Saturday, April 30, 2011

Elizabeth City, NC to Hampton, VA

Wednesday morning we left Elizabeth City at 7:15 because of a restricted bridge that opened at 7:30.  We had a beautiful trip up tree lined Pasquotank River to Turners Cut and the South Bridge Lock.
We spent the night at the Great Dismal Swamp Visitors Center with seven other boats.  After listening to the weather we all decided to stay the next day which turned out to be a good choice.  Thursday was the day with the violent storms that sadly killed so many people.  We were lucky in that the worst of the storms did not hit this area.  We had a couple of thunderstorms but we were in such a protected place that we could see the top of the trees whipping in the wind but the water was flat calm with barely a ripple.  The staff at the visitors center were great - they offered to drive people to the nearest store or to order pizzas for us.  Across the canal from the visitors center is a interpretive center and miles of trails accessed by a pontoon bridge.


Friday morning we left the visitors center along with the other seven boats and had a nice calm relaxing trip through the scenic swamp.  This is one of our favorite parts of the trip.  The scenery is not dramatic but it is beautiful.  Because there were so many of us in the lock at the same time we ended up on the side away from the lock tender's house which was unfortunate because Robert, the lock tender, handed out doughnuts to everyone on that side of the lock.




When we left the lock we had 45 minutes to get to the Glimerton Bridge 5 miles away for the once per hour opening.  We had the tide with us and made it with minutes to spare.  It is a culture shock to go from the serenity of the swamp to the hustle and bustle of Norfolk.  Between the pleasure boats, tour boats, barges, and Navy ships it requires constant vigilance to avoid being run over.  We were able to sail across Hampden Roads which was a nice treat.  We pulled into Hampden public docks and received a warm greeting from Kate the dock master who remembered us from the fall.

No comments:

Post a Comment