Saturday June 25, 2016, 1st half
I was surprised by the Dismal Swamp! I had no idea it would be so beautiful, with tall straight trees towering over the 22 mile canal. The canal, built by slaves long before the Civil War, was straight for 11 miles, an elbow bend, followed by another 11 straight miles. There is a lock at each end to control the water level. In general, our depth finder recorded 7 feet of water, but we hit something underwater four times. I was glad that we didn’t meet any other boats along the way. The canal is narrow, maybe 50′ wide, and we travelled right down the center to avoid hitting the overhanging trees with our mast. We stopped at the visitor center where some sort of insect (probably an ant) bit me on my right foot.
We made it through the 2nd lock at 2:45 and by an hour later, found ourselves on the outskirts of Norfolk.