With the LectraSan working again, we left Solomons and headed further south, stopping in Jackson Creek, near Deltaville, VA. It was Sunday, 31 October and we hoped to top up our diesel tanks before continuing on to Norfolk, VA. Unfortunately, we arrived just as the only fuel dock available closed up for the night. We borrowed bicycles from the marina to pedal to a gas station that was supposed to be near by, open, and selling diesel. The gas station was there, open, and had diesel fuel. And operators dressed for Halloween. We pedalled back to the marina, collected our two diesel cans (too heavy to carry on the marina bicycles) and hiked back to the gas station. It's amazing how heavy 10 gallons of diesel fuel gets in even a short hike! The following day, 1 Nov., we tried to leave Jackson Creek, and promptly grounded in the channel leaving the creek. At least we were able to back off and get moving again.
As we motored south, we discussed the possibility of making it from Jackson Creek to the entrance to the Dismal Swamp in one day. Two things had to happen if we were to do this. First, the tidal currents had to go in our favor or, barring that, not slow us too much. Going against the tide would mean running out of daylight or, worse, missing the last possible opening for the Gilmerton Drawbridge.
The current predictions from the computer suggested we could, in fact, reach the Deep Creek entrance to the canal. If we could reach the Gilmerton Bridge by 1530 (3:30PM). After that, the bridge would be closed for rush hour and not re-open until 1730, too late for us to reach the Deep Creek anchorage and still have enough daylight to see where we were going.
We reached the entrance of Newport News and the Norfolk area without the drama and excitement of last year's trip, where we dodged guided missile cruisers and submarines. The current worked with us and by the time we reached Waterside Marina, where we'd stopped before, we decided to "go for it".
The GPS predicted it'd be a very close race to reach the bridge in time, but it looked as though we had perhaps ten minutes in hand when... disaster! A railroad bridge north of Gilmerton Bridge closed. A train slowly crossed the bridge and then stopped. It back up. It went forward. It stopped. It inched forward. And all the while the GPS' estimated time of arrival (ETA) slipped further and further past 1530. The train eventually left the bridge, the bridge lifted, and we raced forward, churning under the railroad bridge literally exactly as it stopped rising.
Our only hopes were a power boat also trapped by the railroad bridge and any possible charity from the Gilmerton Bridge operator. The power boat's arrival at the Gilmerton bridge ensured a bridge opening at 1530. The boat's captain said he'd take his time going through the bridge, in the hope that we'd arrive with the bridge still open. Past that, it was all in how charitable the bridge tender felt as to how late we could be and still make the bridge opening.
We called the bridge tender and heard we had to be at a specific buoy, in sight of the bridge, by 1529, if we were to pass through the bridge before rush hour. The throttle was wide open and all we could do was keep pushing and steering the shortest possible path, cutting corners and using all of the "road" to get to the bridge.
As the photo shows, we made it. Although the bridge tender waited at least five minutes too long for us to arrive, we made it. It's hard to describe how relieved we felt to see the bridge close behind us and not in front of us. Instead of losing a day in waiting to reach Elizabeth City, NC, we could enter the canal first thing in the morning and arrive in Elizabeth City the same day. There would be no delay waiting for the morning rush hour closure at Gilmerton, no delay waiting for the mid-day lock-through at Deep Creek, meaning having to spend the night partway down the canal. Instead, the bridgetender's kindness saved us a day of waiting.
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