Picturesque Travels

 

The view looking up

   This is a working vacation for Pete. He had an 8:30 conference call so we needed to be underway before then. That left me at the helm to enjoy some of the prettiest parts of our journey, while being on guard for the most troublesome encounters: the dead trees that lurk below the dark waters.  We bumped 3 times, with only one being significant. We made the 11AM North Bridge and lock opening. Once exiting the straight portion of the canal, we traveled beautiful, winding waterways.

Fall making her appearance on
 the Dismal Swamp

Plants grow on partially
submerged stumps

     Since we didn’t pick up fuel in Norfolk, we stopped for fuel at Lamb’s marina just north of the last unused rail road bridge. It’s a tricky place to get into, but it’s deep, well protected, and the staff very friendly. SEVILLA waited for us to leave due to the narrow fairway to the pumps.

Turbulence as waters fill the lock

     After that bridge we were in wide, deep water. As I navigated down the center of the passage, in 19 feet of water, we bounced hard, twice, on a solid semi-buoyant obstacle. We think we bent the rudder, no leakage, but the steering is very stiff.

The swamp trees glowing with
the sunshine

     Once we were rafted with, Pete resumed working while the rest of us dinghied into Elizabeth City.  About 40 boaters attended the Elizabeth City’s Welcome Info Session. Over drinks, we met a number of our fellow travelers. Gary and Belinda Frost, MV FROST FREE, are making their maiden voyage south. They hail from Landenberg, PA and were amazed to find travelers with family from their area.

The view looking down from the South Mill Lock

     Dan was our ferry in, but Pete brought Martha, Maureen and I back to the boat. 

Our boats navigating the winding
 Elizabeth  River

Turtles also enjoying the sunshine

     After dinner downloaded photos, and started catching up the blog. I started to capture my thoughts in Word to later cut and paste into the blog. Pete has needed to use my computer for work when they are doing maps.  This has limited my time to working in the evening when tired and internet not necessarily available.  I also seem to take a lot of photos, so a lot of weeding is also needed.  I hope to get my act together real soon so that everything will be posted. If you’re reading this, I was finally successful.

ICW Mile Marker  56

6 Hours   (Total 36.5 Hours)

32 Miles  (Total 234.7 Miles)