Robert

October 25, 2015 0830 Temperature 52 degrees. Partially sunny skies. Wind moderate easterly.

After coffee and oatmeal we left the country club still feeling all fuzzy from our very gratifying visit with Taz and Catherine.

We preceded out the Lafayette River to the main Elizabeth River Channel, being super careful not to run into any barges. Fortunately it is Sunday and so not much commercial traffic on the water. In fact we were pretty much by ourselves as we ghosted south along the Eastern Branch of the Elizabeth River, with Norfolk to port and Portsmouth to starboard.

We passed Hospital Point where lots of “snow birds” anchor for the night, then under three fixed bridges and finally the Gilmerton Lift Bridge that you have to call and request permission to pass by. There is a specific and required protocol for this activity and most bridge masters are perfectly cordial and helpful. But don’t piss them off because if you do, well, I just don’t know.

Scenes Along the Elizabeth River

Just after the Gilmerton Bridge, we turned into the Great Dismal Swamp Canal portion of the ICW and proceeded forward to approach the Deep Creek Lock which was scheduled to open at 1330. We were forced to wait for the lock opening for about a half an hour, just long enough for Captain Emily to run us aground in the narrow channel. I got to laugh this time but that is not always the case. Not to worry, because with a little gentle coaxing (and rough profanity) we were able to get her off easily.    

The Deep Creek Lock is one of two such locks on the Great Dismal Swamp Canal, the other being the South Mills Lock approximately twenty-three miles south. These two locks are instrumental in regulating the water level in Lake Drummond, smackdab in the middle of the Dismal Swamp, an important consideration because Drummond water levels pretty much define the water table level in the Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake and Suffolk areas, thus water levels in wells and springs in that same area, where about two million people live.

Going through a lock is very cool indeed. First you call ahead just like bridges to get permission and instructions. Robert, our Lock Master, was very clear and organized. “Plan for a starboard tie up. Provide two lines at least twenty-five feet in length and I highly recommend fenders. Wait until the lock gates are fully open and proceed only when you see the green light,” he said professionally.

Flicka in the Deep Creek Lock

With Captain EM Providing Ballast

Robert has worked at the Deep Creek lock for twenty-five years so do the math. Assuming he works forty-eight weeks a year at five days a week with an average of thirty boats a day coming through his lock, he has repeated those words at least seventy-two hundred times. No telling how many times he has said then in his sleep.   

We drove Flicka in and Robert reached down twelve feet with a boat hook to grab a line and tied us off to the side of the lock. He closed the gate behind us, flipped a few switches and then the lock was flooded with incoming water from the canal ahead. As a million and a half gallons of water poured in, we rose steadily for about twenty minutes, which gave Robert just time to start his performance, which was to recite a history of the canal and locks, and once we had risen to his level so to speak, with a flourish he picked up a conch shell from a pile of many to demonstrate the proper technique for trumpeting a conch shell tune, which he did with great zeal and enthusiasm, even throwing in a little dance step at the end.

I suppose twenty-five years on the same job makes one a little wacky. I know it did me.

When Robert found out we were bound for the Bahamas and Cuba he requested that we bring him some Romeo and Juliet cigars from Cuba, some “Fire in De Hole” hot sauce from the Bahamas and a new conch shell.  

I’m not making this stuff up!

After Robert’s unmatchable performance we left the lock and proceeded south along the canal, essentially a ditch, but a beautiful ditch just the same, for about eight miles, to a very nice dock where we tied up and spent a pleasant evening and night alone.

Tomorrow the South Mills Lock, Turners Cut and the Pasquotank River. Yippee!

Namaste