Underway Again...Finally!

After being stalled in Norfolk for four (long) days, we finally left again on our southern journey on Sunday morning. We spent our days in Norfolk exploring the city…didn’t take long…going to the grocery store, the movies and the mall. We saw Amelia (the story of Amelia Ehrhart) while there, which was very inspirational. But, I would have been fine if they had decided to change the ending…who cares about historical accuracy. We definitely ate well as there was plenty of time to cook. I have been trying to perfect peanut butter candy and we have been overdosing on sugar while taste testing. But, I think I finally have it down. We toured the USS Wisconsin, which was very cool. The evenings were occupied with a dominoes tournament with numerous made-up rules. So far KC is in the lead, but we are planning the grudge match tonight. I may just have to change the rules again.

There are two possible ICW routes out of Norfolk…the Virginia Cut and the Dismal Swamp cut (much prettier than the name would indicate). The former is more traveled and the latter is less so because it is shallow with a controlling depth of only 6 feet. Both were closed after the storm because of malfunctioning locks and fallen trees. The Dismal Swamp was the first to reopen, so we took it! We moved slowly through the shallow waters and bumped underwater logs at least 20 times. It felt a lot like African Queen, especially when the logs we hit sounded like torpedoes. I thought Lynn might have to pull a Humphrey Bogart and start dragging us through the water. We did hit an overhead low hanging tree with our mast and were showered with small limbs and leaves. We faired much better than one of the boats we saw on the way who were caught in the current while waiting for the lock bridge to open. They were swept into the trees which tore the mizzen mast right off. Our timing was perfect though and we made both locks just in time for their scheduled openings. After leaving the second lock we decided to anchor overnight in an unused barge channel tied up to the old, overgrown bulkhead. It turned out to be a perfectly peaceful setting. Along the way we joined up with another sailboat called Plan B and have been traveling with them ever since.

The next morning we left for Elizabeth City, which was only about 20 miles further south but we had heard so much about their hospitality to mariners that we wanted to see it for ourselves. Besides, they offer free dockage for 48 hours, hard to pass up. Before arriving we spotted a metal silhouette of a man across the canal from a few houses. It was riddled with bullets apparently from their target practice…a little disconcerting. KC figured it was much more effective than a plain old No Wake sign. “We’re not in Kansas anymore Toto.”

We were not disappointed when we reached our destination where we were greeted by Sam, who is in his eighties and has been the local dockhand for the last 7 years. He expertly helped us tie up and then told us about all that Elizabeth City has to offer…he even told me I had a beautiful name! That evening they had a party for all the boaters with wine and cheese and roses for the women. The greeters are called Rose Buddies and are carrying on the tradition of a local resident (think his name was Fred??) who for many years greeted the incoming boaters in this way and gave the ladies a rose from his garden. He died in 2007 in his nineties…I wish I could have met him. We have already met lots of other cruisers, including a group from Montreal with whom I was able to practice my French. I am definitely rusty, but managed to make them all laugh so I guess I wasn’t doing too badly. All in all we thoroughly enjoyed our stay there.

We were back underway this morning at 6:30 AM and have crossed the Albemarle sound without incident, albeit a little rocky and rolly, and are now traversing the Alligator canal, a 20-mile long, straight and narrow passage. At the end we will anchor in the Pungo River. It is a beautiful day. We are all smiling and feeling good. Right now Lynn is at the helm while I write this and KC is doing some exercises on the foredeck…I may have to get him to swab them next! That’s all for now, I think it may be nap time.

Hmmm…nap never happened as we anchored soon after in a lovely cove off the Pungo River. We then discovered our water pump was not working…so no hot shower either. But, Lynn and KC have managed to fix it just now so we can finally relax and enjoy the evening. It’s great having someone else to help out around here!