October 25 Portsmouth VA to Elizabeth City NC 43 8 Nautical Miles

Today we traversed the Great Dismal Swamp, one of three inland routes between Norfolk and North Carolina. This is the westernmost route and most of it is a very straight and narrow (about 50 feetwide) canal

that is not very deep (about eight to ten feet).A new route to a new port.
One thing about it is easier. Normally I piece together many legs of a days journey, measure the length of each lag and add them together. But in the ditch, the charts show the mileposts from mile zero in Norfolk to over a thousand miles later in Florida. But these are in statute (land) miles and so one must take only 85 percent of them to get the nautical miles. Today we started half mile north of mile zero and Elizabeth City is at mile 51, leading to 43.8 nautical miles. And describing "legs" would have been difficult after we exited the canal proper into the Pasquatank River, which is nothing if not sinuous. Oops, upside down. Eliz. City is the black boxes (streets) toward the upper right, the old down town.

But this path is more challenging because there is no sailing allowed, and the road is so narrow, requiring constant attention as when driving a car. Also there are hazards above and below. Below are "deadheads" -- water soaked tree stumps that lay on the bottom and give us a thump when we hit them. We know they are there and that we will take a few hits (four today) but unlike coral heads in the Bahamas, they do not sink your boat. The peril above is tree branches that overhang the canal and get whacked by our mast (about three times today).

Here is some of the flora we harvested with our mast and shrouds, showing also the straightness of the canal, the diagonal to the lower left corner.

It was a long day, but warm at last and sunny, and windless. Normally we dont like windless days but no sailing is possible in the canals so no big loss. We got underway at seven in morning mist, and headed up the Elizabeth River to make it to the first lock, at the northern end of the swamp, at its 8:30 scheduled opening.


Here we are, all five boats, locked up together.

The lock business and the associated bridge took an hour and we timed the next 22 miles at five knots to arrive at the second and last lock for its 1:30 opening, and arrived in Elizabeth City at about 5 pm. A long, slow, ten hour day.
Yesterday we crossed paths with a mammoth container ship; today a more modest craft.

Eliz. City calls itself "The Harbor of Hospitality" and this billboard

is 50 feet from our slip. It proves this true by providing seventeen free guest docks, and we took one. In the morning, a man and his daughter offered us a ride, three miles, to the supermarket and Judy and Rich, who work for the Coast Guard, gave us a lift back. Yep, a friendly town. We are bow in. On the way in we looped our starboard stern line over a piling and  then ran forward to hand a bow line to one of the friendly volunteers who secured it to a piling near land on the port side. Easy, in the absence of wind. The other two lines loop around pilings off the other two corners and I added a spring line to keep us from crashing into the street ahead of us if there was a surge (but no surge tonight) and we were totally secure. Black line is starboard aft line and white is spring line.

The last step was loosening the starboard forward tether and tightening the port one to bring our bow above the short stubby dock so that we could climb down from the bowsprit onto it.

On arrival we took free shoreside showers

and had dinner ashore before returning for the evening. There was a very easy camraderie among the crews of the boats here, all enthusiastic about their similar but individual adventures. Next to us, separated only by our biggest fender, is a beautiful Shannon, "Whisper", whose three very young, very blond children came aboard to play with our crew. Witty was not really a happy camper in this, but he played along well enough. I missed the photo op.

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May 14 Capital Yacht Club DC to Anchorage North of Bluff Point Colonial Beach VA 56 6 Miles

Two observations: 1. From the last bridge in the ICW in South Norfolk, to Maine -- no bridges that we have to worry about!  2. The Washington Channel is the flying lane for helicopters in the DC area, which has lots of them, apparently to keep them out of the way of the runways of Dulles Intl Airport that are parallel to the Chanel. If you stay at the Capital YC -- get used to their noise!

It was cold the past two nights and yesterday and today. So I was warmly bundled for todays 7:00 to 3:45 passage  -- a retracing of our path, back down the Potomac. The early start was dictated by the desire to capture a few hours of good tide.  We went further than Fairview Beach because we had the time and want to go further tomorrow too. Here is Fairview from the channel, above the gate in the lifelines. It shows that this river is w i d e!

Tide was favorable at the start, giving us, with engine, small jib and wind at our back, about 7.5 knots, gradually diminishing to 4.9 and then building back up to 5.9. Going downstream is faster than going upstream.
With the wind behind us the small jib self-jibes at will while the other two sails, though they would have given us more speed, would have been a bear to handle through all the jibes of the twisty river. In fact the Potomac is a pretty easy river to navigate, especially once you have been there. Our electronic chart plotter displays the water more than 20 feet deep, the channel, in light blue, with dark blue for the shallower water at the sides. Red and green buoys are shown and we generally respect them, but if you stay in the light blue, you cant go wrong.
Tonight the wind is predicted from the south at 5 to 10 knots so while we elected to stop in the Potomac, rather than in a harbor, we are on the north side of a bluff which should make the 5 to 10 knots of wind from the south easy to take tonight. We have 60 feet of snubbed chain in 11 feet of water and no other boats in sight. For those with Google Earth who want to know, we are at 38 degrees, 16.6 minutes North; 076 degrees, 59.4 minutes West. Here:

I have tried to show pictures of things you have not seen before, or new views of the old.  Like this style of buoy. Ive never seen such before. They are common on this river. This one has a guest, or squatter, who is hawking "Danger" as we got too close for his comfort. Check the current running past it-- the "bow wave"

Floridian gargantuan houses on the upper Potomac.

A better view, on a non-foggy day, of the huge power transmission towers with strobe lights.

The rivers banks are lined with such cliffs, as if the Potomac is trying to become the Grand Canyon. It still has a way to go.

Maryland Point Light, with rapids flowing past and many birds watching from the man made islands on both sides.

Tomorrows destination: St. Marys, Maryland.

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May 6 7 Herring Creek MD to Fairview Beach VA to Washington DC 41 7 and 38 8 Miles

We got underway from herring at 6:40 to avoid low tide a few hours later. There was no wind to speak of. Rivers often provide poor wind though last nights interval of 35 knot gusts cant be denied. So while we had our sails up both days, they gave us only a few tenths and only briefly; it was a motoring day.

We heard what sounded like explosions. I thought it might be coming from our boat but Lene reassured me it was far away, like last nights thunder. Then came a voice: "Sailboat heading north on the Potomac off Cobb Island, this is Range Boat 4." I acknowledged and he asked me to switch to channel 12 which I did. He asked if we had paper or electronic charts and I said "Both". He said they were conducting naval gunnery exercises and the deep wide channel in the center of the river is where the shells would be landing. He asked me to check my charts and pointed out five navigation aids that hug the Maryland shore.  I should thread our way to and through them. We complied cheerfully and while the water was a lot shallower than center channel, it was never less than 12 feet. We heard many explosions, seeming to come in pairs, about two seconds apart: the guns report and the shells explosion upon hitting or its fuse setting it off. This is the orange topped Range Boat One, at the other end of the range, who stopped a crab boat that did not have its radio on.

We passed this nuclear power plant, the smoke or steam rising from it telling the tale of the days wind.

We crossed under the Nice Memorial Bridge on which Route 138 runs.

Once again, with our early start,  we went further than originally planned. The guide books describe anchoring in the Port Tobacco River, which flows into the Potomac from Maryland. It is about four miles wide at its mouth and perhaps four miles deep to the village at its narrow end (approximately the dimensions and triangular shape of Hempstead Harbor in Long Island Sound), but most of it is considerably less than six feet deep though there are large areas on both sides near the mouth that are 7 to 9 feet deep, where we could anchor. With winds (though light) predicted from the South, there would be little protection in those areas. Lene discovered a broad underwater plain on the chart, about ten to eleven feet deep, on the Virginia side of the river, near what the chart described as Fairview Beach, about ten miles further upstream and far outside the channel. This likewise provided no protection from wind or waves -- except from the south.
This place was not listed as an anchorage by the cruising guides, but it was very advantageous in dividing the 80 miles to the District of Columbia into two nearly equal passages. The chart described the bottom as "s sh" meaning sand and shells, which is good for anchoring. I asked friendly Range Boat Four about it. He said he had used it so we did too, and the anchor held so well that we had to use ILENEs engine to break the anchors hold on the bottom once we got its chain tightly straight up; the windlass was not strong enough. We were the only boat anchored and had lots of swing room and potential drag room but the scattered thunderstorms missed us and we had a quiet night. The next day we left at 6:30 to catch favorable tide most of the way, making seven knots instead of four. Again, motoring, except when the engine stopped for a few minutes and I had to switch fuel tanks. We passed this strange and unmarked buoy farm on the Maryland side.

The Potomac is huge - long, broad and deep -

and much of its shorelines are  undeveloped though some nice houses are built on the bluffs overlooking both sides, including this old one -- Mt. Vernon -- George and Martha Washingtons house, to the left of the big white tent, about ten miles from DC.

Except for the crab boat and one other trawler heading south that we passed near the end of our two days, we saw no other boats except for small runabouts and an anchored derelict boat during our almost 80 miles combined, until we got within ten miles of the Nations Capital, where the waterway had ferry traffic.

The Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge, which our charts said was a "bascule bridge under construction", caused us some consternation when we first saw it from five miles downstream. Bascule bridges, after the French word for see-saw, are designed to be opened and from the distance it looked low, so we tried to call on channels 16, 9, and 13 to get an opening, but with no response. Lene then read that it requires a twelve hour advance notice for opening. Oh no! She got a telephone number and called. "Yes, but you are in luck, we are opening for maintenance at 11:30 tonight" was the response. Im saying to myself that this cannot be. We will be having a ten hour wait and then have to enter a new harbor in the dark!!  We were told that this new bridge has so much vehicular traffic that it opens only at night. Finally we learned that its vertical clearance, at the white part to the left, which does open, is 70 feet; it is a high bridge that ILENE can pass under without its opening. I had assumed, that all new bridges over major waterways would be at least 65 feet high and many low bascule bridges are being replaced with new high ones so it made no sense to build a low bridge in the 21st century. But it sure looked low from a distance.
We refueled and then docked at the Capital YC, which is under reconstruction, with a series of temporary walkways between the docks leading to its temporary clubhouse in a former motel. We are at the furthest end of the furthest dock, making for a long walk to get out or to the showers, but the most remote dock is a good place for the kitties to roam. We immediately found both the staff and the other boaters here to be quite friendly and helpful. Free coffee, a map with the directions to the supermarket, etc.
Our first afternoon I spent faxing and Fedexing a document to my daughters attorney in Vermont who is helping her sell the riding academy where she has lived and worked for over ten years We also provisioned at a nearby supermarket, washed the topsides and, after dinner aboard, watched a couple of hours of "Wolf Hall" via the Clubs wifi in the clubhouse.
I also contacted my friends, Bob and Maria, who invited us for dinner at their house on Saturday night. I have known them since I worked with Bob in 1970. We last saw at about this time of year in 2006 when they drove to Annapolis to meet up with us there. We are looking forward to spending several sightseeing days in this beautiful city.

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May 15 16 Colonial Beach VA to St Marys MD and Lay Day There 35 5 Miles

Cool last night. Lene likes fresh air but we kept the hatches and ports closed. We got a late start this morning, 9 am, and it cost us adverse tide until the last eight miles up the beautiful St. Marys River, which was a delicious engineless broad port reach to Horseshoe Bend, with diminishing wind that gradually slowed us from eight to four knots as the headlands on either side cut off the wind. Before this, out in the Potomac, the propeller rattle reappeared and we motorsailed with main and small jib. It was slow at first with light wind and then there were 25 knots, but on our nose, requiring us to beat our way down the Potomac. It was Friday and we saw our first substantial river traffic. A tug was pushing a heavily laden barge in Kettle Bottom Shoals Channel. I called and he asked me to stay outside the channel, which I had planned to do anyway. Also about four cruising sailboats and about ten fishing boats dragging vanes to spread out their lines; they take up a lot of room but we had no close calls. Your photographer was inattentive; sorry.
Horseshoe Bend is roughly circular and about two thirds of a mile in diameter, with water in the teens almost to its edges. On its SE side, near where we anchored in 16 feet of water with 100 feet of snubbed chain, is the waterside sailing center of St Marys College. We are center right. Lots of kids out on skiffs, SUPs, and kayaks. Free use of the schools dinghy dock. A most welcoming place. The school is celebrating its 175th anniversary and has only 2000 students; Lene and I attended much larger schools. St. Marys is

an "honor" college of the University of Maryland. It has the only eating facility in the area, its cafeteria, where you can get all you can eat for $13 for dinner. But with graduation on our lay day, we had their last supper, burgers and dogs. We actually attended the graduation ceremony, why not.  Rashad Robinson, director of The Color of Change, a million member strong on line civil rights group,  gave an address and received an honorary doctorate degree. We stayed until the roll call of the names of the 430 scholars who were awarded their BAs was begun and then toured the campus, which was mostly locked up. We could hear but not see the speakers and a lot more people were seated to the left. The Bend is in the background left. A lovely setting.

 Across the road from the college is "Historic St. Marys City", which was the capital of the Maryland colony from 1636 to 1695, when they moved the colonys capital to Annapolis. Dont get this place confused with the St. Mary on the St. Marys River at the southern edge of Georgia, where we celebrated Thanksgiving.

This is the frame of "a lawyers house" in the former, and possibly future, historic city. It is there to mark where the house was. If they get money they plan to rebuild it as they have some of the houses, stores, a barn a church and the meeting house.





One of the best features is the Dove, built to resemble  a supply ship that accompanied the settlers in 1635. This one has a diesel, hidden away in its bowels, and GPS as backup to its octant. It actually sails, once a month, in the St. Marys River, and once a year it goes further, such as across the Bay.

Here is the Doves Bosn, Jeremy, a retired navy corpsman. We enjoyed talking with each other.

The colony was founded by Catholics who created the first experiment in what our Constitution now calls "the free exercise of religion". But colonial rule was influenced by the religious war in England between Protestants and Catholics, and the experiment was short lived, when the tides of the war turned.








Here is my land docent, (Is it Gretchen, Im so sorry I forgot your name and Lene discarded the paper on which I wrote it!),

soon to graduate from St. Marys with a Masters in Education and return to teaching HS history. The Historic City might become another colonial Williamsburg or Jamestown  but is suffers from a somewhat remote location. They are conflicted between two methods of restoration. The expensive way requires mega doses of expert historians to get it right and craftspeople with knowledge of  and access to period materials and tools. Much cheaper is to erect a structure that looks kinda like what they think the old building looked like. A complicating factor for them is that the land was put to other uses in the intervening centuries, such as a tobacco plantation with its own greathouse in the 19th Century.
I had never heard of the St. Marys settlement and it is a very interesting place to visit and easy for sailors, near the mouth of the Potomac.

Our last night, we experienced a 35 knot thunderstorm. I put on instruments and sat in the cockpit to check against dragging, but we were not, and once having sustained winds of that strength, we relied on the fact that the anchor had dug itself in deep, and called off the watch for the duration. Just a bit lumpy out there.

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