Dismal Swamp - Not!

No one ahead...

Whoever named this place is an eternal pessimist. It’s beautiful! Of course, we were floating through on an engine-driven boat, not slogging through on foot. Perspective is everything! Following the ICW south from Norfolk, Virginia, you can go either through the Virginia Cut or the Dismal Swamp. Both involve locks, so there’s no getting away from that, but it’s no problem. In fact, taking the Dismal Swamp route, locking through is a downright pleasure. Robert has manned the northern lock for 21 years, I think he said. What a great guy. He’s professional, friendly, and funny. He’ll play the conch horn if you ask him. A few years ago we gave him one of the conch shells that we harvested in the Bahamas for his collection. Great advantages of the Dismal Swamp route is that it’s a little bit out of the way (but not much) and shallower (boats drawing more than 6 feet are not advised to travel here, and drought can close it). Yes, those are advantages, because it means that it’s blessedly desserted! We saw NO other boats all day long. Coming from the incredibly crowded Hampton Roads area, that was all we could ask for. We were plagued by biting flies, but we just whacked away with our fly swatters. All the dragonflies and butterflies made up for the annoying flies.

...no one behind

A nice kind of 'fly'

Great swamp-side humor