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We headed up the Albemarle Sound and to Elizabeth City, where we hoped to stock up again, but even with about 5 maqrinas, Elizabeth City only had one where we could get Fuel, and when we arrived, the entrance out of the Canal was aboyt 25 feet wide, hardly visible, and I had my doubts about going in, but with Gerry’s encouragement, we slowly made our way up the narrow river, bumping bottom a few times, but we went very slowly, and tied up to the very first slip available.

A Fuel truck came down to the boat and helped us out, and we were able to stock up on beer, Ice and Oil for the engine – the engine is a real oil guzzler, using about 1/2 can of oil per day – probably needs new oil rings. We got out of the slip after getting stuck in the mud a little, and made our way back up the large river. We had to go through lots of twists and turns down the Paquotank River, and then through a long straight stretch of man-made canal to the fist Lock, whcih we made just in time for teh last opening of the day at 3:30pm. There already was a small catamaran in the Lock, Whiskers, so we had to wait about 1/2 hour in a shallow, narrow canal. When the waters started pumping out of the Lock, it caused such a strong current that Santana was literally pushed sideway almost into the river bank, and I had to revf the engine to fight against it. We had to turn around, and in the process the rudder took quite a hit on the bank, but seems to be OK.

Eventually the lock gate was opened for us, and we were let in. After closing the gate behind us, we tied up to the side, and the waters started rushing in. It took only about 15 minutes to fill the lock, the water rising about 10 feet. The northern gate then opened, and we motored out up to teh bascule bridge, passing Whiskers that were tied up waiting for the bridge to ope, We both passed through the bridge and continued up the Dismal Swamp canal. I was worried about the depth, since it was very borderline, and we hit quite a few snags, probably dead trees lying on the bottom, and I had to keep the speed down to about 4 knots in case we hit anything. We did hit bottom a number of times, and also some snags, but nothing too serious, but it was pretty nerve-racking nevertheless.

At about 8:30 we arrived at the next Lock, and were able to tie up at a Dock right next to the bascule bridge (free mooring!), and next to a Mexican Restaurant called La Familia, where we had a great dinner. In the morning we get out of teh Canal, and sail the last 10 miles or so to Norfolk, where I have already made a reservation for Santana for about 10 days. Gerry and I will be picking up a rental car and driving back to Jersey City in the afternoon.