Day Two Through Four

Day Two! You can tell by the sunrise that we are starting to get into a pattern, a familiar one at that. We pulled away from our dock for the night at first light and navigated our way out the channel to the York river. As we got closer to the mouth of the river the waves were coming at us on our beam which made for a rolling ride. It was a welcome, when we made our turn and were going South. The waves were now coming at us from behind. Much more comfortable.

After arriving and navigating the James River and the Elizabeth River to the Dismal Swamp Canal, we entered our first of two locks. You can see Larry as he relaxes and tends his bow line. These locks are a joy compared to the ones we have navigated on the Eire Canal. I can say it has been a pleasure not to do the stepping and unstepping of the mast.

It was late when we exited the lock. Robert, the lock master suggested we along with the two other boats in the lock tie up on the dock just past the lock. The dock was surrounded by a park. Which after securing the boat we went for a walk.

Day Three! The next morning we all had been invited by Robert, the lock master to join him at 7:45 for coffee and danish at the lock house. Robert is the best lock master we have met.

The lock and bridge are on a schedule and we arrived for the last opening the night before. Two other boats traveling together just missed the opening by about 15 minutes and had to anchor below the lock till morning. Robert Locked them though before opening the bridge for all of us. The picture Larry took is of the boats in front of us going toward the bridge.

We took this picture of one of the boats traveling with us as they docked at the entrance to the feeder ditch. They planned to take a dinghy ride up to Lake Drummond, then stay overnight at the Visitors Center. We decided to go past the Center and attempted to make it to Elizabeth City. The current seemed to slow us down and with night fall and darkness descending upon us so soon, we opted to anchor at Goat Island. We have anchored there once before, so it was familiar to us.

Day Four! After a very calm night and long restful nights sleep we rose early to make the bridge opening at Elizabeth City by 8:30 AM. It had not started to rain yet but it was overcast and promised to do so. Our original plan was to cross the Albemarle Sound but after checking with our weather station via Sirius on our chart plotter we decided we would hold up in Elizabeth City for the day. We were clocking up to 17 knots of wind in the protection of the river so we were sure it was ugly on the Sound. We went to the city docks that are free of charge and used by many of the boaters traveling through the area. Shortly after we were secure the rains came down. We decided to walk to town in spite of the rain. Our first stop was to be at the hardware store but since or last visit to this city it had closed. Our next stop was to be at the health food store but we found the same had happened to them. We had also been informed that the fitness center that we had visited one our fist time to this city had also closed. We were glad to know that the restaurant we had been to before was still in business. We also enjoyed a visit to the museum. Our last time though it had just opened and only had one exhibit, it now had another and another will open over this next year.

While we were at the restaurant we met our neighbor boaters and realized we had met two years ago at the Visitors Center. It sure is a small world. Another boater that we met when we first started had told me that we would meet boaters and come across them again and again. It is amazing how true that has become.

We are spending a quiet night tonight and plan to be on our way again tomorrow.