CHESAPEAKE, VA / Thursday, April 14 to Sunday April 17 (Days 84-87)

Thursday we drove to see more of the Outer Banks. It's funny how trips that take a whole day to go 50 miles in the boat, only takes an hour in the car. We drove past the dunes, the sand was flying everywhere and the wind was howling. I got out and took a quick video of the Atlantic Ocean waves. They were huge. Did not see any surfers, but there were quite a few kite boarders and kite surfers.
         

              

We made a one night reservation at the Inn on Pamlico Sound, which is about mid way down the Outer Banks. We first drove to the Bodie Island Lighthouse, which was not open, but I did get my Lighthouse Passport Book stamped. I think I forgot to mention that the lady that runs the tour boat in Georgetown gave me a spare Lighthouse Passport Book, when I mentioned to her that I was collecting art and photos of the lighthouses we will see along our trip. We then drove to the end of Cape Hatteras and took a car ferry over to Ocracoke Island. You can only get there by boat or ferry. We found the Lighthouse but no one was there so we could not climb it, but I did go to the information center and get my stamp. 

Bodie Island

We had a quick so-so lunch and since it was not really "season" yet, not a whole lot was open. The ferry ride takes an hour and only runs on the hour, so we figured we better get back in line if we wanted to make our dinner reservation.   There was only one ferry working and did not look like it held more than 20 cars. We just missed the 4:30 ferry and the 5:30 was cancelled for whatever reason. So we had to wait 2 hours for the 6:30 ferry. The wind was howling and blowing salt and sand everywhere! Our rental car was covered with sand inside and out! Luckily I had the Kindle App on my phone so I could kill a little time reading. I called the Inn to tell them our situation, they said we should be able to make the last reservation at 8. They told us ferries run aground or break down pretty regularly so they understood.

Ocracoke

We made it to the Inn with 2 minutes to spare! We did not even get to shower or change. It was a cute place with 12 rooms; a popular wedding venue.
Each room was named after a flower. The dinner was good, not great. But the free breakfast was very good. They grew many of their herbs and vegetables themselves. It was a nice place, but we think our mattress could have used replacing. 

Friday, we went to the Maritime Museum and read about all the ship wrecks that have been raised and the many more still unidentified. The Outer Banks were visited quite frequently by Pirates, including Black Beard. There are over 600 ship wrecks in the area; from Pirate Ships to a WWII sub.  They islands were all originally Indian names, but evolved over the years. The most interesting name to me, was Nags Head. A lantern was tied around an old horses neck and it would slowly shine out to sea. A ship's captain would think it was a sheltered harbor. So when he tried to anchor, he ran aground and would be raided by pirates, thus he was duped by an old "nags head". 

Shows all the ship wrecks 

Cape Hattarus Lighthouse

Looking up the Lighthouse stairs.

Looking down the stairs.

We went to the 4th Lighthouse on the Outer Banks. The famous Hatteras Lighthouse, sometimes referred to as "America's Lighthouse" because of it's iconic look. We got in free because it was the opening day for the season. Maybe that was why we could not get into Ocracoke the day before. We could not go to the very top because of the high winds. The Ranger said they clocked the highest gust so far at 47 mph. We took a few pics, got my book stamped and bought a print for my collection.

As far as we could go to top of Lighthouse.

My Lighthouse Passport Book (kind of nerdy I know).

We got back to the boat around 3, fixed shrimp on the grill for dinner and watched the Lightning beat Detroit in their second NHL Playoff game.

Saturday,  we walked to a great place for brunch; Sunrise Cafe. Mike had been craving corn beef and hash. He said it was some of the best. I had French Toast. On our walk back to the boat we saw some markers down by the river. They said that was the sight of the Battle of the Great Bridge during the Revolutionary War in 1775. We are actually staying in the town of Great Bridge, VA. While we got laundry started we walked around and looked at the boats at the Yacht Basin. Saw some really old wooden boats to a 90 foot custom built Burger Yacht. Mike was drooling.

 We walked to "Off the Hook" seafood market and restaurant for dinner. Mike had soft-shell crab. I just had a couple of appetizers. Blackened tuna bites and She Crab soup. We shared a crab dip and hushpuppies, both their specialty and both worthy of the claim. We Ubered back to the boat and watched some hockey playoff games.

Sunday, was a lazy kind of day. Getting ready to go home for 10 days (so you will not see any updates until around May 6th after the Looper Rendezvous). Securing things, throwing out food and packing. We read off and on most of the day and watched the NHL Playoff games. We grilled pork chops for dinner and watched the Lightning again.

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.

Duck, duck, goose...

Five turtles on a log

Only 25 more miles till Norfolk; beginning of the AICW

We are the blue dot inside the last lock.

MANTEO to ELIZABETH CITY / Tuesday, April 12 to

Admiral's Log:    6:35 am, Tues., 4/12/16
                         Temp:   58
                         Winds:   10 mph
                         Speed:   6.6

We decided we needed to leave early to avoid as much of the winds and rough seas as possible as we crossed the Albermarle Sound. It started out pretty overcast and began to rain just about the time we got to Pelican Marina in Elizabeth City at 11:30. 

On the way we saw a Navy C2 Greyhound; which is a plane with a big round radar on top.

Elizabeth City is the start of the Dismal Swamp. There are two routes to Norfolk. One goes to Coinjock NC and the other goes through the Dismal Swamp. Most Loopers take the Swamp Route because it is suppose to be so pristine and peaceful. The Dismal Swamp did not get it's name from being a treacherous route, but rather the word dismal was actually another name for swamp. 

The snaky swamp route.

George Washington and Patrick Henry among others, were instrumental in digging of the swamp for a settlement. Later it became a supply route for the Confederacy, which was eventually shut down by Union Troops. Slaves were  even known to hide there. It was later bought by a lumber company, and in 1973 it became part of the National Park system.

When we docked the Dock Master said Zephyr and Sweet T would be arriving around 5. Since it was raining and these were not the best docks, we helped them tie their lines. Everyone was pretty tired from fighting the rough seas. So Mike and I just ordered pizza delivered to the boat.

BELHAVEN to MANTEO / Sunday, April 10 to Monday, April 11 (Days 80-81)

Admiral's Log:     7:35 am, Sun. 4/10/16
                         Temp:   36
                         Winds:   6 mph
                         Speed:   6.6

Brrrr, cold start, of course we are driving from inside. We proceeded up the Pungo River Canal to the Alligator River Swing Bridge to the Albermarle Sound. We had to go through a huge swing bridge.

Lots of stumps to watch out for.

Bridge before and after it swings open.

The Albermarle Sound was missing quite a few markers and there were tons of crab pots and fish pots or fish sticks we called them. We had never seen these before, but at high tide it's got to be pretty sketchy, requiring quite a bit of attention and concentration getting through here.

We took this side trip to Manteo (pronounced Man-ee-o, no T) in the Outer Banks to visit fellow Kubota dealers from Delaware; Mark and CeCe Babbitt, who have a second home in Kitty Hawk. They met us just as we were docking at 2:30.  This is a really nice marina, very close to restaurants and shops and a cute town. I told Mike I would not mind having a second house here. That did not go over too well. Haha.

Love these old homes with such character.

Since it was not quite "in season" yet, we had to drive around until we found a restaurant open. But we had a good meal and better company. We spend the night at Mark and CeCe's adorable home. 

Monday, CeCe cooked us a late breakfast which was delicious. They took us to see the Currituck Lighthouse, so I can add to my collection. The Outer Banks have several operating Lighthouses, which I hope we can get to while we are in the area. 

Currituck Lighthouse

We then went to the Wright Brothers Museum National Park. Pretty amazing the principles they discovered are what propels most all flying machines today. 
For lunch they took us to a cute place on the water. Poor Richards, for reuben's and clam chowder. We said good bye and made plans to meet for dinner when we are in Annapolis in a few weeks.

These 4 markers represent the 4 flights.

Why they chose Kitty Hawk

Replica of the first plane

Goofy tourists!

BEAUFORT to BELHAVEN / Friday, April 8 to Saturday, April 9 (Days 78-79)

Admiral's Log:     8:55, Fri. 4/8/16
                         Temp:   57
                         Winds:   11 mph
                         Speed:   8.4

We said good bye to our Looper friends as we all left for our seperate destinations. We may not see Zephyr again, in their boat anyway. We plan to look them up when we get to northern Michigan after they get home. We will see Sweet T at the Rendezvous in Norfolk the first of May.

Three Loopers in a row

Waving good bye

This beautiful restored 1930's boat was originally built to look for German Subs.

Our next stop is Manteo on the Outer Banks, but it is too far to do in one day and the winds are suppose to get pretty strong. So we headed to Dowry Creek Marina outside of Belhaven NC. 

We passed the 200 statue mile marker; meaning we are 200 miles from Norfolk VA., which is the start of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AICW). We crossed the Pamlico Sound and saw a cool Navy vessel and a landing craft loading up jeeps and other equipment.

Helicopters on the back.

We got to Dowry Creek at 4:15, the dock master told us there was a gale warning, freeze warning and a dust warning all in one day! We thought we were seeing sea fog and it was actually dust from the recently planted fields. Our boat was covered with dirt! One good thing, there were no more bugs and pollen!

Dirt, not fog!

Brrr...

Dowry Creek is not within walking distance to any town, so we just stayed in and watched TV and fixed an Indian dish for dinner.

Saturday, was cold and windy! Not much to do here but did not want to chance the winds on the open water. Luckily we were right. Blue Haven, a Looper we had met in Georgetown showed up around 4 and told us they tried to go through the Alligator River Swing Bridge and it was closed due to high winds. They went 20 miles up the cannel and had to turn around and come to our marina.

We invited Al and Lila from Blue Haven to have chili with us. Then we watched the Lightning game.