Today was one of those almost perfect fall days. Cool and crisp with blue skies all morning. We meandered uneventfully down the canal with several of the boats from last evening and a few new ones from the first locking of the day. Murphy played deck ball with Dad and Tali and Mom birded from the deck. Lots of bird sound, but few sightings in the dense brush. Doesn't matter, it was still a relaxing and beautiful day.
We reached the Visitor's Center just after noon and decided to stay put. The weather for crossing the Albemarle won't be good until Sunday so it made sense not to push on.
Murph got a nice walk over to the park and enjoyed playing with some of the other boat dogs. We are now sitting 3 deep in the raft with two 47 foot boats outboard from us. We're kind of dwarfed by the big girls but that's the way it goes when you get there first.
Tomorrow we're all leaving early to make the 1st lock, it should be pretty full since there are a good dozen boats rafted together here.
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Comments [7]
- Chuck
We started the day fueling up at Bluewater Yachts. Sailboats are such a pain. You take 1/2 hour at the fuel pump trying to slowly feed in the diesel and only end up buying 50gals or less. Fortunately it was early in the morning and the dock boys weren't quite awake or in a hurry.
We crossed Hampton Roads on a nice beam reach, passed the Navy ships, and soon reached the quiet backwaters of the Dismal Swamp. We decided to make it a short and easy day and stayed at the first lock. Besides, the lockmaster is such a trip that it's hard to go on from there. Robert plays the conch horn, brings breakfast the next day, and keeps a running patter of stories the whole time.
We spent the night at Elizabeth's Dock which is between the lock and bridge and in the typical small world we find boating, one of the boats on the dock was the same boat we had spent the night with in the spring, on the same dock. Go figure.
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Well we are underway at last. Charm is loaded to the gunwales and as usual I think I have enough canned goods to get us there and back. The menagerie is on board and doing OK. Nikki actually came out into the cockpit a bit and Tali resumed her usual traveling position under the dodger. Murphy hung out on the cockpit seats and snoozed the day away.
We awoke to rain today and it took a bit of convincing ourselves to proceed with the departure. However, by the time we were ready to go, the rain had stopped and it soon cleared to a beautiful morning and a windy afternoon.
We enjoyed a brisk sail/motor down the bay with winds oscillating between 10 to 20kts. At 10, we motor-sailed, at 20, Charm took off under sail alone. We made great time to Hampton Yacht Club, where enough of their own members had already departed south that we were able to get a free slip for the night. Despite all our stores, we were easily convinced to get fried oyster sandwiches at the bar and save our goodies for another night. It's oyster season in the bay and it's hard to pass up fresh oysters.
Tomorrow we get started with the first of the many bridges and the Dismal Swamp locks.
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