Norfolk, VA to Elizabeth City, NC

October 23
Early to rise for a 6:30 am departure in order to make it for the first opening of the Deep Creek Lock at 8:30. Arrived 8 am due to a quick pass thru the Gilmerton Bascule Bridge as it was the weekend no hold up during rush hour. Lock tender had a hard time getting the down river gate closed. He and his dog checked it 4 times, then proceeded to take 5 times longer than usual to raise us up the 6 feet necessary to get to the level of the Dismal Swamp. Finally got all the flood valves open and the last 3 feet went as we had originally anticipated. The lock tender then has to get in his truck drive up a 1/2 mile to the lift bridge and open that for us, he does this 4 times a day (nice work if you can get it). We locked thru with 4 other boats and were joined by another that had overnighted at a bulkhead just on the other side of the lock. We did some calculations and found that 5.5 knots would get us to the South Mills lock in time for the 1:30 opening.
The Dismal Swamp Canal is only about 50 feet wide and has some overhanging trees you need to avoid. We saw a bald eagle fly right in front of us and perch in a tree that we then passed. We were no more than 30 feet from this awesome creature. Neat to see him fly so close, he was really a big one. Got to the South Mills lock a little early and with current carrying us into it we anchored while the other boats tried tomotor and steer backwards in the current.
This lock was quick only took 20 minutes vs 1 hour and a half for the first. This got us back down to the level of the Posquatank River. 19 more miles down a very meandering path to the free public docks at Elizabeth City. As it was the week end no cocktail party throw by the town with the free beer wine and cheeze and crackers. As we tied up several folks on the dockside walk assisted us in between pairs of pilings fore and aft. The only spot left was 11 feet wide as indicated in bold yellow numbers on the bulkhead. As Kia Ora is only 10' 8" on the beam we squeezed thru, good thing we didn't have the fenders out.
Stan, a friend I made last year while repairing my engine here for 7 days, happened to be one of the folks helping on the dock. He just happened to be sailing south earlier than last year just like us. Another small world incident. Shared a few pops and caught up on the past years misadventures. We had dinner aboard and went to Thumpers for some baseball.