Dismal Swamp Canal

Not Dismal at all. Beautiful!!!  Glad we came this way - even if we have to miss dinner and tie-up at Coinjock ...

We tied up to a dock in the middle of nowhere last night.  Nobody around. Extremely quiet. Although the sign warned us, the bears did not show up.  Good thing that dock was there - we wouldn't have made the next dock before dark.  Our depth gauge said 4'4"; our draft is 4'9" - hmm....
Up in the Dismal, between the locks - no tide, no current, no wind - no problem!

We made it another whopping five miles today, to the Dismal Swamp Visitor Center, and stopped for "a few hours" - and we are still here!  Today was D.S. Days - a street fair of sorts at the park, with stuff to (not) buy, exhibits, food (hot dogs), free bicycles (we did), swamp boardwalk (did that too), other boaters to talk at and to, and are now trapped as the inner boat in an overnight raft-up at the not-big-enough free dock.

Tomorrow we make the morning lock out of here, then go to the Goat Island Anchorage (if the Doyles are still there), then maybe (or not) onward to Elizabeth City, NC.  Weather depending, we make the jump over the [can't be as bad as they say-] Albemarle Sound and into shelter in the Alligator [really?] River the next day.

MARK - when would be a good time for that crossing?  Should we be as scared or as cautious as your guide suggests?
And, are you still @ Goat Island tonight?