The last two years heading south we have taken the Dismal Swamp route and planned on doing so again. But the ongoing draught has lowered the level of Lake Drummond such that the Corps of Engineers will be closing the canal on Oct 30th. In addition, there are reports of algae and weeds in the waterway clogging engines.
Photo: Tied to the lock wall waiting for the water to drop.
Sooooo, we decided to take the Virginia-Albemarle Canal route south. There is only one lock on this route (at Great Bridge) but a lot of bridges to negotiate. We left Portsmouth at 8:30am Sunday and proceeded to follow about 12 boats through the six bridges to the lock. Weekends are the best time to do this since the bridges don't 'lock down' for rush hour.
Locking through went smoothly and we stopped at Coinjock, NC for the night. The marina there is basically a 1,000 ft seawall where they squeeze as many boats as possible alongside. They park em very close together.
Photo: View of the Great Bridge lock. "Tranquility Base" (Mike & Casey Ruhr) were our traveling companions.
Photo: They park 'em close together at Coinjock Marina.
1 comment:
Left word to call and emailed you last week, while Paula and I were in Norfolk... From Great Bridge, you were just three miles from Rob and Sherri's house. Good luck on your journey south.
Cheers, Jimmy
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