The Dream Realized

We left Elizabeth City just in time to catch the 8:30 bridge opening and headed for a part of our trip that we had looked forward to for a long time; The Dismal Swamp.  Now that probably doesn't sound like a very exciting place to visit, but on our annual trek from Maryland to OBX for our family beach vacation, we would stop at the visitor center at the Dismal Swamp and check out the boats at the dock.  We just knew that some day that would be us at the dock!!  We needed to get through a lock on the way there and, since we hadn't done any locks since Florida,  we went over our procedures for locking again.  Unlike all the other locks we had done, we needed to use our own lines instead of those that are normally provided.  The lockmaster had a helper aiding him.

We were all loaded in and the lockmaster opened the spillway and down we went.  He opened the door when we got all the way down and told us to take our time leaving because he had to get in his car and drive down to the next bridge so he could open it for us to pass through.  He only does this locking/bridge procedure twice a day so I guess that isn't too hard a job!

We had entered the Dismal Swamp after going under the bridge and it was quiet and peacful.  The waterway is not real wide, but there isn't much traffic as the locks and bridges on each end of it only open once in the morning and once in the afternoon.  We passed the following sight and wondered at the sense of humor of the perpetrator.



Tree Stand???

 We went through the lock with Miss Ruby and four sailboats from Canada and, since we were last in line, we were concerned that we wouldn't all be able to fit on the dock at the visitor center.  It would be sad if we travelled all this way and were not able to live out the dreams of all those Dismal Swamp visits from past years.  As we arrived, we saw that two of the sailboats decided not to stop at the dock and were traveling all the way through the swamp before stopping for the night.  Hooray!  We were just able to fit on the end of the dock.

Just as we did for so many years, visitors came asking where we had been and where we were going.  It was fun to be the "water" people and not the "dirt" people.  We shared dinner with Miss Ruby and had a wonderful quiet night in The Dismal Swamp.

The next morning we headed out with Miss Ruby and transited the lock on the other end of the swamp and again had to wait for the lockmaster to ride to the bridge before we were able to go through.  We were one step closer to our goal as we entered Virginia.  On the other side of the bridge we entered Norfolk and what a culture shock that was!  From the quiet, peacefulness of the Swamp, we entered a huge metropolis of ships and cranes.

       

We docked at the Waterside Marina in downtown Norfolk and, since there was a "Looper" rendezvous going on there, we got to see many of our old friends and met many new ones.  We stayed a couple of days and experienced what Norfolk had to offer. 

It was time to move on as the Chesapeake was calling!  It had been three years since we had been on the Chesapeake and we were looking forward to being in familiar territory again.  Our first stop on the Chesapeake was going to be Fishing Bay Yacht Club in the Piankatank River where we could spend one night for free because we were yacht club members at a reciprocating club.  There was no one there when we arrived so we tied up to the end of the pier and used their very nice bathroom facilities.  The wind had been rising all day and we were concerned that the weather might keep us from leaving for Urbanna the next morning.  We were to meet Barb and John Frazier there who were Leslie and Beth's clients at NorthStar Wealth Mgt.  We decided toward evening that it would be best to stay put for another day and made arrangements to pay for our second night at the yacht club and to have Barb and John drive to Fishing Bay to see us.  We were very glad we made that decision because the water rose so high that night that all the docks were awash and we had a little concern that our lines might slide off the top of the short pilings.  All was well and things settled down the next morning.  We had a great visit with the Fraziers and they were kind enough to take us food shopping.



Barb and John Frazier

We decided to slowly make our way to the end of our journey and savor our last few days so we went to Mill Creek in Solomon's Island for our night's anchorage.  We had spent some time there in the 80's when we chartered sailboats and it brought back some great memories.  Miss Ruby was anchored near the town of Solomon's Island so we made arrangements to meet the next morning and cruise to the Rhode River together for another night's anchorage.  The Rhode River was a favorite spot for us when we had our 22' Bayliner.  We called it our "camper that floats" and we would spend many a weekend there swimming and tubing.  Miss Ruby invited us to dinner and we had a great last night with them, eating and playing dominos, because they were heading home to New England. 

We said goodbye to Miss Ruby at 7 AM and hauled our anchor by 7:30.  It was sticky with mud and I had a hard time getting it somewhat clean by dumping buckets of water on the chain and anchor.  A wash-down system is on my bucket list!!  We were headed to the Magothy River for our last night out and were going to dock at Charlie Nemphos' dock.  We had worked together for 14 years and he is a dear friend.  We enjoyed an excellent dinner cooked by Marie.



Charlie and Marie Nemphos

We couldn't put it off any longer!!  It was time to finish our dream!  We left Charlie's dock and headed out into the Chesapeake again.  The Bay Bridge was ahead of us and we felt like we were coming home.



Chesapeake Bay Bridge

Flint trolled a couple of lines behind us as we headed north but he didn't get any takers.  It seems, from what we have heard, the Striper fishing hasn't been too good on the Bay.  All right, enough fooling around!  We needed "cross our wake" and finish our loop so we headed into the Patapsco River, past the White Rocks at the end of our creek and into Maryland Yacht Club.  The dock hands helped us into our slip and the end of our journey was complete.  We are now "Gold Loopers" and fly our burgee proudly.  It has been a most awesome experience and it would be hard to choose any one portion of the journey as the best. 

What is our next great adventure???  Only time will tell.  We will be in Maryland for the summer and then will head back down to Charleston in October.  Check out our blog from time to time and we will post our activity.  So long for now.  It has been great sharing our journey with you.