Making a Break South

Well, the Dismal Swamp route has been closed for about a week now.  Announcements could be heard daily on the VHF radio that the "South Mills Lock is closed due to high water levels". We decided to take the more heavily traveled Albemarle-Chesapeake canal route.  While we wanted to stop at the Dismal Visitors center, the real highlight of that route is Robert. We have always enjoyed visiting with the lock and bridge tender at the Deep Creek lock. If you ever decide to give the Dismal a try, coffee and a chat with Robert is not to be missed.

We left the marina at York River on Sunday. We were actually able to sail...for a little while.  A close reach, then beam, then broad before the winds finally calmed and we were left motoring the last bit into the Hampton Roads area.  One more time by the big gray military ships at the military docks and Naval Shipyard in Norfolk and Portsmouth.

Ships of old and new in Norfolk.

We stayed at the free docks in Portsmouth once again.  Although the wooden docks of the north landing are not in as nice of shape as the south location, we chose it. The north landing docks are a couple inches higher so don't tend to go underwater as often at high tide.  The north landing is also closer to the public restroom at the visitors center, the water spigot, and free pump out.  It amazes me that more people don't take advantage of this dock.  The only reason I can think of is that they are scared off by the "No overnight mooring" signs at the entrance...that I think only apply to the dolphins and structure around the entrance to these locations (newer signs with the rules about overnight docking are now posted in various locations inside the basins of each of the free docks). The only negative is that all the local hotels have finally secured their WiFi so we only had limited internet access via our phones.

The Portsmouth North Landing free dock. Plenty of
free space at this location while we were here

The next day was a very short trip with the goal to re-position for better timing of the next few legs and to give us plenty of time to make it through the gauntlet of bridges south of Portsmouth and Norfolk. I remember my first time through here I overlooked the Gilmerton bridge and arrived there sometime around 5 pm. I didn't know the name of the bridge (I still don't understand why they are not posted in charts or on the actual bridge, but they usually are not) and it was just dumb luck that there happened to be a commercial tug with an opening reservation. Monitoring the name during the radio conversation, we were able to get through with the opening for the tug.

We left the free dock late enough that we wouldn't have an issue with the typical urban area rush-hour closures. But the craziness in Norfolk didn't disappoint.  Not long into the trip we came across one of the "normally open unless there is a train" bridges.  Was it open...nope.  Was it closed....nope.  This was a lift bridge that was about half-way up.  Now, I know some pretty large boats come through here and there is a good chance that half-way up was over the 60 feet of clearance I would need...but from the boat it can be really hard to tell, particularly when everything around the bridge is of a larger scale than you are used to (remember those big, gray, military boats). I had to look up the name of the bridge (in a list I had downloaded from Blue Seas a while ago) and try to hail them.  I was successful and found that the bridge was at 80 feet...plenty of room to pass.

Not a lot of clearance under one of these when closed.

Two bridges later I found another lift bridge that was not completely closed.  But this time it was only a few feet from the closed position.  I definitely could not get through it.  So, once again, the search for the bridge name in my list of all the bridges of the ICW and give them a call.  No response. Then I remember reading somewhere that one of the bridge operators doesn't tend to respond to current name of the bridge, but instead responds to it's old name.  I look it up in my offline Active Captain database and find that sure enough, the "Norfolk and Western" bridge was the one that apparently prefers to be called "Old Virginia" so I give it a try.  They immediately responded that they were running some tests and the bridge would be opening in a few minutes.

The final bridge issue was my old friend the Gilmerton.  Funny how I don't need to look this bridge up, it has been ingrained in my memory since that first encounter. As we approach, I see a boat waiting but it is farther away than most usually wait.  I give the bridge a call and they tell me to come to the closest day marker and they would open up.  Of course, about the time we get the mark I see the railroad bascule bridge that is just on the other side of the Gilmerton start to close. I knew what was next before the bridge tender even made the radio call.  She said that the railroad bridge was closing and she would open once the train bridge went back up (no point to raising the Gilmerton if you cannot pass due to the train).  No train, just a railroad work pickup crosses.  I guess it must be maintenance time for all the area railroad bridges.  Oh well, it was only another 20 minute delay or so.  Once the railroad bridge and the Gilmerton bridge opened, we were on our way.

The last obstacles are the Great Bridge lock and bridge.  A short wait for the lock to open (and only one powerboat that had to push his way past everyone else to be at the head of the line) and we were in the lock.  The Great Bridge lock is the least eventful of the locks and it seems sometimes it only raises or lowers a boat by inches. So, before you know anything happens, the gates at the opposite end of the lock open and you are on your way...the few hundred feet to the bridge.  Fortunately the lock operates in concert with the bridge so there really isn't much of a wait.

The free dock at Great Bridge.

There are two free docks at Great Bridge.  One is on the south side between the bridge and the lock.  It was empty.  The other is on the north side just past the lock.  We couldn't see it before we passed under the bridge, but once through, we found that it was pretty full.  There was enough space for us, but only if a boat that was already there moved down a bit.  So, after pulling over toward the dock, I spin the catamaran around.  I think a large boat spinning 180 degrees in a channel gets a little attention, and the owner of the one boat figured out I wanted to dock and offered to walk his boat down a few feet so we would fit.  After getting our boat tied up, I went down and thanked him for moving down.  There was still enough space for about a 25 foot or smaller boat, but otherwise the dock was full.  I can understand as this new dock is definitely the nicer of the two.

Boats at the Free Dock and Atlantic Yachts at Great Bridge.

Tomorrow the plan is to make our way south, past Coinjock, and then on to an anchorage just north of the Albemarle.

Another Dismal Day

After a good meal and a good nights sleep in Elizabeth City, it was time to head through the Dismal Swamp. This route has two bridges that need to be raised to let most boats pass and adjacent to those bridges are two locks.  The locks run on a very limited schedule so you need to time your arrival.  The schedule at both sets of locks and bridges are at 8:30 am, 11:00 am, 1:30 pm, and 3:30 pm.  In order for us to make the 11 am opening at the South Mills lock, we needed to leave the dock at 7:30 am. So, at 7:30 we untied the dock lines and headed on.

Winding up the Pasquotank river is nice.  Being the only boat as the path starts to narrow is even better. We left the river itself and started traversing a canal as the river became a bit too narrow.  Oh and then there is the depth.  When we left Elizabeth City the depths were not a problem and we saw lots of depths well above the usual ICW 12 foot range.  But the Dismal swamp canals are a very different story.  Here, the controlling depth is only 6 feet.

The Pasquotank River north of Elizabeth City.
A bit smaller than it is south of town.

The depth, and the fact that most of the canal is a no wake zone, and those that travel this route are a very small subset of those you find elsewhere on the ICW. They tend to be slower or smaller craft, or at least ones that will fit and aren't interested in going fast. It wasn't until we were nearing the first lock that we saw another boat.  We had slowed down since we were arriving early and a trawler appeared behind us and caught up as we were waiting at the first lock.

The South Mills Lock after we entered.

And again when we were ready to go.

The schedule of the locks in combination with the no wake rule means that, if you want to go all the way through the canal, you do so at about 5 knots.  While there are no anchorages, there are a few free docks where you can stop if you want to spend a bit more time in the canal. There are walls and docks near each of the locks, one at a park next to the canal and one at the Dismal Swamp Welcome Center. All the docks are free for a one night stay. In our case we again didn't have time for a lot of exploring...hopefully next time we can spend the night at the welcome center dock and check things out.

One problem with a less traveled and narrow canal is that you can occasionally find floating debris in the canal.  The pollen is one thing, but the large branches or small logs are another story.  Twice we approached ones that blocked 2/3 of the canal span.  In each of those cases, we slowly approached the log and I managed to use a boat pole to push it out of the way.  In one case, we scared two turtles off of the log as we made our approach.

Yes, it was calm on the Dismal Swamp this day.

The highlight of the trip this time is the same as the one from our trip south last winter.  In a name, it is Robert.  He is the lock operator of the Deep Creek lock. A wealth of information on the Dismal Swamp and the surrounding area.  We were there for the 3:30 opening and he even checked with the Gilmerton bridge for us to see if there was a commercial opening scheduled so we might be able to make Portsmouth (of course, there was not).  He is a great guy and well worth spending a bit of time getting to know.

We ended up stopping at a dock that was marked in Active Captain as a free dock. This dock is actually part of a boatyard called Chesapeake Yachts and we got there just before they closed.  We walked up to the office just to verify it was a free dock and we were in a good spot. The lady in the office told us that it technically is not a free dock and they usually charge $1 a foot for dockage. She mentioned that there have been times where their dock was full of boats hiding from weather to the point they couldn't get space for their customers.  But, since we were nice enough to come up and talk she would let us stay there. I wonder if they once offered the dock for free and too much advantage was taken, but I hope they continue to let wayward travelers stay there.  I even found out that they could haul my boat, so I may look into them the next time I need a DIY yard.

The only thing dismal about the swamp this time around was the number of biting bugs out due to the lack of a breeze.  But the area is quite pretty and green and I'd recommend you take the route at least once if you have a boat that can make it.

Not Dismal At All

The thought of making the trek south has been a dismal one for sure.  When you dream of this lifestyle, 40 degrees...or lower... and humid air blowing in your face doesn't come to mind.  You think of sun splashed white sand beaches and fruity drinks, not slogging along trying not to freeze.  But for this trip south, that dismal thought has been at the forefront of our minds.

To combat this, we resigned ourselves to the fact we would likely be taking the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) much of the way down.  It can still be cold and rough, but at least good parts of it are fairly narrow rivers and channels that can provide at least a modest amount of protection from the worst of it. There is one place just south of Norfolk where you even have two options for the ICW. In the past I've typically taken what is known as the Virginia Cut route.  This is what I think most people consider to be the main route. The other option is known as the Dismal Swamp route.

The Great Dismal Swamp is a wildlife refuge and park.  The canal that makes up this leg of the ICW runs along the edge of the refuge. We figured this route might be a bit more protected from the elements based on the stories of a tree canopied canal.  And we have wanted to go that route ever since we met one of the lock operators when we were last at the docks in Portsmouth.

So, yesterday morning we left near first light to make it to the first lock for the 8:30 AM opening.  Yes, this route has two locks.  And unlike the one on the Virginia cut route, these actually do make a decent elevation change in the water...around 8 foot or so.  The locks have a limited opening schedule of only 4 times a day at 8:30 AM, 11:00 AM, 1:30 PM and 3:30 PM, so you have to plan your trip with that schedule in mind.  We figured if we could make the first opening of the first lock we could make it to the second lock for the 1:30 PM opening and get into Elizabeth City just before dark.

It was again a cool morning.  I'd tell you the temperature, but honestly I didn't want to know.  I knew it was supposed to get a bit warmer today than yesterday, so I just kept thinking of that.  We back-track the few minutes from the marina to the turn off for the Dismal Swamp route.  We make the turn into the canal and head on to the first lock.

The only boat at the Deep Creek lock.

At the first lock was where we ran into Robert, the guy we had spoken with about the Dismal Swamp in Portsmouth just over 6 months ago.  We were the only boat there (not a big surprise given the time of year). He gave us some good advice for handling the lock.  After lifting us up, he offered us some coffee and to chat a bit.  He even demonstrated his Conch shell horn (he is collecting conch shells, so if you have one to donate, I'm sure he would like it).  Since we were the only ones there, he also called the other lock master to tell him we were coming and to arrange for an earlier than normal opening to give us more time to make it to Elizabeth City.

Robert with my wife after sharing a cup-o-joe.

Once we were out of the lock, Robert hopped in his car and drove over to the nearby bridge to open it for us (yes, he is both the lock master and bridge tender at Deep Creek).  He opened the bridge, wished us a safe journey, and we were on our way. While we haven't run into any, I've heard rumors that some bridge tenders are not terribly friendly or "customer" oriented, but Robert is at the very opposite end of the spectrum. If you ever get the chance to go through the Dismal Swamp, do plan to spend a little bit of time talking with Robert.  He is a really nice guy and a wealth of information on the area.

The Dismal Swamp canal is interesting.  It is more narrow than the other route and is tree lined most of the way.  With our catamaran, I would have hated to have met any oncoming traffic...not sure how we would have managed to pass.  The trees also leave branches floating in the water, so you do have to keep an eye out for these obstructions.  At one point, we encountered a small tree that fell into the canal and was blocking about 2/3 of it.  We managed to get around it, but not without our mast trimming another tree on the side of the canal.  No damage done, except to a couple small branches of the trimmed tree.  Those trees did seem to help block the winds, so the journey wasn't as cold as I'm sure it could have been.

One of the wider sections of the canal.

As promised, when we reached the South Mills lock and bridge (about an hour ahead of the usual opening time), the other lock master greeted us on the radio and said he would be right over to open the bridge and the lock was ready and waiting for us.  Another nice fellow, but given our time crunch we didn't spend a lot of time chatting.  He sent us on our way with an extra hour to make it  to Elizabeth City.  Now we were able to make it there well before dusk.

The last hurdle before getting to the marina (we are staying at marinas this trip so we have shore power for running the reverse-cycle heaters) was the Elizabeth City bridge.  When we get there, we find a construction barge blocking much of the bridge opening.  I try hailing the bridge and get no response.  I try again, still no response. I use my binoculars to see if I had the name of the bridge right but couldn't find the usual sign naming the bridge.  We end up calling the marina, and the employee informs us that the bridge tender has a bit of reputation of falling asleep at the wheel and offers to give him a call on the phone.  I try hailing a few minutes later and finally get a response...guess he got his wake up call. When I ask for the opening, he says he needs to check with the construction people.  Then another voice comes on the radio and says we should have enough room.  I ask if I should approach and get no response. We see the gates go down so start our approach.  The bridge tender only opens up one half of the bridge and we squeeze through the limited opening left by the construction barge and half bridge span.

When we get to the marina, the wind is blowing about 35 knots.  Why is it that whenever I'm docking it seems that the wind is strong and perpendicular to wherever I'm trying to go?  I maneuver the boat near the dock and spin it sideways and let the wind blow me to the dock.  It worked kind of like having side thrusters...except you couldn't turn them off.  I use the engines to keep us lined up with our "parking space" and slide into the spot with a thud.  Guess I should have worked just a bit closer before turning beam to the wind, but I was tired and it worked out well enough.

Checking the weather it appeared that it was going to be cold and windy so we might end up spending a second day in Elizabeth City. But this day was not that dismal at all.

The Trip South....The Posts I Couldn't Make During the Trip.

Sorry for the lack of posts again, but I've made good progress outrunning (or running with) the cold weather and am now in Brunswick Georgia where the current temperature is about 25 degrees higher than Deltaville.  But backing up a bit and providing a more detail on the trip....

I was able to find a hand with this trip at the boatyard. A was talking with a nice gentleman that is in the process of restoring a Bristol 32 and he offered to make the trip with me.  Neal didn't have any plans until the week of Thanksgiving and thought it would be fun to get out on the water again, so it was a perfect match.

We made the trip from the boatyard in Deltaville, VA to Brunswick GA over the course of about 10 days.  With the shorter days upon us, it was slow going through the ICW (I only travel it during daylight hours).  I also worked to make the trip a bit less expensive than the trip up by anchoring out instead of visiting marinas each evening...and T-Mobile doesn't have the greatest coverage so I didn't have much of a chance to make any posts except the previous brief entry. Once we got to open ocean, it was much easier to make good time...but no chance at internet access at all.

The boat was launched Tuesday morning, and after a number of system checks, we departed around noon.  The winds weren't particularly favorable, so we spent much of our time motor-sailing. For the unfamiliar, motor-sailing is where you are running engines and have one or more sails up.  The theory is the light winds and the extra wind created by the fact you are under power can drive the sails and give you a bit more gain in speed than the engine alone.  I think the conditions have to be just right to see any real gain, but it is nice to at least look like a sailboat.

Even motor sailing we just barely made it to Mobjack bay as the sun was going down and found a place to anchor along the shore that would shield us from the overnight winds, had a decent bottom composition, and depth appropriate for anchoring. I motored around just a bit to verify depth in the area we could swing and then we dropped the hook for the night.  This is the first night I've tried our new Mantus anchor, and she set solidly.  Actually, I didn't realize that I had let the anchor rode go a bit slack, and when I backed down on the anchor to set it, the bow of the boat dipped a bit as the anchor instantly grabbed hold of the muddy Chesapeake bottom.

The next morning we set off early under overcast skies and a bit of chill in the air.  It is getting colder in these parts, so it is really nice to be finally moving south.  The sun broke out as we made our way through Norfolk and Portsmouth.  This begins the portion of our trip where we get to play "Mother may I" with a number of draw bridges that are too short for a 60' tall sailboat to pass under without being opened.  Fortunately rush hour had just passed, so the bridges would open mostly on demand. Now normally most train bridges are left open unless a train is using them, but we arrived at one in Norfolk that was down and had no train.  We waited for over half an hour, watched several people in reflective yellow vests walk around and look at various pieces of the bridge, then finally it opened and we continued on our way.  The next bridge we encounter is the Steel bridge, and it only opens on a schedule of every half hour so naturally (thanks to the train bridge delay) we just missed the opening and had to wait about 20 minutes for the next opening.  We make our way through that bridge and on to the Great Bridge Lock.

This is my second time at the lock and so I knew the basic procedure.  Before arrival, you rig long bow and stern dock lines and fenders on the starboard side.  When the lock opens, you proceed in and throw the dock lines to an employee at the edge of the dock who wraps the line around a cleat or bollard and throws it back.  You then use the line to keep your boat near the wall and boat poles to keep it from rubbing along the wall of the lock.  At the time we arrived it was apparently high tide so the lock didn't even lift us a full foot.  The doors at the far end of the lock open and you un-loop your lines from the cleat and head out of the dock.

Normally, you go through the Great Bridge draw bridge (technically, a standard draw bridge is called a bascule bridge) that is timed to coincide with the lock operation (or maybe the lock is timed with the bridge...I forget which is which), but there is a free dock located between the lock and the bridge and, since it was getting late, we decided we would stop there for the night.  We tied up the boat and walked into town (Great Bridge is in Chesapeake VA.) to see if we could find dinner to reward ourselves for the first two days of travel.  We found an OK Mexican restaurant, had a nice dinner, and then called it a night.

Bridges and Locks - Coinjock to Portsmouth

Since I'm fairly new to this whole cruising gig, I wasn't sure quite what to expect for this leg of our journey.  It was all ICW and it had a few new potential challenges.  I've only had limited experience with bridges, most of which have been on-demand and not scheduled openings and I've never dealt with a lock before.  But all of that was ahead of us on this leg of the journey, so I had planned on a fairly short 45nm hop from Coinjock to just south of Norfolk.

We left Coinjock around 8am and were once again motoring up "The Ditch" (ICW).  I think the local osprey have decided that the ICW channel markers are their own version of government subsidized housing.  It seemed that just about every mark had an osprey nest on it with an osprey protecting her eggs.

Osprey with chicks living on a marker.  They seem to prefer the red ones.

As we continued motoring, the chart showed a bend in the river, outside the ICW channel, with a bunch of marked shipwrecks.

8 shipwrecks on the chart.

And, indeed you could see some of them from the boat.  One does wonder how so many boats met their end in this little elbow of water.

Broken boats all in a row.

Around noon, we made it to the first of the bridges that we needed to have opened that open on a fixed schedule.  The North Landing swing bridge opens on every half hour, and so naturally we arrived just a few minutes too late to make the opening.  This ended up giving me plenty of practice at station-keeping while we waited for the bridge.  Fortunately the ICW doesn't have a strong current and so this is pretty easy in a catamaran.  In fact, we ended up having lunch while waiting for the bridge.  Once the bridge opened and we were on our way, we figured out that we wouldn't be able to make the next opening of the next bridge on our route, so we throttled back to a speed that got us to the next bridge about 5 minutes before the following opening.

After the first two bridges, next was the Great Bridge and Great Bridge Lock.  The bridge opens in sequence with the lock since they are only a few hundred feet apart.  We had to wait for a few minutes, but pretty soon the bridge opened.

The Great Bridge opening up to let us through.

We then made our way to the lock.  We deployed fenders, found our boat poles, and setup a bow and stern dock line so we could take a ride in the lock. When we motored into the lock, one of the lock operators looped our lines around a couple of the big bollards on the shore and threw them back to us.  The idea is to keep your boat parallel to the lock wall without quite touching while the water raises or lowers.  There was only one other boat in the lock with us, Goose, as you can see below.

The Great Bridge Lock.

I admit I was a little nervous about the lock since I had never done it before and had heard of people having issues when locking, but it really was no big deal.  I imagine I might think differently if this were the Panama Canal and I was surrounded by big ships.

We were making good enough time that we decided to see how far we could get and ended up making it to Norfolk and had to go through the Gilmerton bridge.  I guess we got lucky that a barge was coming through the other way as I've heard this bridge doesn't open, except by reservation, during rush hours.

Gilmerton Bridge.  120ft clearance...I think we'll fit.

Passing through Norfolk and Portsmouth, you can really see these are big ship towns including a naval yard.

Norfolk waterside industry.

Naval Ship Yard.

An aircraft carrier can sure make you feel small.

We ended up at one of the free town docks in Portsmouth.  They are right downtown and convenient walking distance to a number of restaurants and stores.  The only downsides are the lack of marina amenities (water, power, bathhouse) and the fact that the dock is awash at high tide, but it is definitely nice for the price.  I'd recommend it for a short stay if you are in the area.

Rover tied up at the north Portsmouth free dock.

After the day's excitement, we decided to have dinner at one of the local sports bars as a celebration of making it through all the bridges and locks and ending up at a nice place to spend the night (and not having to pay for marina dockage).  I hear the weather is supposed to turn bad tomorrow, so we might be here an extra day if it sounds rough to travel.  Guess we will see if the weather guessers are right.