10/25/2008 Norfolk to Elizabeth City, NC

10/22/2008 We left out of Hampton late morning after doing some laundry and seeing Ed off to the airport. We tried to get a rental car from a local place at the docks, but none were available until after 2:00Pm. Ed was able to catch a cab for $29.00. That worked out well. I decided to try out hauling gasoline for the first time from a land based gas station. It was only four blocks and I need to come up with a different solution. It was two five gallon cans of gas. I motorists stopped and picked me up about half way back. He said he had to stop as he saw me setting the cans down about every 200’ and taking a rest. I was very appreciative.

We set sail under jib alone across the bay to the Elizabeth River, which leads into the ICW. We noticed the port wasn’t too busy with ships or cargo being moved ashore or onto boats. The main industry appears to be the Navy. As you see here all of the ships at the base and many others being worked on going up the river.

I started using the VHF to contact the bridges as we traveled. We passed under or through five bridges on the river. Two of them were train bridges that were in the open stage unless a train was coming, two were highway bridges that we needed to wait for after traffic cleared and the fifth was the I-64 bridge that was 65’ above the water and we could clear. My mast is 53’ above the water. If you needed the I-64 bridge to open, it is required to be scheduled 24 hours in advance.

Just as we passed the I-64 bridge, we hooked a right and headed into the Dismal Swamp Canal. It was a beautiful trip with a few birds including a white heron and an osprey. There are two locks on the canal. We were the last to make it to the lock and through for the day. We went in with six other boats and sat for the seven foot rise. As we left the lock, there is a 200’ pier at the lock park and we tied up there with about nine other boats. Some needed to raft up. It was a fun place to hang out for the night.

10/24/2008 Today we made our way through the Dismal Swamp. It was a pleasant day even though we had to motor the whole day. The canal is about 60 feet wide and there would be no room for sailing and we also had to keep our speed down between 4-6 knots. That is no really a problem when motoring on this boat as we only get 6 knots when running one engine.

During this the time in this slack water. It gave me a chance to calibrate some of my instruments. I have GPS on the boat and that tells you where and how fast you are going based on the earth, but it does not take into consideration tides and currents. I was able to calibrate my digital compass as the canal is straight as an arrow. It is like driving across Kansas on I-70. I was also able to calibrate my knot meter as there was basically no current. Now I will be able to tell how the boat is responding to currents on these tidal waters and what the current speeds are.

At the end of the Dismal Swamp is another lock that let us down to the tidal level again. We arrived about 20 minutes before the bridge was raised we needed to pass through to get to the locks at South Mills. The lock master operates both the bridge and the lock, as did the lock master at Deep Creek. By the way, we are now in North Carolina.

I talked with the owners of the boat behind us about different places to stop for the night. There are basically 2-3 that we could reach today. The first is Goat Island. It has good anchoring and protection from the weather. The second is tying up to the city piers in Elizabeth City. This has the convenience of being new a town, but it is not too protected from any winds out of the east and the third is an anchorage before town, but there is no access to town. There is weather coming in and the conditions are from the east. We still decided to tie up in Elizabeth City. We will probably be here for two days as there will be strong winds from the east on Friday and Saturday is suppose to rain all day. The good news is Sunday is to be beautiful with NW winds that will blow us down the bay on a comfortable ride and the temperatures will warm up a bit.

It has been in the 50s during the day and dropping into the 40s at night since dad and Ed joined on. I do hope it warms up soon for both of us. I did buy a small propane heater for the boat when we stopped in Solomon’s Island. It has been great at night time so we can sit around the table comfortably until we crawl under our blankets or into sleeping bags.

10/25/2008 We are still sitting in Elizabeth City, but not sitting still. Elizabeth City is a nice community and very welcoming to cruisers on the water. They have some city docks for free use for 48 hours. We will be stretching it a little with this weather. Yesterday we were greeted by Ms. Brown the local deputy. She came by and introduced herself and took our names for Homeland Security. We later saw her in town and she was waving to every pedestrian and driver in a car. They also have a get together if the weather is conducive called the Rose Buddies. This was started years ago by two gentlemen that would have roses from their gardens for the cruisers and offer a wine and cheese sampling on the dock. They have both since passed, but the visitors center keeps their memories alive. My dad has been getting into the act also. He always has a plastic bag in his pocket with hard candy. He offers candy to almost everyone he meets and it brings a smile to their face. It really doesn’t take much to make acquaintances.

Today we rented a car and made a quick trip down to the Outer Banks. One of the places I have wanted to visit since I was a mere lad was Kitty Hawk and the Wright Brother National Memorial. We left early this morning as we needed to have the rental car back by 12:45 as the office closed at 1:00. We were able to make it down there in time for a great oration of the history of the Wright brothers and what it took for them to make the first powered and controlled flight of an aircraft. There is also a new auditorium center and a memorial on top of a sand dune on the grounds. We did not have time to view everything as we needed to get back in town, but I did make a stop at the beach and was able to get a few pictures. Something also that the ranger emphasized was that the Wright brothers did not allow failure to stop them. It took them three years of coming to Kitty Hawk before they succeeded and they kept learning each time. I need to keep this in mind when I come upon issues on this trip.

The thought I had on the way back to town is, “the more I see, the more there is to be seen”. I would love to spend time there sometime to take in more of the sites like the light houses and sitting on the beach or playing in the water.

We purchased a jig saw puzzle to work on while we are sitting here or when cruising along. I have a large enough table that we can leave it set up and the boat will handle well with minimal healing that the puzzle should not slide off. The rainy weather is suppose to break clear this evening and we should have winds that will push us down the sound tomorrow. We expect to be leaving by 7:00Am. We can only hope the weather is with us.