Leaving Dismal Swamp for Chesapeake Bay

It is with some trepidation that we leave the loveliness of the Swamp for regions north. We have so enjoyed the camaraderie  of the other transient boaters, like ourselves, while docked at the Visitor Center, and were reluctant to leave that safe and green spot on the canal. It had to happen!

The rest of the 19 straight miles of swamp were relatively uneventful, apart from the odd THUNK against the props, of submerged logs. We don't have any vibrations from these encounters, so assume that our props are fine.

It is just 7am, Monday morning, as I write this. We have had a good night sleep and feel somewhat refreshed. We enjoyed a wonderful meal with our Marina neighbors Alexa and Berwick, last night, at the Amber Lantern Restaurant, here at the Marina. We had both signed up for the Dine and Dock promotion that the Marina is running. If you spend more than $75 at the restaurant, (Tip included) you get to dock free. The marina normally charges $2 per foot, so we did ok...and got a top knotch meal at the same time. How lovely to be able to say that, after so many disasters where we leave feeling grumpy:)

Warren ordered Mussels for a starter...though they were small, they were sweet, he said. I ordered Seared Ahi with seaweed Salad..yum! Perfect, it was!
For our mains, Waz ordered the NZ Rack of Lamb, which was charbroiled, and pronounced it 'perfect'...with garlic mashed potatoes and very al dente baby veg. I ordered the Crab Cakes (per usual..though it was a toss up with the Lamb!) which were full of chunk crab and light to boot. They were delicious. I ordered the Risotto alongside, but didn't do more than taste it. It was good! We finished with a cup of coffee, but had also enjoyed an Italian Pinot Grigio, between the four of us.
Conversation was easy and we thoroughly enjoyed the company from Houma, Louisiana. That is where Waz went to the Hospital to get the splinter out from under his fingernail! They treated us well, there....we had also retreated there ahead of a Hurricane Warning!
 Our new friends are in a spotless Mainship 43, and have taken a year's sabbatical to do the Loop. We hopefully will run into them more as we go north.
Warren has just gone along the dock to rendezvous with another boat that we see ( and hear on the radio), Queen Anne's Revenge (which is the name of a Sailing Ship that foundered off the Carolina coast)...well, to see if they have risen yet. These folks are  veterans of the waterway, we believe.
We are just checking with them to see where they are headed.

We are waiting for the fog to lift. I took these pics at around 6.45am. This plant is opposite the boat to our left (out back).

 an to our right, out back.

 The sun was coming up behind the Marina Building. The restaurant is on the second floor, so it has a nice view.We are actually parked in one of the fuel docks. They wanted to move us, but this one has 50amp power, which we need. Waz wsa out washing the boat hull down in the dark, last night...we had collected a lot of brown water muck from the swamp, along the way. That stuff sticks, if you don't get to it early!

The reason we are REALLY here...the fuel price is the best on the coast. Filling up at $3.49 per gallon was great! We also got a pump-out and filled up with good quality water. Phew! Their wifi was good too...A few other shortcomings, and for a Marina that is well positioned to receive and dock Transients coming through the ICW into Norfolk, we aren't sure why they don't have more amenities.

Looking left (out back), along the marina and row of boats towards the new bridge that is being built to replace the current one at the end of the ICW, which opens on the hour. It causes a lot of congestion on the water, both sides of the bridge, apparently. By all accounts, we did the better route through the Swamp!:) Good Planning, Waz.

This is predominantly a Dry Stack Marina...the young men (dock hands) were VERY busy all afternoon...it was a lovely day, and Sunday to boot. Lots of traffic out there as soon as we cleared the Lock at the end of the Swamp Canal.

Speaking of which...I need to back up the horse...

We left the dock at the Visitor Center, Dismal Swamp, around 8.45am. It was a glorious day, but a cold wind, and windier than previously. As the swamp thinned out, and the trees gave way to more farmland, around us, the wind was more in evidence, and we were back to wearing our hoodies. I even put a scarf on when I went out on the bow for spotting duty.
We had gone for a hike the afternoon before, at around 4pm, hoping to see some wildlife feeding in the late afternoon. First up, I was looking down at the uneven ground, hoping not to trip on anything, and I almost did...a medium sized black Rat Snake. It got as much of a surprise as I did and slithered away into the grass, albeit slowly, after finding that we were not a threat. I was a bit too dumb struck to get a photo of it out in the open..bummer!

We walked at quite a pace for half an hour, then, mindful of the bridge opening schedule (we had to cross the canal to hike the trail), we decided to walk back the way we came. A little further back along the trail we stopped and watched a mother deer with a new fawn, in the afternoon sunlight. The little one was playing on the trail:) Pretty to watch. Mom's ears showed she was ever mindful of our presence, though we were a good distance away, and she hurried her baby into the undergrowth again.

These two were not far from the bridge, and we were able to get almost adjacent to them before one of them had second thoughts about staying and took off into the undergrowth.

About to cross back over the bridge to the side we are parked on, at the Visitor Center.

I took this photo from the middle of the bridge. It was just 5.15pm. We had two more south-bound yachts to join us, before sundown.

Isnt this just so pretty?

I love the way they have made fences the original way the settlers made them.

The bar-b-q and covered tables were just along from where we were docked. What a great place to share a meal. Too bad we didn't have the fixin's for a bar-b-q, tho! We did think of going pine cone collecting!

When the last two yachts arrived, just as the sun was going down behind the tall trees on our left (port side) , going south, one rafted with the left hand yacht, and the other rafted with us. The yacht was full of young men (and one woman), most of whom were Navy Doctors from Norfolk. They had accompanied their friend who owns the yacht, down this far, and then another friend drove down to take them back for work on Monday. Good scheme. They loved coming down the Swamp. They stayed long enough to bar-b-q hot dogs and pizza on the back of the yacht,  and then left for home, leaving two to sail south the Bahamas for the summer (hurricane Season???hmm..)
They had a dog with them, so they traipsed back and forth across the cockpit of our boat...everyone did! It was a bit like Main Street on our boat for a bit, until the crowd dispersed.
The other boat to arrive, also going south was manned by Burt. We all thought he might be drunk, such was his boat handling.  His boat was also in bad shape, and we all wondered if he would make it to his goal...The Islands down off the Venezuela Coast. Good luck to him. He managed to get the other yachties to 'donate' some fuel to him, to keep him going till he found a Gas state he could tie up close to. I have a feeling he plays the  'poor me' card often, and the 'My social security check is in the mail' card. He made off the next morning, bright and early, with the youngsters leading the way, and looking out for him. The rest of us went north in two different shift.

The vegetation changed, as I said, and a bike path ran alongside the canal for quite a way, with many cyclists taking the opportunity, on this sunday, to enjoy the lovely weather.

On the other end of the canal,  everything changed. The countryside gave way to urban views, industrial views, which is what we get a lot of, coming into and out of towns and cities. In some ways we see the very worst of places. Along the way, though, the same gorgeous green and stillwaters, until the trees got thinner and the wind came through. You can see the wind patterns on the water in this photo. The Kayaker disappeared down a side canal!

The sign said...Superintendent's House. I don't think anyone has lived here for some time!

 Reflections of the trees in the water:)

 The little 'house' is actually a public bathroom along the bike trail. A brand new dock, kind of invited us to pull up:)

 Most of the 32 miles were straight, with two bends in the canal...as far as the eye can see.  Look at that still water!

 Like I said, it all changed. We stopped before the bridge, before the Lock at noon, went across the road for some last minute food supplies from Food Lion supermarket, and got ourselves some Chinese food for lunch at the same time. We had enough leftovers for another meal. General Tso's Chicken and a Vege supreme...with pork fried rice. Very good! We were eventually joined at the bridge by three yachts. The bridge only opens just before the lock does. The  lock attendant does both jobs, and we had to wait for him to drive down to the lock to operate that.

This lock is on the Historic Places Registry. That is the original Lock House on the right.

We went down 9 feet. We are now back in Tidal territory.

 That is smoke coming out the back of us. We had been idling a little too long in the lock and needed to burn some of that off! We did have our engines off, but I guess we started them too soon.

This beach party was at the entry to our night's anchor, so we moved on from there. Too many boats already in that spot. It rather forced our hand to go to the Marina. Not a bad choice, given the lovely meal we enjoyed.

 Thank goodness they are building this bridge. It is sorely needed to alleviate the traffic congestion...boat traffic, that is.

I wont be posting for a few days, and I shouldn't be posting this, on our jetpak..it uses too much of our monthly allowance. I will need to wait till we have free wifi somewhere to post photos again.
Ciao for now...the old boy is snoring, here beside me. It has been a long day, with nasty southwest winds and 4-6ft waves, in the latter part of the day. Side on to the wind and waves makes for a lot of intense motoring and lots of rock'n rollin'.
Night Night.