roweboatadventures: ELIZABETH CITY, NC to CHESAPEAKE, VA / Wednesday, April 13 (Day 83)

Admiral's Log: 6:30 am, Wed. 4/13/16
Temp: 50
Wind: 18 mph
Speed: 5.7

Another early morning. In order to make it through to the first lock without waiting we had to get through the bridge at Elizabeth City before 7 am.

The Dismal Swamp Canal was quite pretty, but it was very shallow in spots as well. We kept bumping something every so often. When we talked to the other boaters they said they did not bump as much as we did. We decided it must have been the boater in front of us stirring up the bottom and we kept hitting logs you can't see, called "deadheads". We have not looked at our prop yet but will know if we did much damage once we get some work done at Atlantic Yacht Basin.

Our depth finder showing 2.9 feet!

This looked like an old timber wall along the shore.

The kind of stuff you have to keep an eye on

The boater in front of us tied up at the lock

After we were raised 8 feet.

We got to South Bridge and Lock at 8:30. We were raised 8 feet, which took about 10 minutes. Then we were on our way again. We could not make the next lock at 11:30, so we had to wait until the 1:30 opening. There was only a small area for one boat to tie up to so we had to "raft up" with the boat in front of us, who happen to be Loopers from Wisconsin on their way to the Rendezvous in Norfolk too. We had to wait 1.5 hours till the next lock to open at 1:30. So we fixed lunch and read a little while we waited.

Our first "raft up"

At Deep Creek Bridge and Lock, we were lowered 8 feet. Robert, the lock master was quite the talker. I guess when you only see people every 4 hours you save it up. He was very nice and gave me a little background on the swamp and the area.

Me holding on the line as we are lowered.

These two locks have bridges just before them. So the same guy that opens the bridge has to hop in his truck and drive down to open the lock.

By the time it was all said and done, it took us 4 hours to go 22 miles! But the weather was good; a little cool, but sunny and peaceful.

Most people take a left under the bridge to go to Norfolk, but we are getting some work done, so we had to go through Great Bridge Lock, which only rose a foot then had to wait 30 minutes for the Great Bridge, which is not operated by the same guy.

Crossing from NC to VA

After we docked at Atlantic Yacht Basin, Mike talked to the Dock Master about work we needed done, while I rented a car from Enterprise.

We met Zephyr, Blue Haven and Sadie Too for dinner at a Taco place in Portsmouth for dinner. We said good bye again to Zephyr. This time we probably won't see them again until we get to Michigan. The other two crews will be at the Rendezvous in May.