Heading south!

We are finally on our way south! It seemed like it took a long time to get started after our return from the trip north for the summer. First there was the little issue of just how many groceries do you really need for several months..... probably less than I bought. And this stuff doesn't include the cereal boxes or Wickie's 5 boxes of litter. I thought I'd never find a place to stash all of this stuff. Notice Wickie helping out, over in the upper left, on his red blankie?

Luke's arm is almost healed and he's doing great. Wickie is "back in the saddle", back to his old ways and relatively comfortable in his boat.

We left on December 8, 2008, with the help of our friends Nancy and Jim, tossing off our lines in the crisp 24 degree morning. Such good friends!!! Wind allowed us to sail for about 2 hours, but then we had to pull down the sails and motor the rest of the way to Little Creek, VA, outside of Norfolk. There we had a great visit with my sister-in-law, Judy. She made a wonderful dinner for us!

Tuesday was much warmer and mostly sunny. The route to the ICW takes us through Norfolk and into the Elizabeth River. We saw an interesting activity of a Navy helicopter pulling something through the water, maybe a small boat, via a tow line out of the rear of the helicopter. Most strange and very loud, with lots of spray from the water below.

I've never been through Norfolk from the water and was amazed at the number of ships there. I know it 's a shipyard, but really! THAT many ships!!!??? It was quite impressive.

The river has a series of bridges, most of them normally in an open position. We had to call to have one open for us. They are so close together -- here are 3 of them right together.

Norfolk is "Mile 0" on the ICW. From there you take a short run down the Elizabeth River in the ICW and have an option to take the Dismal Swamp Canal or the Virginia Cut. We opted for the Dismal Swamp. Here is a map of the first section of the ICW, from Mile 0 to Elizabeth City, at the mouth of the Albemarle Sound. From now on, I'll have a similar may of the section of the ICW that we are in at the beginning of each blog.

The route is in the South Branch of the Elizabeth River, under Hwy 64. I've seen the water from that bridge so many times over the 20 years that my friend Sara and I have gone to Nags Head. It was incredible to know that I was finally, after all of those years, IN the water below, headed for the Dismal Swamp Canal.

As soon as we took our 63 ft mast under the 65 ft bridge clearance, we made a 90 degree turn to the right and entered the Dismal Swamp Canal! What a welcome "highway sign". :-)

The swamp is narrow and shallow. It is supposed to be dredged to 6 ft in the center (we draw 5'4"). We found water "thin" enough to be 1.7 ft under our boat. That is shallow enough.

About 3 miles into the swamp is the first of 2 locks, the Deep Creek Lock. This takes the boats from the lower section to the higher southern end of the canal. We were fortunate to be the only boat in the lock, so the lock master took lots of pictures of Latitudes as the locks filled. The first is when we first entered the lock, at the lower level of the swamp. Next the water has filled the lock about half way. Finally, we are at the upper level of the lock, ready to simply motor out into the next section of the waterway.

The lock master's dog U-turn has discovered Wickie in the cockpit. ..

We spent Tuesday night at a city dock immediately after exiting the lock. It's a nice area, a city park by the waterway. Town is only a couple of blocks away, but we feel like we're in the middle of nowhere. The weather was bad today, worse tomorrow. The plan is to spend Thursday here too, and hopefully leave on Friday for the NC Welcome Center, about 18 miles away further south.