We had a late start today at 7:46am because the lock and bridge south of us, South Mills Lock and South Mills Bridge had its first scheduled opening at 8:30am. The Dismal Swamp once again amazed us with its beauty as we motored through the dark brown water.

Quatuor II in the final southerly stretches of the Dismal Swamp. (PICTURE YET TO BE COPIED OVER)

Sorry for the quality of the drone pictures. It’s a screenshot of the video from my phone and the quality diminishes.

I forgot to mention yesterday that we were able to resupply our food. There was a grocery store a block or two away from the first lock yesterday on the Dismal Swamp and we were able to get fresh fruit vegetables and some other stuff we were running low on.

Also, the Dismal Swamp is known for it’s low depth and relatively hazardous conditions for boats since submerged logs and other debris are common to find in the shallow waterway. Well, my dad had his own way of looking out for logs…

Although deemed ineffective, The “foot steer” preventative lookout measure for logs. (PICTURE YET TO BE COPIED OVER)

We had a pretty uneventful and smooth day of cruising. As we exited the Dismal swamp we were grateful Ablermale sound wasn’t too rough. We were warned by the lock worker what we’d heard was correct; The sound can get rough since it’s all shallow water and if the wind blows anywhere over 10knts it can stir up a nasty chop quick.

Quatuor II in Albermale Sound. (PICTURE YET TO BE COPIED OVER)

We crossed the sound without incident and continued south into Alligator River Canal. The canal was beautiful, and with the exception of a few strings of bridges and houses, it shared the Dismal Swamp’s feel of peacefulness and beauty.

Quatuor II in Alligator River Canal  (PICTURE YET TO BE COPIED OVER)

We exited the canal at roughly 6:50pm and after roughly 11 hours of cruising we had gone 88 nautical miles. We then docked up at Dowry Creek Marina for the night.

Quatuor II at Dowry Creek Marina (PICTURE YET TO BE COPIED OVER)

Once there we took hot showers, (reluctantly) cooked and ate another freeze dried meal with some salad and huddled into the cabin in preparation for an early start tomorrow.

Here was our route for today:

Checkered flag is the start and red arrow is our current position (PICTURE YET TO BE COPIED OVER)

I’m not sure what the goal is to reach tomorrow but the fundamentals remain: head south far, fast and long.

Day 6-Friday June 18, South Mills NC to Aurora NC