Great Dismal Swamp Canal

The water skiers cleared out of Goat Island yesterday evening and it was a wonderful night at anchor.

Today we embarked upon something new: our first lock. We encountered the Southern Mills lock about 3/4 of the way through today's journey. We were the only boat and the lift was eight feet according to the operator. We both 'manned' our lines at bow and stern as the water changed level. I realize now we do not want to be in the front of the lock while it is filling up as that is a lot of turbulence. The lock tender is also the tender for the draw bridge north of the lock, so we took our time exiting the lock and heading to the bridge.

We only bumped bottom once, just north of Mile Marker 30, we think we rolled a log on the bottom. Myron said we should expect it, and other boaters hit more times than that - if there is comfort in that sort of fact. Regardless, the solitude of the canal allowed us to drink in the beauty. The water was covered with a green velvet, not sure whether those were small green leaves or some kind of floating vegetation. Photogenic, but probably not good for raw water intake. We will post pictures when we are able to get internet.

There was only one other boat when we arrived at the visitor's center this afternoon, tonight there are five boats here. One of the late arriving sailboats is rafted to the sailboat in front of us and the only power boat, 45 feet, is rafted to us. As they cruised up to the visitor center dock, Myron asked if they wanted to raft, then I saw the boat name: Siroco. I realized immediately this was the vessel in trouble last night. Clearly they faired better than the US Coast Guard as they were still mobile. Last night TowBoat US successfully pulled Siroco off the bones, which we are now told are sunken vessels, and they arrived here at the visitor dock with a vibration. They leave early tomorrow for a haul out in Virginia. The US Coast Guard that came to check on them last night, grounded themselves on the same snag. They pulled up one outboard engine and the prop was completely gone, when they freed the other engine, the prop was severely mangled. It appears the USCG will be marking that spot as a danger area.

It was over 100 degrees today on the canal and at the docks, according to the visitor center personnel. We were under severe thunderstorm watch and I could not be more thankful. When the storms did hit, we unplugged gear as usual and waited it out. It must have dropped the temperature over 10 degrees. Should be a good sleep tonight.

Love to all,
Dena
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