Tropical Diversion: The Dismal Swamp-Portsmouth/Norfolk VA

We made our way through the Dismal Swamp over the past week and crossed over from North Carolina to Virginia. It was pretty cool going through the swamp most of the time. There was one point though that we got swarmed by biting flies, which wasn’t much fun for Wes since he had to stay at the helm and drive and I was able to hide out inside. I guess we picked the worse time of the year to go through the swamp because there is about six weeks where the flies just take over. But most of the trip through we didn’t have much bug problems.
We stayed two nights in Elizabeth City right down town on their free dock. It is a cute little town and Wes was pretty excited because they even had a DQ. We’re still getting used to being able to get ice cream after two years of not getting much at all.
It was crazy how you could go for miles weaving through the narrow swamp and not see anybody and then it opens up into a town. You could always tell which part of the swamp was natural and which part was man made because you twist and turn through the natural part and then it’s really straight where it’s man made. I really enjoyed going through the locks because I hadn't even seen one before. There were two that we went through. The South Mills Lock, which lifted us up and then the Deep Creek Lock that brought us back down. We actually had to stay the night right before the Deep Creek Lock because we didn’t get to it in time for the last pass through. I wouldn't describe it as a swamp and it's definitely not dismal. I thought is was one of the prettiest places I've ever seen.

We spent yesterday and last night at the free dock in old town Portsmouth. It was right where the ferry picks up to take you across the bay to Portsmouth. Wes actually took the Ferry over so he could pick up a new charging cable for the Mac (that’s why we haven’t been blogging-we weren’t able to charge the mac. This is our 3rd cable in two years that we’ve gone through. The salt water is horrible on the electronics). It was pretty amazing pulling into Portsmouth/Norfolk after traveling through the Dismal Swamp for a week. It is a very huge shipping port with a large Naval base. We saw an aircraft carrier being built along with two other huge ships. There were huge barges passing us and the biggest tug boats I’ve every seen. We felt pretty small in this massive bay.

Last night we went to The Commodore Theatre in old town Portsmouth per the recommendation of the Deep Creek Lock operator. It’s a 1945 Theatre that was restored to it’s original likeness in 1987. The screen is 41’ wide by 22’ high with surround sound. We actually saw Finding Dory and had dinner and drinks. It’s definitely a place to visit if you're every in Portsmouth, VA.

Today we are crossing the Chesapeake Bay and we’ll be heading back out to the Atlantic to head up the East Coast. We just passed a huge pod of dolphins playing in the bay.