With her new crew, Leeway made her way further south stopping first at Deltaville, VA. Deltaville is a busy sailing center and we have several friends who store their boats here every winter after returning from the south. Deltaville has the weirdest channel I've ever seen for a place that has so many boats. The channel, at its widest is about 25ft, makes two 90degree dog-leg turns and forces you to come within 15 yards (no exaggeration) of the beach to get into the harbour. Once into the harbour we touched bottom 4 times before making our destination. We decided to go into Deltaville Marina because I wanted to go to the West Marine store in town for some additional charts and to see if either of our friends were at their boats. Fortunately, West Marine had the charts I wanted but unfortunately neither of our friends were here right now.

The next morning we shoved off for Norfolk. Norfolk is the place where the Intracostal Waterway (ICW) officially begins and is home to the largest naval base in the US. Unfortunately the winds prevented us from sailing and we (once again) motored into a light chop down the bay. As we got close to Norfolk the boat traffic picked up considerably with recreational, commercial, and naval vessels everywhere. At one point we counted 14 vessels ranging from small sailboats, to large ocean-going freighters and including a navy destroyer within a 1/2 mile of us - interesting indeed. We rounded the point on which Old Point Comfort Naval Base is located and sailed into Mill Creek anchorage and dropped a hook for the night. The anchorage, despite its name, is not a creek but an artificial basin created by the road tunnel that passes underneath the water at this point. While it looked wonderfully protected on the charts it was, in fact, rather exposed to a SW wind which, of course, is exactly what piped up just after we went to bed. Winds in the night were 15-20 knots and I had to abandon the V-berth for the relative comfort of the main saloon for the night. The holding was great and all was well in the morning despite a rather bumpy ride throughout the night.

The next morning we motored across the busy shipping channels and past the navy installations (you'll find the pictures interesting) and into the Elizabeth River towards the ICW. The shipping and naval activity kept us busy and once we were passed we thought now we can relax. Wrong. As you approach Hospital Point (the official start of the ICW) there are 3 railroad bridges within the first 2 miles of the ICW which are according to the literature ALWAYS open but for our passage all 3 were closed with a slow train crossing each one. With those plus the road bridges that we had to wait to open we made a mere 15 miles in about 5 hours and so it became plain for all to see that we wouldn't be making a lot of miles today.

But we decided to press on for a little while and shortly came to the point where we had to make a decision about our route. On the left is the Virginia Cut which is faster, more exposed, and less scenic while on the right The Dismal Swamp Canal which is shallower, more scenic, and well sheltered. We chose the latter because it is one of the places that I always wanted to see. George Washington himself, surveyed the Dismal Swamp Canal and he must have been a good surveyor because it's straight-as-an-arrow with only one bend in its entire 21 mile length. We touched bottom about 18 to 20 times but only lightly and without repercussions but the trip was worth the chance of "skinny water". The Canal has two locks which raise you 5 feet at the northern end and drop you 5 feet at the southern end. We reached Deep Creek Lock (the northern one) and had to wait for the scheduled opening at 1:30 so we (along with all those travelling with us) dropped an anchor in mid-channel and waited. Exactly at the appointed time the lockmaster announced over his loudspeaker that the lock would be opening and we all raised our anchors and proceeded into the lock. Steve, the lockmaster, was very entertaining (but also very slow) and he has twice won lockmaster of the year from his professional association. He joked, played music and helped each boat with their lines and made sure everyone knew the precautions necessary for transiting the rest of the canal. I knew that we wouldn't get to the end of the canal before dark and would need to stay at the Visitors Welcome Center mid-way through the canal. Steve, ever the helpful lockmaster, mentioned that he had locked through 14 boats at the 11:30 opening and they would be at the Visitors Center for the night and with our group of 12 things would be quite full. He mentioned that just outside his lock was a new 200' dock with deep water and we decided, along with 3 other boats, to make it an early day at around 3pm. We spent a delightful night in the midst of the Dismal Swamp which with all the wildlife about lives up to its name.

The next morning, we continued through the canal passing the Visitors Center and the state line into North Carolina. We made the bridge and lock of South Mills about 1 hour prior to opening so, once again, anchored mid-channel and made lunch while awaiting the bridge opening. We locked down and proceeded through the Pasquotonak River to Elizabeth City. What a great adventure.