Walden Pond to Times Square

Portsmouth, VA
36 48.66 N 076 17.40 W

Talk about culture shock. Last night we tied up at the wall between the bridge and the lock at Deep Creek (the north end of the Dismal Swamp Canal). It was the end of a perfect day. We motored up the canal half the day at idle speed just marveling at the tranquility and the beauty of the surroundings. In the evening we socialized with our new friends, Tom and Sharon on SV Serenity. Libby went on a pine needle hunt in the nearby woods and came back with a year's supply. Tom asked Libby what they were for so Libby taught him how to make pine needle baskets. Within minutes Tom was starting on making his own basket.

This morning we had breakfast with our favorite lock master, Robert. Robert has coffee, juice, egg snacks and breads for visiting cruisers. He was also very appreciative of the the conch shell we brought him from the Bahamas. Robert is an encyclopedia of historical information about the canal, and he loves telling stories. Today I learned why New York State once put a picture of The Desmond Lake Hotel from the Dismal Swamp Canal on the NY $10 bill. Then, as we passed through the lock he treated us to his virtuoso performance of conch shell blowing. Wow, what hospitality!

Now comes the shock. Only 15 minutes after leaving the Walden Pond like environment of the Dismal Swamp Canal, one comes to the Elizabeth River leading to Portsmouth and Norfolk. There, we meet barges and ships, and oil terminals, and coal mountains, and scrap yards, and ship breaking yards, and draw bridges, and war ships galore. Up ahead of us we even see a fire boat squirting water 200 feet up into the air. We don't know yet what for. It's like the Times Square of the ICW.

The good part about it is that before supper we should be out to sea, past the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, and headed for New York. The weather report is favorable. It sounds like 36 hours of 10-15 SE winds, and 12 hours of zero winds. That's a near perfect forecast for an offshore passage. We hope to enter the Verrazano Narrows into New York Harbor by dawn on Monday morning. This time, we'll stop for a day or two at the 79th street marina, and sample some of the pleasures of NY. I even had a call from a blog fan who wants to meet us there. Cool, very cool.