More from Captain Ted’s Log from Statute Mile 27 to Statute Mile Zero (via Dismal Swamp Canal Alternate Route)
Captain Ted continues his northbound voyage through the Great Dismal Swamp Canal in North Carolina to Norfolk, Virginia.
We took our time getting away from the NC Welcome Center, leaving a boat card for Penny Leary-Smith, the center’s director whom Ted has known since it opened 21 years ago (he was at the dedication). We almost never get to see Penny, but soon after he left the card, she came hurrying down the path to the dock. It was a grand but brief reunion. Ted insisted on taking her photo to commemorate the occasion.
Our day on the canal was marred only by the presence of the pesky yellow flies which ignored the drier sheets and insisted on biting our legs, which still itch 24 hours later (and after a much needed shower ashore).
The Dismal Swamp Canal is dead straight for 11 miles to a slight jog, then dead straight for the next 11 miles. It parallels Route 17, a busy four-lane highway, but the traffic is barely perceptible on the canal, screened by trees, and the sound drowned out by one’s own engine. Part of the old, two lane, Route 17 in Virginia has been renamed `Dismal Swamp Road’ and is now a path restricted for bicyclists and pedestrians.
We were passed through the highway bridge and into the lock as we arrived at Deep Creek, and soon were winding the last miles of the Dismal Swamp route, joining with the main waterway at the Route 17 high rise bridge. We just missed a opening of the Gilmerton Bridge, so had to wait for motor vehicle traffic to simmer down before we were given passage. Happily, there was no rail traffic on the adjacent railroad bridge which can delay one for a long time while the train crew makes up its train and departs. More happiness: the Jordan Bridge has been removed so apart from railroad lift bridges ~ normally open ~ Gilmerton Bridge is the only restriction in this part of Norfolk Harbor.
We took on fuel, had our holding tank pumped, and took on ice at Tidewater Marine in Portsmouth adjacent to Hospital Point and the `mile 0’ ICW marker, and there we spent the night.
Captain Ted Jones
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