Here it is on Sunday and I have emerged from the Great Dismal Swamp, North Carolina and (very very nearly) the Intracoastal Waterway.
The last two days coming through the canals/locks have been a complete change from the Albemarle region and certainly a grand adventure. I just wish that it hadn't been record setting temperatures. When I got up to the visitor center on friday it was like 5:05 and all the girls were just locking up to go home for the weekend so I didn't get to check out their little center. I was able to step inside the cool, AC filled restrooms to freshen up and take a little break from the heat. When they told me the day before that I would have no problem tying up they must not have realized how low a kayak sits on the water bc I had to literally climb up the 5 foot dock to get ashore. I had been hoping that they had something a little lower so that I would have been able to get into my hatches because I had nothing edible left in my cockpit or deck bag and I was starving. (side note: I used to always say when I was hungry that I was starving but I think I've actually experienced that sensation a few times on this trip. When my body is eating away at itself because I'm burning many more calories then I can take in. This was one of those times). Anyhow, instead I had a lovely vending machine snack and then headed back out to find the feeder ditch that would take me to my intended campsite for the night.
The canal inside the locks is maintained at 6 ft. by Lake Drummond. Connecting the 2 is a feeder ditch that is about 3.5 miles long. Just about at the very end of the ditch is a recreational area overseen by the army corp of engineers which they call "the reservation" and that is where I camped for the night. CLICK HERE TO SEE THAT LOCATION. There's not much there except for a few outhouses, a very cool electric trolley that will take your boat/kayak over to spillway, and 2 screened pavilions. Those were a livesaver. You can imagine being in a swamp how bad the bugs must have been. Not only was it incredibly hot and humid but there was zero air flow. I took full advantage of the screened areas to cook, organize my things, and make a plan for the next day. It was so hot that I sweated right through the night even in a mesh top tent, with no shirt on and, of course, no sleeping bag that night. It was nice being the only one there and there were a few outlets in the laddies latrine that I found worked so I was able to plug in my phone and some auxiliary batteries too.
Saturday morning I was moving slow and by the time I got all my things together and packed the kayak back up it was 930 and I realized I hadn't left myself much time to make the 130 Deep Creek Lock opening which was a little over 15 miles away. The water in the canal is totally flat with no current so I could paddle 4-4.5 mph easily but it was hard to maintain that pace in the heat. I was sweating like I never have before. The air was so thick and humid in that canal that it was like paddling in a sauna. I couldn't take in enough water, I was stopping to drink every 10-15 minutes it seemed like. I tried my hardest to stay along the east side of the canal and get any shade I could, the only problem being that there are so many overhanging limbs and submerged obstacles along the side that it makes it tough. I pushed it as hard as I could and reached the lock right on time, bc he was running the southbound traffic first I really even had a few minutes to spare and I slipped under the low bascule bridge and got right up in place while a little nordic tug-looking thing that had passed me miles back sat waiting for it to open. The Deep Creek lock tender couldn't have been nicer and we chit chatted while he lowered me down about 7-8 feet and he brought me out an ice cold pepsi because he said it "looked like I desperately needed something cold to drink." He couldnt have been more right. I rarely drink soda, and I normally never would while I was paddling but that was one delicious pepsi and it saved the day. I felt totally drained at that point, and I was to find out later that the record high for june 7th in norfolk was set yesterday at 99.
When I got out of the lock it was like dorothy stepping out of her house into color after the twister. What a change! Whereas I had seen a total of 4 other boats in the canal on emerging I was immediately surrounded by at least 20 wave runners. Back and forth. They never seem to go anywhere exactly, they just stick within a little 1 mile range zipping around, hooting and hollering, and putting up bath-tub wake. That was when I realized that I had just about had it for the day. I called a really nice fellow named Al who had contacted me and offered a place to crash and we arraigned to meet at a public ramp another 4-5 miles up north. I am so luck that he was able to help me out because I was completely worn out. It also meant that I didn't have to worry about paddling through the Norfolk harbour while tired and with the tall ship festival going on.
Al and his wife Mary helped get me all fixed up last night. I had a nice big dinner, an unbelievable shower (it felt so good to get 4 days of sweat and river/canal water off me) and played with their awesome dog Pandit before crashing hard for the night. I took advantage of their generous offer to lay low for a day to hang out in some AC, hit the grocery store to resupply, and do a little planning. I'm 90% sure I have a good strategy figured out for tomorrow but it could all change at a moments notice. We'll see what happens. I've really enjoyed meeting Al, Mary, their son Chris who was nice enough to cart me around today, and hearing Al's great stories about his own adventure up the ICW with his daughter as his first mate. THANK YOU GUYS!
BTW I'm really glad I decided to go the Dismal Swamp route. It really was an experience. Not only is it the oldest waterway in the country (1784) but it was surveyed in part by George Washington, was a hide out along the banks for freed slaves, has the only joint highway/waterway visitor center in the country, and is listed on the registry of national historic places. I did hear a lot before I started about its tranguility and that's true I guess in parts but it does basically run parallel to rt 17 so there is a lot of car/motorcycle noise which is strange. From what I've read though many cruisers are scared of the canal bc of the many horror stories of broken props and snagged mast heads so the ones that do run it are part of a special little group. Plus not every boat can - you have to draw 5 ft or less. I would like to consider myself part of that group now.
Oh, so I didn't even mention: I'm not done with the ICW yet. I took out at about mile 4. So unless there is a VERY LARGE unforeseen problem tomorrow morning will be another milestone in the trip and I will leave the ICW behind. Its very exciting (to me).
Tomorrow is supposed to be hotter but on the bay there should at least be a breeze.
Great Dismal Swamp/Norfolk
“Lock it up”
After a great stay in Elizabeth City I ventured farther north today to the Great Dismal Swamp, woke up and the day seemed fitting because there was blanket of fog over the city, it was thick, I figured that it wouldn’t be very hot until it lifted. As I was getting ready this morning, I pulled a real bone-head move, I accidentally put my GPS and the spot locater in the water … kind of a long story, bottom line, it happened. I am an idiot. I found out that my Spot locater floats but the GPS apparently does not. I was tied up at the ramp and I saw exactly where it fell so I was able to wade in, walk down to the ramp and try to find it. I had to getn up to my shoulders in the beautiful, brown Pasquatank River before I could locate it. Fortunatly I was able to do so with my feet and I brought it to the surface like I was collecting sand dollars so I didn't have to go under with my head.
It wasn’t the best way to start the day but Im just glad that I recovered it. Coincidently, I haven’t dropped anything in the water in two months, not one single thing, yet here at the Pelican Marina I nearly lost 2 things to the river. The night before while trying to board Josh, the dock master's boat, my croc (shoe) slipped off and immediately began to drift away. Without a net handy I could only watch it disappear into the night. I tend to have the best luck with these sort of things though so the next morning when I took a walk I found that it had floated in about a 1/4 mile down the road. It would have sucked to only have one croc left - they are the best paddling shoes.
Anyhow, what they say about Elizabeth city is entirely true: the people are so kind, generous and hospitable. Everyone I met welcomed me so warmly and was excited to teach me about their town and make sure I enjoyed my time there.
I felt very fortunate to be able to stay on Dave’s boat. He is the photographer for the coast guard. His boat, "puffin," he got in a most unusual way. He actually got it for free from a fellow off Craigslist who just wanted to see it go to a good home.
Dave's slip neighbor (whose also named Dave, but goes by Hippie Dave) is a live aboard and certainly one of the most interesting people that I have met along the way yet. He's in the early phases of constructing a dingy of his own design out of discarded water bottles, vinyl duct tape, solar panels and an electric motor. I saw the plans and it looks quite impressive. He'll call it the Solar Gondola. I'm glad I was able to contribute a couple of empty bottles to the project.
The manager and dock master of the marina, Josh, was a big help as well. He is very enthusiastic and couldn't have been more accommodating to me. I can tell he is great with all of his customers and very fun to hang out with. I highly recommend if you are going to Elizabeth city (which is the thing to do) to go the Pelican Marina, they are great. I can’t wait to stop back there my next time through.
This picture here on the left was taken by Dave (my generous host) a few weeks ago. I loved it because it looks exactly like it did this morning.
So back to the swamp, don’t let the name deceive you, the name sounds scary but it’s actual quite beautiful and tranquil. It is very hot and muggy, well at least it is today. I feel like I am in the rain forest, I am baking. I missed the 1pm lock opening only by a little bit, but once I got up there and radioed to the tender he opened it got me through early so I didn't have to wait till 330. You are supposed to have two lines -bow and stern- to keep you against the side while the strong currents from the quickly filling lock try to move you. I only carry one and the lock master wasn’t too psyched about that so he gave me his dock-line stick to use to hang on to the wall. It worked fine I locked up about 8 feet or so and now I am on the other side and I’m going to cruise up here to the visitor center and then hopefully find some place to camp. That’s the plan for the rest of the day. Have a great Friday everyone!
Good bye Albermarle Sound
It feels good to have Albermarle Sound past me and be in the Pasquotank River. It was an adventure yesterday, but it went really well. It took me from 9am until 2pm or so. It wasn’t too bad, the wind died down and from 12 – 2 it was relatively calm. I have been thinking about crossing this sound for the past couple of days now, it’s been in the back of my mind and I was anxiously anticipating it. I had heard scary stories about it. It really was just a mental thing; paddling yesterday wasn’t that much physically harder then any other day. Yesterday coming out of the sound, I saw this huge building in the distance, I saw it for hours. Turns out it was a blimp storage facility. It’s one of the largest buildings in the world.
Here in Elizabeth city now. They have a big public dock here downtown. They greet each cruiser with a rose and a wine and cheese party. They are a very generous town. I explored a bit yesterday and talked to a nice fellow Dave who offered his boat for the night. This was great. Tomorrow I will start my way up to Great Dismal Swamp which won’t take that long. Hopefully in about 2 days here I will reach the end of the waterway which will be a huge milestone. Hopefully I will have fun going through the swamp tomorrow.
6.4.08
I crossed Pamlico where the jelly fish were still crazy! I will update tonight so look for new pictures tomorrow. It was a beautiful morning; I had a bad camping spot the night before so I was on the water very early saw the sunrise. It felt like a big stretch the water was still and looked like it was frozen. , came up the middle of the Pungo river, could see a mile an a half to either side, I was out there all by myself, it was gorgeous. I pulled right into Bell Haven, was trying to get some supplies. I got some local advice which I am glad I did because I have a tough stretch coming up. Got a great lunch at this place called farm boys it was the most hoppin place in town. I met a guy named Mike and his juvenile Macaw Einstein. He let me borrow his bike. I used it to go down to the town and get some groceries. It started to get really blow so I ended up staying in Bell Haven, moved my boat around to Riverside Marina and ended up staying there in their dock house. There I met Keith who is coincidently he was on the second day of a bicycle trip, you can find out more about the trip on his website: (link to site) Make sure to scroll down to the bottom of the page! It was cool because I actually felt like I had advice to give him because he was just starting.
Got a pretty good start the next day after some Sunday breakfast, went further down the Pungo there was a huge Redneck Riviera. I talked to them and I wanted to get out and have a beer but I kept going because I knew camping spots are sparse through the area. Low and behold I got a killer camping spot, so much better then I had anticipated. I will upload a picture, it was gorgeous. It was right on the shore, tons of pine needles. Supposedly there are brown bears in the area but I didn’t meet any. Met a huge deer, climbed a huge deer stand and had a great evening.
The next day I didn’t want to leave (Monday) so I made breakfast and slow start and took my time packing up. I finally got going around 9:30am. I immediately wished I had got an earlier start because the weather report was dead wrong. The wind was flowing north not southwest as the report had predicted, NOAA seems to be wrong a lot of the time. I got up to the Alligator River; somehow the wind was still right in my face… it made for some of the worst paddling conditions. 1-2 foot chop coming straight at you in open water. My boat comes up and over the first hard into the second wave. It totally kills your speed and its draining to do that all day long for 5 or 6 hours, the up and down, you get soaked (event though I have my skirt on) it’s very tiring and if you stop paddling, the water pushes you back. The banks are impenetrable in this area. The cypress trees make cypress swamps. The old cypress trees that used to grow on the shore, so although the trees have died, the stumps and knees (roots) are still there. You can’t see them but if you get too close to shore, my paddle hits them or my boat hits them and some are very sharp. That have died and fallen down have left their stumps 40 feet out of from the shore and it’s like a mine filed. Even if you try to get close to shore it is pretty tough and I was really getting frustrated. Finally about 8:45 that night I got into the marina.
Later, a green 36 foot sail boat called the Transom that I have been noticing for a while, invited me for dinner. As I was changing, they left me a note on my boat saying they had noticed me as well and invited me to dinner on their boat with their cat named Mr. Mischief. They served me some fantastic goulash and we exchanged stories. Its funny, I have noticed that a lot of these cruisers have cats instead of dogs because it’s easier. They clean themselves and they aren’t interested in jumping into the water.
My body hurt badly from the past couple days, especially from the rough day yesterday. I have been contemplating which way to go because the waterway splits; there are two waterways from here up to Norfolk. I am about 80 miles from the end so I am in a pretty good mood! Tomorrow will be the most open water yet, it will be about 20 miles across. I decided to go up to Elizabeth City, its more scenic and pretty. It is going to be a big day; I am planning on leaving early and get going first thing.
Peanut Butter and Jelly Fish
Yesterday I came out of Oriental, it was awesome. I headed north and I pretty much paddles all day heading east of the Neuse River. As I went through the sound, there was nothing out there, it felt like the ocean. I stopped and had some lunch at a beachy point around broad creek. I paddled until I got to the bay river and found a little cut there. There were very limited places to camp. All day today I saw soo many jelly fish. The night before at the silo barn I had been warned by a diver that the jelly fish were crazy right now and he told me I would see tons of them, well he was right, I must have seen 1000 jelly fish. I don't think there as any time that I looked and didn't see one. These weren't the jelly balls, they were the fish, they were white or purple with tenticles and I knew it was a matter of time before I got stung and sure enough one got wrapped around my paddle and bit me. I was testing my luck after seeing a few good camping spots that afternoon, thinking I would be able to find something better. I was wrong though and ended up having to camp at an awful spot at the end of the road. It was so buggy. the bugs were just out of control, they somehow infiltrated my tent just as I was about to get in for the nigth. It's about 6:30am now (Sat. 5.31.08) I'm heading up to bell haven.
(More to come, including locations...)
