Tuesday, August 24, 2010 - North Carolina Welcome Center at Dismal Swamp, ICW mile 28

It was beginning to feel, smell, sound and look a bit like fall! Leaving Elizabeth City shortly after 9 am and heading up the Pasquotank River, the air actually felt dry and there was a bit of a northeast breeze. It was a comfortable 75°F, the sky was mostly cloudy and it was very pleasant. As we rounded a turn in the river, we could see fall colors beginning to show in the poplar and the gum tree foliage. Some of the leaves were even dropping from their branches! The river was alive with birds, butterflies, and the buzzing of cicadas. The smell of various trees including cypress, cedar, sweet gum and pine brought back memories of other days spent in the forests around our country.
 
 

During the morning hours, we traveled up Turner’s Cut to South Mills Lock. The waterway was lovely – quite mysterious and a bit eerie. In fact, the early settlers called the swamps “dismals” because they saw them as dismal and foreboding. In truth, what we saw was anything but dismal. The cut was lined with old tree stumps – mostly cypress. We were very thankful for the breeze which helped to keep the insects at bay. We traveled 22 nautical miles which included the first half of the Dismal Swamp Canal to the North Carolina Visitors Center. During the transit, we met only one boat on the canal and one other boat waiting for a southbound lockage at South Mills. Constantly on the lookout for tree stumps, we still hit one submerged log before reaching our destination.
 
 

While en route, Gale discovered that the connection for the water hose to the galley sink had jiggled loose. It dumped half of our fresh water supply into the bilge and became the next project. Because the lock operates at only four designated times during a day, we had the hour from 12:30 to 1:30 pm to fix the problem. It was just enough time to make the repair, clean up the mess and prepare for the lockage.

After the lock, the highway bridge at South Mills was lifted and we traveled the last few miles to the Visitors Center. Just before arriving at the dock, we noticed the foot bridge was blocking our way. We called the phone number provided and learned that the bridge would be moved as soon as the tender could see our boat. As we passed the foot bridge, we noticed there were already two sailboats tied up to the dock. They turned out to be the same boats we had seen in Elizabeth City – one was from France and one from Switzerland and they had been traveling together around North and South America for the last three years or so.
 
 
 
 

By 3:30 pm we were secured at the dock and ready to get a quick lay of the land. The ladies at the Visitors Center were very helpful. We picked up several brochures about the Canal, the Swamp and North Carolina, and learned that they had bicycles that could be signed out and used to bike the paved trail between the Visitors Center and the little town of South Mills. We then walked over to the footbridge and across the canal to the Dismal Swamp State Park. Here we found a very nice interpretive center and talked briefly to the ranger. After leaving the center, we walked for a few minutes on the boardwalk through the swamp but since it was getting close to park closing time, we thought we had better cut it short and get back across the bridge before the bridge tender went home! Gale thought it would be great to be a ranger there – the only access was by footbridge, the hours were 9 am to 6 pm, there was no overnight camping, and North Carolina does not allow any alcohol in the parks!