Hampton - Waiting for the Bunches

Not much to the marina but it has bicycles, a washer and dryer, excellent showers and it's close to town 

Today was boat cleaning and prep time to get ready for Don and Liz Bunch. They are due around 8:00 pm tonight and will ride with us back to their home in Washington, NC. It's amazing how much grime the boat can accumulate over only a couple of weeks. I washed most of it away but it's still only 0.4 Sharmans clean, if that good - but it's a lot better than it was! Cleaning out the aft cabin was akin to Hercules' task of the Aegean Stables! However all is ready now, you'd never know how cluttered it was - just don't look in any of the cockpit lockers!

Two tour  boats operate out of the marina, full loads today

We are ahead of the projected closing of the Gilmerton Bridge and the railroad bridge next to it. We'll  be passing through before any of this starts. The first opening in the morning is at 9:30 and every 60 minutes thereafter so we'll leave here about 7:00 am to make the first opening. From there it's on to the Dismal Swamp lock for the 11:00 am opening. If you miss that you'll have to wait until 1:30 for the next passage.

In going through the Dismal Swamp we usually hit a few logs laying across the bottom so you don't want to speed along too quickly. With our keel leading the way, it's not too bad but a hit will wake you up. We'll overnight at the Visitor Center which has a dock for four boats that may turn into a dock for many more by rafting across the canal at night, depends upon the traffic. It will be helpful to have crew aboard to help out.