Day 3

June 24, 2006

We made it through the storm unscathed. Dave pulled up anchor hand over hand. Navigated through some pretty scary boat traffic: aircraft carriers, container ships, etc. We had to ask the bridge tenders to open a couple of bridges for us. It�s pretty amazing to see these huge bridges raise just so we can pass!

We finally reached the beginning of the Intra-Coastal Waterway. We had a choice: the Dismal Swamp or the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal. We couldn�t resist the swamp. But first we had to face Deep Creek Lock! Amy was pretty apprehensive about locking through, but the lock master was patient and helpful. We were raised about 9� into the canal.

The swamp is beautiful. A narrow river lined with trees. We had to stay in the middle where it was 6� and watch for floating logs. We played chicken with a big catamaran�we couldn�t move over into shallow water, but the catamaran took up more than half the river. It opted to pull over and wait for us to pass.

About halfway through the swamp we pulled up to the free dock at the rest area. We met two couples in sailboats heading north. They wondered why we were going into hurricane season while everyone else was trying to get out. Good question.