The Dismal Swamp

What a name, eh?  The dismal day......the dismal semester....the dismal husband........

Sometimes we go days without anything that warrants a blog entry (excuse me-aren't you retired and having an amazing adventure on your boat for a year?!) and then a day comes where everything seems to be noteworthy.

My Way and Mary Frances leave Elizabeth City, pass under the low highway bridge, then squeeze through an open railroad bridge:

Wish we'd had the camera ready to show My Way going through!  Here we are after making the passage:

There was no fuel at last night's marina and we both want full tanks for the day and our only option is Lamb's Marina, a few miles further along the Elizabeth River.  John had called the day before to make sure they had both gas and diesel and they assured him they did.  When Wayne called on the radio this morning, he was told they would have to contact the diesel truck driver so the gas-powered boat (us) should come in first.  Way back on the Tenn-Tom we ventured into the Aberdeen Marina.  We are reliving the experience today-can you see the marina?

The white plastic stakes mark the channel:

At the gas dock:

My Way came in behind us as directed, but we wondered if there would be room for us to pass when Wayne headed for the fuel dock as we went back to the river.  The harbormaster directed My Way into a slip and an attendant drove the diesel truck there to fuel My Way (extreme left in photo):

On the way out:

Okay, that was fun.  Looking back at the railroad bridge:

Until we came on this trip, we thought the brown "mustache" some boats sport was caused by salt water.  Now we know it is caused by tannins in river water.  It is about the color of really strong coffee or the stout beer John likes.

If 2 trees are going to fall across the narrow waterway, wouldn't you think they'd have the decency to not fall directly across from each other?

Lined up for the lock that will bring us into the Dismal Swamp:

Michel is holding a line to keep the boat close to the lock wall, as is Mary in the foreground. My Way will proceed all the way through the canal today, while we'll spend the night.  Goodbye, Michel, we enjoyed meeting you. 

The Dismal Swamp Canal:

We thought we were settled in for the night,

but one more boat came up the canal and asked to raft.

Silvia and Dirk, on the sailboat Lison Life, are finishing a loop trip, just not the one the rest of us are doing-they are returning to their Michigan home after a 3 year sail around the world.  Charlie and Bonnie, finishing their second loop aboard Sonata tomorrow in Portsmouth, invite all of us, including Carl and Glenda from Gold Leaf for a visit.

Elizabeth City

Saturday morning, May 5, we head out again to make our way down the Alligator River and across Albemarle Sound to Elizabeth City, the jumping off point for the Dismal Swamp Canal.

A boat that has made its way quickly down the canal this morning calls on the marine radio to warn all of us that there is a very large deadhead floating mid-channel right next to a marker where we enter the Alligator River.  He wasn't kidding!

Later that day the Coast Guard is broadcasting a notice to mariners to warn everyone.  Besides how much we enjoy Francine and Wayne, when we're on the water Wayne calls us on the radio when there's something we need to watch out for.

Albemarle Sound can be pretty nasty, but we have a perfect day:

Is this boat on the water or in the sky?

The 2 mile long Alligator River Swing Bridge:

This is the old Navy blimp building from WWII.   Military and civilian blimps are still produced here:

Mary Frances at Elizabeth City:

We had a very hard rain, along with thunder and lightning, between 5 and 6 pm.

 When it ended, we again spent an enjoyable evening on My Way.

Belhaven

We left a little before 8 Friday morning, May 4, our parade of My Way, Mary Frances, and Passport as the bridge we had to go under to make our way back to the intracoastal would open at 8.  Passport left us after a while to take a side trip to New Bern.  The Neuse River was part of our route today and it has a nasty reputation, but behaved for us, with only an 8-12" chop.  Pamlico Sound was also fine.  The community of Belhaven is very depressed.  The River Forest Marina has this lovely house in front of it:

It was a hotel and restaurant, but it's not open now.  The marina provides golf carts so we can drive into town, but town is not in any better shape than Wayne's cart, which has a flat tire 2 times before he turns it back in.

The town museum is a horror-a jumbled mass of items that deserve to be better cared for and, at least, clean.

Sara, these pictures are especially for you, part of a button collection and the US pictured in buttons:

We ended this day with drinks and snacks on My Way with Wayne and Francine and Francine's sister Suzanne and her husband Michel, who have joined them for the rest of their 2nd loop.  We have a quick surprise visit from Julaine and Fred from Boreas, who are staying at the next marina upriver, and we plan a looper party for Labor Day weekend back in Mackinaw City as they make their way back to Bay City.

Scary

We decided to spend another day in Beaufort and travel with Francine and Wayne for a while.  Thursday, May 3, we took the dinghy across to an island that is part of the Rachel Carson Preserve.  We wandered a while and were getting ready to return to the boat when we met a young man on the beach with about 40 sand dollars in a plastic bag.  He showed us the path to the shore of Bird Shoal and told us there were many more.  We got in about another hour walk but, alas, no sand dollars for us.

Back at the marina, we started to prepare lunch when John noticed smoke along the opposite shore from the marina.  A small, anchored sailboat was on fire.  Here, the mast is toppling:

 Two Coast Guard boats arrived quickly:

Towboat US and the local fire department fight the fire:

 The boat burned to the water line and sank in about 20 minutes.  The owner was taken to a hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation.

On a much more peaceful note, the moon is as close to the earth tonight as it will be this year:

Beautiful Beaufort

Along the way:

We've sen a hippo and a gorilla in yards along the waterway.  Now this:

The channel is sometimes pretty narrow!

The intracoastal runs through Camp Lejeune, a marine base:

We didn't see any activity, but could hear tank or artillery fire.  A target:

This range tower made John nostalgic for the tank range at Camp Grayling:

Along our route today, we passed a small sailboat tied to an intracoastal marker.  Its cabin was open but there didn't appear to be anyone aboard.  Because of wind direction, it was right in the ICW.  We called the coast guard and saw one of their boats head that way soon after.  Approaching Beaufort:

Now, dear readers, for those of you who remember we stayed at Beaufort a while ago some clarification is in order.  We are now in Beaufort (pronounced bo-fert), North Carolina.  The other "beautiful Beaufort" (bue-fert)  is in South Carolina.  This one is also charming.  We went to the North Carolina Maritime Museum.  It is very nice.  This is a model based on the pirate Blackbeard's Queen Anne's Revenge, which was wrecked just outside the Beaufort Inlet.

Across the street they build and restore boats:

The local historical society bought a double decker bus from London, had the roof removed so the top deck is open, and use it for tours:

There are many beautiful old houses and live oaks:

 

This shotgun house was a surprise:

We saw horses on one of the islands.  Islands all along the East Coast have horses on them-some left behind when property owners moved or died, and some believed to have made their way ashore from early Spanish shipwrecks.

After our tour, we visited the Old Burying Ground.  The historic society has a brochure, like the historic building walking tours we like to do, but this visit is to a cemetery established in 1709 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  Most of the graves face east so the residents will be facing the sun on "Judgement Morn".

According to the brochure, in the 1700's this little girl went to England with her father, who promised her mother that he'd bring her home.  When she died on the trip home, instead of a burial at sea he bought a case of rum to preserve her body so he could keep his promise to return her to Beaufort.

Mary Frances at Beaufort.  The boat behind us to the right in the picture is Francine and Wayne's "My Way" and the one to the left is Mary and John's "Passport".

Cruisin' Through the Carolinas

Sunday, April 29, we traveled to Myrtle Beach.  Along the way:

These cable cars take golfers across the waterway:

Dock Holidays Marina, Myrtle Beach:

Monday, April 30, we'll move on to Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina.  We have to travel in and cross the Cape Fear River with its commercial traffic, tides, currents, changing markers, etc.  We hear a securite (basically FYI) call from a ferry that is conducting man overboard and fire drills right where we need to go.  We speed up to be ahead of it.  As we move toward this freighter all is going well until this pleasurecraft stops in front of us.  Why?!

We pass both and manage to follow the correct markers to the intracoastal and are almost off the river and into Snow Cut when a shrimp boat approaches.  We are on the starboard (right) side of midchannel.  He seems to be centerline and heading directly toward us.  He does not change course, so we move to pass on the wrong side.  As we come abreast we see the captain standing at the wheel staring at the cell phone he is holding.  We don't think he had any idea we were there and had the boat on auto-pilot as he TEXTED WHILE DRIVING-not any better an idea on the water than on land!   Would he have looked up when he heard the crunch?

Wrightsville Beach: