One of the nice things about tying up at Elizabeth Dock is the next morning, before the first lock, you have the opportunity to have coffee with Lockmaster Robert. We did just that; catching up on all the local happenings. The lock had actually been on a restricted schedule due to drought until a heavy late September rain - 17 inches in less than 3 days. That took the Dismal Swamp from a drought situation to a flood and forced Lockmasters to start draining the excess water out of the canal. The dispersing the excess water created problems of its own. A shoal formed in the canal and a dredge was inside trying to move the excess earth.
After coffee, we continued our journey through the swamp encountering the dredge. We had fears that our wide beam would prevent us from passing. That would not be the problem. Instead the dredge held up canal traffic for 1 1/2 hours to move a pipe. Gridlock on the Dismal Swamp who'd have thought?! Fortunately being one of the last boats in the pack has its benefits. Sailboat ChrisJen stopped at the Wallaceton Tower bulkhead just before the 'traffic jam' and tied off. They let us raft to them. From behind came the power Trumpy Windrush who rafted to us. Now you really had a traffic jam with three boats rafted to each other in the canal. I wish I had a photo!!
The dredge did, eventually, allow traffic to pass but not until we deemed it too late to continue the journey to Elizabeth City. Instead we chose to stop at the dock between the South Mills lock and bridge for the night.
The Admiral
10/30/2010
Photo 1: Robert tending to a boat in the lock.
Photo 2: Robert's banana tree and conch shell collection
Photo 3: The swamp.
1 comment:
Miss you guys!! We're freezing up at St Mary's. Headed across the Bay tomorrow if the winds cooperate.
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