Dismal Swamp to Hospital Point, VA

We had originally planned on staying at the Dismal Swamp welcome center and
viewing a couple of videos about the canal that were available, but then we
realized that with the restricted locking schedule on the Dismal waterway we
would arrive in the Tidewater, VA area during the afternoon bridge opening
restrictions. We therefore elected to leave in the morning with the rest of
the flotilla that was at the Welcome center.

Other than the thousands of biting flies, the trip up the Dismal Swamp was
uneventful....

We arrived at Hospital Point in the early afternoon, and immediately
dinghied over to Tidewater Marina and let the kids jump into the pool. We
called Jack and Millie Rose, our friends in Portsmouth, VA who run the West
Marine Trawler Fests. We agreed to meet for dinner later.

Dinner with Jack and Millie was a great time, and afterwards we stopped by
their apartment for a while. Millie lent Lisa a book called "Into The
Light", which is a story about a family of five who sailed their boat to
Iceland for the winter. This has me worried....

Elizabeth City to Dismal Swamp Welcome Center

The impeller for the genset arrived at 11:30 AM, I had it in place and the genset running by 11:45.  Everything looked fine.  We decided to go ahead and leave Elizabeth City and head into the Dismal Swamp canal.  It was an awesome journey!  If I hadn't known that this was a regular route travelled by larger watercraft, I would have never brought our boat through this area. 

 

Of course, nothing is perfect and the Dismal Swamp was no exception.  Flies.  Yes, green headed, biting, blood-sucking flies. Swarming.  Everywhere. 

 

When we arrived at the welcome center in the late afternoon, we talked with another boat that was headed south.  They stated that the flies were worse a little farther north.  Wonderful....

 

Cosmos Mariner hosted an impromptu happy hour, and 5 boats brought snacks and 'refreshments'.  It was a great get-together.  We were having so much fun that we told the kids to make their own dinner!  The only caveat was that they had to have some veggies as part of the meal!  They seemed to really enjoy making their own dinner. 

 

Later that evening I had to start the genset to cool down the cabin.  It was very hot and uncomfortable.  There was no breeze and we had to have all non-screened doors/hatches/ports closed because of the flies.  I felt bad, but I explained what we were doing to the boat next to us and behind us so they understood that it wasn't going to last all night!  After an hour or so the boat was cool enough to sleep and we shut the genset down.  Not the most comfortable night, but bearable.

How much for an IMPELLER??

Well, the impeller on my genset finally lost enough vanes that it stopped working.  Monday morning I fired up the genset to charge the batteries, and no cooling water came out.  Upon further inspection, part of the problem was the large clump of grass in the raw water strainer which surely didn't help anything!

 

No problem, as I have three (yes 3) impellers from Northern Lights which are labeled 'M643' which my genset model.  I open them up, and then open up the cover on the raw water pump.  The old impeller didn't want to come off without a fair amount of coaxing, but I eventually succeeded.  Then I realized there was a problem:  the old impeller wasn't anything like the new one I was going to put in.  A call to Lugger confirmed what I suspected:  there was more than one version of the raw water pump, and my 'spare' impellers were useless to me. 

 

The rest of the conversation went something like this (M= Mike , P = Parts Guy)

 

M: " Ok, well send me the proper impeller"

P: "You're not going to like this"

M: "What?"

P: "The impeller is $72"

M: " ... "

M: " How much ?"

P: " $72"

M: "You're not kidding..."

P: "No sir"

 

And I though Volvo parts were expensive!

A new meaing to the term 'Feeding Frenzy'!

(???) , Florida Keys

'Abandon raft!'

The rookery anchorage

(Dead) seahorse

Keewaydin Island, FL

Manatee at Mote Marine Aquarium

The frustration of Chess

'Journeying to the heart of an Estuary'

Playing with Sean and Danny

Conference call

Along the beach at Cayo Costa, FL

Sunset at Glover Bight

Exploring Glover Bight

Boat parade in Punta Gorda, FL

There's something in there...

Checking out the 'find'

New (rebuilt) transmission and mounts

The hole ...

Transmission transport

At the dock behind John King's house in Alva

Fishing off the dock at Moore Haven

Okeechobee waterway scene

Elizabeth City, NC

Rafup in Vero Beach, FL

Learning about Newton and a couple of his laws...

With Dennis Bruckel at the Kennedy Space Center

Nighttime visitor

Venturing out the morning after Isabell

A quiet anchorage...

There's going to be a Hurricane Party!

Leaving the boat before Isabelle's arrival

Sunset at Rock Hall, MD

Sunset in Rock Hall, MD

Bellhaven, NC to the Alligator River.

Around 2PM we pulled out of the River Forest marina and headed up the Pungo-Alligator River canal to the Alligator river. We had initially planned on stopping in a side canal off of the main canal near the Fairmont bridge. However, after looking at the potential anchorage we did not feel comfortable anchoring there, so we continued on. I have never wanted to anchor in the Alligator river as I have heard many reports of problems with anchors being snagged in debris on the bottom, but that was our only option left unless we went all the way to the Alligator River marina - and we wouldn't arrive there until around 10PM. We decided to try a river anchorage and hope that a trip line would get us out of any problems we might get into. It was a beautiful anchorage, the wind was not bad, the anchor held just fine and came up the next morning without a problem.

Washington, NC to Bellhaven, NC

We stopped in the town of Bellhaven after leaving Washington, NC on Friday. The water was flat, the air calm and stifling. Because of the heat, we opted to stay at a marina instead of on the hook Friday evening. We pulled into the River Forest marina in Bellhaven around 2PM and the kids were in the pool by 2:02!

River Forest marina has a courtesy car for trips to the grocery store, so I went and asked for the key. The car was there, but the key was nowhere to be found, so the lady at the desk in the Inn kindly let me use her car to get to the store.