Dismal Swamp Canal

We had heard so much about this canal!  Dan spent a few years in the Navy in Virginia Beach and other places.  He tells stories about riding up and down highway 17, which runs parallel to the canal – he remembers seeing those old rich guys in their big boats cruising up and down.  Well, hey, those ‘old’ and decidedly NOT ‘rich’ guys are us!

The canal has an old and interesting history.  Back in 1723, the swamp was first surveyed.  The idea was to dig a canal that would join the Chesapeake Bay and the Albermarle Sound.  One thought was to drain the swamp, harvest the lumber, and farm the land.  That turned out to be an impossible task.  George Washington surveyed the land for the canal and oversaw its completion.  Of course, it was improved and widened over the years.  We took a short walk on a boardwalk through a few acres of the swamp.  Just to imagine those men making their way through that swamp is overwhelming. 

The swamp and the canal were privately owned until 1973, when the land was donated to the Department of the Interior to form the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. All of the virgin timber was gone by the 1950’s.

All that said, our cruising down the canal was such a pleasure!  There are two locks, each fronting a drawbridge.  Each lock and bridge is operated by one guy!  So, he lets boats through the lock, jumps in his car, and goes the half mile or so to the bridge, opens the bridge, and repeats!

The first full day on the canal, we didn’t meet one boat.  We were leading two sailboats, who stayed way back.  I think they wanted to enjoy the uninterrupted view for themselves!  The water was so still, it was a mirror.  The canal is about 50-55 feet wide, wide enough for boats to pass, but not a lot extra!  Looking down the canal, it looked very narrow, because of the trees on each side reflecting their image on the water!  We saw lots of birds, turtles, several deer, but no bears.  Sometimes, the larger birds would take off from a tree alongside, soar along the canal for quite a ways, then light in another tree. 

After a full day, several hours, we came to the visitor’s center. We tied up for a quiet night, and then took a leisurely departure the next morning.  Towards the end, the dug canal ended to put us in the river and then to Elizabeth City.  There started our “Albermarle Loop”.

Here are some more shots of our time on the Dismal Swamp Canal.  The last two shots are from my phone - my talents on blogging can't tell me why these pictures are long and narrow....oh well!

Hard to pick the best one, but doesn't it look like we're cruising in the sky??

just a dock and stairs to the road

We could see the  bridge up ahead

inside the lock

bridge going up

you can see the water boiling into the lock to raise us up to the top of that wall!

just waiting for the water to start coming in....

I just love the trees' reflection in the water

At one bridge, we had to wait about 2 hours, drifting around, with our bow in the bushes!

Cruising after the Rendezvous, early May

After Rendezvous, we cruised down the river from Norfolk to the Atlantic Yacht Basin (AYB), a marina and full service boat yard, only about 12 miles away.  We need quite a bit of work done on the boat.  Dan had planned to do much of the work himself, but, you know what?  Life is too short to spend unnecessary time in a marina with Dan working his butt off!  So, we decided to hire the work done.  AYB has a great reputation among the boating community.  Unfortunately, this is one of their busiest times of the year, and they are slammed.  They did give us a work order, however, and said they can get to us on May 21, just over two weeks away.  Rather than sit here for two weeks, we decided to use that time and do the ‘Dismal Swamp Canal’, and ‘The Albermarle Loop’ – more on that in a later article! 

Max loves this marina – very relaxed where dogs are concerned.  He loves to go out into the woods, just across the dirt drive from our boat, and settle in for hours.  He’s happy and safe, so we’re ok with that.

Cruising here required our passing through our first dock and drawbridge, Great Bridge.  The dock master was so nice and accommodating – easy peasy!

The marina, where we are tied up along the wall on the river, is just south of a drawbridge, which is Va. Highway # 168.  It opens every hour, on the hour.  It’s really fun to sit here, watching as all kinds of boats gather south of the bridge waiting for passage through the bridge.  We see everything from huge yachts, small fishing boats, sail boats, motor vessels, tugboats and long barges.  It’s a never ending parade!

While sitting here, I was able to discover a very nice trail in the woods across the river.  Beautiful woods, soft pine-needled trail, right along the river.  (Pictures below).

Every Tuesday and Friday nights, a group of ladies from the Chesapeake Tourist promotion group called Marker 12 provides snacks, wine, and beer for any boaters who are around.  What a nice thing to do!  They offer us rides or any assistance we may need while we are here.  They are called Marker 12, because this marina is at mile marker 12 on the Intercoastal Waterway (ICW).  

Basically, if you have to be 'stuck' somewhere, this place is a pretty good spot.  Good restaurants, hardware store, pharmacies, all within walking distance.

Here are some pictures of our time here.

Sunset from our boat

Great Bridge opens

Great Bridge closed

Opening!

from inside the lock at Great Bridge

dock dog, Max

view of AYB from bridge

nice trail along the river

view of the Kittiwake from trail

April 28 thru May 3, 2018 Rendezvous!

In Norfolk, attending the America’s Great Loop Cruiser’s Association Spring Rendezvous

We left our ‘home’ marina, Olverson’s,  in Lottsburg, Virginia on Friday, April 26.  We had been there for about 3 weeks, with Dan and I working on the boat, getting her cleaned up from the winter, ready for cruising.  We love it at this marina – way out in the boonies, wonderful people, very dog friendly!  Max doesn’t need to be on a leash most of the time, knows where he can get a treat and a pet.   We do have our truck there, but the marina also has 4 vehicles that sit there all the time, keys in, for their customers who need to go to a restaurant, the hardware store, the grocery store.

Anyway, we were ready to move on!  We had a terrific day for cruising to the mouth of the Potomac and on down the Chesapeake Bay to Deltaville.  We had stopped here once before last Fall.  Met some nice people on another boat, shared the marina’s loaner truck to go out for a nice dinner.  Boat people, we are finding, are the greatest!

Next day, we had another beautiful day for cruising.  We pulled into the Waterside Marina in Norfolk on Saturday.  We had hoped to dock with few witnesses, even though Dan is really good at the docking stuff.  Well, we didn’t get our wish!  The marina holds maybe 60 boats, and they were mostly full, and mostly all “Loopers” like us!  Fortunately, Dan did a magnificent job of turning around in a small basin and backing quite a ways into our slip.  Of course, his dock hand (me!) did a pretty good job of having lines and fenders ready to secure the boat.

Waterside didn’t have many amenities, but was so convenient to our conference that it was worth it.    I loved the floating docks, which meant that access to the boat was the same regardless of the tides.  Sometimes, at Olverson’s, it’s quite a steep angle for Max’s ramp to get onto the boat.  Norfolk has a beautiful waterfront.  It’s really interesting to see all the huge boats, both Navy and commercial, in the dry dock across the river.

Norfolk's waterfront 

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The conference was pretty great, with learning opportunities galore plus lots of socializing with the other Loopers.  Wonderful, fun people!  There were two couples whom we had met prior, in Key West and other boater gatherings.  We’ll see them again, I'm sure!

view of all the looper boats parked in the marina

from Norfolk, across the river, huge cranes in the dry dock

Another view of the looper boats

bridge from the marina

nice view of the marina

Update, Back to the Kittiwake!

April 17, 2018

It seems like I am waiting a long time between posts.  We haven’t been constantly traveling or having ‘adventures’ to report!  But, here’s an update for the Olsons in recent weeks.

We returned home to Michigan from Key West in mid-March, about two weeks earlier than has been our habit in recent years.  But, we had work to do at home, plus grandchild time, neighbors, church family to enjoy.  We suffered through about three weeks of pretty cold weather (high in the 40’s, lows in the 20’s).  There were just a couple of days that were less windy and with sun – on those days, I managed to get the yard and gardens cleaned up from the winter.  Mostly, we just huddled indoors, living our ‘normal’ lives with housework, cleaning, cooking, reading books, and with Dan constantly on his PC researching issues for the boat. We both had our fill of doctor/dentist appointments to last us for a while.  I did get to see all three Michigan grandchildren several times, had dinner with the entire family a couple of times.  We did have our favorite neighbor over for dinner and wine a few times. We attended church and caught up with that group.

But, then it was time to get to the boat.  We had an entire pickup truck FULL of items we had purchased or set aside for the boat.  Plus, there were a few packages at the marina that had been shipped to the boat.  Most of the projects are Dan projects, with Gena as his favorite (and only) assistant!  Here is a short list (and I’m sure I have forgotten some….):

Install new fuel filter system (Raycor)

Assemble two Ikea chairs we bought for evening lounging/reading (Done!)

De-install old radar arch and radar system

Install new radar arch, new radar, and other pieces from the old arch (BIG, will need help)

Install wiring and screens for radar and charting/GPS systems (will be contracting for that service)

Figure out what we have/what we need for audio/video entertainment systems.  Install new HDTV digital antenna on the new radar arch.

Organize new tool box, eliminating duplicates and freeing storage space (Done)

Perform tune up on port engine (starboard was done last Fall)

Obtain service for our microwave oven (Scheduled for our time in Norfolk)

Continue to organize and become familiar with housekeeping on the boat (unending chore for Gena)

We are docked at Olverson’s Marina on Lodge Creek, near the mouth of the Potomac River.  This is where we purchased the boat, and this has become our ‘home away from home’.  We spent several weeks here last Fall while we loaded up our household goods, cleaned, became familiar with the various parts of the boat.  The folks here are so warm and helpful.  The marina is somewhat out in the country, but there are stores (hardware, grocery, restaurants) within easy drive.  Most of our time here, we are the only people on our dock with other boat owners coming during weekends.  Everyone we have met has been wonderful.  It has been the perfect place to make as our home port as we learn about living on board.

Our plans for the next few weeks include:

·         Attend the America’s Great Loop Cruiser’s Association Spring Rendezvous in Norfolk the first week in May (a two day cruise from here).

·         Cruise down the Dismal Swamp Canal (which includes two bridges and two locks).

·         Explore the Albemarle Sound as we return north to this marina (spend about two weeks).

·         Return to Olverson’s to complete scheduled work.  We will also be here when a few other boats from the Marine Trawlers Owners Association (MTOA) arrive on June 28. 

·         On June 30, all these boats will go to St. Michaels, Maryland, for a huge concert and fireworks display.  Should be a real hoot!

·         From St. Michaels, we will continue up the Chesapeake Bay, exploring as we go.  The rule is NO SCHEDULES!  We will look for good weather windows to travel.

The ultimate goal, for this boating season, is to bring the boat to a marina near home in Michigan.  While we are in boating mode, we have agreed to dock the boat after a few (6?) weeks and return either home or to Georgia to visit family. 

January 26, 2018 Camping (and Volunteering) in Key West

Well, here we are, experiencing the typical high winds in January in Key West.  Not much for sitting outside or other casual activities.  

Monday, I did report for 2 hours work on the Key West gardens - they've pretty much been cleaned out from Irma, but there's always work to do.

Yesterday, we joined a group of people to help clean up part of US1 from Irma.  72 bags of debris!  Plus a pile of items that would not fit into a large construction bag.  Ouch, my aching back was talking to me!

Today, I’m mostly sitting inside, cleaning out my email, writing for the blog (!), reading.  I’ve read some really good books recently!  

I’ll close with a picture of the working group from yesterday.

An Update - January 18, 2018 (I apologize for the lengthy post - it's been awhile!)

An update, January 18, 2018

Well, here we sit in Key West, Florida for the next couple of months.  We fled the extreme cold at our home in Michigan, as we normally do at this time of year.  We left Michigan in our truck, with camper aboard, on January 4, arriving at my daughter’s house in northern Georgia on 

January 5.

My daughter and family live in Dahlonega, in the middle of the state, about one hour north of Atlanta, in the mountains.  We leave I-75, as guided by our GPS, and proceed through about 2-1/2 hours of 2 lane, twisty/turny roads, through small towns, and wooded mountains. 

We had one adventure (it seems we always have some sort of mis-adventure on our journeys) on the way through the mountains.  I looked back at one point and saw that the outside door of a storage area on the camper was completely open.  As soon as possible, Dan pulled over to close it.  Unfortunately, the compartment was empty…The tool box, two electric drills, batteries, chargers, electrical cables, and drinking water hoses – all gone, likely either on the side of the road or down the mountain.  We did turn back, watching carefully as we retraced our path around some S curves, mostly with no shoulder and no guard rail.  On the first pass, we didn’t see anything.  On the return, we saw a couple of the items and pulled off at the next opportunity.  All we recovered was a box of drill bits, a trailer hitch, and a rivet gun.  Bummer – the tools were not particularly costly, but necessary.  Dan was able to replace most of everything for under the $500 deductible on our household policy. 

Another event on the trip was seeing a sign “Guns and Drugs”, an advertisement for a store in the next town.  Dan felt it was imperative that we stop and see if they had any t-shirts…  This was a truly unique store – it was a regular pharmacy, also a compounding pharmacy, a home health store (walkers, canes, etc.), plus all kinds of guns and ammunition!  And, yes, they did have t-shirts.  One said “Pistols and Prozac”.  One said “Because Sometimes, Short, Dumb, and Slow Will Do the Job”.  You won’t see those anywhere else!

Ordinarily, we can expect temperatures in Georgia to be much warmer than at home.  But, not this year!  It never got above about 21 degrees – so, the winter clothes and the heater in the camper stayed on!  We enjoyed the time with Laura and Derek, parents to my two grandsons, Rylan, age 12/almost 13, and Brody, who just turned 10.  It is always amazing to see how they’ve grown and changed in the few months since last seeing them.  Rylan, in particular, is now 5’6”, almost as tall as I am!  I taught that boy how to play Michigan Rummy, and he caught on almost too quickly!  Brody killed me in a game called, aptly, Aggrevation!

From north Georgia, we headed to our friends’ house in Orlando.  The Sprenkles always welcome us, with extreme hospitality, a place to park our car and camper, and even electrical hookup!  Finally, we got some warm weather!  What a pleasure to remove most of the layers of clothing, plus socks, and put on those sandals!  We spent two days with them, with Denise plying us with her usual good cooking.

On Thursday, January 11, we headed to Key West.  This year, hurricane Irma did a number on the Keys.  Key West fared better than the Middle Keys, but still had significant damage.  The campground on the Navy Base had damage to the shower/restroom/laundry building and was not available.  So we took a spot on the Sigsbee base campground until our preferred Trumbo became available.  We were just glad to be able to get a spot in Key West, a place where we always enjoy ourselves to the max.  We were at Sigsbee for about 5 days, and then were assigned a space on Trumbo.  Hallelujah!  Besides getting to move to our preferred Trumbo, this also facilitated our move into the much larger (a real kitchen, walk around bed, easy chairs…) 5^th wheel trailer we store there.  What a pleasure to have comfortable seating, a fully equipped kitchen to prepare meals, and a bed that I can walk around!

So, now we are at the Trumbo campground with many familiar faces.  We are currently ‘suffering’ with ‘extreme cold’ and high winds.  I’ve been mostly inside all day, wearing shoes and socks, and two layers of sweatshirts.  The temp is now at its high of 60 degrees and sunny – but, the 25 mph winds are keeping most of us indoors, waiting for that famous lovely warm weather.

One happy discovery, this morning, is that there are a few ‘looper’ boats currently in town.  They are members of the same America’s Great Loop Association that we had joined two years ago, before we even owned a boat.  We are in contact with them, and will be meeting some of them for some social time once the winds die down a bit.

Life is good!

October 2017 - Latest adventures on the Kittiwake – we are still learning!

We left our ‘home’ marina to travel to the Norfolk area, at least a two day cruise. Our first day was to Deltaville, Va.  We had been there by the road – takes about an hour!  We decided to stop the second day before traversing the area by the huge Norfolk shipping channel, with huge container ships, tugs, Navy ships like destroyers and aircraft carriers!  The third day was a short one, just to a marina in Portsmouth, which is just across the river from downtown Norfolk.  Turned out the shipping channel was no big deal and not stressful at all.  These first shots are from Olverson's Marina, where it all started!

the dock at Olverson's

Max was more comfortable on the dock

view across the river from Olverson's

Olverson's, by the office

in travel mode.... on the fly bridge

sunset from dock at Olverson's


These next pictures are from our cruise to Norfolk.

some BIG Navy ships!

we will stay out of her way!

one of the hundreds (thousands?) of road markers we will follow...

commercial docks near Norfolk

Navigation: 

Most cruisers we talk with have modern day chart plotters and software – basically, they point to where they want to go from their current location, and their systems plot a course for them to follow on the electronic screen.  The Kittiwake came with a pretty old chart plotter that we know little about.  We were encouraged to get out the manual, which we did, and it did become a bit more functional for us.  But, the course plotting wasn’t something we are comfortable with.  Fortunately, Dan is familiar with paper charts and the old fashioned method of navigation – it must work because we have always landed where we intended!

Visit with Dan’s grandsons and son-in-law:

Annie, Dan’s daughter, is in the Navy and was on a cruise in Europe.  So, Chuck, Dan’s son-in-law, drove the boys, Eric and Jared, to the marina to meet us and see the boat.  The boys decided they would spend the night on the boat on Saturday but wanted to go home for Friday night.  We went to dinner together, and we drove them home so we could keep the car.  Next day, we picked up the boys and brought them to the boat.  We took them out in the channel, up the river for a ways, then back down by the Navy Operating Base.  We had a nice day, and then they spent the night in our guest berth.  They were a little nervous, but they actually did sleep very well!  We all had a good time – we don’t get to see them often enough.

three musketeers!

Our first time in a boatyard on the hard!

What we thought would be a quick, lift the boat out of the water for two rather small but necessary tasks, turned out to be a two day extravaganza!  It was fun seeing the boat being lifted out of the water and interesting to see a part of the boat we had not previously seen!  The unexpected discovery was that the props had encountered something that caused some damage.  So, the props were pulled and sent off site for repair.  That left Dan, me, and Max needing a bed for two nights.  Yikes, the only hotel that allowed dogs was, shall I say, pretty basic.  Relatively clean, no bugs, but not somewhere we wanted to hang around much.  We survived it, but were really glad to get our boat back!  We ended up changing props to the ones that had been stored on board as spares.  They will suit us better, being a better size and slope. 

Leaving the boatyard, we just went the short distance to the marina where we had been.  We left there the next morning, thinking we would go all the way to Deltaville and skip the marina where we had stopped to avoid going through the shipping channel in the evening. 

starting the lift...

out of the water

a part of the boat we haven't seen before!

First encounter with bad weather

As we approached the mouth of the river and started into the Chesapeake Bay, we encountered WAY more turbulence than we wanted to handle.  I was stressed, but Max was really really upset.  The boat was bucking and slamming on the next wave – everything in the salon behind and below us was falling to the floor.  Since the weather was blowing and spraying, we were piloting from inside the boat to stay out of the cool and wet.  None of us had life jackets on.  With all this commotion, Max decided he wanted OUT.  The pilot house door slid open, and Max went outside and up to the bow of the boat.  There’s nothing up there to keep him in the boat except for a narrow railing.  Next, Dan went out there, falling to his hands and knees to keep from being thrown into the water.  Of course, this left ME at the helm!!  I have never been so frightened in my life.  So, picture Dan, one hand on the railing and the other on Max’s collar.  Max didn’t want to go ANYWHERE, so Dan had to drag him back to the pilot house with one hand while into the wave, slowing down the engine (based on Dan’s hand signals).  We quickly turned back and headed to a safe marina just inside the river.  I held it together while we got tied up and situated in our slip.  THEN, I fell apart, shaking and crying at what could have happened.

So, we are stuck for at least two days waiting for good weather – what shall we do?

We settled in, thinking we would just relax for the two days of foul weather.  While surfing the web, Dan saw mention of something called the Hampton Snowbird Rendezvous.  It was to start that very evening in the town where we were!  We quickly signed up and attended the very enjoyable and informative conference.  We learned a lot and met some delightful people.

After the conference was over, we were able to navigate the two days back to our ‘home’ marina, Olverson’s, in Lottsburg, Virginia.  We spent a few days there getting the boat ready to sit until next April or May when we will return.  That involved cleaning, removing most food items, winterizing everywhere there is water that could potentially freeze.  We loaded up our truck and, regretfully, headed back home to Michigan.  I say ‘regretfully’, because we have truly to feel like the Kittiwake is our home.  We love the time spent on the boat.  Of course, we also love time at home, being able to see the grandchildren at least occasionally.  We will be at our ‘dirt’ house until after the holidays, when we hope to head to Key West for some good living in our 5^th wheel stored there.