Ok the day started out well, nice smooth water, no traffic. All the bridges opened up for us so we could pass through quickly.
Giong through Norfolk to the start of the DSC (Dismal Swamp Canal) via water is a humbling experience. Every where you look there is a war ship. They are huge. The machinary that supports them is larger. Think about dry docking a cruiser.. I mean a US Navy Cruiser. Or set your goal a bit lower and consider dry docking a destroyer. Hopefully that lends a bit of perspective. If you have been to the Intrepid air craft carrier in NYC think of that as medium sized ok?
And so it was at dawn. Police boats were everywhere. This is a by product of 9-11. Before that the lockmaster at the first lock in the DYC said he could have backed up to a destroyer and hauled it out if he wanted. In spite of the Mason Dixon Line we all agreed that 9-11 changed the world and that this religious war was not to be taken lightly.
Into the DSC we go making great time. We caught the 8:30 lock and motored on without delay again! Eventually after driving down a canal that is very narrow we wind up at the bridge/lock pair that lets us down for the ride into Elizabeth NC. We have to wait here since it has scheduled openings. I go into the bilge and do some maintenance and notice a funny smell. It's antifreeze. I check around and sure enough the circulating pump for the starboard engine coughed up a seal and the engine bled out a couple of gallons of antifreeze.
Bad luck you say? To some extent yes. But look at it this way. Suppose the engine cacked while we were coming into Norwalk in the rough water? That would have been extremly bad timing! In that sense we are very lucky because the pump let go the very next day. So there is a silver lining here, even tho the whole situation sucks.
It loos like another 3 day layover. Fortunately I have tools, all I need is a pump. By the way a distributor is up in Portsmouth where we stayed last night. Yup. That'd be insult to injury.
I'll post a pic of the marina we are in now. The slip is 15 feet wide and we are 14. The owner was calling me to say don't come in when I backed it into the slip!
At least they have wifi and the sat tv is up and running.
Giong through Norfolk to the start of the DSC (Dismal Swamp Canal) via water is a humbling experience. Every where you look there is a war ship. They are huge. The machinary that supports them is larger. Think about dry docking a cruiser.. I mean a US Navy Cruiser. Or set your goal a bit lower and consider dry docking a destroyer. Hopefully that lends a bit of perspective. If you have been to the Intrepid air craft carrier in NYC think of that as medium sized ok?
And so it was at dawn. Police boats were everywhere. This is a by product of 9-11. Before that the lockmaster at the first lock in the DYC said he could have backed up to a destroyer and hauled it out if he wanted. In spite of the Mason Dixon Line we all agreed that 9-11 changed the world and that this religious war was not to be taken lightly.
Into the DSC we go making great time. We caught the 8:30 lock and motored on without delay again! Eventually after driving down a canal that is very narrow we wind up at the bridge/lock pair that lets us down for the ride into Elizabeth NC. We have to wait here since it has scheduled openings. I go into the bilge and do some maintenance and notice a funny smell. It's antifreeze. I check around and sure enough the circulating pump for the starboard engine coughed up a seal and the engine bled out a couple of gallons of antifreeze.
Bad luck you say? To some extent yes. But look at it this way. Suppose the engine cacked while we were coming into Norwalk in the rough water? That would have been extremly bad timing! In that sense we are very lucky because the pump let go the very next day. So there is a silver lining here, even tho the whole situation sucks.
It loos like another 3 day layover. Fortunately I have tools, all I need is a pump. By the way a distributor is up in Portsmouth where we stayed last night. Yup. That'd be insult to injury.
I'll post a pic of the marina we are in now. The slip is 15 feet wide and we are 14. The owner was calling me to say don't come in when I backed it into the slip!
At least they have wifi and the sat tv is up and running.
Updated the Southbound file (use refresh if it spits up) and also added to the photobucket.
Skip to the last page for the newer stuff.
1 comment:
It must be humbling being around all that huge naval equipment. Ever feel like Gilligan on the SS Minnow? Bummer about the pump, but as you say, things could have been much worse. It looks like a pretty interesting area to be holed up at though.
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