Treasure Travel Pt.1 - Dismal Swamp Canal

Treasure Travel is my new phrase. I just coined it. Feel free to use it. Treasure travel is similar to exotic travel or pleasure travel only this travel is well hidden. Only the most determined seekers discover it.  If you want to hide something, where is the best place to hide it? In plain view with an ordinary name. Something akin to labeling sirloin as liver in the freezer.

MY POINT: You don’t have to spend $1000s on airfare to find exotic travel. In the USA we have access to uncountable magnificent sites so beautiful that folks ‘over there’ spend $1000s on airfares to come over here and experience them.

With that said, today I reveal the secrets of the Dismal Swamp and its famous Dismal Swamp Canal.

We all remember learning about the Dismal Swamp in grade school though I wager most of us don’t remember *what* we learned. Fortunately, we don’t need to remember what we learned. Let’s go and discover!

Grab a kayak or a jon-boat or your friend’s forty-foot catamaran. Throw off the lines and head to Deep Creek where you will find the northern lock of the canal.  Lock through - don’t worry, Robert-the-lock-master is there to do all the work. (Tell him I sent you).

Upon leaving the lock you will be in the famous canal. I hope you remembered your charts and compass! Just kidding, you can’t get lost on the canal.

I am not going to describe all the points of interest or breathtaking sights. Suffice it to say: “still” “reflection” “horizon” “peaceful”.

After awhile you will pass a canal flowing into your canal. This is the ‘feeder ditch’ from whence the canal gets its water.  Follow it (unless you are in that friend’s forty-foot catamaran). It leads to Lake Drummond, the crowning jewel.

Lake Drummond is worth the side trip. At the far end of the feeder ditch is a teeny-weeny park with a teeny-weeny railway for hauling teeny-weeny boats over the teeny-weeny weir and into the lake.  The teeny-weeny railway is a teeny-weeny bit slow so Nearest-and-dearest ended up hauling our teeny-weeny boat over the grass to the other side. There we were greeted by the panoramic view of the beautiful and secretive Lake Drummond.

Back on the Dismal Swamp Canal you enter North Carolina and probably stop at the Welcome Center. The best buys are little painted turtles. Get one each and get back to cruising.

At the southern end of the canal is the South Mills Lock, leading into the Pasquotank River. The river snakes around through bald cypress and tupelo trees,
wending its way to Elizabeth City, North Carolina.

Elizabeth City has a friendly waterfront. Boaters are often greeted by friendly Rose Buddies. The dock is free, the park is big, and there are several restaurants within walking distance.

Stay the night. This where your friend’s forty-foot catamaran comes into its own.

Now, do you return to Chesapeake via the canal? Or by making the loop through Coinjock and the Albemarle-Chesapeake Canal? OR…do you keep on southward to the next surprise treasure along our own exotic coast…

Crossing the Atlantic by Freighter

It’s the journey not the destination. Last summer (2010) I went back to the Old World for the first time in 26 years. Being as I am me and cannot escape that, I decided to boycott the TSA.

It was my nearest-and-dearest who brought freighter travel to my attention. A quick search of the web turfed up a dozen or so sites ‘dealing’ in freighter travel. A longer more laborious search turned up little more.

Things I found and things I learned:

1- Strand Voyages in London was truly the only helpful, reliable agency, earning this high praise due to the fact they are the only ones to reply to emails (and with useful information at that).

2- Freighters carry a maximum of 12 passengers. Any more and the freighter would need to carry a doctor. Eeeek, expense. Hence, you are required to get a minimal physical that proves you can walk and talk all by yourself. Some freighter lines have a maximum age limit (such as 72 or 75). My impression is that if you can prove good health you could still go.

3- You will read this everywhere you read about freighter travel but, just in case you view me as a the be all and end all of freighter trivia, I am including it here. Freighters are NOT cruise ships. There is no entertainment director hustling you off to different activities. You are on your own. This appeals to me, but other people want “more input”. Be prepared to entertain yourself and fill your own time. BTW, there are only so many times you can get a cup of coffee and visit the bridge before it becomes repetitious. Unless you are me then being on the bridge is life itself.

4- Regarding entertainment: Freighters carrying passengers are all foreign flag (if you live in the US, that is). So when the web site tells you there are books and movies on board be aware they will probably be all in German! Yep. I did not know that when I left.

5- Dunno about other ports in other countries, but the Port of Savannah spotted my bottles of wine. We had to turn around and hide them under a bush for my nearest-and-dearest to pick up after dropping me off. “No problem,” says the port TSA agent, “You can buy liquor aboard”.  She was absolutely correct. However, liquor sales on board were not available for about three days, until we had left US waters. The moral of this story is put the booze bottles IN you bag and out of sight.

6- *EVERYone* will ask you if it’s cheaper than flying. Don’t get impatient. This is an opportunity to privately amuse yourself. Play magic numbers. If you like the person, explain that is a bargain to get 10 to 12 days at only $100/ day including all meals and amenities. If you prefer to put them off, point out that a one-way trip on a freighter is about the same as a return trip on an aeroplane. Numbers, numbers, numbers. It’s all a state of mind.

7- You will be expected to carry your baggage up the gangway. No description prepared me for a freighter-style gangway so I post a pic for you here.

8- Freighters are working vessels. A freighter does not stay in port one moment longer than necessary. With that in mind, there is not a lot of opportunity to go sightseeing ashore.

9- Typically on a ship there are officers and there are crew. Typically the officers (and passengers) eat in the officer’s mess and the crew eat in the crew’s mess. On my ship those officers and the one crew that were German ate in the officer’s mess and the Filippino officers and crew ate in the Filippino mess. This is not some sort of racism. The Germans liked German food and the Filippinos liked Filippino food. Simple.

The rest of my unorganized thoughts and observations cannot be listed numerically, so here you are:

I got lucky. This captain throws a party once a month for all. I happened to be aboard that week. As  soon as we were out of US waters captain, officers, crew, and passengers all got together on deck and ate and ate and drank. It was great seeing the camaraderie, not to mention loads of food and drinks.

I got lucky. The passengers that joined us in Charleston, SC decided to throw a party for all aboard. So a few nights later we all gathered in the officer’s recreation room and turned up the tunes and shared the good spirit(s).

I got lucky. Before entering somebody’s territorial waters the Captain threw a party for all the crew and officers who would be leaving the ship at the end of this tour. We gathered in the crew’s rec room and had karaoke and drinks and much laughter.

Conclusions. I would definitely do it again; I’m not fond of German food, but the people are great; Filippinos are good natured and fun loving - I gotta go to the Philippines!