Tag: Duck Weed

Elizabeth City NC

Early the next morning Ron & Teresa of SV Quinita casted off their lines from MV Simple Life. When you are tied to the dock and another boat is rafted to your non-dockside, extracting your vessel can be an awkward dance. They had departed so no dance required.

Today’s leg of our trip looked roughy like this.

Dismal Swamp Visitor’s Center – Elizabeth City

When we entered the Dismal Swamp we were the lead boat out of the lock and our new friends were following the path we cut through the duck weed. This time we were not the lead boat but following in the freshly parted duck weed. Is it better to be the lead boat or follow? We could never come to a conclusion.

Cutting a slice in the green carpet
Color along the canal banks

We were all aware that duck weed gets sucked into our engine’s sea water intake. This can clog the sea water strainer basket and stop the cooling water flow to your diesel. The lock master makes sure to remind every boater who enters the Dismal Swamp to maintain a close watch on your diesel’s cooling water temperature gauge. Periodically you may need to stop and clear the duck weed from your sea water strainer.

Clearing the Duck Weed from a Sea Strainer
  • Raw (sea) water path through heat exchanger
  • Groco Sea Strainer

MV Simple Life’s diesel coolant temp stayed steady at 176 degrees F throughout our entire time in the Dismal Swamp. We did however have to clean our 1/2 full sea strainer at the end of each day.

Soon we were in the second and last lock for the Dismal Swamp called the South Mills lock.

South Mills Canal Lock

Departing the South Mills lock we saw much less duck weed.

South of South Mills Lock

Our new friends Ray & Cynthia aboard SV Vela Blanca did have issues with their diesel overheating but Randy & Maureen “Moe”on SV Sailitude towed into Elizabeth City, NC where Ray was able to get the diesel engine issue taken care of and get back underway. Friends helping friends on the water (smile).

We arrived in Elizabeth City and had planned to stay at Mariner’s Wharf.

Mariner’s Wharf Elizabeth City, NC

The problem was as we watched the Elizabeth City Highway US 158 bridge gates go down to stop the highway traffic we noticed that only the first set of gates went down and the second set stayed up. The bridge never opened. We were guessing there is some form of interlock between the gates and the bridge opening mechanism. We hailed the bridge tender on VHF CH#13 and he responded that the bridge was non-functioning and no ETA to when it would work again. We circled as the bridge tender attempted several failed openings before we decided to pull Jennette Brother’s Free Dock just North of the bridge.

Jennette Brothers Free Dock

When we pulled up there was a friendly woman named Shiela who help grab our lines and get us tied up to the wall. We would later learn that Shiela and her husband Bill were traveling the ICW on a Tayana 42 Trawler. I did not get the name of their trawler but she told me it meant “Slow Turtle” in Hawaiian. Which Google translates to MV Lōkaha ka Makaula. I believe they were at Top Rack when we pulled in two days earlier. I noticed the raised pilothouse trawler because at only 42′ it had lots of great features such as a Portuguese bridge, twin diesels and just nice lines.

Not Slow Turtle but a similar Tayana 42

I guess I should have better judged how far that tree was sticking out into the water?

The wind was causing this tree to drop whatever it had on top of our fly deck.

Renee went to work on sweeping the stowaways overboard

So there we sat with no ETA on when the bridge would be fixed as we heard a sailboat coming down the river hail the bridge for an opening. The bridge tender responded that he would give it a try. I said to Buddy, “We’ll never be able to untie, get underway and through the bridge before it closes even if it does open”. Buddy was already untying the lines and suddenly the bridge began to open! I quickly started the diesel, Buddy tossed lines and jumped aboard. With a quick punch of the throttle we were slipping beneath the bridge!

Just the other side of the bridge we tied up to the free dock @ Mariner’s Wharf. Our swamp friends also grabbed spots on the free dock and we all agreed to grab dinner at Cypress Creek Grill.

Cypress Creek Grill

It’s a short walk to the restaurant but the town looks like a place we could spend a few days exploring. Maybe learn about Culpeper’s Rebellion

  • Tax my Tobacco I say… Revolution!!!
  • We Wax ALL the Things 😉
Swamp Friends at Cypress Creek Grill
Front left going clockwise: M
ichael & Kristen of SV Makai, Curtis & Kim of MV Blue Rhapsody, Marty, Renee & Buddy of MV Simple Life, Maureen & Randy of SV Sailitude

Dinner with swamp friends was the best end to our stay in Elizabeth City we could have asked for.

The Great Dismal Swamp

As we got ready to depart Top Rack Marina we watched as several boats were splashed down by an oversized forklift.

  • Forklift on Steroids
  • Forklift Splashing a cuddy cabin

We quickly cast off the lines and turned north putting Top Rack on our starboard side. Several boats remain in their slip for an extended stay.

Top Rack Marina

Our planned route would land us at the Dismal Swamp Visitor’s Center.

Top Rack Marina – Dismal Swamp Visitor’s Center

The Great Dismal Swamp

In the morning we turned north instead of south because we had to backtrack about a nautical mile to get back to where the ICW bifurcates between the Great Dismal Swamp route or the Virginia Cut. Most ICW cruisers chose the Virginia Cut route as it is the preferred route south.

We chose the path less traveled…

Start of the Great Dismal Swamp Route When Heading South

Hazards

The Dismal Swamp route is beautiful but notorious for duck weed clogging your engine’s sea strainers and “dead heads” (trees stumps just barely protruding above the water’s surface or sometimes just below).

Duck Weed Drifting Past
  • Duck Weed 1
  • Duck Weed 2
  • Duck Weed 3
Deadhead

Being very familiar with the airline industry, I think Buddy & Renee might have an alternate definition of deadhead.

Alternate Definition: A dead head is an airline crew member, a pilot or a cabin crew, who is assigned to fly to a particular destination to assume a duty. In the flight where he or she is in, she’s not supposed to work as a crew. He or she shall be in a complete uniform, thus making him or her able to sit on a jumpseat if the flight is full. Deadheading crew are also paid based on their flying time.

Deep Creek Lock

The Dismal Swamp route requires you to pass through two locks rather than one via the Virginia Cut route. Heading south, the first of these locks is the Deep Creek Lock. This lock only opens at predefined times. Schedule: Opens 8:30am, 11:00am, 1:30pm, 3:30pm. We were a bit early so we dropped anchor in the middle of the channel to wait for the horn to sound that it was opening.

When the lock opened we weighed anchor and proceeded in following lock master Robert’s detailed instructions. We prefer when the lock master gives you explicit instructions and Robert was quick to let us know that he wanted us to hand him the stern line first. He asked for the middle of the line to be placed on the end of his boat hook leaving us to hold the bitter end. Robert would loop our lines over the bollards that line the edge of the lock. The rest of the yachts following us made their way into the lock behind us. .

  • Renee keeping Simple Life tight to the lock wall
  • Buddy in Deep Creek Lock
  • Yachts following us
  • Entering Deep Creek Lock

Lock Master Robert has been working the lock for some time now and is full of colorful info about the history of the lock that involves George Washington.

Upon the last yacht exiting the lock, Robert explains that he is also the bridge tender for the next bridge around the corner. Robert must get in his car and drive down around the corner so he can operate the Deep Creek bascule bridge.

Deep Creek Bridge

Once under the bridge we waved goodbye to Robert as he stuck his head out of the bridge tender’s house.

Deep Creek Lock Master Robert Saying Goodbye

Through the lock you instantly notice that the duck weed has gone from sporadic to a floating carpet of green.

Duck Weed Between the Locks

Eventually you arrive at the state line heading into North Carolina.

NC State Line

Next up… The Great Dismal Swamp visitor’s Center.

Dismal Swamp Visitor Center by Boat or Car

Arriving first at the Visitor Center’s tiny dock we quickly set fenders not only on the dock-side but also the canal-side. This would allow the boats following us to raft alongside us. Soon we would be jumping onto some of the other boats that were already docked there to help the boats behind us tie up to the other boats. Luckily the boats already there had their fenders set expecting possible raft-up buddies.

Swamp Friends

Once we were docked I went out to the foredeck to invite the other captains and crew to come aboard MV Simple Life for a cocktail or two.

Kim & Curt on the Flydeck of MV Blue Rhapsody

In no time at all every captain and crew would find themselves squeezed into the pilothouse. It was clear within seconds that this group would become our Swamp Friends.

Swamp Friends

What a fun time we had. The boater talk was non-stop and eventually turned to either “batteries or poop” as we often joke.

  • Yacht Battery Bank
  • Pumpout!

Soon it was dinner or supper time (depending on your definition of dinner) and each crew returned to their boats as we prepared sausage, pepper & onion subs with red sauce.

Trevor & Jess

As we were preparing dinner a friendly couple yelled “hell0” from out on the dock. Buddy was talking at them through the window and quickly asked them if they would like to come aboard. They accepted and came aboard for some conversation, drinks and dinner.

Trevor, Jess & Capt Mahty

From the moment Trevor and Jess came aboard we became fast friends. The couple has a YouTube channel called 9to5Less so please checkout their channel and subscribe.

Trevor and Jess light up a room the moment they walk in. These two had us laughing so hard about their misadventures aboard their houseboat as well as a catamaran that they were in the process of restoring while they cruising up the ICW.

Upon learning that their boat lacked proper lighting we knew we had found a new home for the two solar lights aboard MV Simple Life.

Trevor to Starboard, Jess to Port

They stayed until our sides hurt from laughing. We wished them well on their future cruising and told them we were sure we’d cross paths again.

You meet the coolest people in the swamp.