North Street Basin, Portsmouth, VA to Goat Island, Elizabeth City, VA

What a fiasco with a limited opening Railroad lift bridge.  Openings are only 9, 12, and 3 each day for a week of construction.  The crowd of about 35 boats awaited the 9:00 am opening.  The season of boats going south has been delayed a bit because of Hurricane Joaquim coming through, rainstorm floods, and this bridge construction.  Some have said it's caused crowded marinas and anchorages.  We'll just have to see today.

We had good eats to start this motoring day --muffins right out of the oven.

 with close to no wind, sunny skies and 61 degrees.  We left the Navy at Norfolk. Always feel some pride seeing those huge ships.

Everyone was pretty bundled up for a day going south on the ICW.  We turned for the Dismal Swamp, a canal authorized by General George Washington.  It has a sketchy history of starting with slaves digging and constantly near bankruptcy until the Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal government stepped up to maintain it.  It allows boats to move safely south out of the ocean inside of Cape Hatteras.  The canal originally was to help commerce move up and down the coast.  Now it helps the economy of several old towns struggling to stay relevant with historic tourist attractions and cute restaurants.

The Dismal Swamp is much narrower, shallower and more beautiful.  Without commercial traffic and fewer boats in general wildlife abounds -- turtles on logs, herons flying from limb to limb, Vs of geese flying or paddling in the water.  We saw vistas of farm land and homes through the narrow strip of bordering trees, a bucolic scene.  The experienced say boat captains must look up as masts may rip through trees (we did) as well as look down to the shallow depths.  But even when the depth sounder read low numbers the soft mud was easy to drive through.  The Dismal Swamp Canal parallels the Virginia Cut Canal with a couple of extra miles.  I am so glad to explore a new place.

We entered Deep Creek Lock at mile marker 10 at 10:30am -- cozy with 11 boats.  We are to the left with the solar panels on top of the bimini.  We didn't exit until 12 noon.

Tied to the wall as the water came up.

Added personal Graffiti on the lock wall.

Conch shells surround the Lock House.   The lock master played his conch and called mine a helmet conch.  He taught me how to play it, change notes, trill.  I have work to do.  We shared a couple of sticky buns with him.

First of all I was holding it wrong.  As my fingers get deeper into the shell the tone will go lower.  Cool.  I can also learn to trill my tongue as I play.

With absolutely no wind it was perfect to be a motor sailor.  The reflection is pristine.

We discussed whether we should go all the way to Elizabeth City and get a free slip or anchor at Goat Island.  I figured there have to be very few boats ahead of us because we and one other boat were the only ones today who went through two locks and passed the bridges without delay.  We traveled 6 k so we could make it through and get this far.  There isn't any reason or place to stop except a few side docks near the locks and Elizabeth City on the Dismal Swamp - it's the experience.  When we arrived at Goat Island Anchorage, mile marker 43, we found it empty --  it was too nice to pass up so we anchored.  Today we traveled on the water from 8 to 6pm covering 36 miles.  Lots of stars to see tonight with no town lights.

For dinner Drew put the frozen steak on the engine to defrost.  I cooked chicken with onions on top of salad. 

 In a protected anchorage behind Goat Island  watching the sunset with its reflection in the water.  Perfect day.

I bit the bullet and decided to buy CBS.com all access for $6 a month and listened to the live news. CBS has the shows we watch, Madame Secretary, NCIS, and The Good Wife.  So far this has been our most comfortable passage with far fewer projects and all in working order.  Thank you Zimmerman Marine.