We were somehow too busy having a great time to take photos at the Looper Rendezvous. Basically, the Looper organization that we belong to, AGLCA  — America’s Great Loop Cruisers’ Association — has two Rendezvous’ each year, one in the Norfolk area in May and one just north of Mobile, AL in October.  Each features seminars and forums that give you all of the information that you need to negotiate each half of the Loop, opportunities to tour each other’s boats, and plenty of time to eat, drink and socialize.  In our case, although we had been to the Rendezvous before, we wanted to meet up with our “Class of 2016-17” Loopers, as we would be travelling with many of those boats throughout the rest of our trip.  We were soon to find out that even more important than Docktail buddies and sounding boards for information, the folks we are traveling with were, and are, among the kindest, most caring and truly helpful people we have ever met.

Here are Changing Latitudes and Over Ice following us out of the Swamp.  As we exited, we turned briefly south to Top Rack marina to fuel up and pump out.  We then turned back north towards Norfolk, and saw the signpost and marker for the Dismal Swamp entrance, as well as the infamous Rail Road bridge. You may recall that on the way south, as we went through the delayed opening of the Railroad Bridge intending to go the Swamp route, a large barge and tow pulled out in front of us.  By the time we could negotiate a pass of the barge, we were past Top Rack and headed into the Virginia Cut.  We now realize that the barge and tug were probably to our starboard side, blocking our view of the turn off sign.  Glad we were able to go through this time, northbound. Over Ice, LeryLyn and Leap of Faith then headed into the Rendezvous at the Sheraton Norfolk Waterside Marina.  If you enlarge the photo of the Dismal Swamp signpost, the white sign states “If you haven’t done it yet, you don’t know what you are missing. The Dismal Swamp is lovely and worth much reminiscing.” We agree.

We kicked up a few “dead heads” as we exited the Swamp. Thankfully no serious damage, but we did push up the back up transom mounted transducer.  A local diver in Norfolk pushed it back in place.  (Yeah, I know, we’re getting to be diving wusses, but the water was only 61 degrees!)

We decided to stay a second night at the visitor’s center, moved forward and against the wall.  We were joined by a total of eight boats, including fellow Loopers  Over Ice, Changing Latitudes, LeryLynn, among others and with Chica and Phase II passing through.

As we approached the lock, these boats were waiting ahead of us to get in, tied to the “dolphin pilings”.  Note the green light allowing us to enter the lock.  While at the lock, a new Visitor’s center employee, Sarah, was taking an introductory tour.  We offered to take her to the Visitor’s Center on our boat, and her supervisor agreed.  Boats can stop mid-Swamp at the Visitor’s Center and tie up overnight.  When we arrived, there were already a few boats there, so we rafted to the outside of a sailboat, Arapesh from Canada.  Sunday School, fellow looper, was also there.

It was a Dismal Day, as we entered into the Dismal Swamp.  Passed a small marina as we entered, which is a good option if you cannot stop at Elizabeth City for some reason.

A bit our of order.  We stopped at Whiticar Creek Marina just outside of Oriental, NC and at River Forest Marina in Belhaven, NC before Elizabeth City. Both of these were repeat stops for us; they were well positioned and well worth doing again.  Here are some shots of sunrise at Whitticar Creek — it is rare that we are up that early, and we are often the last ones off of the dock in the mornings.  Hey, this is supposed to be fun!

When I last posted, we were in Elizabeth City, slowing down our northbound trip in order to time our arrival in Norfolk, VA for the AGLCA (“Looper”) Rendezvous at the Waterside Marina.  We have attended this Rendezvous before — by car, from NY — but this was to be our first time on our own boat.  We met relatively few Loopers on our way south, and added a few more as we moved north from Florida towards Norfolk.

In order to move north from Elizabeth City towards Norfolk, there are two choices of routes:  the “Virginia Cut” or the Dismal Swamp.  See our prior postings from Fall, 2015 — we accidentally missed the turnoff for the Dismal Swamp route and wound up taking the Virginia Cut southbound.  We were determined to go through the Swamp on the way north, and we did so.

At Norfolk, we were to meet with Loopers on over 50 other boats; over 250 other Loopers attended the seminars and conferences.  Many of the 50 boats will be headed north with us, as we continue on the Loop.  Some who attended had already completed their first Loop — these are Gold Loopers.  A select few have completed more than one Loop — these are the Platinum Loopers. And a few are Aspiring Loopers.  To them, we say, as always, DON’T WAIT!!

We say “DON’T WAIT” because there is no way of knowing what life will bring, and therein lies the story…but first, let me post a few catch up posts and photos, bringing you to our current location, Crisfiled, MD.

One of our favorite stops so far.  They call themselves the City of Hospitality, and it couldn’t be more true.  It is a lovely old City, at the southern edge of the Dismal Swamp. The City provides free dockage, the people are friendly and inviting, and the ex-Mayor and folks from the Visitors Center host a wine and cheese reception several times a week to great cruiser who have stopped.  Sadly, many of the local businesses are no longer open and the downtown, while filled with many lovely older buildings, has lost many businesses and restaurants.  We truly hope that the downtown area turns around soon.  See below for the story of the Rose Buddies, a story we have been hearing for years and we are grateful to have come and experienced it for ourselves.

Traffic through the Alligator Pungo Canal; a mile marker along the way; walk near Morehead City, NC, our dock mate at Dudley’s Marina.

This was a big guy, who often turned on his side to look back up at us.

There are crab pots to be encountered almost constantly from the Delaware down to the Keys.   It would be nice if they were easy to see, set up in lines, and never in the channel, but that is never the case.  It seems that the choppier the water, the darker they are in color.  Can you spot the pot in this photo?  This was crossing the Albermarle in a pretty good chop.  This guy decided to save money by cutting most of his floats in half, making them even harder to see.  Helped a catamaran to tie up at our current dock in Elizabeth City, who had to then dive on the bottom of his boat to remove two of them that wrapped around his running gear, stopping one engine.