We just went south through the swamp two weeks ago. The only significant vegetationwas at the southern end of each lock. I enjoy the Dismal but this run, not somuch. We hit the 0830 Deep Creek lock opening with about 15 boats. They madetwo lock throughs and then opened the bridge. It ate up a lot of time. Then thegrinding of teeth began. Someone up in the front of the big conga line decidedto run at 3.5 -3.8 kts. I called out on the radio that IF we didn’t pick it upto 5 kts we would all be in the swamp for the night. They picked it up for 20minutes and then right back to slow slow. When we hit the visitor’s center avery wide catamaran was tied up. I think he was the culprit. There was no wayto pass him in the canal because of his beam. It was already 1530 so we didn’tget the opportunity to make the South Bridge opening and sit on the wall forthe night. Instead we tied up to the bridge fender wall.
The next morning we were first in line, but..... the stb engine failed tostart. I quickly vented the Cummins and got it started. Then I discovered asteady leak on the stop solenoid. We tied up to the south wall and allowedothers to pass. I went into NASCAR pit crew mode and had the solenoid changedin 20 minutes (I had just changed the port this spring). Luckily there were somany boats that we lock operator did two openings. I like the swamp. But, itwas pretty frustrating not being able to make it through in one day.
