Dismal Swamp Visitors Center

The morning pump out goes as planned. But first getting out of this small tightly packed Marina, is a little nerve racking. We then head down to Atlantic Yacht Basin for diesel. They open at 9:00 and we are tied up on their fuel dock at 8:45. We are on a tight schedule to make the 11:00AM Deep Creek Lock to the Dismal Swamp. Last time here their pump out did not work and apparently we did the right move at Waterside, since theirs is not working this time either. 

Just south of Atlantic Yacht Basin we get our first delay, a railroad bridge is down for a train to pass. There are 15 boats waiting for it to open. If we had rushed we would of wasted more time. For us the delay was not too long. The next bridge, the Glimerton Highway bridge is open on demand this time of day, unfortunately the adjacent railroad bridge is down for a passing train so even the power boats that can clear the Glimerton 35 foot closed height have to wait also. The delay waiting for the train is going to squeeze our timing to make the 11:00am Deep Creek lock lift. Fortunately all the boats but us take the Virginia cut south instead of the Dismal Swamp route.

Railroad Bridge going up

Passing the Glimerton Bridge

Nice way to park a "boat"

We are the last boat in the lock, but at least we did not spent much time waiting for the gates to close. The Lock operator is also the Deep Creek bridge operator a mile past the Lock. So once the boats are out of the lock we have to move slowly waiting for the operator to drive to the bridge. Then we have to group tightly together before he will open the bridge to get us through quickly. He keeps repeating this over the VHF radio and says not all the boats will get through if we don’t bunch up. Well, being the last boat its not what I want to hear. The third boat in line, a Nordic Tug, is drifting side ways and obviously has his radio off or is on the wrong channel and does not move. I am getting pissed and finally pass the large power boat immediately in front of us and then boat number three. He blasts his horn and starts yelling at us and I tell him turn on your radio dumb ass and listen to the bridge operator! The large boat that was in front of us passes him too. We all get through the bridge and the Nordic Tug takes up the rear.

Going up

 

Duck weed in the Dismal Swamp

The duck weed that everyone has been concerned about is a lot less than previous trips. Being another cool overcast day we have a rather dismal trip down the Dismal Swamp. Normally it is very pretty on a sunny Fall day. We get to the visitors center at 2:30. We tie up to “Manannan” our Canadian sister ship, a Catalina 36. We knew they were here and had texted them about how many boats were there. We ended up with 8 boats, two of them catamarans, rafted 3 deep.

 

Floating Swing Bridge

Raft up at Visitor Center

 

Cruiser get together

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We got here early enough to take the floating swing bridge across the canal to the Dismal Swamp Museum and hiking trails. When we got back to the dock we had an impromptu gathering of all the sailors and swapped lots of good stories. We had a lot of fun. It started to rain around 6:00pm which broke up the party and we all retreated to our boats for dinner.