Onward To Elizabeth City

The Dock Master told us to be ready to go into the lock at 8:30 this morning, so after a quick stop at the gas station restroom we motored into the lock. By the time the rest of the boats arrived when the bridge was lifted, there were nine sailboats all huddled together waiting for the water to be let out of the lock. The Canadians were strongly represented; in addition to our boat, there were three other boats from Canada, from Quebec specifically. This lock was much easier to manage than the one from the previous day. Although we were the first ones into the lock, we were not the first ones out, as one of the Quebequois boats(with a young male crew) was quick off the mark and sped out ahead of everyone. They got quite far ahead of the rest of us, but then unfortunately had engine trouble and ended up the day having to be towed to Elizabeth City by one of their sister boats.

This stretch of the Dismal Swamp was very picturesque but we were surprised by the absence of wildlife ........ except of course for the dead deer which we saw floating in the canal.

We are now at Elizabeth City, a friendly little town, with a farmer's market tomorrow morning which we are looking forward to visiting and where we plan to purchase some fresh fruit.

Because the weather is expected to be foul tomorrow, we will probably remain here for another day. There is a laundromat, grocery store, and a bookshop, so we are all set. I just need to keep Louie from buying every food product she sees that has the name Argo on it ... today she purchased laundry starch(I'm sure it will come in handy for keeping Chas' shirts crisp and clean) just because it was called ARGO Starch. In her defence, it does seem to have a multitude of other uses and I think it will even cure the common cold if the claims are to be believed!!

We are docked along the town wharf and it is quite choppy but fortunately we had three assistants waiting to help us dock when we arrived - otherwise, we probably wouldn't have been able to get in here.