Today was all about schedules. We started early so we could get through the Elizabeth City bridge at 6:45am. It opens on demand before 7am and then it opens only at 7:30 and 8:30am. Our next scheduled thing was the south lock of the Dismal Swamp. It operates four times a day at 6:30am, 11:00am, 1:30pm, and 3:30pm. We traveled slowly, knowing that we had four hours before the 11am scheduled time. 

The scenery was amazing. We enjoyed the slow ride up the Pasquotank River. I think this area is more scenic than the Dismal Swamp itself. The river winds and curves as it becomes narrower and narrower the further north we traveled. We think we saw a bear in a tree, but we didn’t get a picture to confirm.

There are two locks on the Dismal Swamp. The first one is at South Mills, NC. When we arrived at the lock, another boat had caught up with us so there were two of us in the lock. The lockmaster also operates a bridge that is just north of the lock, so after raising us 8 feet in the lock chamber, he drove to the bridge and opened it up for us.

The welcome center is only an hour from the south lock at no-wake speed. There is a pedestrian bridge operated by the state park that opened for us as we got close. We arrived to an empty bulkhead dock and were easily tied up. It was a pretty hot day, so we spent a good part of the afternoon with the generator running and the air conditioner on. 

Late in the afternoon we toured the state park welcome center and walked the nature trail. Since we had seen two bears on our trip so far, the nature trail through the dismal Swamp seemed especially spooky and ominous.

In the morning we continued north. It is a three hour cruise up to the north lock, called the Deep Creek lock. When we arrived for the 11am opening, the lockmaster told us that he had just gotten the boats from the 6:30am opening through the lock. Apparently a log got stuck in a gate, and it had to be dislodged manually. Our locking went without problems.