Voyage 2009: Chapter 1

12 Oct 2009, Two days in Norfolk, 36 50.73 N/ 076 18.02 W

We were right. There were only two other boats in the anchorage. There were not as many crab pots as there were in June but they were nevertheless in the way. We got the anchor down and holding in 20 feet. Holding in Hospital Point is always good. As it was already past 1600 ET, we decided to do nothing except relax on the boat, ..., which we did. By the time night fell, there were a total of 7 boats at anchor. We were pleasantly surprised to see that all were using their anchor light. Not bad.

Today, we prepped the dinghy for her trip across the Elizabeth River to Norfolk's Waterside Marina where we would drop off our trash and take showers. Now that the public dinghy dock at the Battleship is no more, Waterside has taken up the slack at a reasonable price of USD 3.00 per dinghy plus $3.00 per person for showers. Once were were clean and respectable, we waited for Bob and Barb formally of SV BarbBobaSea. We try to see each other at least twice a year as they do their annual North/South migration by car. We ate at Hooter's then walked around the local parks. Of course Rudder (their dog) enjoyed the parks.

Sadly, they had to go around 1430 to meet up with family and we began our provisioning spree at the mall and the Fresh Food Market. This part of town is getting a major face lift and it will be quite 'la-de-da' in a year or two. After shopping, we loaded all of the stuff (including Ann's 16 kilos of ice) into the dinghy and back to the big boat we went. Dinghy was hauled back on deck and we were ready for the trip to the Dismal Swamp tomorrow.

13 Oct 2009, Dismal Swamp to Elizabeth City, 36 44.45 N/ 076 20.71 W

We left Hospital Point at 0930 heading for a 1100 hr opening of the Deep Creek lock. What is this? Norfolk Southern railroad lift bridge #5 is coming down. Railroad bridges can stay in the down position for 30 minutes or more so Ann was now getting concerned that we would miss the 1100 locking. Luckily, the bridge came back up after only 10 minutes. One of the salboats ahead of us angered the bridge tender by trying to rush her into opening the Gilmerton bridge. Guess what? It didn't work. However, she was very professional and once all of the sailboats had approached the bridge, she opened it.

It was a very low tide as we entered Deep Creek and it wasn't too deep. The creek meanders and the deep water is not always where one would expect it. We did not have much problem but the depth sounder saw some pretty low readings. As we approach the lock, we were about 15 minutes early but the lock was open and 'green'. So we and three othe boats entered and tied up on the starboard wall. Robert was not there today but a competent tender was in his place. After an uneventful locking, we passed under the Deep Creek bridge and tied up on the wall near the La Familia Mexican Restaurant. We could not slow Jule down fast enough to make a direct approach to the wall so we passed it and carefully turned her around in the narrow canal.

We had lunch at La Familia (good food) and then visited the Food Lion to get Bob's favorite chemical-laced no calorie salad dressing. Neal of SV Ming came through the next locking and asked for a raft up. We remember you! We had previously met Ming several times on the waterway and always looked forward to his freshly baked muffins. We were not disappointed this time either. We would both leave at first daylight where he would stop at the Vistor's Center and we would continue to EC.