Boat Trip: Little River, SC to Plattsburgh, NY – DAY 8: Dismal Swamp, NC

Today, like many days, started with a request to open a bridge, the Elizabeth City Bridge, on the waterway heading north. Our neighbors left before 7:00 because the bridge restricted openings during “rush hour” and was only going to open at 7:30 and 8:30 until they resumed “opening on demand” at 9:00 AM. Captain Mark had already researched and found that the 7:30 opening was the earliest we should leave because there was a lock 3 hours away, that wouldn’t open until 11:00 AM anyway. He shared his knowledge with our neighbors, but they decided to press on anyway.

So, we set off around 7:15 AM. Leaving our 4-piling docking was a lot easier than docking. We let go of the lines and took off without incident. We passed through the 7:30 opening of the Elizabeth City Bridge and started up the waterway to the Great Dismal Swamp. Today was a perfect day for Sidekick Sue…. we were in a protected waterway all day; it was warm weather, blue skies, and no tides or strong currents. The beginning of the waterway followed the tail of the of the Pasquotank River, so it wound back and forth. It reminded us of the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland without all the animatronics. There was lots of debris and snags in the water, so we traveled at about the same speed as the Disneyland ride, staying carefully as close to the center of the river as we could to avoid bumping into anything or getting anything stuck in our propeller. At some point, we took a turn into a 22 mile manmade canal that was perfectly straight for the rest of the day. We later learned that this canal took 12 years to build and was manually dug by slaves in the late 1700’s/early 1800’s. The Great Dismal Swamp was a known route on the Underground Railroad. Entire communities of slaves on the run lived in the swamp because conditions were so bad (wild animals, insects, snakes, wetlands) that they were rarely pursued into the swamp by their owners.

Before we actually reached the Dismal Swamp State Park, we had to pass through the South Mills Lock, as we had mentioned to our neighbors earlier. Sure enough, as we approached, our neighbors were there, waiting for the lock opening. We timed it well, but we still had to wait about 35 minutes, so they must have been waiting well over an hour. This was the first lock in our adventure so of course we were carefully following all the rules… wearing our life jackets and manning our lines. Once the gates opened, we were allowed to proceed inside. An extremely helpful and friendly woman came along the edge of the lock and grabbed our lines using a boat hook. She wrapped them around bollards at the top of the lock and passed us back the loose end to hold onto. Our friends from the previous night were clearly more experienced and relaxed than us… no life jackets and no manning of the lines… they just cleated their lines and went about their business. The lock filled with water very slowly; once full, the gates opened, and we were given the green light to proceed out on the other side.

Three miles later, we passed through a pedestrian bridge that opened for us automatically. We supposed they must know the lock schedule and know when the boat traffic will be coming through. We docked behind our friends and visited the Dismal Swamp welcome center, which was basically a rest stop on the highway. It was funny to see the looks on people’s faces when they realized that their highway rest stop was also a rest stop for boats. Just a few hundred yards away was the entrance to the Dismal Swamp State Park. We went to the Visitor’s Center and were directed back over the pedestrian bridge we had just come through, to a half mile elevated boardwalk that meanders through the swamp. While the swamps are home to larger wildlife (like bobcats and black bears), we only saw frogs, snakes and butterflies.

After our walk, we dragged out our folding bikes for the first time this trip. We biked out a 3 mile paved path through the State Park and back. We returned to the boat where we are allowed to stay docked overnight. Our friends decided to move on, but two other boats arrived (a sailboat and a catamaran) and we went out to help them get docked for the night. We enjoyed a few beers out on the fly bridge. This, my friends, was a most perfect day.