Duckweed Season

The lock tender told us that it was Duckweed Season on the Dismal Swamp but we weren’t convinced until today. The water is so full of tannins from Cypress and Junipers that yesterday it looked black. Today it’s Kermit The Frog green. We only moved about 10 miles down to the Visitor’s Center but it was like traveling through pea soup for the last hour. There were overhanging branches (that we now navigate around) and logs lurking just beneath the surface that were next to impossible to see. We took it pretty slow once we bumped a few.

Earlier, we knew that it was going to be a rainy day so we unfolded the bikes and got in an early ride before it started. The old highway that runs along the swamp ditch has been converted to a bike trail so it was an easy ride. It started raining a few minutes after we got the bikes back on board. The short boat trip through the pea soup was mostly in the rain but I counted myself lucky to be the soggy lookout rather than the driver. It was not easy. We tied up to the dock and walked around the Visitor Center in the rain.

The free dock was empty when we arrived. Now there are four boats tucked in tightly. You can see the Duckweed covering the water. It’ll be another quiet night. With locks at either end, there is no tide.