Hello all. Before I begin, here is a little eye candy for you. I took these shots from our gorgeous anchorage spot on Sunday.

As I write this, it is 12:00 on Monday. I am actually typing this post from the cockpit as we motor north on the Chesapeake Bay! I don’t know who wrote today’s forecast, but this morning winds were definitely not out of the SW and DEFINITELY not 10-15 knots. Instead we saw 15 -20 knots out of the west (gusts in the 20’s) with 2-3 ft waves. Things have finally calmed down. Winds are currently 10 knots out of the west.

It has been extremely annoying to have to navigate through and around more crab pot lines. They seem to appear out of nowhere. They are the bane of a boater’s existence.

Yesterday morning when we awoke, Charro presented me with the wild hair he got in the middle of the night. He suggested that instead of anchoring for the night at the end of the Dismal Swamp Canal, that we keep on going all the way through Hampton Roads and anchor at Willoughby Bay in Norfolk. It would put us home one day sooner. So that’s exactly what we did. We departed our anchorage at 6:15 am yesterday morning and arrived at our stopping place at 5:15 pm. We ran an 11 hour day. We must be mad!

To say it was an incredible day would be a vast understatement. From the wild, unspoiled beauty of the Dismal Swamp Canal to the stretch of colossal warships at Norfolk Naval Station, we were certainly not unspoiled for choice of things to gawk at.

I don’t know why they call it the Dismal Swamp because it is not dismal at all! It is stunning. The four hour run from end to end was calm and smooth. The canal has a controlling depth of 6 ft., however we found the depths yesterday to be anywhere from 6-9 ft. There was no duckweed to contend with and no bugs at all – in fact, we haven’t had a single issue with bugs anywhere (well except for the flypocalypse we are experiencing on our boat today!). That was a huge relief.

From the entrance to the canal outside of South Mills Lock, and for a some time beyond Deep Creek Lock, we traveled in a caravan of four other boats. We met a very nice couple from Rhode Island and had some nice chitchat back and forth on the radio. We even exchanged photos we had taken of each other’s vessel.

Locking was a brand new experience for us. We both had such nerves going in, but the lock tenders at both South Mills and Deep Creek were extremely kind and helpful. Both open on a schedule, so you have to be sure to time your arrivals. We were all a few minutes early to the 8:30 am opening, so we put the anchor down and held steady until we received the all-clear to proceed. One by one, each boat entered the lock. We were instructed ahead of time via radio that it would be a port side tie-up and that we needed to have a 25 foot minimum line on both bow and stern. As we sidled up to the wall, the lock tender grabbed the bow line I was holding and secured us to a piling above the wall. Then he secured the stern line in Charro’s hand.

Both gates closed and water began filling the lock. We were slowly raised up by about 8 feet. Then the exit gate opened and we proceeded on our way.

We all made it to the end of the canal in time for the 1:30 opening of Deep Creek Lock. The bridge tender, who also serves double-duty as lock tender, raised Deep Creek Bridge. As soon as we all cleared it, he jumped into his car to drive to the lock 1/4 mile away. The water was then lowered 8 ft. and we proceeded on.

From there it was a short jaunt to the I-64 bridge.

After the I-64 Bridge, we came to the Norfolk Southern #7 Railroad Bridge and the Gilmerton Bridge. The railroad bridge is normally open, however, a train was crossing and we had to wait. At that point, we were in the company of an enormous barge pushing a tug, two of our fellow canal travelers, a catamaran, and several rather rude speed boat drivers. We literally drove in circles waiting out the train delay. Finally, the bridge tender gave the all-clear and we proceeded through Gilmerton Bridge.

The 10 nautical mile stretch through Hampton Roads was a sight to see! I am thankful we traveled through on a Sunday when commercial and military traffic is minimal. I imagine it can get quite hairy on a weekday. The most impressive section was passing warship after warship after warship. You don’t realize how LARGE they are until you see them up close. Unfortunately, I do not have photos of them. Marine military police patrol and guard the area and it is said that they don’t care for it when people take photos. It’s a security thing. We didn’t want to do anything that might provoke them to stop us.

After a day full of adventures, we finally made it to our anchor spot just outside of Willoughby Bay. The location lies next to a naval base, and according to others, the military routinely conducts helicopter maneuvers. Charro was so hopeful, but sadly since it was Sunday all was quiet.

I did snap this photo of an aircraft carrier across the bay from where we were anchored.

As I said before it was an extraordinary day. This whole trip has been extraordinary and one for the memory books.

At this moment, we are 6 miles from the Rappahannock River and just a few hours from home. If all continues to go well, we’ll be sleeping in our new slip at our marina tonight!

I will update again tomorrow.

Fair winds,

Wendy