June 25, 2011 – Saturday
Just a short week after Cedric and Lizzie’s wedding, we pushed off the dock at Matthews Point at 11:10 AM on Saturday June 25. We can’t believe all the work and planning that FINALLY culminated in this day! During the past 4 months, there were times when I did not think this day would ever come.
Besides hitting the soft pudding-like bottom in the channel right off the marina (water level was low but we were determined to make a run), we travelled the day without a glitch. Nice weather, low humidity and calm waters.
For those of you North Carolina boaters, we went down the Neuse river to the Bay river to the Hobucken canal to Goose Creek then across the Pamlico river to the Pungo river to our anchorage spot on the Pungo Creek just South of and across Belhaven. We putted about 60 miles in 6 hours.
June 26, 2011 – Sunday
Destination: Elizabeth City. Went East on the Pungo river to the Alligator-Pungo river canal. This can be quite a 25 miles slog when it is hot, humid, and calm. But we had the breeze on our nose and the temperature was very manageable. Saw no wild life however.
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Then on to the Alligator river to the Albermale Sound. Crossed the sound (calm with a good easterly breeze) and took “Route 2” to the Dismal Swamp passing through Elizabeth City along the Pasquotank river. We thought we would stop in E. city at the municipal docks for a couple of nights. But these are very exposed to East winds (which it was) and appeared too small and narrow for our boat. The finger piers were so short and low we could not have gotten out of Sirocco! So we went through the lift bridge still on the way to the Dismal Swamp and headed to an anchoring area recommended in the Waterway Guide right across a little marina (Causeway Marina). While readying to anchor, we hit something pretty hard, although Michael had just engaged the props. So hard that I was manning the anchor on the bow and I almost fell over. After a few trials, we concluded we were really stuck on a sunken wreck! Not marked, not visible, yet vaguely marked on the charts….the whole area was a Bone Yard! While we waited for Tow Boat US to get us free, the Coast Guards stopped by. As they approached our vessel, they hit something hard…twice and damaged their props!
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As they sounded the bottom around their boat with a boat hook, they concluded there indeed was a sunken ship…they seemed more concerned about their boat and damage done to it than our wellbeing…they conceded they could not be of any assistance and left. Tow Boat captain Wayne was great and pulled us out of misery. Since we were not taking in any water, we anchored nearby in a safer spot and decided to assess our fate in the morning, with clearer and rested minds.
June 27, 2011- Monday
Neither of us slept too well…worries of the unknown damage, the consequences on our summer plans etc….for all we know, we could be out of commission for a couple of weeks. Took a trial run and besides some mild vibrations, boat ran all right. After calls to the insurance to start a claim, we concluded we could drive slowly to Norfolk where the boat could be hauled out. So we embarked on our planned trip through the Dismal Swamp right off Elizabeth City. This is done a slow, slow speed anyway. What beauty awaited us: meandering and ever more narrowing waterway, surrounded by dense green trees and duck grass with its lime-green seeds all over the water surface, making it look like lime-green velvet. Little to no motion on the water surface. We had 7 small “hits” of submerged objects: a fellow boater had warned us he hit 33 times so we were mentally prepared, somewhat. Some of us more than others… we reached the Dismal Swamp visitor center at about 3PM, making it a slow 27 miles run over 5 hours. But so unique, we have never seen waterways quite like it. Yet little to no wild life, a small disappointment. We are rafted alongside a 42 footer.
We have arranged to be hauled out in Norfolk on Tuesday afternoon. So we are headed to Norfolk on Tuesday.
