue up the river until after 11 tomorrow morning. We might just as well stay and enjoy this beautiful place.

Throughout our cruise along the Dismal Swamp canal, I took picture after picture, trying to capture the beauty of the tall trees and thick greenery on each side of the channel. No picture seems to do it justice but I'll upload some here in the hopes that you'll be able to see in part what a lovely spot the (not so) Dismal Swamp is.

Dismal Swamp water is a definite brown.

A Canada Goose nesting among the lily pads.

Travels in North Carolina

It's really spring! - Duckings on a lawn in Belhaven

We've seen Osprey nests on top of navigation aids all along the ICW - and, other summers, on top of aids in the Thousand Islands - but now we are seeing the Ospreys: it's spring and they have eggs to keep warm.

Sunday and Monday, May 2nd and 3rd: Oriental, NC

Last Sunday we decided to skip our stay in Beaufort, NC and go straight to Oriental to meet with Plumpuppet and Sandcastle. We booked a spot in the Oriental Marina and by 2:00 pm, we were heading in. As Bob began to swing Sea Change out and around to get into the slip, the boat slowed and stopped. "I'm out of water," Bob yelled to the waiting dock master. "We're grounded," I yelled. The dock master looked confused - he was having trouble understanding that Sea Change was stuck. Barb, from Plumpuppet, had warned me that depths close in were unusually low. Persistent winds for the last several days were sucking water out of harbours and tributaries and into the Neuse River but the water had risen a little in the last while and Tom, the dock master, told me there would be no problem. Well, we had a problem. We were sitting parallel to, but several feet away from the free (and empty) town dock (note to self - consider in future why a free dock might be empty). Tom came out along the dock and asked us to throw him a line. More helpers and many watchers appeared. We became the entertainment of the moment. I threw 2 more lines and now lines from the stern, mid-ships, and bow cleats were pulled and maneuvered until Sea Change, engine in and out of reverse, wiggled to deeper water. (Incidentally, I am a disaster at baseball, but I throw a pretty good boat line.) Other than 2 slips where we went aground, the marina was full so Tom told us to tie up at the gas dock. Soon after, a trawler pulled in behind us. With bad weather getting worse, everyone was looking for a safe place to tie up and now both marinas in the harbour were full.

Since we were expecting to leave the following morning, I moved quickly to get a load of laundry in, walk across the street to check out the book exchange at The Bean coffee shop, and then to the Deli at the other marina to buy sliced meat and cheese. That night we all went to dinner at M and M - named for the candies. On the way "down", we had great "peel and eat 'em shrimp" at M and M but it's not shrimp season now, so we had other good (and reasonably priced) food.

The next morning at 6:30, we talked on the VHF with Plumpuppet and Sandcastle. The winds were still high and from their docks they could see rough water on the Neuse. We decided to stay and enjoy the day in Oriental. Bob took the opportunity to change the engine and transmission oil and then we walked the long walk to the grocery store.

John and Madeleine, the couple on Chanceux who we met in the Exumas, were back home in New Bern just north of Oriental. They also know Karen and Warren (Sandcastle) and Barb and Ken (Plumpuppet)- having met them on their way south - so I called John and Madeleine and invited them to join us for drinks and dinner. Along with people from boats near us, and Diane and Tony from Vertigo (staying at another marina and part of a group that came south from Port Stanley), we gathered at the outdoor bar at the marina. Cruisers - especially ICW cruisers - are very friendly so the group quickly set about introducing themselves and falling into conversation about their travels. Later 8 of us (Sea Change, Plumpuppet, Sand Castle and Chanceux) went for dinner at the marina's Toucan Cafe. It was a lot of fun to see John and Madeleine again and to talk with everyone about life after the Bahamas.

Bob, Barbara, Ken, Warren, Karen, John and Madeleine

Tuesday, May 5th: Belhaven, NC

The wind had dropped Monday night so we knew the water in the harbour would rise and waves on shallow  ICW rivers ahead would flatten out. In spite of possible thunderstorms predicted for every day in the coming week, we decided to leave on Tuesday morning. Now we were moving north on the wide rivers of North Carolina - along the Neuse into the Bay River, then through a cut into Goose Creek, then across the Pamlico River and up the Pongo. I counted 9 boats behind us and 3 up ahead - everyone is on their way home. All was well until the sky clouded over. Up ahead, Sea Smoke, the trawler that had shared our dock in Oriental, was caught in driving rain, lost his navigation equipment, and became disoriented. Over the VHF, other boats advised on the correct heading (direction) and Sea Smoke found her way out of dangerous water and back to the magenta line. A while later, it was our turn to pass through heavy rain. Briefly winds climbed to 30 knots but eventually settled down and we proceeded in now drizzling rain. Thank God for the enclosure. We feel much less miserable than others who have to suit up and stand under the sparse protection of their Bimini (canvas top). Along the Pongo, we left Sandcastle, Plumpuppet and other boats in the group to go into River Forest marina at Belhaven. We needed a pumpout and far away thunder was making us uncomfortable.




River Forest Manor in Belhaven






Wednesday, May 6th: All the Way to Elizabeth City, NC

We got up at 5:30 for an early start. When we hailed Plumpuppet, Barb said that Sirius Weather predicted high winds for the evening and into the next day. To avoid Thursday's possibly wind whipped waters on Albemarle Sound, they intended to keep going past the marina and anchorages at the mouth of the Alligator River where many boats would lay over, cross the Albemarle and go all the way to the free docks at Elizabeth City.






Trees along the canal joining the Alligator and Pongo Rivers in North Carolina



The Albemarle Sound can be nasty and wise cruisers approach it with caution. In spite of the fact that we were an hour behind Plumpuppet, we thought - if they can do it - then we can too - but we put off our final decision until we reached the sound and could better gage our speed and arrival time in Elizabeth City. We were slowed in the morning by an opposing current but later, both the current and south winds at 16 - 20 knots were pushing us along. With our head sail up, we were motor sailing at 6 - 7 knots. Since we expected similar speeds across the Albemarle, we continued across the sound making 7+ knots all the way to Elizabeth City and arriving at 6 pm. We had traveled 85 statute miles (almost 73 nautical miles) in 12 hours - a personal best for Sea Change.

You see all kinds of things along the ICW. As we were traveling up a canal near Camp Lejuene, about 12 of these amphibious vehicles scooted by. As they passed, a couple of the men in uniform did a little twirl in their turret and a soldier in every vehicle waved.

Cruising up the Maccamaw River

Friday, May 1: Wrightsville, North Carolina



Our anchorage Wednesday night was on the Maccamaw River in South Carolina. We had turned onto the river about an hour before we anchored next to Butler Island the night before. In the morning when we pulled anchor, we continued following the river north for several hours. For most of that time, we were traveling through a wooded area with trees rising out of the water, their roots exposed - perhaps because the tide was low but also, for some I think, because soil had been eroded away by the fast moving river. Since there was little wind, the river surface was smooth and reflected trees and bush along the banks. For the most part, except for the odd small open fish boat skipping by, we were alone. The current was against us making it a slow peaceful ride through a beautiful place.

We arrived at Myrtle Beach late in the afternoon and in the absence of suitable places to anchor, we went into the Myrtle Beach Yacht Club for the night. The wind has come up today, so, the day before, although we  had anchored where we could take the dinghy ashore to walk over to the Wrightsville Beach or up the street to a little grocery, it would have been difficult to get the dinghy down - not to mention the wet choppy ride we would have motoring to shore. The weekend promises more wind. It will be from the south and behind us but still - we may have to modify travel plans and reconsider where we'll stay at the end of our travel days but then that's what traveling in a boat is all about. I'm thinking that we just may be ready to live on land by the end of this trip!