TripSailor.com® Sailing Blogs

Hampton – just north of Norfolk: We stayed several days on anchor where we met Kathy and Rob, on Quetico, busily preparing for their crossing to Bermuda. As I write this, they have been out on the ocean for three days and seem to have picked a good weather window, We heard from them that they expect to be in Bermuda tomorrow, Tuesday. Lucky guys!!! They are now "live-aboards" for an unforseeable future. We have met quite a few, who live on their boats all year round and they love it, going south in the winter and north in the summer. I can see what they mean, as this life slowly creeps into your system and the turquoise waters beckon you to move southward. Norfolk: BIG BIG ships: big pointed bows, big guns, gray paint on everything. The Navy is definitely here. Norfolk was our home for four nights – one on anchor and three at the Waterside marina. Don flew to Toronto on the fourth , election day. I spent the whole evening, watching CNN, as did millions around the globe. It was an unforgettable election and truly amazing to see the positive impact Obama already has had on so many. Let’s hope he can be instrumental in putting us all on a different course, than the one we have been on for some years now. It was comforting to be in the marina in Norfolk as the weather was truly awful. Lots of rain, lots of wind, often blowing 30 – 40 miles/hour and the air felt very cool. Don got brain warp. In downtown Toronto for one day to see his Dentist then scrambling around downtown Toronto to get stuff we needed. The next in Norfolk surrounded by high tech "warships" (as they call themselves on the VHF) The next day a remote landscape that has changed little since 1805 when slaves "hand dug" the canal: 20 feet wide, 8 feet deep and twenty-five miles long. Traveling in the canal and contemplating its history makes for a sense of poignacy – an amazing feat, but so much misery. The Dismal Swamp – such a delightful place at least for us. It is beautiful: deep chocolate coloured waters, (caused by tanin from the vegetation), yellow leaves drifting down from the tree-lined borders, thickets of shrubs and both long needle pine trees and leafy trees in various shades of green, yellow and brown remind one of an early September day in the bush. The trees are mirrored in the still water. When we stopped the engine, there was complete stillness: only us, the canal, and the swamp. We let the boat drift. Don had his head in the engine, a common event. I felt like one with the surroundings. This is one of the rewards of not being a mechanic!! In the evening we docked at the "Visitors Centre" with about ten other boats. We got together for a pot-luck dinner on the shore . A very memorable evening and the cool fall air was quickly forgotten as we all gathered around the picnic table under a big tree and talked for several hours. Pongo River Canal – the Texas version of the Murray Canal. A few hours ago, we set anchor in Belhaven, North Carolina. This morning we raised the anchor at the entrance to the Pungo River Canal. Our trip was only 33 miles of sunshine, but the cold had us bundled up in our Toronto clothes. The botany of the canal changes as you move along. Low grasses give way to taller shrubs then trees. Vast open grass areas studded with dead trees suggest things have changed since the canal was built about 200 years ago. An eagle gave us approving nod as we passed by his dead tree perch. Later an owl couldn’t figure out what all the boats were going. The profound quite is shattered by the motors of the convoy of about twelve southbound boats. Aromatic air prickles your nose you pass certain trees.