We are currently anchored near Elizabeth City on the Pasquotank River, behind Goose Island. it's remote and pretty much alone. A sailboat is anchored a quarter mile away. we left Wormley Creek on Friday. I make an engine room inspection every hour or so, and on the second check, motoring across the south end of the Chesapeake Bay, I noted the raw water pump was dripping and spitting raw water (sea water) from the housing. That's not supposed to happen. As long as it was pumping, the engine stays cool, but with time, the leaking saltwater will corrode the bearings whick allow water into the engine oil, which will trash the engine. I wrapped a "Depends" under the leak to keep things from getting messy and we pulled over a couple of hours later as we enter the intercoastal waterway at Portsmouth. There is a free dock there near a boatyard if I needed them. I had a spare pump, so switched them out and the leak was solved, but by this time it was 3:00 so we stayed the night there, found a brewpub with a good IPA, then watched the Wild beat Dallas. Yesterday we went through the Dismal Swamp. This is an alternate ICW route that is a dredged channel 30 miles long connecting Portsmouth with Elizabeth City on Albemarle Sound. It was dug by hand about 1805, so it's been here a while. Transitting the canal involves going through 2 locks, one up on the north end and one down on the south end. The canal itself goes through wilderness area for the most part. It is pretty but shallow and we needed to dodge some logs in places. Two other trawlers came through with us, the locks only operate four times a day so the boats end up together. The canal had large patches of duckweed, which plugs up the raw water strainer, overheating the engine, so when we anchored last night, I had to clean the strainer. We had wanted to cross Albemarle Sound today but it is bowing 25-35 mph out of the NW and it would be a pretty rough trip. We will wait until tomorrow when it is supposed to be flat. We may move down 4-5 miles to a free dock at Elizabeth City this afternoon to get a hike or a bike ride in.
Engine Hours 5187.8
Genset Hours 5640.0
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| At anchor on the Pasquotank last night, Goose Island |
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| Duckweed |
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| Low end of the lock |
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| The boat behind us, showing the 6 foot or so rise in water level |
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| Now up and ready to exit |
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| Narrow Dismal Swamp canal |
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| The Deep Creek Bridge, just south of the first lock |
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