Publish Date: Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Coordinates: 36° 44.74′ N 76° 20.46′ W
We left a protected marina in Norfolk early this morning and headed into the Dismal Swamp Canal, which is “the oldest continually operating man-made canal in the United States, opened in 1805.” The weather was rainy, windy, and chilly, but we couldn’t help feeling warm and hopeful because of the electoral events of the previous day. We now live in a country that will be led by Barack Obama during the next four years. Congratulations President-Elect Obama!
We are spending the night just inside the north lock on the Dismal Swamp Canal, the transit of which was our first lock experience on Three@Sea. All went well, as Kathryn and Ayla were masterful on the lines despite the thick rain and 25mph winds. The free public dock just inside the lock was full, so we are rafted alongside another trawler about our same size. We’ll transit the canal tomorrow and end up in Elizabeth City, trying to make some southern progress in the miserable weather pounding the Carolinas and Virginia. I am being driven by the memory of the clear aquamarine waters and balmy winds that I hope to find again in the Bahamas…
[Author’s note: The original version of my post had some additional political commentary. Over time, my comments proved to be offensive to some readers, which was not my intention. Our voyage is not about politics, and it’s not meant to be exclusive, so I decided to remove my political commentary from this post. In addition, I removed the few readers’ comments on this entry because they were specifically about my commentary, and they would no longer have the appropriate context.]