George Washington once owned the land the Great Dismal Swamp Canal was built on. Opening in 1850, this is the oldest continually operating man made waterway in the country. Between 1810-1860 this was an important route on the Underground Railroad and played a part in Civil War transportation. But to get the Blue Moon to this magnificent example of human engineering in time for the all important bridge opening to get to the first lock (there are only 3 specific lock openings daily--no exceptions) we had to put the boat up on plane in a very tight, and of course very shallow path to the bridge. I did not know the boat could go that fast! We were out in the wilderness flying around twists and turns reminiscent of a scene from Apocolypse Now where the GI gunboat was whipping thru the jungles of Vietnam looking for VC.
Around one turn we barley slowed down in time to keep from swamping two very fat guys in a very small fishing boat. The look on their faces was hysterical. If I saw Blue Moon screaming towards me I'd have to change my underwear.
We made the lift bridge just in time. The bridge operator let us through then got in his car and drove to first lock to open it for us. This was at 3:30 p.m. on the dot. We entered the Dismal Swamp Canal along with a little sailing ketch with two old hippies. Dave said to ask them if they had any Maui Wowie and I was amazed that he knew what that was! ha
The canal is about 20 miles long and there was no rush to get to the other end because the next opening was the next morning at 8:30. The scenery is gorgeous and it may have been extremely dismal for the guys who dug the canal but it is not dismal for us pleasure boaters all these years later.
I was really glad there wasn't a boat coming at us from the other direction--no room to pass.
The water was brown from all the organic material ?
Around 7:00 p.m. we came upon an idyllic spot to tie up to for the night. It was a nice wall built next to a bike path. We grilled a nice pork tenderloin, ate dinner on the back deck and watched the NBC Nightly News on the IPad. I was thinking maybe the smell of the cooking meat would attract bears or raccoons but none showed up. The raccoons on the boat while back on the Mississippi was enough wildlife for me. It was a quiet peaceful night and that's a real good thing on a boat--or anywhere.
This is what we woke up to...
We had breakfast then locked through the second lock.
This threw us right into the heavy commercial and military area of the Norfolk/Portsmouth shipyards. Not pretty. We only had 5 miles to get to the marina where we were to leave the boat for a few weeks but first we had to wait for a railroad bridge to open--about 45 minutes. Then we were home free to the marina. Dave washed the salt crystals off the boat while I packed up to go home. We Ubered a ride to the airport and picked up our one way rental car. We wanted to make sure to time our departure so we would hit the DC Beltway traffic right a rush hour--and we did. I realize this part of the country is a highly desirable place to live but the traffic is a deal breaker. Just nuts.
We got home around 1:00 a.m. and crashed.
Part 2 and the final trip home to continue in May.
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