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I'm thinking of doing the ICW / Dismal Swamp Canal Loop starting out of Norfolk In June.

I'm guessing 4 to 5 days would work for this journey.
Is it best to do this loop clockwise or counterclockwise?
Is there less traffic or better current or trade winds one way or the other?
Can you anchor anywhere along the canal, get ice, water, fuel
Any fish worth eating in the canal?
Does that dark water stain the hulll?
Good places to stop or must see?
I haven't done locks before. Any tips, VHF channel, schedules, protocol?

Thanks,
TFlifgt

Where are you putting in at? There are not really any ramps that allow overnight parking near downtown Norfolk. We have used the Willoughby ramp, its free and has overnight parking, but not the safest for leaving a vehicle IMO. Right across the river Fort Monroe has a pay ramp that is probably safer. Both are about 10 miles to downtown Norfolk/Portsmouth mm0. It’s a nice sail down the river past all the navy ships to downtown. Portsmouth is a great overnight spot for the first/last day. There are two free ferry terminal/public wharfs to tie up to. There are signs that say no overnight mooring but it is perfectly legal and there will probably be a half dozen late snowbirds there. From there its easy to time the Gilmerton bridge (restricted during rush hour) and the first lock. Old town Portsmouth is very nice for walking around, there are some nice restaurants and a dinner movie theater, also there is a ferry across to Norfolk if you want to visit the museums or mall over there.

Portsmouth Free dock



I will be doing the loop solo leaving April 11 and will take 5-10 days depending on who I meet and how the weather is. 4 days is possible but would be a push, there are 3 locks (only 4 openings a day each) and a half dozen bridges. I did a trip report awhile back from it for my family and will post some details from it.

Is it best to do this loop clockwise or counterclockwise?

June is calm generally calm. The swamp leg is protected and the Carolina cut is shallow and wide open across the Albemarle which means you can sail, but it can get very rough in anything over 15 knots. I decide clockwise/counterclockwise depending on the weather. Swamp is almost all motoring. If you can only do one the swamp is nicer IMO. Tides are a non issue once you get below Norfolk.

Can you anchor anywhere along the canal, get ice, water, fuel

Yes and no. There are free docks all along that are nice (limited/no amenities) but only a few decent anchorages. We stopped at about all the docks we came across to walk the dogs. You can tie up to the walls/bank near any of the locks for the night. There are a few marinas near Chesapeake, Elizabeth city and Coinjock. We have a fridge and took 24 and used about 16 gallons of gas so didn’t stop at any of the marinas. Tree limbs make tying up to the banks in many areas tricky to keep the mast out of them when in the wooded areas.

On the swamp route there is a nice free dock for a half dozen boats just inside the deep creek locks with a park and walking distance to a food lion and few stores.
Elizabeth Dock at Deep Creek


Down around mile 15 or so there is another free dock at the mouth of the feeder ditch, if you have a dinghy/kayak you can take it the 3 miles up the side ditch to the lake.

Feeder Ditch Dock

Around Mile 26 is the visitor center dock. If you stay there you can walk across the bridge into the swamp see the visitor center and hiking trails.



At the end is South mills locks, we spent the night there when we missed the last daily lock by 10 minutes. We tied to the bank, not much there. Once out of the canal it’s the Pasquotank river which is probably the most scenic part. On the chart where the south end of the original cut and turners cut meet we went up the old cut a bit and anchored/tied to the bank for a night and had a campfire, its very secluded.





Down around mile 50 is Elizabeth city and their free docks, go to the free maritime museum if you stop there. Heading south on the Carolina cut from Norfolk there is not as much interesting stuff or places to stop at IMO, but more chances for sailing on the southern half. Many people spend the night at the great bridge locks, lots of restaurants nearby, pretty busy area though. Soon as the waterway opens up about 10 miles south is Munden point park on the east bank. Real boats don’t stop there since its shallow, but there is about a 100’ of seawall going into the park boat ramp you can tie up at and go to the park. It’s a pretty big park with disc golf course a lot of open areas. If you would rather anchor a few miles down on the west bank is tulls bay which has houses on half of it and no real shore access, but is a nice anchorage. From there it is basically open water to coinjock where there is a seawall and restaurant. Many people stop there but there was no real attraction for me. Then its open again around and up to Elizabeth City.


Any fish worth eating in the canal?

We messed around with the catfish at night for fun. They seemed to love steak scraps and catching the little guys was pretty much nonstop. There are a ton of huge gar in the carolina cut and pasquatank, no clue how to catch them though and people regularly bass fish in the Knotts Island area.

I haven't done locks before. Any tips, VHF channel, schedules, protocol?

Just print the bridge and lock schedules first, some are on demand and some have schedules. Everything is 16 and you have to call even if its a scheduled opening. My first time through a bridge I thought I was good since I was with several others on a scheduled opening and got yelled at by the operator over his PA since I did not declare my intentions to go under. As long as the locks are not full you will generally pull up on the starboard side, so just have your fenders that side and a 20’ bow and stern line. Loop the middle of the line over the lock keepers hook and he will pass it over a cleat and back down to you. (they may joke you the first time) Robert the lockmaster in deep creek is really nice and famous with the snowbirds. He will give you the full swamp history, play the conch as a horn, and has coffee and Danish for the first lock through each day. The locks take about 30-60 minutes depending on the number of boats going through. If you are with a pack of boats consider stopping after the locks for a bit to let them move on and have the water to yourself. The locks are only about 6' and gentle, but if you are in the front when flooding the bow can get pulled a bit.





Also before you go if you have fenders with eyes on both ends run a small line through all of them bow to stern. When you get to a dock you can pull the line tight and slide the fenders horizontally to match the piles. All of the dock are large piles so vertical fenders are useless. I am going to make some pvc fender boards before I go this time. Also if you are in a time crunch the dismal is all no wake and carolina is not, so maybe do the slow section first.

Great write up Seapup!
Pics are great, make me anxious to get the boat in the water for the Season. Only 4 weeks out

Seapup,
Thanks for all the great info.

I was planning on launching at NAS Navy Base Norfolk, $5 a day and very secure.
I will add a few more days to the trip.

Portsmouth is a great overnight spot for the first/last day. There are two free ferry terminal/public wharfs to tie up to. There are signs that say no overnight mooring but it is perfectly legal and there will probably be a half dozen late snowbirds there.

I love this reminds me of a 1970's song "Sign Sign Everywhere A Sign".... just do it!

Does the Gilmerton bridge monitor ch 13 or is it like on the hr or 1/2hr?

As you suggested I'll decide the direction based on weather.
I do have a Hobie Oasis kayak but it weighs 115 lbs, 14.5' long and I haven't figured out how to mount it on the side of the Mac or transport it down to Norfolk yet.
I'll take both 12gal fuel tanks so it sounds like that will work out.

It sounds like a fun trip, the Admiral and I are getting excited. Now if this winter weather and snow would just leave the Mid Atlantic coast maybe I can start my sailing season.

Thanks again for the feed back,

TFlifgt

I just notice your additional post.
What can I say, they are great pics and a plethora of information.
Thanks so much

Fantastic write-up seapup! While it's not likely I'd ever do it, it's great knowing you can ask about basically any trip here and get the benefit of real experience.

Great posts and pictures!

I was wondering--forgive me if it's an inane question but I'm an inland lake sailor-- how do you know which dock is a public dock? Are they marked on charts or is there a sign? my luck, I'd tied up to a dock thinking it's free and public and end up really upsetting some very private person...

Reminds me of a 1970's song "Sign Sign Everywhere A Sign".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D59ZWa8ehgI

Kudos to Seapup for the excellent photos and writeup.

There is a Kindle book called "Life's a Ditch" by Charles Dougherty that I found both entertaining and informative.

The story is a about the author's first few months on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway “the Ditch”.

You might want to give this a read in preparation for your adventure.

We've got the Carolina Loop on our list... Here's a link to a nice publication put out by Elizabeth City...

http://www.discoverelizabethcity.com/pd ... -lores.pdf

Bob

Thanks for the nice comments

There is a Kindle book called "Life's a Ditch" by Charles Dougherty that I found both entertaining and informative.

Looks interesting, thanks!

I was wondering--forgive me if it's an inane question but I'm an inland lake sailor-- how do you know which dock is a public dock? Are they marked on charts or is there a sign? my luck, I'd tied up to a dock thinking it's free and public and end up really upsetting some very private person...

I didn't know about active captain the first time we went (didn't really have any plan other than a bunch of food, beer, gas and go ) We planned on anchoring and learned about the free docks by word of mouth once we got started. For the most part there were not signs at the time. With active captain now everything is online. There really are not many docks or houses since it runs through wildlife refuge and marsh. There are maybe a half dozen clumps of houses/docks over each 50 mile stretch. We originally planned 3-5 days for the loop, but spent 4 days going down the swamp totally by ourselves. Saw maybe 2-3 boats passing northward for 15-20 seconds each day. Then met a group in Elizabeth City heading north and did leisurely 10 mile days with them for 5 days on the way back.

The free docks are nice since you don't need a dinghy. I found another neat perk of the canals other than no tides is that once you are locked in you are in. So if someone has not passed by the last locking at 4:30 no one will.

I was planning on launching at NAS Navy Base Norfolk, $5 a day and very secure.
I will add a few more days to the trip.

That should be perfect. If it happens to be June 6-8 it is harborfest, which is nice, but VERY busy. You may want to check the norfolk events calendar. Try to schedule a few hours for both downtown portsmouth and norfolk, they are very different. You can pick up walking tour maps at kiosks on the street for both. If you like museums the shipyard museum is in Portsmouth is decent and Nauticus Maritime museum is the standard stop in Norfolk. My recommend is staying in portsmouth landing and taking the ferry across to norfolk, but you can use waterside marina if you want to tie up in norfolk (where we keep our boat form nov-may) Its $5 for an afternoon.

Does the Gilmerton bridge monitor ch 13 or is it like on the hr or 1/2hr?

I just double checked and the Gilmerton appears to have its 35' span done, so we should be able to sneak right under now which is very nice, circling there is a PITA. Otherwise it opens on the :30 every hour.

I think I am going to try and motor up to lake drummond in the dismal this year, I have not been there yet. The ditch to it is about 25' wide and 3' deep by 3 miles long. Tree limbs and the mast (as well as potentially having to back 3 miles out) is my main concern. Supposedly once there its beautiful and you have it totally to yourself since the only way in is by kayak or small boat through the locks.




While thinking of gunkholing I also have my eye on the outerbanks on the carolina cut side if the weather is good. It looks like carova just finished a small boat public landing park at the north end of the outer banks. Its a few miles off the ICW and VERY shallow, but would be cool stop. Its in the 4x4 area north of the paved roads and is deserted during the offseason.



Now I am getting excited for the trip, 3 weeks

I'll have to look into the Harborfest. That's at the tail end of my vacation and I'm not sure I want to deal with all the traffic.

I too was thinking of checking out the ditch to Lake Drummond. After zooming in with Google Maps it look narrow with lots of mast grabbers, have to be on heigh alert there and backing out doesn't look too fun ether. But once your there WOW let me know how that works for you.

Carova small boat public landing park... Another great find
The last turn heading in there by Swan Rd. looks vary shallow on Bing Maps. That could be a nice stop. New facility and just a short walk across to the ocean.

Although I have not boated with any bikes or figured out how to store them in or on my it sounds like bikes may be useful on this trip more so then a kayak. I don't really want to buy two more bikes but those fold up bikes seem like the way to go. It's just the two of us but still D'Lei can get a little small. Any thoughts,

Once again thanks to all for the feedback,
TFlight

Although I have not boated with any bikes or figured out how to store them in or on my it sounds like bikes may be useful on this trip more so then a kayak. I don't really want to buy two more bikes but those fold up bikes seem like the way to go. It's just the two of us but still D'Lei can get a little small. Any thoughts,

I like biking and take them on some trips (laid on the roof or against the mast) but would say skip them for this trip unless you have something specific planned. All of the stops I can think of are convenient for walking and I believe you can rent bikes in the swamp if you want.