Monday, Sept. 22, 2008 - Poquoson River to Dismal Swamp Canal Welcome Center, NC

It was a calm night anchored in Chisman Creek off the Poquoson River. We slept until nearly 0800. We needed to buy some fuel filters so we ran up the creek in the dinghy to a large marina assuming that they would have what we needed. Of course they didn’t but we got to walk Sailor and at least accomplished something. We had a quick breakfast, hauled the dinghy topside and pulled the anchor about 0900. By then the wind had started to pick up. We had to go east around Poquoson Flats and head southeast out into Chesapeake Bay which placed the wind on our beam, making for a rough ride. We were finally able to turn in a southerly direction.

We crossed through Hampton Roads, passed Norfolk Naval Air Station, and entered the Elizabeth River. The Elizabeth River is lined with ship yards and Naval vessels with numerous security boats patrolling near by.

We had miscalculated the distance to the Deep Creek Lock at the north end of the Great Dismal Swamp Canal. As a result, to make the 1500 lock opening, we had to run nearly full throttle for the last 20 minutes and made it with less than four minutes to spare. The lock only operates at 0900 and 1500 each day.

We were locked though with three other boats. The locking procedure took almost an hour. The lock master informed us that a very strong northeaster was headed our way and suggested that we might want to stay in the canal until the storm has blown through on Thursday or Friday. Three of the boats docked at a wharf just inside the lock but we decided to continue the 18 miles to the Visitor Center which is four miles north of the lock at the south end of the canal. We ran very slow to avoid kicking up any sunken logs because on the trip north last year we hit a log and bent our prop. We arrived at the Visitor Center at 1830 we found the face dock full with three boats and a fourth boat rafted to the center boat. Some of the boaters helped us raft to a large trawler on the south end of the dock.

We walked Sailor, ate leftovers and went to bed. It had been a long day.