ssloop: Grace Harbor NC-Solomons Island, MD

Wednesday morning we left River Dunes Marina in Grace Harbor by 8am. It was time to make headway. We traveled a total of 72 miles. Our journey took us up the Neuse River, across the Pamlico Sound to the Alligator River. We dropped the anchor just off the ICW by early evening. Captain "I hate snakes"got pretty nervous when a snake came swimming near the boat. He took out a dock pole and convinced the snake to move along.

Thursday morning we traveled up the Alligator River to the Albemarle Sound. This is a crossing of 16 miles and we were aware that it can get quite rough. Well, we experienced the "quite rough" part. For the first hour were taking waves over the bow and the Pura Vida rocked and rolled. We had things flying everywhere. It was rough, however we have experienced worse on Lake Michigan. The last hour calmed down somewhat and was a much more comfortable ride. Our home for the evening was Pelican Marina in Elizabeth City, NC. This is the home of the largest U.S. Coast Guard Air Base. Sheli's father was stationed here while serving in the Coast Guard.

Friday morning we headed out early to catch the 7:30am opening of the city draw bridge. Our goal was to travel through the Dismal Swamp Canal which has a lock at each end. The locks open at four scheduled times each day so timing was important. It was fun to be back in "lock mode" and all went smoothly. The canal is a north-south channel through the Great Dismal Swamp connecting the Albemarle Sound with the Chesapeake Bay. George Washington suggested the digging of this canal in 1763. The digging began in 1793. The canal was dug by hand and the labor was done mostly by slaves. It took approximately 12 years to complete this 22 mile canal. The canal is a very narrow tree and stump lined waterway with many logs lying on the bottom. We were told to expect to bump bottom and we did twice - but no damage. Snakes and turtles....too many to count! OK, just 2 snakes, but lots of turtles. While traversing the canal, we crossed from North Carolina into Virginia. Shortly after exiting the Deep Creek lock on the north end, we dropped the anchor in Deep Creek Basin. This was a calm, beautiful tree lined basin. The captain said all anchorages should be like this!

After a peaceful night on the hook, we left Saturday morning to travel through the busy port of Norfolk. We passed many Naval ships, aircraft carriers, container ships, ferries and every other kind of watercraft. There were many small Naval police boats patrolling the area to make sure everyone kept their distance from the military vessels. Our next large body of water is the Chesapeake Bay which in due time we will travel 180 miles from end to end. This is another area where we must pick good weather days to travel. We entered the Chesapeake by late morning with somewhat rolling seas which quickly calmed down. We had a smooth cruise over to Cape Charles located at the bottom of the east coast of the bay. The cleaner waters in the bay reminded us of Lake Michigan so we stopped half way across and took a swim! We traveled a total of 46 miles and took a slip at the Cape Charles Town Harbor Marina. What a cute town! Late afternoon we went to the Crabby Blues Festival in a local park. Steve enjoyed the Blue Crabs for dinner. Sheli went with a yummy pulled pork sandwich.

Sunday morning we delayed our departure to go to church only to get there and find a sign on the door that their 9:45 service was changed to 8:25 this week only. Oops! So, back to the boat and cast off the lines. We traveled diagonally across the Chesapeake to Ingram Bay Marina on the western shore. The day was beautiful, the seas were calm, but the black flies were out and biting! Argh! We saw many stingrays along side of the boat. They are so graceful. We traveled a total of 47 miles.

Monday, what an awesome day on the Chesapeake. The bay was flat as pancake. The stingrays were out again and we saw a pod of dolphins playing. Wow...what an impressive sight in the calm waters. We cruised 48 miles to Solomons Island, Maryland. We had reservations at a marina, but as we pulled into the harbor, we spotted a great anchorage so decided to save few bucks and drop the hook. It was a hot, 86 degree day, so we toured the harbor via dinghy. We met some Loopers we had not met before and also saw some other Loopers we had not seen in quite some time. Big fun!

Elizabeth City, NC