To the Chesapeake Bay

 North Carolina is truly a beautiful state.  We enjoyed the bays, rivers, canals, and finally the beaches!  There are few towns in this rural area and Elizabeth City is probably one of the biggest.  We were able to walk around downtown, and drove out to the supermarket. In Elizabeth City we met up with Ken and Barbara Hyman.  Their boat wintered in a nearby marina.  We invited them on board for dinner and Barbara brought a great homemade key lime pie as well as tomato salad and a bag of goodies. 

On Saturday they took us for a land cruise to the outer banks.  We walked the beach, stopped for lunch, and then continued along driving past swamps, woods and farm land.  We stopped to see Edentown and their town park and docks. 

GoodTidings on Elizabeth City  FREE town docks

Outside our lunch stop

Ken and Barbara Hyman on the Outer Banks beach

Sand dunes held down by the fences

Jeff on the dunes

Restored lighthouse was recently moved into the harbor to be a museum - Edentown, NC (Check out the "out house" hanging over the edge

Sunday AM we left early to be sure to get through the dismal swamp locks on schedule.  This ride is beautiful. The day was calm, and the water was like a mirror.  The dark water - stained with tannic acid by the cypress swamps and rotting vegetation  - increases the depth of the reflections (and the "Beard" on the bow of the boat).  The natural river winds around, and then you enter the straight man-made cut.  After the lock it narrows, and goes on for 20 miles to the northern lock at Deep Creek.  The lock master there is an expert "trumpet" player with conch shells.  He has a large collection of them displayed by the door of his house.
 

What a beautiful river

Check out Nessie on the lawn

The Great Dismal Swamp

Waiting for the lock to open

Looking back along the narrow waterway

The water rushes in

Straight and narrow!

Some of the conch shells

The lock master blowing his conch shell horn

After clearing the lock it was a short ride to the Top Rack Marina for fuel, dinner and a good night sleep.  It was raining and windy in the morning, but we set out to get through the last stretch of the ICW and into Chesapeake Bay.  It was a busy morning in Norfolk including many barges, tugs and working ships as well as a tall ship from Mexico with all the sailors up in the rigging in their full yellow rain suits.  Further along we passed a large navy ship that came out to be security for an aircraft carrier that arrived as we passed, and was heading into dock. 

 

Tugs

Paddle wheeler

Mexican tall ship - Those are the sailors up on the spars!

These cranes run on tracks around the top and sides of an enormous warehouse.

Aircraft carrier in the distance

closer

and from the stern

The navy escort ship

 

The first lighthouse in the Chesapeake Bay - just outside Norfolk entrance

After a couple of hours in some bumpy (not quite lumpy) beam seas, we dropped the hook in the peaceful Severn River, a finger of Mobjack Bay, for the night. 

Mobjack Bay

We have finally arrived in the Chesapeake Bay.  It feels like home since we have been here 3 times before.  We love it and plan to spend a few days enjoying some new anchorages and some of our favorite spots.  We should be home around May 15.