Days 299 through 300:

Elizabeth City is the start of the Dismal Swamp Canal route to Norfolk. We took the outside route on the way down and want to see the Dismal Swamp now. Up really early and request an opening at the bascule bridge before their rush hour closing (7-9AM), and we are off to wait for the opening (four times daily) of the first lock at South Mills which lifts you and the other locked boats (there are three of us) up and into the Swamp.

Boy, this place is wildly beautiful. Everything from birds and slithering reptiles (we see our first snake), black bears, otters, bobcats, winged insects and mammals (including a few scattered people) live in this primeval forest. George Washington was the first to propose draining the swamp, harvesting the cypress for shipbuilding and cedar for shingles. He and other prominent businessmen purchased 40,000 acres of the swampland and slaves HAND DUG this canal. Yikes, what a horrendous task. The Swamp was also an important part of the Underground Railroad during the Civil War.

Mostly trawlers and sailboats traverse this swamp, as this is a no wake zone and the go-fast sportfishermen want nothing of going slowly. At some spots along the way it becomes VERY narrow and the trees grow almost together overhead, so we are continually looking up to see that the mast is clearing them! The Army Corps of Engineers clips overhanging tree limbs and does a pretty good job of keeping it passable. The water is BLACK in color, caused by the tannic acids from the bark of the juniper, gum and cypress trees. Actually it is chemically pure, as bacteria cannot grow in it. Before the days of refrigeration, water from the swamp was a highly prized commondity on sailing ships. It was put in kegs and would stay fresh a long time. People also spoke of the magical qualities of the dark colored water and how, if it were regularly drunk, it would prevent illness and promot long life. I think it's pretty gross....give me the Bahamas turquoise water any day. Nor would I drink a drop, never mind put one toe in this ditch, no matter how terribly hot it is...too many critters in here for me.

We are crawling along with a trawler in front of us and one behind and the fellow ahead radios back to us that he has just struck a submerged log and it was quite a whack. I lurch up onto the bow and we inch our way past the spot where he had hit it...no sign of any log. Not that you can see anything anyway in this almost black water. After this we are pretty paranoid. In addition, the day starts becoming VERY hot. We decide to pull over to the Dismal Swamp Visitors Center dock as do the other two boats with us. By the time we get squared away it is midday and we are so overheated that we feel like we have sunstroke. We head up to the Visitors Center with four others on these boats to hide out in the air conditioning. Two of the three boats (the first one has air conditioning) decide to stay put for the night, as we are truly drained from the heat. It is approaching 100 degrees and the boat cabin is like a blast furnace.

We nap and do computer work in the Visitors Center all afternoon and when they finally (apologetically) close up we head back for cold showers on the boat and try to make a cold drink (the ice melts before we get up to the cockpit, REALLY!) and head to a picnic table in a shady area to try to get some relief. Not much....we are so hot we cannot eat much and don't get much sleep this night even with our fans going full blast. Please let it be cooler tomorrow.

We are off the dock on a VERY still and hot morning (we need a thunderstorm) and slowly and carefully head up the narrow canal towards the second Deep Creek lock. It is 51 miles from Norfolk to Elizabeth City and we feel like we are going forever today.

At the Deep Creek lock we meet what has to be the world's friendliest locktender. "Robert" comes alongside to help us rig our lines and asks where we have been this winter. When S replies "To The Bahamas", Robert asks if we found any conch shells or made any horns. We show him our two specimens (I have shipped all our other shells home) and he goes ballistic over our horse conch. Then he proceeds to play "When The Saints Go Marching In" on our horn and to give me some lessons. He is waiting for the lock doors to close as all this is going on. He even gives us advice on our needing to dremel out one horn a bit more to sweeten the sound and then, low and behold he takes the horn into his office and does it for us! He says he has over 100 horns. We have truly met the Conch Horn Meister in this guy.

We are finally locked through and off we go towards Norfolk. Nice to see The Dismal Swamp but glad to check it off the list. And we need to cool off.

Dismal Swamp pix in corresponding album.