DAY TWENTY-FIVE -- ELIZABETH CITY, NC TO NORFOLK, VA

                        DAY TWENTY-FIVE -- ELIZABETH CITY, NC TO NORFOLK, VA 

            We made it! Mile zero on the ICW -- 988 miles from when we joined it in Stuart FL and 1,167 miles since leaving Naples. (These are navigation chart mileages, not the actual mileage that we traveled given doglegs, backtracks, etc. I plan to post a little spreadsheet -- of course -- summarizing each day's mileage.) We will celebrate tonight with dinner in a fancy steakhouse in Norfolk. Our marina is right downtown so we'll be able to walk. Craunological II celebrated with full diesel and water tanks and a pump-out and a good cleaning. 

            This was one of our longest days on the water, even though we only traveled 50 miles, because 22 of those miles were in the Dismal Swamp Canal, which requires no wake, so we were moving at just over 6 mph -- plus we had to go through a lock and a bascule bridge at each end. We weighed anchor at 7:15 and didn't pull into the marina in Norfolk until 3:55. 

            The Dismal Swamp Canal was long and narrow and lonely. There was a boat ahead of us when we arrived at the South Mills Lock for its 8:30 opening, but they stopped at the visitor center not long after we both locked through, and we were the only boat for the last 20 miles. The canal opened in 1805. It took twelve years to dig -- by hand with slave labor. It runs through a forest. Very lovely. 

            There was very little wildlife in and along the canal -- a few turtles and green herons -- but lots of insects -- including nasty big biting flies. We swatted at them up on the fly bridge for about half an hour, but when rain came we happily retreated to the cabin (with the AC running) and spent the rest of our canal time there. The main attraction of the canal ride was the quiet and the plant life -- including the occasional patch of wild roses.

            The water in the canal looked like strong tea from all the tannins. Clear but brown. There were also stretches with a lot of duckweed, but not enough to impact the engine, the generator or the AC. I cleaned the water intake strainers on all three of them the next day, and the latter two were pretty bad. 

            We arrived at the Deep Creek Bridge at the north end of the canal about an hour before its scheduled 1:30 opening, so we tied up at the little wharf and watched the traffic cross the bridge (quite a bit of it, actually) while we ate lunch. The Corps of Engineers only opens the locks and bridges at both ends of the canal at set times (8:30, 11:00, 1:30 and 3:30), which I think is how they enforce speed control. 

            Within a few miles of the end of the canal you enter the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River going through Portsmouth and Norfolk and there are ships and associated industries everywhere. A marked contrast to the Dismal Swamp passage. Here are some of the interesting things that we saw as we traveled this last seven miles of the ICW (in the order that we encountered them):

Some kind of tug or work boat suspended above the water...

An old USN barracks ship (APL-45) from WWII that was decommissioned and then reinstated in 1974 (per Wikipedia)...

A very curvy bridge (the South Norfolk Jordan Bridge for route 337)...

    A very high railroad lift bridge (vertical clearance of 142' when raised per the chart)...

    

    An aircraft carrier under repair (sorry, I lost my notes on which one)...

    USS Lake Champlain, a guided missile cruiser (#57) under repair...

Our approach to the Waterside gallery and marina in downtown Norfolk...

And the bow of the USS Iowa Jima, an amphibious assault ship (LHD7) in drydock just before we got to our marina...

Here is Craunological II all safe and sound at the end of a long day...

And the Captain and First Mate at their celebration dinner...

Janet here. It was  a special day for us! We completed a long part of our voyage. Sorta patting ourselves on the back!