We left Portsmouth at 8 am and had to pass by many ship
repair facilities until we got to our first opening bridge, it normally opens
on the half hour but there were 3 boats in a row so they opened early for us.
Shortly after the bridge we turned into the Great Dismal Swamp which was
constructed from 1793 to 1805 by manual labour of slaves. It is a 22 mile long
canal that joins Virginia to North Carolina. The swamp is quite narrow and
about 6 feet deep and has many logs and various debris that needs to be avoided.
We encountered our first lock at mile 10 and were the fourth boat in, here are
some pictures of the lock…
The water level raised approximately 10 feet in 15 minutes
letting in around a million gallons of water. The trick according to the
lockmaster is to keep the stern tight to the walls while letting the bow swing
away as the water is rising.
We didn’t see
much wildlife other than a lot of turtles on logs. Take a look at this picture…
look real close… (especially you Scott) do you know what it is??? This is the colour of the water
in the swamp, it is stained from the tannins in the cypress trees. Besides the fascinating colour of the
water (?) it is very straight and the only view is the trees on either side of
the canal. At mile 27 we tapped something in the water (probably an underwater
log) even though we were being very careful looking ahead. At mile 28 we arrived at the Dismal
Swamp Visitors Centre, where you can stay for free overnight and also has lots
of information for the ICW all the way to Florida. Often boats raft up to 3
deep on the dock, at this point there are only two of us so we are both next to
the dock. There are 3 more lock openings today so we may see more boats here
yet.
From the look of the bubbles you just had a pee.....by the colour looks like you are passing a stone. Oooooor you just emptied you tea pot. Either way it looks nasty
ReplyDeletelove your updates, the pictures are so interesting, have to agree with Scott's comment, Shadow is great and we have discovered even though our daughter-in-law is allergic to dogs with allergy medicine she can manage a visit, they visited for Thanksgiving supper and have agreed to visit for Christmas they just won't stay as many days as they usually do which is fine as long as they are here for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, we don't allow Shadow to the area of the house where they sleep so that helps big time and we give him a great brushing before they come and vaccum everything
ReplyDelete