Health of The Dismal Swamp

Great Dismal Swamp
36 31.453 N 076 21.879

We spent Friday night at our favorite anchorage.  A place so beautiful that we marked the GPS waypoint "Pearly Gates"  It is a place guaranteed to calm the most agitated soul.

But this time, one of the Pearly's best spectacles didn't appear -- the frog chorus.   On a previous visit, we sat and listened.  After a time, one frog would start to croak.  Then another would join and another.  Within a couple of minutes the local colony of a hundred or so frogs would all be making as much noise as they could.  It was overwheming.  The chorus lasted about 10 minutes, then it tapered off and ceased.  But not entirely,  the next colony of frogs a few hundred meters down the river would have been stimiulated, and they started their own chrous.   For nearly an hour, we could hear a series of choruses from farther and farther away.  It was like a frog smoke signal relay.  Then the locals would start again.

This time, nothing. Only an isolated frog croak once in a while.  My theory is that it is all sexual.  In the spring they croak like mad.  As each frog gets laid, it is satiated and it stops joining the chorus.  In the previous trips, we were there earlier in the spring.

We saw a furry animal swim by.  It could have been an otter or a nutria.  Both populate the area.  

I was surprised at how few birds we heard, mostly one at a time (even at dwan).  After dark we heard a few crickets, but not many.  There were also a few mosquitoes after dark, but no clouds of insects.  I began to get concern ed for the health of the Dismal Swamp wildlife.  But I talked to a forest ranger at the Visistor's Center today and he said, the health is just fine.  Good.

Friday Elizabeth City, Friday Night Pearly Gates, Saturday Dismal Swamp Welcome Center, tonight Hampton Roads anchorage.  Monday (hopefully) out to sea,  Wednesday (hopefully) New York City.

Snowden's Options

Elizabeth CIty, NC


We have returned to one of our favorite stops, Elizabeth City.  Did you know that Elizabeth City is the home town of Edward Snowden?   I've said publicly that I support Snowden.  Many of my friends vehemently disagree.  Let me briefly explain my reasoning.

First: Snowden's basic complaint about NSA was that what NSA is doing goes beyond the line of what the American people think should be within the powers of government (even in the name of national security).   Further, that The President, The Congress, and the FISA court had all (secretly) signed off on approval of those activities.  That is not a matter that your boss at NSA, nor the NSA inspector general, nor the staff of a congressional committee can fix.  Therefore, the idea of going through channels with his complaint would be absurd.

Second: Responding to public anger over bulk surveillance, The President and The Congress have both moved to shut down bulk surveillance, and a Federal District Judge rules that the bulk surveillance was unconstitutional and "outrageous."  In other words, Snowden was right about what the American people won't tolerate, and The President, The Congress, and the FISA court who had approved it before were wrong.  Is is not a narrow question of law as the government would have you believe, the question at stake is government submitting to the will of the people.

Third: Snowden is charged under the espionage act.   If he was brought to trial, evidence against him would be classified.  Snowden's attorney, and sometimes even the judge would not be allowed to see the evidence.  He would not be allowed to assert a defense that his actions were justifiable.

Snowden should be charged under a law that allows him to argue to a jury that the public benefit of his whistle blowing outweighs the damage to national security.  To convict him, the government would have to do more than assert that security has been damages; they would have to prove it.  That is very far from giving a green light to all federal employees to willy nilly ignore their oath to not reveal classified information.  Facing a jury in any circumstances is a big roll of the dice that you might lose no matter what the facts.  A person who faces that risk is not getting off scot free.

I'll end with a quote from Nazi Reichsmarschall Hermann Wilhelm Göring:

Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.”

We need whistle blowers.  National security is not an exception.

The Better Route

Roanoake Sound, NC
35 47.719 N 075 34.761 W

There are two choices for traversing the inland waters of North Carolina.  You can follow the ICW.  That takes you through two very boring canals and the boring Alligator River.   Or you can go around by the outer banks, visiting Okracoke and Manteo, and sailing on Pamlico Sound.   We have come to strongly prefer the second choice.  It's much nicer.

But first, on Monday night we visited our friend Ken.  He has a new place on Broad Creek that we haven't seen before.  All I can say is WOW!  I expected a shanty.  What he has is a beautiful house on a spectacular lot looking out over a well sheltered creek.  Waterfront locations don't come much better than that.  We'll be  visiting Ken again in the future I'm sure.  Thank you Ken.

On Tuesday, we left Ken's en-route to Okracoke Island.We love visiting that place.   But there is a festival there starting Friday.  Also, the federal docks there are closed for repair.  By mid morning we were passed by 8 vessels headed for Okracoke, and the bell in my head rang.  "Uh Oh, it could be so crowded there that we wouldn't find a place to anchor.   So, change of plans, we skipped Okracoke.   No time to reach Manteo before dark, but I did find a bay where we could anchor for the night on the chart.  Head for that.

The wind picked up powerfully.   Pamlico sound is a delight to sail because you have open waters, good wind, and no ocean swells.  But it can get rough.  We flew along under too much sail, but we managed to get to the anchorage.   But the shelter of that bay from waves was marginal.   Poor Libby got queasy.  It is not our standard practice to take anti-seasick medicines on inland waters, but that day she needed them.  Finally, long after midnight, the wind and waves subsided and we got some sleep.

Right now, we're heading toward Manteo.  But I believe we'll pass it up also.  Too early in the day to stop.  We'll continue toward Elizabeth City.

One more thing.  The local temperatures have been in the 90s this week.  Very hot.  But out in Pamlico sound it was very pleasant.  Water temperature 68.

One other thing.  We were amazed to see the lights of houses bordering the bay last night.  That land is swamp and barely accessible by road.  The bay is too shallow for boats to approach shore.  Finally the insect population is intimidating.  Yet, rich people are building luxury homes on the waterfront there.  Too many people on this planet and too much money in this country.   Another example, they are building luxury homes on a sand bar island next to Old House channel.  That island had been uninhabited heretofore.

I'm strongly opposed to redistribution-of-wealth politics.   But I must admit, I think there are far too many rich people with too much money.

Ah Thank You Suh

Neuse River, NC
35 03.545 N 076 59.414 W

We departed from New Bern this morning.  After passed the Cunningham Bridge, I called the bridge operator on VHF and said, "Ah thank you suh."   As soon as I said it, I realized what I said.  It was completely natural.  I was not trying to imitate the NC drawl.   Uh oh.  We've been in North Carolina too long.

We are remedying the situation right now.  Today, we hope to visit Ken C who has a new house on the water out near the mouth of the Neuse.  After that, Okracoke, Manteo, Elizabeth City, Dismal Swamp Canal, Norfolk, and out to sea heading for New York City.  We should make Waterford NY in about two weeks.

Actually, if we went out to sea today at Beaufort, we would have a beautiful sail with SW 15-20 for 30 hours.  That would get us past Cape Hatteras, but then the wind will reverse and we'd be stuck in the middle of nowhere.  The longer the passage, the longer the weather window we need.  (By the way, contrast that with blue water sailors who cross oceans.  They get to choose the weather only on their day of departure.  We are definitely not them.)

We have come to be very fond of New Bern.  Like Marathon, and Lake Champlain, we leave it only with a twinge of regret.

Last night we went to a free concert by the North Carolina Symphony.  It was held on the lawn of Tryon Palace.  They played Beethoven's 5th. At the conclusion of the symphony, a fireworks display started.  It was lots of fun. There was a big crowd.  I estimate 8,000 people.   But to be honest, it was nowhere near as fun as the Boston Pops playing the 1812 overture on the banks of the Charles River on July 4 to a crowd of 200,000 people.   That's about the only context where you'll catch me enjoying a big crowd.

Snaking Wires

New Bern, NC

We're getting ready to leave New Bern; possibly Monday.

Today we completed a new project.  I installed a blower fan between the cabin and the engine room, plus a vent from the engine room aft to the outdoors. The idea is to get some through ventilation in the engine compartment to reduce it's temperature while operating all day long on hot days.  A comment from a blog reader tipped me off that excessive temperatures might be what led to short lifetimes for our batteries.   Ask me in two years if it made a difference.

When I went to college to study electrical engineering, the main thing I learned was ohm's law in many forms.  That worked well, giving me a solid career that lasted 45 years.   But now, I wish I had more electrician skills.  Snaking wires in particular.

I've never understood how they manage to snake so many wires through so many impossible places. I suspect that part of the answer is something my mind rejects; that they put the wires in first, then build the walls and furniture around it.   I was reminded of that yesterday when I came upon a plumber replacing a faucet in one of the showers in the hotel.   He had used a hammer anc chisel to destroy the beautiful white ceramic tiles covering the wall behind the fauced.  Wow! I would never think of doing that.  It seems so destructive.  It also requires the skills to rebuild whatever you destroyed, which magnifies the job and the skill set needed.