The Dismal Swamp Route departs the southbound Waterway at MM 7.2. Your southbound alternate is the Virginia Cut through Great Bridge, VA. Our thanks to Sarah Hill for this report from Dismal Swamp Welcome Center, A CRUISERS NET SPONSOR!

To our Boating Community:

The 17^th annual Paddle for the Border event will be held on Saturday, May 7^th, beginning near mm28 at the Dismal Swamp State Park paddle launch on the historic Dismal Swamp Canal.  We will host about 375 canoes and kayaks launching approximately 8:30am and travel 7.5 miles north to the Ballahack Boat Ramp, in Chesapeake, VA.  This event encourages recognition of the historical waterway and its importance to our area.  The Dismal Swamp State Park, City of Chesapeake Parks, Rec and Tourism, Camden County, Dismal Swamp Welcome Center, and USACE all collaborate to promote this shared asset between two states.

We love our boaters and know this can be an inconvenience in their attempt to travel the waterway, but this event occurs for a few hours once a year.  We’d like to suggest a compromise. Our set up starts early in the morning with traffic crossing the State Park pedestrian bridge for preparations, breakfast and registration at around 6:30am.  If you are tied up at the Welcome Center dock, we invite you to join us for a light breakfast at 7:30am and enjoy the view.  The launch will begin and paddlers will have cleared out of MM 28 location by 10:30am, heading north.  Paddlers have usually made their destination at Ballahack Road by 1 pm.

We want this experience to be enjoyable  for all of our waterway travelers.  Pulling out early from our dock will also lead you on your way, without any encounters with paddlers.  If you are staying at our Welcome Center dock the evening before, we will remind you of the upcoming events in the morning, to assist in your choices. 

I hope this message will provide the ability to plan a great day on the Dismal Swamp Canal for all of our guests, paddlers and boaters, alike.  On behalf of the Paddle for the Border Committee, thank you for sharing this with your boating partners and please let us know if you have any questions.

Many thanks,