Sun 2/21/21 Heading South- For Real This Time

Second Star was busy with activity in the pre-dawn light.  This morning's temperatures on deck were well below freezing, but the electrical cord supplying power from the dock to our heater had been stowed for departure.  The engines were cranky firing up after four idle days on the dock at Cape Charles, and overnight the rainsoaked dock lines had frozen stiff.  But it was time to go.  The weather forecast suggested we couldn't hesitate lest another front hold us here another day or more. 

The wind had whipped up Chesapeake Bay all night pushing a rolling swell into the marina, leaving a crust of frozen salt water on the hull along the waterline. Small icicles dotted the sailbag. But relief was forecast: this morning the winds were winding down, leaving just enough to give a fast ride across the bay without too much drama.  The captain was served banana muffins hot out of the oven.

Second Star tore through the 24 miles of open water to reach the Elizabeth River at Norfolk where the Intra  Coastal Waterway portion of our adventure starts.  We had hoped to sail south "outside" in the Atlantic Ocean, but the forecast suggests the ocean is a bad idea just now. So we will mosey south through Virginia and North Carolina using the sheltered inland waters.  Turning into the ICW marked a milestone for Second Star, the farthest south this boat has ever been. 

The naval ship yards were especially busy today with two ships arriving and five departing as we threaded our way past their chaos.  A little further into the ICW the shoreline transitions from raw military,

to upscale urban, 

to grunge industrial.  

Around the bend and under a bridge the scene changed again to pleasant homes between the city and wild nature as we left the main ICW channel to try the Dismal Swamp Canal route.  Shortly ahead was another first, Second Star's first lock as we were lifted about 6 feet into Dismal Swamp.  

The canal, hand dug by enslaved labor, completed in 1805, is very, very straight.  There are long sections where with binoculars you can see literally miles ahead but only a short distance into the wilderness on either side.  

The canal is consistently about 40 feet wide and 7-9 ft deep. It's all no wake zone, so you can only travel 5-6 kts. The only real navigation to be done is to slalom around fallen trees.  The water is opaque and dark brown and almost feels thick as you steer, like sailing through chocolate pudding.  Recent rains have filled the swamp watershed, and the excess water gets drained away at either end of the canal to maintain a constant depth.  At the north end of the canal, said draining resulted in a 1½ knot current working against us. After we reached the primary watershed sidestream that fills the canal, the current became a 2kt tail push as we were now on the section that drains south instead of north. The speed increase from the southward current was a nice little mental boost helping us reach the anchorage before sunset.

There are signs that Spring is near: the trees have budding leaves, a turtle sunned himself on a log, still looking groggy from hibernation. Not much other wildlife to be seen...this must be a very different place when it's not winter.

After 28 miles in the canal we ended our day tied up to a wall at the Dismal Swamp State Park Visitor Center in North Carolina.  The Visitor Center happens to be at a highway rest stop (!), so we became part of the show: a sailboat in the middle of nowhere, far from the ocean, at the end of February? Pretty strange.