I feel real foolish, kind of childish actually, admitting that I've always wanted to make the passage south on the ICW in the Dismal Swamp Canal. Why would I? Maybe because the canal was created back in George Washington's day, and in fact it was surveyed by him; it had a strange reputation and I was intrigued.
In optimum conditions, such as not having a drought here on the East Coast, it's a wonderful sail through a narrow waterway, overhanging trees, through a great swamp alive with wildlife such as bears and ‘gators, locks on either end to provide access and keep the water at the right level, and then, the southern charm in North Carolina’s Elizabeth City upon completion. The foolish part; I was the only one that entered that day, and the 30 miles of very low water were covered with pond scum, as I found out moving along too late to turn back. It was kind of pretty at first as it started appear, and then it got thicker.
At the end, it was like cream on month old milk. Yes, it smelled, too. When I finally got to the southern end, I had to look for the lock operator because they forgot to tell him on the start end that there was a boat in the canal that day. Late in the day, I then had a surprise that wasn’t appreciated; overheating from sucking the stuff into my raw water intake. Finally making it to Elizabeth City, a town worthy of its reputation for being a welcome place for cruisers, the auxiliary shut down just as I was entering a slip about to pull the strainer.
I got underway in a small craft advisory the next morning for brisk passage east to west on the Albemarle Sound, 50 miles to my winter home in Edenton, NC. The tune being played is by the lock-tender who let me in earlier that day, on a conch shell; in retrospect, it probably was a warning blast! Check out the 38-second video below...
~Capt. Art Ross
