The Dismal Swamp & Norfolk, VA – Great Loop Cruising

After an exciting crossing of the Albemarle Sound, we enjoyed a couple days just swinging on the hook off of Goat Island – at the entrance of the Dismal Swamp.

It was delightful, and just what we needed to recharge.

With some weather developing off of Carolina coast that might impact us, we decided it was time to move along to more protected waters.

Which is just what the Dismal Swap would provide!

There are actually two ways to transit this area (aside from taking an offshore passage) – on the official ICW via the Virginia Cut & Great Bridge Lock, or the more recreational alternative of the Dismal Swamp with it’s abundant history and tranquility.

We had selected the Dismal Swamp route, a long time goal of Chris’ to cruise, by choosing to enter the Pasquetank River off the Albemarle Sound.

This entry covers our adventures from September 15 – 23, 2024.

As always, here’s the video version to go along with this blog post:

The Dismal Swamp & Our First Lock In a Long Time

We weighed anchor after a couple of delightful nights off of Goat Island and continued into the Dismal Swamp.

The natural river turned to hand dug canal – straight and narrow. With some blue skies reflecting on the water, it was like putzing down a tunnel.

We had timed our departure for a slow roll to the 11am lock opening at South Mills – our first lock in over 7 years. We had only practiced a couple of times after buying our boat down in Florida.

We re-watched our Ask Captain Chris locking DVD (DVD?!?!) to refresh our memories.

We arrived at the recommended 10 minutes beforehand with our lifejackets donned, fenders at the rub rail, lines ready and serrated knives at the ready just in case.

It took a couple attempts to reach the lock master. It’s not the high season and it’s been rather slow apparently.

She opened the lock for us, and we got secured to the wall. The lock doors behind us closed, and she opened the one in front of us a smidge to allow water to flow in – bringing the lock water level (and thus us) up the 8′ needed to even us out with this portion of the canal. We tended lines to keep us close to the wall.

Once equalized, the lock doors opened and we continued on – easy peasy.

Indeed… If you can dock.. you can lock!

And then were off into the canal – with a watchful eye out for floating logs. Which can be abundant. While you can avoid hitting the ones you can see.. there’s no avoiding the ones you can’t. We were at the ready to put engines in neutral, and we did hear a few thuds.

Stop 1: Dismal Swamp Visitors Center – South Mills, NC

Did you know that the Dismal Swamp Visitor’s Center is the only (according to their signs) rest stop that has parking for both cars AND boats? RVs can’t stay overnight, but boats are welcome to (free!)!

We had stopped here in our bus many years ago, and when we walked the dock – we knew one day we’d return in our own boat. And here we were!

Docking here took a minute to figure out. Us southern coastal cruisers are used to floating docks with cleats – but up around these parts, cleats can be harder to come by.

But thanks to another boat on the dock who helped with our lines, we got secure to the pilings (which have rope ‘fences’ attached to each to up the challenge).

We checked in at the visitor’s center – and then used our time to explore between rain drops from the tropical system impacting the entire area.

There’s an almost 3 mile out and back paved trail – which was perfect for getting in a long training run (yup, we’re training up for a marathon – my first full, Chris’ second!). And across the pedestrian bridge is the Dismal Swamp State Park with over 20 miles of hiking trails – but it was too muddy to enjoy.

We ended up two nights on the docks until the weather & winds cleared out to resume cruising the canal.

(Tip: There is a water spigot available to boaters – it’s hidden ‘under’ the north side of the dock. It took us some poking around to find it!).

A very enjoyable stay while seeking protection from the storm, for sure!

Stop 2: Elizabeth Docks – Deep Creek Lock

The winds died down, and the rain turned to drizzle. After two nights on the docks at the Dismal Swamp visitor’s center – it was time to venture further north.

We had about 15 miles to make to the northern most lock at Deep Creek – and it’s a slow putter up the canal. We averaged just 3.8 knots.

With lots of floating and submerged logs, you have to be on the look out and be at the ready to put engines in neutral (especially with exposed props like ours).

We did hear several thumps along the way. But it’s just simply lovely! Especially this part where the canal and highway 17 diverge for a bit – so you get more of a feeling of isolation.

We arranged for a bridge opening with the lock master into Deep Creek, and lockage in the morning.

We tied up at the free Elizabeth dock just before the lock, and got some walking in. Unfortunately, the pedestrian access to the bridge is closed due to construction – so stocking up at the grocery store is no longer an easy option from here (we hear you can still manage to get ashore from the wall before the bridge – but it’s also a construction zone).

We got up in the morning and confirmed lockage instructions – and were lowered about 8′ back to sea level – to resume our cruise into Norfolk.

Mile marker 0 of the ICW – here we come!

Stop 3: Waterside Marina – Norfolk, VA

Norfolk, VA – mile marker 0 of the ICW. We have … finally.. transited the entirety of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway!

That’s worth a cheer!

After several days in the tranquility of the Dismal Swap, it’s a bit of a shock to the system to cruise down the Elizabeth River and right into the heart of one of the largest and most active ports in the world.

Surrounded by massive Naval shipbuilding and repair all around!

We had a reservation awaiting us right in the heart of downtown.

We hit the ground running, let’s see if I can recap some of the highlights:

• Caught an amazing play at the historic Wells Theater – even snagged last minute box seats!
• Toured the absolutely stellar Chrystler Museum of Art (free!), their glass display blew us away. And bonus, their newly opened glass blowing demo floor had a visiting artist. Fascinating!
• Biked and ran all over the Elizabeth River Trail
• Did a bike ride out to the Hermitage for a local artist festival
• Took an amazing Naval Base boat tour on the Victory Rover
• Ran in the Elizabeth River Run 10K, both turning in new personal bests!
• Lots of dining out!

We also squeezed in two full work days with calls and webinars.

We stayed at Waterside Marina, right downtown – which is a lovely well maintained facility with amazing attentive staff. At $2/ft per day – it was well worth it for the easy access.

If they had a weekly rate (which they don’t offer ‘in season’, despite the marina being nearly empty our entire stay), we would have stayed longer than 5 nights.

So much more to explore – and maybe we’ll catch it later (perhaps on the free docks in Portsmouth?) when we return to the area to store the boat for winter.

Stop 4: Hospital Point Anchorage – Portsmouth, VA

After leaving Waterside Marina in Norfolk, we just puttered across the Elizabeth River to the Hospital Point Anchorage in Portsmouth.

After so much activity exploring Norfolk, a down day is exactly what we needed to get caught up, rest and plot our adventures ahead. We didn’t even drop the dinghy to get ashore.

Real Time Update:

After leaving the Hampton Roads area, we took a little side trip up the James River to check out Richmond. We hit a little snag with flooding from Hurricane Helene however that delayed our arrival by quite a bit. But we made the best of it.

We’ll be wrapping up our Richmond adventures soon, and look forward to continuing to sharing them with you.

We’ll then return to the Hampton Roads area where we have arrangements to store Y-Not for the winter, and then retrieve the van in Florida (which seems to have survived Hurricane Milton) and return to RV life for the winter.