Segue's Voyage on the Great Loop
Segue Crew
We've been thinking about this trip for a few years now. I have been retired for almost 5 years and when Wayne retired in April we decided it was time to do it. Lucy, our miniature schnauzer, is happy only when with her "Peeps," so she gladly came along. Our boat is Segue, a 1984 43-foot aft cabin cruiser made by Californian Yachts. We purchased it in 2003 and have been working (and playing) on it since.
Segue
According to the GreatLoop.com website,
"The Great Loop is the continuous waterway that encompasses the eastern portion
of North America – including the Atlantic and Gulf Intracoastal Waterways, the
Great Lakes, the Canadian Heritage Canals, and the inland rivers of America’s
heartland. It is also known as the Great Circle Route and is considered one of
the safest long distance cruising routes in the world."
On Monday, October 8, 2007, 7:55 AM, M/V Segue pulled out of the slip at Choto
Marina, Knoxville, TN, and headed out on the Great Loop. Aboard are Wayne and
Doris Prichard and our miniature schnauzer, Lucy. This is the view towards Lake
Loudon from the slip that morning.
By evening we had gone through Ft. Loudon Lock (with 5 other boats, 2 of which
are headed, like we, to the AGLCA Rendezvous at Joe Wheeler State Park, AL) We
stopped at Blue Springs Marina to fill up with fuel and spent that night at
Euchee Marina alongside Tellico Lady and Last Dragon.
Making our way to Mobile…
Hales Bar Marina, December 12, was a dreary site. The picture above is a shot of the abandoned Hales Bar Electrical plant. The river channel is on the left of the picture and the marina in the foreground to the right. The colored roofs you see belong to a line of floating cabins that the marina rents. Getting into the marina was a real scary deal. We were having a hard time communicating with the person in the office. We thought we saw what needed to be done...but at one point she said, "turn now!" We did...and weaved our way into the north side of the fuel dock. Not the way you want to do it. We fueled up and then made our way gingerly back out and along the front of the cabins to the correct entrance. A very helpful guy came out and assisted our tie up. It had begun to rain.
December 13, 2007. Water and sky for a beautiful scene leaving
Hales Bar the next day.
Goose Pond sunset December 13. Goose Pond was a beautiful area. We met a couple
who had attended the Loop conference with us in October. They have stopped at
Goose Pond for a while before returning to their home in Alabama.
Grand Harbor Marina at the top of the TennTom was a lovely spot to spend an extra day. We borrowed the courtesy van and went in for provisions before we caught up on laundry. Our day off was gone before we knew it! We've learned already that we do not want to do a big provisions run AND big laundry load in one day. It's good to check out the laundromat facilities ahead of time, too. Grand Harbor had one working washer and several dryers so the process took a little longer than we would have liked.
They don't call it Goat Island for nothing.
Lucy spends warm days on the bridge with us...but when it's
chilly outside we let her stay in the salon. She's not wild about rough waters
or faster speeds (well, 20mph, for us.) So far she's holding up well. We still
haven't anchored out...so we haven't had her try out the Poop Deck.
December 18 we did 3 locks and stayed at Midway Marina. The guy that helped us
tie up was so helpful. One December 19 we were at Columbus Marina after 4 locks.
Very nice place. We borrowed the courtesy car and did a small run into town.
December 20, 2007 - The trip from Columbus Marina down to
Demopolis will forever be ingrained in our memory. The weather reports we saw as
we left Columbus that morning were calling for light rain with occasional
thunderstorms. It rained lightly for a while…then started pouring. As we were
going thru Bevill Lock I was outfitted in Goretex jacket and pants and water was
pooling on the top of my boat shoes. Nasty stuff.
But, we thought that was our last lock for the day and we’d be warm and dry soon
at the anchorage we’d selected, Sumter Landing. As we approached Sumter Landing,
around 2:30 PM, it began to storm with lighting and thunder. The winds were
whipping around from every direction, it seemed. We aimed for the center of the
entrance and found very shallow water. We actually had to enter more from the
downstream side to get into the pool…but when inside we had around 10-12 ft.
Wayne let out the anchor while I struggled to keep the boat “in place” while the
wind was doing it’s thing. @#$%^^^@#$&&& !!!
The anchor set…but after watching the position for a few minutes we decided to
pull it up and reset a little further out in the center of the area. As Wayne
was retrieving the anchor the winch seized up and quit. Wayne pulled the anchor
on up…and found about 2 feet of sticky black mud packed around it. With the
winch acting up…and time a-wastin’ with the wind playing havoc with the boat…we
decided to abandon the anchorage idea and go on down to Demopolis. But, as Wayne
says, the water gods weren’t through with us yet.
As we were trying to thread the needle out of the area…leaning towards the
downstream side…the wind slammed us up close to the bank and we got mired in the
mud. We tried to move and couldn’t. Tow Boat US, we thought. No cellular
coverage. We hailed Heflin Lock, the one downstream, and ask the lockmaster to
call them. He did and came back with the info that there was NO coverage for 50
miles either way. Our option was to have someone from Columbus Marina or
Demopolis come and get us out. We chose Demopolis and he said he would contact
them. Meanwhile we decided to try again to get out. The wind had died down some.
We made it out!! We called off the cavalry…and decided to go for Demopolis, one
lock and 50 miles ahead. Didn’t seem to be much choice…
We made it to the lock by 4:00 PM. The lockmaster said that a towboat, Chippawa,
was headed downstream behind us and had priority through the lock. We should
wait for it to go down. We sat there for a few minutes and Wayne decided to ask
if we could go ahead of the tow. The lockmaster said he’d be glad to ask if the
towboat captain wanted to relinquish his right…and he DID! We got through the
lock by 4:30 and headed out at max speed (read: 20 mph).
A night run was never in our plans. We had one hour of light and two hours
running in the dark. We made it to Demopolis Yacht Basin by 7:30 PM and were
both completely wrung out from adrenalin rush. A day off on the 21st was much
needed!!
December 21, 2007 – Day at Demopolis Yacht Basin. We got a few supplies with the courtesy car, did a little laundry, cleaned up the boat, and received oil that Wayne had shipped in… It was nice. We were tied up against a dock just across from the fuel dock. This afternoon Wayne spotted a towboat fueling up and decided to go over and ask for a tour (he’s wanted to do this for some time now.) The captain gladly took him aboard and here’s a picture of Wayne in the towboat pilot house. I was shooting it into the afternoon sun, but if you look closely up in the pilot house the outline of a person you see...is Wayne.
December 22, 2007 - Left Demopolis and traveled all the way down
to Bobby’s Fish Camp. We had hoped to anchor out alongside the channel of the
waterway at a recommended anchorage…but, again, too little water and too much
wind. Bobby’s offered a dock that ran parallel to the channel, no electricity.
$1/ft. But…the restaurant was open and we enjoyed carry out catfish dinners. We
felt the barges coming along during the night but at least knew we were attached
to the dock. Here's a picture of one of the prettier tow boats we saw on this
trip.
December 23, 2007 – Sunday night found us anchoring successfully for the first
time this trip. We made it down to MM 52.8 and the Alabama River Cutoff. Nice
spot. Got “buzzed” by a number of fishing or hunting boats, but it was a good
anchorage. We set both a bow and stern anchor. The photo below was taken the
next morning...can't get enough of these water and sky shots....
December 24, 2007 – We traveled down to Daymark 12.2 anchorage at
the Tensas River Cutoff. Great anchorage. We had wondered whether we could make
it all the way down to Fairhope…but decided not to after seeing weather reports
calling for some wind and rain. We've gone through lots of locks at this point,
but only had to request passage under (or around, in this case) two railroad
bridges. At around MM 14 we went through the Mile 14 railroad bridge as the
bridge swiveled around to accommodate us.
Christmas Day, 2007 – After waiting at Daymark 12.2 until about noon, we left
for Fairhope. It rained that morning and looked like it would not clear off, but
as we approached Mobile going under the “Dolly Parton Bridge” (from a distance
the bridge structure forms two large humps pointing skyward) you can see the
clearing sky coming in from the West. We made it through the downtown Mobile
area with all the big boats. Mostly quiet that day, thankfully.
We did see some tugboats working to move a large vessel...
Mobile’s new convention center in the foreground and Alabama's tallest building,
the RSA Tower.
We've logged around 880 miles so far in this 5000 mile trip and made it down the
TennTom. It has been a real adventure so far, to say the least. Working our way
around each curve, straining to see if a towboat was coming...and difficulty in
anchoring out the first couple of tries...were the main sources of stress. And,
of course, we're still learning what we and the boat can do so we feel
challenged. Speaking of towboats, our friend Harold Stanton caught this image
from our web tracking site and sent to us with the label, "Beep, beep. Passing a
doublewide on the TennTom."
Got into Fairhope around 3 PM after an uneventful trip across the Bay. The
waters were maybe 1-2 ft. with only a few whitecaps showing. We stayed at
Eastern Shore Marine, a few miles north of the center of town. Getting into the
marina we had a stiff wind to fight getting lined up along the dock. Vicki and
Bob Riggs saw us coming in as they were taking a walk and drove over to the
marina to help us dock. They are from Memphis, TN, and moved to Fairhope about 8
years ago having traveled here and liking it. Fairhope has been dubbed an
excellent place to retire. Vicki and Bob kindly offered to come back over during
our stay to share their experience cruising the Florida Panhandle and Gulf
Coast.
December 26 - 28, 2007 – Three days off in Fairhope. Took care of
provisioning and laundry on the first day…and did some boat work. The 27th was
our 39th wedding anniversary so we planned a light day. Our internet and
telephone connections were intermittent at Fairhope so we set out on that
Thursday to find a Wi-Fi somewhere in town. We ended up at the Grand Harbor
Marriott Resort thinking they might have Wi-Fi in the lobby. Not so. Turns out
we could get a strong signal in the middle of a shopping center parking lot
nearby so we checked our email.
Thursday afternoon Vicki and Bob came back over and gave us some great
information based on their having boated around here and the panhandle for
years. They plan to begin their loop cruise this March.
Friday we had planned to head south to the ICW, but the weather looked windy and
stormy so we decided to wait until Saturday, December 29. Our internet
connection is working great today, though, so the blog posts I've been saving up
will finally make the web!
December 29 - The weather was still a little rainy and blustery
the Saturday morning we left Fairhope. Wayne had put waypoints in our GPS system
for the course down the east side of Mobile Bay to the point where we would
enter the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway). We made our way into the "ditch," as the
ICW is sometimes referred to, and proceeded to pass by some beautiful areas of
the Gulf Island National Seashore. On a prettier day we might have stopped in
for a stroll on the beach...
We had planned to travel about 50 miles that day, but with an early start that
morning we decided later to add a few more miles. We called Bob Riggs and ask
him about any recommendations. He put us on to the Palafox Marina in Pensacola
and that's where we went. Really nice, new marina...right downtown in historical
area of Pensacola. While we had talked to the marina office to arrange the
night's stay, there was no one physically stationed at the marina that night.
The regular dock master was off on funeral leave. We had no trouble getting in
and secured for the evening.
December 30 - We woke up Sunday morning to thunder storms early. They cleared
out by sunrise, but the skies were still cloudy and a little threatening.
Checking the weather we saw that the stormy weather seemed on its way north, so
we took a little walk up through downtown Pensacola and set out again at about
10 AM. Here we are in the marina, bow out, facing the camera, second from the
left end.
As we headed out of the Pensacola harbor, looking south towards the ICW, the sky clearly showed the stormy weather to our west and clearing skies to the east. At least that's what we were counting on...
The afternoon found us near Ft. Walton Beach, FL, and we decided to tie up for
the night at the City Dock. The dock runs parallel to the waterway, but traffic
was light that day and we knew we could get out and away quickly the next
morning if we stayed closer to the ICW. The dock doesn't have an electrical hook
up, but it does provide water and pump out facilities. And did I mention...it's
free? Bob and Laura DeFever were docked there with their sailboat, Deja Vu. Bob
helped us tie up and we chatted with him for a while about their trip from Ft.
Pierce, FL, to Mobile, AL, where they planned to live and work for the year.
The Dock is right next to a city park and within easy walking distance of a Publix supermarket so everyone (Lucy included) was pleased with the arrangement. Lucy discovered pigeons...and how they can be just slow enough on take-off to nearly allow her to get up close and personal.
We spent a cozy evening there, Wayne and I catching up on reading and
communications...
Lucy content to hang out.
December 31, New Year's Eve, brought the prettiest day of travel we've had in
weeks. (Considering short time we've been gone, that's saying a lot!) The skies
cleared up, the sun came out, the temperature warmed...now THIS is what we're
here for! We left Ft. Walton Beach early. Going through areas like the "Grand
Canyon" and Choctawhatchee Bay we saw beautiful sky, water, and wildlife. We
rolled up the bridge curtains and took off the coats!
Got some great close-ups of birds....I used the red eye reduction on this one,
it was so close.
And...this "bird" did a close fly by as well....
We had just gone under the West Bay Creek Bridge when Wayne said, "You know, it
looks like that plane is coming right for us!" We watched this little sea plane
come right in front of the bridge windows and make a hard turn coming abeam our
port side. By then I'd grabbed the camera and got this parting shot as he went
on down to land near the bridge. Wayne said there were two people in the plane.
Wayne waved at them and they waved back.
OK, the one that got away: We were sitting on the bridge, enjoying the ride,
when we hear a slapping sound. We heard it 5 or more times and Wayne kept saying
it was the back windows on the bridge flapping in the breeze. I kept looking for
that action to accompany the sound and it never happened. I decided I'd better
check things down on the back deck to make sure we weren't about to lose
something. When I stepped onto the deck I was met with the view of a
porpoise...about 5 or 6 feet away from our port side and completely up in the
air! On entering the water, I heard the slapping sound. That porpoise had been
with us for some time, and we were oblivious! I ran back up to the bridge and
grabbed the camera, but it was gone. Darn! I've been assured we'll see more.
The weather on New Year's Day was supposed to turn bad for travel: high winds
and rough water. We made reservations at the Panama City Marina with plans to
arrive Tuesday morning so we'd be tied up fast for the winds. The marina would
be "closed" for the holiday, but they gave us instructions on where to tie up
and were leaving a packet for us to pick up. But New Year's Eve was so pretty we
really wanted to anchor out that night. We had chosen a place (very near the
marina) called Smack Bayou. Both of our water guides highly recommended this
anchorage for its beauty and security in winds. When we got to the bayou it was
filled with boats. Many may have just been there for the day, but there wasn't
room for our boat to get in among them and wait them out. We went, instead, to a
nearby anchorage called Watson Bayou and anchored among a scattering of
sailboats tied to mooring balls. We settled in for the evening and made some
Happy New Year calls....
January 1, 2008 - The next morning at about 4:30 we both woke up
to the sounds of wind whipping around the boat. The tide had gone out...and with
all the swirling around going on in that little pocket of water we decided to
pick up anchor and get away from the nearby sailboats. Following our course in,
we slowly made our way out and back onto the bay. The marina was only a short
distance away, but when we got there we couldn't quite make out how to get into
the area behind a seawall...so we just circled around a while in the bay until
the sun came up and we could see our way in. We fought the winds to get tied up,
then came back in and crashed for the day. We plan to spend several days here
until the winds die down.
Wayne called a contact from the Trawlering discussion group, Rich Gano, who had
been very helpful when we were going through the replacement of fuel tank. Rich
is coming over on Wednesday to see the tanks and, after we go to lunch, to take
us to a grocery store for provisions.
Panama City Marina is very nice. It's within walking distance of downtown,
including the public library. I'll have to make a visit there before we leave.
The area around the marina has a park which makes Lucy happy. Here's a shot of
the sun setting on New Year's Day from our position on Pier 6. Happy New Year!!
January 4, 2008 – Segue pulled out from the Panama City Marina
early on the 4th and headed for Apalachicola, FL, about 60 miles away.
The trip to Apalachicola was a chilly one! We were driving from the bridge
because we had some long passages across bays and could spot the channel markers
easier from above. At one point, though, we had an electric blanket wrapped
around our legs…and a down comforter…and a polartec blanket. Warm weather, here
we come!
Apalachicola is a neat little town. We walked from the marina to the grocery
store for a few items. The town is playing up to tourists now…but it’s cute.
We pulled into Apalachicola behind a boat from New Orleans dubbed “My Missy.”
We’d gotten to know the crew in Panama City because they were docked with us on
the transient dock there. They highly recommended the oysters, as did the
guidebooks, so Wayne indulged in a couple of dozen while I dined on peel and eat
shrimp. De-lish!
January 5 - Wayne's Birthday!! - As we left Apalachicola that morning I caught
this sign advertising Scipio Creek Marina where we had stayed the night before.
“Transients welcome” may sound like we were there among hobos…but “transient” is
the term used for boats, like ours, that are “passing through” and not staying
for a long time at the marina. Hobo: “One who wanders from place to place
without a permanent home or a means of livelihood.” Hmmmmm. No, wait…we have
a permanent home. For now.
The trip to the Moorings Marina at Carrabelle was brief, by our standards…25
miles. We had originally planned to spend two nights at Scipio and go to
Carrabelle on Sunday. Looking at Weather Underground (www.wunderground.com),
however, we decided there might be a window for leaving Carrabelle on Sunday
afternoon for Clearwater and arriving Monday morning. Read: winds of 10mph or
less and seas of 1-2 ft. Weather Underground has a marine forecast for each
coastal area and will show a chart with predicted wave activity in feet. The 0-1
and 1-2 feet wave heights are a shade of pink. It looked like large areas of
"pink waves" coming up for our travel path Sunday through Sunday night. We
called our boating friend in Knoxville, Jim Hemphill, as we were cruising to
Apalachicola to see if he could join us a day early for the crossing. Jim and
his wife Pam are planning their trip on the Loop and Jim was glad to experience
this crossing with us. Jim was able to alter his schedule and he agreed to join
us in Carrabelle Saturday evening. (Jim had checked out the options for getting
to Carrabelle earlier in the week. Flying was out because of the iffy schedule
we had. Instead, he rented a car in Knoxville and drove to Tallahassee, FL. From
Tallahassee he hired a cab to take him the remainder of the way to Carrabelle.
You gotta want to get there!)
Before Jim arrived, Wayne and I talked with Buddy, the Moorings’ weather expert
to see what he thought about a Sunday departure. Buddy saw a window, too, but
strongly advised that we leave Sunday morning to take advantage of the weather.
He suggested we leave at sun-up…provided the wind was calm. “If the flag at our
office is flying out straight…just forget it.” Buddy also advised us to go
closer into the coastline for our crossing. While it would mean a few more hours
(19 instead of 17…but who’s counting at that point!) it would offer us the
opportunity to duck into land should the weather become threatening. In winter
months there are more chances for weather to change quickly down here, Buddy
said, and we would have more peace of mind following the new route. We could
anchor out at Ancelot Key and wait for daybreak to navigate the Clearwater
Harbor. Armed with this advice we decided to leave first thing Sunday morning,
January 6, and make our way to Clearwater.
When Jim came in that afternoon we told him of our new schedule and he was all
for it. We all went out to dinner that evening to Pirates…transportation
courtesy of Moorings staff…and went to bed for a good night’s rest.
January 6 - Why do a crossing? Why not continue as we were, hopping from one place to the next in 50-60 mile spurts? The Intracoastal Waterway, which we started in Mobile Bay, ends in Carrabelle and picks up again near Tarpon Springs, Fl, just above Clearwater. There’s an option to hop around the “Big Bend” in Florida by going out in the Gulf and coming back in to stops like Steinhatchee or Crystal River…but with few weather windows in December it could take days to find the right travel time. FYI, the Intracoastal Waterway is defined by the Columbia Encyclopedia as,
“3,000 mi (4,827 km) long, partly natural, partly artificial, providing sheltered passage for commercial and leisure boats along the U.S. Atlantic coast from Boston, Mass. to Key West, S Fla., and along the Gulf of Mexico coast from Apalachee Bay, NW Fla., to Brownsville, Tex., on the Rio Grande. The toll-free waterway, authorized by Congress in 1919, is maintained by the Army Corps of Engineers at a minimum depth of 12 ft (4 m) for most of its length; some parts have 7-ft (2.1-m) and 9-ft (2.7-m) minimum depths. Among some of the waterway's most often used canals along the Atlantic route are the Chesapeake & Delaware and the Chesapeake & Albemarle; along the Gulf route the most used are the New Orleans–Rigolets Cut, the Port Arthur–Corpus Christi Channel, and the Inner Harbor Navigational Canal at New Orleans. The separate Okeechobee Waterway, S Fla., crosses the Florida peninsula. Plans to build a canal across N Florida to link the Atlantic and Gulf sections were blocked in 1971 by a presidential order to prevent potential environmental damage. Many miles of navigable waterways connect with the coastal system, including the Hudson River–New York State Canal System, the Chesapeake Bay, the sounds of North Carolina, the Savannah River, the Apalachicola River, and the entire Mississippi River system. The Intracoastal Waterway has a good deal of commercial activity; barges haul petroleum, petroleum products, foodstuffs, building materials, and manufactured goods.”
We woke up early on Sunday, January 6, determined to be ready
with engines running when the sun rose. The first thing we checked was the
office flag. As you can see by the picture, the flag wasn't moving. We’re off!!!
We left Carrabelle and headed out the East Pass. At that point, the water looked
harmless...and this shrimp boat was one of the few signs of life we spotted.
As we went through the pass and entered the Gulf of Mexico the waves picked up.
We estimated they were about 2-4 feet. We had moved everything off of the
surfaces downstairs in preparation for this…and had covered the glassware with
athletic socks to protect it from breakage. Good thing! By our estimation we had
a few 5-footers thrown at us as we made our way on an easterly path to get
closer to shore. Jim, Wayne, and I took hourly shifts at the helm…and for the
first 3-4 hours we were dealing with pretty rough waters, by our standards. As
Jim said, “This will be a confidence builder.” How right he was! The boat held
up superbly. Oh, it creaked and groaned…but there was no damage. Now we
humans…well, we were OK, too, as long as we held onto something when moving
around. Lucy had a dose of Dramamine that morning and planted herself on the
floor for this part of the trip.
When we got to the waypoint indicating our turn to the south, the seas calmed.
We’re talking glassy smooth seas. Calm. Then fog set in. Visibility went
down to about 1 mile, but we had the radar on, of course, and the water was
still benign. The fog stuck with us for about 4 hours and when it lifted we were
greeted with a beautiful sea. These are some of the views we took in that
afternoon and evening…
Night came... on and we settled into a routine of having one on the helm, one at
the radar screen…and the other person could either stay up (usually the case) or
head down for a short rest.
We had no cell phone coverage in the Gulf after we got out about 10 miles. When
we saw our first light (“oh, there’s Clearwater!”) we were sure we’d be able to
pick up some coverage, but no. We were still probably 20 miles from land. We
could have used the VHF radio to call for assistance if needed, but it would
have been nice to check in with our friends and family while on this endurance
run. “Hi, Mom. Guess what I’m doing right now!!”
As we moved closer to Clearwater and the anchorage we’d selected for the night
(Ancelot Key) we made the decision to push on through to Clearwater Marina. The
water was SO calm…and who knew what tomorrow would bring.
The entrance into Clearwater Harbor was tricky. Crab pots everywhere. We hit
one, but avoided 50 others. We made it under the bridge at the harbor entrance,
but missed the immediate turn that would have taken us to the marina. We
realized our mistake and doubled back…but ran aground on the edge of the channel
as we made the correct turn. By this time it was about 3:30 AM on January 7. We
just threw out the anchor, turned on all the lights in the boat, and went to bed
for a few hours…knowing that the tide would be coming in later that morning and
we could probably work our way off easier.
And we did just that. We pulled into Clearwater Municipal Marina at around 9:30
AM and were greeted by our newly made friends on My Missy. We re-fueled and Jim
made plans for a rental car. We had a cup of coffee and reviewed our exciting
19-hour, 190-mile trek. Jim took this parting shot of Wayne and I as he set off
for home. We are so glad Jim came along. We could have done it alone, but
it was awfully nice to be able to rotate around and offer the opportunity for an
occasional rest. Thank you, Jim!
January 8 – Clearwater was beautiful! And WARM!
But our sights were set on Sarasota and a nice extended visit with our friend
Bob Sicignano.
January 8 - We left early on the 8th and pulled into Marina Jack’s in Sarasota that afternoon. Sarasota is gorgeous this time of year. The marina is right downtown and within easy walking distance of a couple of grocery stores, post office, restaurants, library, etc. We both admit we could live here for several months a year. Here's a picture of Segue docked in the marina, bow out, with the Sarasota skyline in the background.
We’ve had coffee with Bob and his regular coffee crew…celebrated Shirley’s birthday with a dinner at Bob’s house…and entertained our Sarasota friends, Shirley, Bob, and Julie, with a dinner on the boat.
And shortly after we arrived in Sarasota our “sister ship” My
Missy pulled in next door. We’re getting to know Bruce, Missy, and
family…including three little poodles that compete with Lucy for attention as
folks walk by.
A front started through on Sunday, January 13, and this was the view of the fog moving in that afternoon towards the marina...
Being around the water offers so many photo ops!
We’re here until Friday the 18th. Knowing that, I was able to enroll in a
watercolor class at the Art Center Sarasota January 14-17 with Linda Kemp, an
artist I’ve admired. The classes are within walking distance of the marina…how
convenient! We also had a chance to schedule a visit from Captain Patti Moore of
Sea Sense Boating (www.seasenseboating.com) on Sunday the 13th. Patti worked
with us (me at the helm and Wayne doing the lines) to help me gain experience in
maneuvering the boat into a slip or alongside a dock...and to help us develop a
method of communicating during the process. We worked at it from about 9-2:30
(with a lunch break) and both learned a lot from the experience.
Wayne has been busy with the boat. We found a diver to cut the crab pot line
from our prop. (By "found" I mean that Wayne was sitting on the back deck when a
diver emerged from the water in the slip opposite ours. He agreed to take a look
and was able to wrap up the job in no time!) It's time for an oil change so that
will happen this week. We'll head out again on Friday, January 18.
Friday, January 18, 2008
January 18 - Sarasota was beautiful and we loved spending time
with Bob and Shirley.
We left at about 8 AM with an anchorage about 30 miles south in mind for the
night. As often happens, we changed our mind en route. Checking the weather
forecast for the next few days we realized that some blustery weather was coming
in the next evening. One of our dock mates at Sarasota had strongly recommended
an anchorage at Pelican Bay which was about 25 miles beyond the anchorage we
originally had in mind. We decided to keep going on to Pelican Bay so we'd have
a shorter run the next day to Ft. Myers and a mooring ball.
We arrived at Pelican Bay in the early afternoon and tiptoed into the area
around shallow water. (Skipper Bob's description of how to get into the Bay is
right on!) There were probably 20 boats anchored in the area but plenty of room
for everyone. The Bay is situated between a small island and the Cayo Costa
State Park. We got the dinghy down for the first time this trip and took Lucy in
for a visit to the park.
The next morning we saw this group of day-trippers being ferried
into the park.
January 19 - Saturday morning found us surrounded by fog. We waited until about
9:30 to take Lucy ashore...and left the Bay around 10:00. We were headed for Ft.
Myers Beach and a few days tied to a mooring ball.
We really took to the mooring idea! We dinghy-ed in a couple of
times a day for Lucy or to explore the city. We had some rough winds while in
Ft. Myers Beach, but the mooring ball made it OK to be "on the hook." Here we
are in the harbor.
Both Wayne and I agree that we could seriously spend some time down in Ft. Myers
Beach. One day we walked across the bridge and all the way to Winn Dixie and
West Marine for a few supplies. (It was a pretty long walk...we took the trolley
back to the bridge.)
One evening we swapped boat tours with a 1976 Californian, Divine, that was
moored next to us. Vivienne and Brian Fellows are from Belleville, Ontario,
Canada, and have spent a lot of time on the water. We're hoping to see them
later this year when we're up in Canada.
Brian and Vivienne are doing a lot of refurbishing on their boat. One thing they
did was remove the carpet from the inside stairs. We really like that idea...and
so have removed the carpet from the stairs going down into our galley. We got
all the staples and carpet tacks out. Now we just need to sand and re-stain.
Just what we needed...a project!
Here's a picture of Divine anchored in the Ft. Myers mooring field.
You might wonder about the process of getting Lucy to shore for a walk twice
daily when we're anchored out or mooring. (Yes...we had intended to use the
litter box. And Lucy seemed likely to comply. We just didn't like it sitting out
on the back deck. It does tend to accumulate an odor.) We have a life jacket for
her with a handle on the back to make lifting her into and out of the dinghy
easier. Usually we both go on the trip to shore with Lucy since she really likes
to sit in someones lap. (Yes, we accommodate the dog in a lot of matters.)
Anyway, we all get in the dinghy...with plastic pick-up-the-poop bags, her
leash...and head for shore. Usually with a mooring field there's a dock nearby
for the dinghies. When anchored out, you just have to go up on shore most times
and tie the dinghy off best you can. Weather is the dinghy's enemy, of course.
If it's raining, foggy or really windy we're probably going to wear our
waterproof gear to and fro. Here's Lucy in her life vest...and the dinghy dock
at Ft. Myers Beach.
I finally got some great shots of dolphins on the trip down from Sarasota!
January 24 - We stayed at Ft. Myers Beach until the morning of
January 24. The local boating hang-out, Bonita Bill's, was having a big party on
that Friday night in honor of "Bobby Burns' birthday." We hated to miss it, but
felt the need to move on. Are you getting the idea that these boaters are very
gregarious people??
A fog had moved in that Thursday morning, but every weather forecast we could
find said it would clear up around nine o'clock. We were headed down to the
Naples City Dock about 30 miles down the coast and planned to run "outside" in
the Gulf. We left the mooring ball and made our way over to Ballard's Oil in the
harbor to top off with fuel at $3.19/gallon...a real deal down here. The guy at
Ballard's said, yes, the fog would lift. It was 10 o'clock when we left his dock
and the fog was still there. The fog stayed with us until late that afternoon.
We did run outside...in the fog...with the radar running...and visibility of
about a mile (deja vu of the crossing, all over again.)
We got to Naples with no problems, though, and stopped at the fuel dock to do a
pump out before going to our slip. I practiced my skills in docking by pulling
into the slip. It took a few tries, but I did it...and without harm to us or the
boat. Have I told you what a patient man Wayne is??? With all this anchoring
out, it's hard to get the docking practice in!
Naples was beautiful, simply put. Blue skies, warm weather, and a cool breeze.
We took care of our "life chores," as Cheryl Travis calls them, on Friday:
grocery shopping and laundry. Saturday I took Lucy-fur in for a grooming while
Wayne washed the boat and we ate lunch out. Sunday we vegged. I painted, Wayne
tinkered on the boat and read some. Jim Hemphill, our crossing companion, called
to say he and Pam were in Tampa looking at boats. They found one they really
liked and it sounded as though they were ready to have a survey done and make an
offer. Jim said he was observing our boat from a webcam at the Naples
City Dock. He had Wayne step out on deck to make sure it was us...and it was!
Jim sent this image by email.
January 28 - We loved Ft. Myers...but we also loved Naples. I see a trend here.
We could have stayed much longer...but there's a 4-day limit at the dock. You
can go out a night and then come back for 4 days (up to 8 total in a month's
time), but we decided to just go on down to Marco Island, about 12 miles down
the coast, to start our leg of the trip down to the Keys. We would anchor one or
two nights in Factory Bay at Marco then run outside to Little Shark River.
Marco Island was OK, but not
exceptional, in our opinion. Lots of screened in areas on the houses that
bordered the bay. I'm thinking there might be a bug problem here during certain
months. Shopping was convenient, though, after a short walk from the Marco River
Marina.
January 29 - The weather forecast looked good...a small threat of some winds
going from 5-10 to 10-15 in the afternoon. We got up at 7 AM with the idea of
leaving today for Little Shark. We took Lucy in for her morning walk and talked
with the people at the marina about the weather predictions. They had heard it
was a little "iffy" for that afternoon...a possibility of some wind. We decided
to kick back for the day and wait until Wednesday to leave. We took Lucy back to
the boat and came back to shore for a walk into the shopping area and lunch.
Tomorrow we'll likely head out for Little Shark River.
January 30 – As we left Marco Island on that Wednesday morning I caught a picture of this sailboat that was sinking (is sunk?) A reminder to all of us traveling in these waters…all it takes is one wrong turn…
Today was a long run, about 65
miles, from Marco Island to an anchorage on Little Shark River. We left Marco at
8 AM and got to the anchorage by 3 PM. We had to dodge some crab pots along the
way, but they were mostly in organized strings so we could figure out easily how
to avoid them. For those who aren’t familiar with crab pots, fishing people put
out cages to catch crabs. The cage is left on the ocean floor (so it’s usually
in “shallow” waters, by ocean standards) with a rope/string attached to a
floating ball that marks the trap’s location. Occasionally the fishing people
come back and check the “pots” for booty. And, occasionally, boats run into the
lines and get rope/string all wound up around their propellers or
shafts...making said boat not run as well as it normally would. We hit a crab
pot coming into Clearwater and had to have a diver remove the line that was
wrapped around the propeller. Below are pictures of what we see of the crab
pots…
The Everglades!! We’re in it!! I
spotted a large reptile in the water, but couldn’t get the camera focus quickly
enough to get a picture. Birds everywhere. There are 2 other boats in the area
right now (6 PM).
By the time we got into the anchorage and made sure the anchor was set well
(there’s a pretty stiff current in the river) it was too late to start exploring
around in the dinghy. (Besides, we were requiring Lucy to use a “puppy pad” on
the back deck tonight. I can just hear her complaints if the two of us took off
in the dinghy.) I can see I’ll need a trip back down to the Everglades to round
out my experiences.
I noticed on the chart for this area an Everglades National Park Wilderness
Waterway:
The recommended
Wilderness Waterway route from Flamingo to Everglades City is indicated by a
magenta line. Navigation of the route is not advisable for boats over 18 ft. in
length, or for boats with high cabins and windshields, because of the narrow
channels and overhanging foliage in some areas.
The entire route can be traversed in a minimum of six hours with outboard motor,
or in seven days by canoe. One day round trips are not recommended. Campsites
are available along the route.”
A seven day canoe trip in the Everglades…camping out in the backcountry.
…Jeff Dobson, this has your name all over it!!
I decided this was the perfect venue for the “Where in the World is Smokey?”
picture. UT has this thing going on their website to highlight “where” UT people
(staff, students, grads) are this year. I had written in and received the
T-shirts we are to wear in the photo…and what better background than the Florida
Everglades. It took a few tries (dodging the sun) but we got it! And here’s
another picture of Wayne loading up the Thermacell unit to ward off the
“no-seeums” that had set in as the sun began to set. It didn’t work. We’re
inside with the windows shut now. Mosquitoes, no. No-seeums? Yes!
January 31 – We were up and out of Shark River by 7:15 AM. We would have been
out sooner, but wanted to let the no-seeums scatter some. The trip down to
Marathon was pretty uneventful. We spotted what looked to be a rain storm to our
east, but it didn’t come over where we were. We dodged a bunch of crab pots,
though!
Coming into the Atlantic Ocean under the Seven Mile Bridge we were greeted with the beautiful turquoise waters of the Keys… And tonight we enjoyed our first Keys sunset (this year!)
Beautiful!
February 1 - We are settled onto our mooring ball in Boot Key
Harbor until next Tuesday. This place is really set up for “full time cruisers,”
as we’re called. The field is managed by the Boot Key Harbor City Marina. For
under $20/day we have dinghy docking available and pump outs at the boat. There
are 226 mooring balls in the harbor…so there are a lot of boats here. There’s
even a water taxi service run by the Smorgasboat (smorgasboat.com) to taxi
people by water to areas on the harbor (West Marine, grocery). The Smorgasboat
comes around to every new boat in the harbor and presents a welcome packet with
information on the area…and a handy cloth bag from West Marine.
Every morning at 9 AM they have a “cruisers net” broadcast on VHF channel 68.
The cruisers network offers an opportunity for people to ask questions,
swap/giveaway/sell merchandise, make announcements of interest. Pretty neat! We
listened in this morning for the first time and introduced ourselves as being
new to the harbor. As a result of our announcement we were visited later by
William Mayberry from Knoxville who’s staying in the harbor until mid-March with
his wife Judy on their sailboat Optimystique. We met William at Blue Springs
Marina back in October when we were just diagnosing the fuel tank problem.
We had a very productive day today (not something we're striving for...it just
happened. A side note, here: Wayne is such a Type A that for a while he kept
thinking, "Now we could complete this loop in much less time if we..." He's come
to his senses now and settled into a leisurely pace. Change of latitude, change
of attitude. It works!)
Anyhow, we had planned to rent a couple of bikes today for our stay...$10/day per bike. Very reasonable, we thought. William mentioned that there was a little shop down the road that sells used bikes for $25. Well, we just had to check it out. We need a bike here...and in Key West. And, who knows, maybe we'll just keep 'em! We bought two bikes, a lock and cord, and had a basket installed on the front of one bike...for $65. What a deal. Wait 'til you see the bikes! I would have snapped them today but the little camera's battery was gone... I'll show you in the next post. We then happily biked to the Publix supermarket and got a few fresh items. Life is good!
February 4 - Our reservations at Key West City Marina, Garrison
Bight, were to begin on Feb. 5. A look at the weather predictions, though, made
us decide to leave Marathon a day early and do the 50-some-mile trek in somewhat
better conditions. The trip down Hawk Channel was a little rough only because we
had a 3/4 sea (waves coming in on our side near the stern). There were many
times when we were actually "surfing" the waves. Where the waves wanted us to
go, we went! Quite a challenge considering the number of crab traps we dodged!
The closer we got to Key West the more the winds picked up and by the time we
got to our slip we were glad to have help from Dave and Joy Olsen as we tied up.
Dave and Joy are from Minnesota and have been coming down to Key West during the
winter for years. They were a great resource of information on local eateries,
services, etc. Here we are at the dock, bow out, fourth boat from the left. This
picture was taken from US Hwy. 1.
Here's some of our favorite shots from the Key West album:
On Monday, February 11, Lil, John and I drove to Islamorada to see the HGTV Dream House. It was quite a setting...and a lovely home. We all agreed we were going to be delighted to "receive it." Lil and John already look quite at home. Notice how they are trying to perfect the, "Oh, my goodness!! We won!!???" look.
We went to Mallory Square one night to take part in the sunset
festival. Unfortunately, the sunset sort of fizzled as clouds swallowed up the
sun and the horizon. While we were watching the sun begin to set boats were
parading across our view...either trying to hog our attention or catch their own
good view of the sunset. In the midst of all this commotion comes this loan guy
paddling on a surf board. We all watched him make his way across our
view...mainly to see if he hit the water after one of the big boats jetted by.
We did get some pretty pictures, in spite of the clouds. And, as you can see
from the picture below, we had a good time anyway.
This was the sunset we saw most evenings from our boat. Pretty spectacular!
The wind could get a little chilly down in Key West this time of year, in spite
of the warm temps. Here's Lil doing her best Unibomber impression.
The water right by our boat was a neat place for catching sea life. These little
jellyfish were all over the place one day.
And how about this for an abstract shot. I see a painting in this....
There was even a manatee in the bight that was a regular visitor.
He came by one day and I patted his head.
Key West is so "arty." This little vehicle has been lovingly decorated with
seashells.
And, lastly, remember those $25 bikes we bought in Marathon? Here
they are, in all their glory! They've come in so handy...we've biked all over
Key West. And, no, John Littleton, I don't have a little bell and pink horn
yet...but I'm in the market!
Saturday, February 16, 2008
We waved goodbye to Key West, Florida this morning around 8 AM. We stayed 12
nights at the Key West City Marina, Garrison Bight, and had a great time. Our
slip was between the historic houseboat row and US Hwy. 1. It seemed a little
noisy the first afternoon, but, as a Dave Olsen advised us, after a while we
considered the road noise and the roosters crowing at all hours just part of the
ambiance.
John and Lil Clinard joined us in the southernmost city on February 8 and left
on the 13th. Together we scouted out some of the best meals we've had on this
trip: Ricky's Blue Heaven; Mangia, Mangia; Hogfish Bar and Grill; Hurricane
Joe's; Banana Cafe; El Sibonay; (and Bobby's Monkey Bar). (Wayne and I had lunch
at B.O.'s yesterday. We were craving cheeseburgers and they were great! Can you
tell food is a big part of this whole adventure???)
We had such a good time! We miss Lil and John already...but hope to lure them
our way again somewhere else along the trip. We had dinner a couple of times on
Segue and here's a picture we took on the boat the last evening.
Later in the day on Saturday, February 16, we pulled back in to
Boot Key Harbor at Marathon, FL. The trip was made outside in the Hawk
Channel...and though we were prepared for rough riding (like we had on the trip
coming down!) we were pleased to find a "moderate chop."
Sunday, February 17, we left Boot Key Harbor, taking the Hawk Channel, again, to
the John Pennecamp State Park Marina. The weather report was calling for winds
10-15 (dying down as the morning went on) and waves of around 2 ft. About what
we've come to expect at this time of year down here.
Well...
We had the worst day of travel since we've been on this trip. Worse than "the
crossing" because it was rough all the way for 5 hours. The waves were larger
than 2 ft. (we estimate 3-4 ft.) and they were coming in pretty much on our beam
which means the boat was rocking side to side. We had done our usual "lock down"
on the items downstairs ... take lamps and do-dads off of the tables...basically
anticipate what could move and immobilize it. Hadn't counted on the pantry door
slinging open with all that side to side action. Nothing glass hit the
floor...only some paper containers. And our bedroom (OK, stateroom) door kept
closing and shut Lucy up inside. While she was in there a few more things fell
off in the bedroom floor. (She wasn't hurt, but have I told you she's developed
a nervous tic since we've been gone?) One huge swell rocked us so hard the
dinghy shifted on its platform. I would have taken video of THAT wave action but
couldn't have held the camera still long enough. Besides, we were taking in
saltwater spray up on the bridge with only one window panel open so the cameras
were tucked away safely.
Things calmed down somewhat by the time we started our Pennecamp approach and we
were more than ready to be tied up to a dock and still for a while. The dock
master said the weather report had actually changed mid-morning for them as a
front had come in ahead of time. The marina there is very small and transient
slips for our size boat were limited. We ended up between two charter boats and
over by the glass-bottomed boat. Pennecamp also has a mooring field and we met
two sets of Loopers the first day we arrived who were staying on the field.
....The area around Pennecamp.
And the marina...
All in all, not bad, though. The setting was beautiful and we took our bikes out
daily for long rides up or down Key Largo's portion of US Hwy. 1. One day we
lunched at a favorite Cuban diner called Denny's and another day we went to
Sundowners. We'd planned to stay 2 nights at Pennecamp, but the weather (winds,
basically) kept us there a couple of days longer. We had one more run out in
Hawk Channel to get onto the ICW and we were determined to get the best possible
conditions.
Thursday, February 21, was the day. We left early and made our way up to
Angelfish Creek where we left Hawk Channel and joined up with the ICW again on
Biscayne Bay. The trip was good...not rough. :-)
Lucy
enjoying the ride.
We'd chosen an anchorage for the night just south of Miami called the No Name
Harbor. The harbor is next to a state park so the area was nice and scenic. It
was a popular place that day, too. We nosed into a spot up close to the dinghy
dock, let down the anchor and then watched for a while to make sure we were
holding well. Seemed we were. Wayne lowered the dinghy and we took Lucy in for
her afternoon walk. Wayne stayed near the dinghy while I set off down the
walkway to help Lucy find the perfect "spot." As I was walking I glanced back at
the boat. Hmmm. I can't believe we anchored that close to the sailboat behind
us. Wait...we didn't!! The boat was slowly slipping back! I signaled for Wayne
to look and with both of us alarmed I jerked Lucy up and hurried to get back to
the boat ASAP. Fortunately, another sailboat saw what was happening and alerted
the sailboat in our path so they were on deck when we came up on the dinghy. The
couple was so nice about the whole thing. Our boat never actually touched
theirs...but it came mighty close. We apologized and took off to reset the
anchor. When I pulled up the anchor it had a large rubber raft-like thing around
it and I wonder if that's what caused us a problem. At any rate we set it again
and waited MUCH longer before we finally felt brave enough to take Lucy back to
finish up what she hadn't started. We left the next morning before we saw any
sign of the sailboat couple. I wanted to go over and say something like, "Nice
running into you..." Here's a picture we made AFTER the anchoring episode. The
sailboat behind us is the one we were sliding into.
Friday, February 22 - Captain Sterling, a fellow Looper from Key Largo, had
advised us not to run out in the ocean for the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale stretch
because we would see such great sights there on the ICW. How right he was! We
thoroughly enjoyed the experience...in spite of the number of low bridges we
encountered. (If the bridge opening is too low for our boat we have to wait,
usually, until a certain designated time to have the bridge opened so we can go
through. Just like with traffic lights at home, you can't always time it just
right and sometimes end up just missing an opening and have to float around for
maybe a half an hour before you can proceed.)
I kept taking pictures. Here are only a few.
.....Coming
into Miami
One unusual thing we did while going through Ft. Lauderdale area was purchase
fuel from a fuel barge. We called ahead and met up with the barge near the Bahia
Mar Marina. The barge "anchored" itself by dropping a couple of poles down into
the river bed. We tied up to it and loaded up with diesel at a better price than
we would have paid at a local marina.
Lake Boca Raton was our anchoring destination this night. We arrived at around
4:30PM (because we'd had to go much slower than we thought, what with bridges
and "no wake" zones.) The wind picked up as we entered the area...which had a
shallow spot in the middle that allowed for little boats to drift onto it and
let the occupants walk around. Anyway, we picked our way around...dropped
anchor...and it began to slide. We pulled it back up and went out in the ICW
again to consider our options. We could have probably stayed at a local marina,
though the only one I could locate nearby was accepting only boats larger than
65Ft. The next bridge in our path was very close, but wouldn't be open for 20
mins. By this time it was after 5 and our daylight time was dribbling away. We
decided to just go back in and make the anchorage work for us. We skirted around
the outside edge where we could see larger boats were docked and found a
position that kept us clear of other boats in the anchorage. The anchor
held...though we watched it all evening. We didn't feel secure enough (after our
last anchoring experience) to leave the boat alone to take Lucy ashore, but
promised her we would get her some grass first thing in the morning. She agreed,
reluctantly. What a sweet, obliging dog!
Here's
Lucy's favorite spot now on the back deck....
The next day, February 23, was a Saturday. We'd been warned by a fellow Looper
in the Lake Boca Raton anchorage that traffic in that area would pick up "big
time" come 10 AM. We left early and made our way pretty quickly to a city park
dock at Delray Beach where we walked Lucy and got sandwiches to go. Delray would
be worth a visit. There was an art show going on in the park and it was a pretty
area.
We anchored that night at Peck Lake and took Lucy to the nearby beach that
evening and the next morning.
February 24 - Jeff and Dana Dobson joined us in Ft. Pierce this evening. Dana
grew up in Ft. Pierce and her brother lives in the house her dad built there. We
got into the Ft. Pierce Municipal Marina at around 1 o'clock and they arrived
around 6. We were able to "put our house in order" before they got here...and
rinse off all the salt from our last run "outside."
We lunched at the Tiki Bar, which was a fun experience.
That evening we met Dana's brother, Steve, and his family (Karen, Steve's wife,
and Jesse, their daughter) at the Ramp Restaurant in Ft. Pierce. The seafood was
excellent and everybody enjoyed their meal. Dana then kindly took me to the
grocery store for some provisions and we met the rest of the crew back at our
boat to visit a little longer.
February 25 - Segue pulled out of the Ft. Pierce Municipal Marina at around 9 AM
with Dana and Jeff as extra crew. Our destination for that evening was the
Melbourne Harbor Marina in Melbourne, FL. As a side trip we decided to meet
Dana's sister, Vicki, at a restaurant for lunch on the way. Finding a few of the
restaurants either not open or in shallow quarters, we ended up at a place
called Squid Lips at Fin's Marina, Sebastian, FL. The approach channel was
challenging...but we were able to get all the way up to the dock by the
restaurant to tie up. The food was excellent and I think Jeff and Dana were
looking forward to re-visiting this place later in the week when they would
spend some time at Vicki's beach house in Sebastian.
To
the right, Dana, Jeff, Vicki, Doris, Wayne, and Lucy.
Dana
caught me doing my Captain Marvel imitation. Wayne and I wear these headsets
when we're docking or embarking.
Jeff
didn't realize "crewing" for Segue included tending Lucy...but he was a good
sport about it!
Melbourne Harbor Marina is right next to the historical downtown area of
Melbourne. It's a beautiful setting in a natural harbor. We enjoyed watching
dolphins laze around in the water nearby. That evening we walked into town and
enjoyed another great meal at Island Pasta.
The
view from our bow looking out towards the entrance to the ICW from Melbourne
Harbor.
Tuesday, February 26 - Jeff and Dana had left their car with Steve in Ft.
Pierce, so he came up that morning to pick them up and take them back to his
house for a visit. We all walked into town and had breakfast at the Depot Cafe
before we saw them off. We'll see them again in a few days when we're hitching a
ride back to Knoxville for a 2-week visit. We had such fun showing the Dobsons a
little of what our life has been like over the past couple of months!
Wayne
and Steve checking in out....
It was around 10 o'clock by the time we started to consider our next move. We
had originally planned to leave Melbourne and head out for an anchorage further
north, but after 5 days of traveling we were both in the mood for a day of rest.
We checked with the marina to make sure they could accommodate us for another
night and settled in for a catch-up day. We called a couple of marinas further
north to settle on a place to leave Segue while we go home...and made
reservations at Adventure Yacht Harbor in Daytona, only 85 miles away.
We took our bikes out that afternoon and rode around Melbourne on the bike
trail...then back through the historic downtown area. The power went out over a
large area of the city (according to the dockmaster) so we spent time in the
afternoon reading and relaxing. We felt even better about not having traveled
this day when it started to rain and tornado watches were out for the area all
evening.
Wednesday, February 27 - We woke up intending to leave Melbourne for Titusville
today, but on a check of the weather decided to wait one more day. Winds were 20
mph and bay waters rough. AND...we woke up to chilly weather! Around 60 degrees,
20 degrees cooler than yesterday. Gone are the shorts and t-shirts...on with the
jeans and turtleneck! We're planning to leave out tomorrow now. Weather
permitting.
Thursday, February 28 - Anxious to get settled in again
somewhere, we left Melbourne at around 7:30 and made it all the way to Adventure
Yacht Harbor in Wilbur-by-the-Sea, FL, just south of South Daytona Beach and
adjacent to Port Orange. Traveling 85 miles in one day meant we sped up to 20
mph in some spots...but we had enough slow spells to enjoy the change in
scenery. The section through Indian River reminded us of our trips down to
Florida in the 1970's to visit fish camps....
We were docked by 5 o'clock with the help of Jim, the harbormaster. This would
be the boat's home for at least 3 weeks now while we went back to Tennessee for
a visit.
On the way up to Daytona I called Dana to tell her our plans. Dana and Jeff had
kindly offered to drive us back to Knoxville as they went. Dana said her brother
just reminded her that this was the beginning of Bike Week in Daytona. Since I
didn't think the extra traffic would trouble us, I was more concerned about the
traffic Jeff and Dana might face. Turns out we were docked a good bit south of
the main goings-on and they felt it wouldn't be so bad.
Bike Week, huh? So I called my Knoxville friend Connie Littleton (knowing she
and her husband John had been biking a good bit over the past couple of years
since they bought a Harley) and told her she should be down here. We chatted a
while and hang up. A little while later my cell phone rang and I saw the call
was coming from Connie. "You're coming, aren't you!!??," I said as I answered
the call. That was all they needed to firm up their plans! They had found a way
to get their son, John Clay, to school the next day and were headed our way!
February 29 - At around 8 o'clock the next evening Connie and John rolled in on
the Rattler...their Harley. I'm now convinced they are about as crazy as we are!
600+ miles in one day!! Connie could barely move her legs enough to step over
our dock lines. After a little refreshment (they were thirsty!) we went to
dinner at Boondocks, the marina restaurant. The food was good...and the company
was wonderful!
March 1 - The next morning we
put John to work right away. We'd pulled out the salon bed...but couldn't get it
"back on track." John helped us get it back together .
After that we had a leisurely morning including a walk for Connie and me on
beautiful Daytona Beach. Lunch was carry out from Boondocks, followed by naps.
That afternoon Connie and John went down to Bike Week central and rode down Main
Street. They came back with t-shirts...shrimp and oysters!
We had a great evening on the boat and talked about everything
from biking to politics.
March 2 - Being quick learners, Connie and John decided to make the trip home in
two days. After John helped Connie into her chaps...
(Connie calls the fringe "tassles" leading to many a mistaken idea about what
she wears on these trips...) they left Adventure Yacht Harbor with a back-road
route in mind. We hated to see them go! What a great, spontaneous weekend!!
Later that morning our friends Jeff and Dana joined us again for one final day
aboard Segue before leaving for Knoxville. We lunched at Boondocks, then read
and sunned most of the afternoon. Jeff and I did take a ride down "Bike Week"
way to see what was going on. While we couldn't go on Main Street (it was open
only to motorcyles) we did get a feel for the event:
That evening we dined at DJ's for some good seafood. Yes...we had seafood for
lunch. But, you see, Dana eats fish whenever she can. She says she wants to come
back as a cormorant: just swim and eat fish!
March 3 - The next morning we all packed up and left for Knoxville.
On the trip back, Lucy took the opportunity to bond with Dana....
600+ miles later that day we pulled into Knoxville. It was really strange to be
back in the house again. Was it always this big??? We had a great, packed two
weeks at home before we drove back to Daytona on March 17.
We celebrated Mom Prichard's birthday...
89 on March 11! Here she is with her two youngest
great-grandchildren, Alex and Callie.
Heather, Dave and Alex came for a long weekend visit and we thoroughly enjoyed
that! Alex got a real kick out of feeding Lucy...and, needless to say, he made a
lifelong friend.
I
had two days of painting with friends while home. The first week was the
Thursday Maryville painting group, aptly named after our founder and hostess,
Merle Stair.
We
visited family, enjoyed dinner with friends, and tried to catch up with as many
people as we could while home. Locking up the house on March 17 we said goodbye
to Choto Marina Way until October or November when we complete the trip. We
rented a car (turned out to be a Grand Marquis) and brought back a BUNCH of
STUFF: bike, toaster oven, boat supplies, etc.
We kept the car an extra day to do some running around and reprovisioning...then
turned it in at the Daytona airport Tuesday afternoon. We're staying here for a
while longer...we'll probably leave the first of next week. During that time
we'll find a place to store all the stuff we brought back and we'll catch up on
some boat maintenance we've put off until now. Next move? Up the Florida coast
to St. Augustine, Fernandina Beach, then to St. Mary's, GA, and Cumberland
Island. Our plans are to end up the next leg of the trip at Beaufort, SC, where
we'll pick up our friends Jay and Carla Livingston for a cruise up to
Charleston.
Wednesday,
March 26 - We left
Daytona Beach and Adventure
Yacht Harbor today after almost a month's stay.
We were really very near a place called Wilbur-By-the-Sea. Wayne and I rode
bikes down by the little "town center."
We really got to feel at home here! We met some of the nicest people. In
particular, Leo and Mary
Clavin (and their dog, Tucker)of
Jamestown, RI, aboard Sea Song. We swapped boat tours and they kindly took us to
the store for groceries since they have a car. They arrived in December and are
leaving to go back north this week, too. Hopefully we'll get to catch up with
them again along the Georgia or SC coast.
We got to know the Harbormaster, Jim, a bit better, too. Jim says being a
harbormaster is like being a bartender, only without the booze. He loves his job
and it shows. Jim has built a gorgeous home in Panama that he visits now a
couple of times a year and will "retire to" when his daughters are through
college.
This is Jim on the fuel dock as we pulled out of Adventure Yacht Harbor.
And this is the "locals" at a birthday party they had for Jim some time ago.
Jim's curly blond hair is very distinctive. See what I mean about this being our
kind of place???
During the last week we were there we got to look around a bit at Ponce Inlet,
just south of Adventure Yacht Harbor. One of our friends from Knoxville, Joann
Finchum,
lived in a house not far from us and I biked down to take pictures for her.
Ponce Inlet is a neat little place! I know I say this about a lot of
places...but, I could live here.
After weeks of being tied up to a dock it was a little unnerving
to get back out and moving again...but we were ready to be moving again! There
are just so many little routines that you get down when cruising and then
quickly forget with a month off. It might have taken us a little longer to get
ready to leave, but we got it all done and soon found ourselves at home on the
bridge, marveling at new sights along the way.
Our goal was to reach the St. Augustine area and an anchorage called Salt Run.
Our 30 amp shore power plug burned up as we were unhooking the shore power
cords. From St. Augustine we can make an easy day to Fernandina Beach and a West
Marine for replacement parts before we hit a marina again on Friday. The trip up
to St. Augustine was nice...calm winds and waters. We had the plastic curtains
down on the bridge because it was still a little nippy down here, but it warmed
up as the day went on. We came through St. Augustine and under the Bridge of
Lions which is under major restructuring. I wish I'd taken a picture...but we
were so intent on finding our way through the maze of barges and steel that I
didn't think to at the time.
Salt Run is very near the St. Augustine Inlet. In fact, to enter Salt Run you
feel like you're going out the inlet (hmmm_),
the marked channel is so far east. The tide was low as we came in, but we had
just enough water to make it. We traveled back to an area close to the dinghy
dock and, after a couple of tries, got the anchor to hold. We were a little
concerned about the anchor slipping (see previous entries) so Wayne stayed with
the boat and I took Lucy to shore solo. Lucy has gotten used to the dinghy rides
now and was still the whole way. My only challenge is to figure out which way to
turn the steering stick to make the boat go where I intend it to go! Not really
a big problem. Just means I get to travel around in circles sometimes. What's
new?
We finally settled in at about 6:30. No slipping problems, thankfully, and we
were ready for bed at our usual 9:30 hour.
March 27 – Thursday morning we woke to a beautiful sunrise. The Salt Run
anchorage is located right behind the St. Augustine lighthouse. These are a few
of the pictures we got that morning.
The waters were calm and we were ready to keep on moving. As we left the
anchorage we were escorted by a dolphin….
Sixty miles up the road we found ourselves at Fernandina Beach, FL. We had
originally planned to anchor there in the area around Fernandina Beach Marina,
but on the way up we heard another boater talking about the mooring field in
Fernandina Beach. We called the marina and made reservations for a mooring
ball…our favorite! Of course the winds were lively while we were trying to
secure the ball…but we finally made it work. Our thoughts were to stay at
Fernandina for a couple of nights.
March 28 – Wayne took a taxi to the closest West Marine for a 30 amp plug while
I scoped out the town of Fernandina Beach… a really cute place, in spite of its
proximity to two large manufacturing plants right on the river.
Someone
in Fernandina has a sense of humor...
We’d decided that morning to move on up to St. Mary’s, GA, instead of staying on
the mooring ball. Unfortunately, our view of the harbor included both plants and
just wasn’t
the kind of place to “feed our souls.” The trip to St. Mary’s was quick…only
about 10 miles away. The course took us by the southern tip of Cumberland Island
where we saw some of the wild horses on the beach. (I wish they had been
running. Somehow they look like "paste-on" horses...but they were real!)
We pulled into Lang’s Marina in the early afternoon in time to grab lunch at one
of the restaurants nearby. We spent the afternoon walking and biking around the
town and got back in time to welcome our friends Mary and Leo on Sea Song as
they pulled in that evening. They’d left
Daytona a day after we had.
Here's a shot of the main street in St. Mary's...
March 29 – Cumberland Island is very close to St. Mary’s and we had reserved a
couple of seats on the ferry from St. Mary’s to Cumberland Island for that
Saturday. To the left are pictures of the ferry...and
one I took of Segue docked at Lang's as we left on the ferry for the island.
Cumberland Island is Georgia's largest and southernmost barrier island and has
been designated a National Seashore. You can roam around on your own or take
guided tours conducted by park rangers.
We spent a nice afternoon there and saw wild horses, an armadillo, and a diamond
back rattlesnake…Oh, my!! We took a tour of the south end of the island with one
of the park rangers and saw some of the structures that used to be inhabited by
the
Carnegies. There are still some private residences on the island,
though 98% is park land.
Check out the snake curled up next to the tree....A park ranger had spotted it
and was "hosting" a gathering of observers. We watched where we stepped after
seeing that!
Wayne and I took a guided tour of the southern part of the island.
Stone ruins of
Dungeness, the Carnegie vacation
home on Cumberland.
What does Lucy think about our consorting with snakes and armadillos? She's fine
with it as long as we're ready to toss the tennis ball when we get home.
When we returned from the island we noticed a new boat in the marina, Free Bird.
We’d met John and Pat Olson when we were in
Pennecamp State Park and took
the opportunity to catch up on their trip. John and Pat have already completed
the loop once and are on their second go-round. They have a home in the Upper
Peninsula of Michigan. From
Pennecamp they had gone to the
Bahamas for a few weeks and have now started working their way up the eastern
coast.
On the trip over to Cumberland Island we sat next to a nice couple, Linda and
George, who have talked about doing a trip like this. We talked the whole 45
minutes over to the island. That evening they strolled out to the dock when they
returned from the island and we invited them onto the boat to talk more. It all
starts with the idea…
March 30-31 – The winds picked up over the weekend and while we had planned to
leave on Sunday we ended up spending an extra couple of nights. (Sound familiar?
Schedule, schmedule.) We caught up on some reading, explored more
around town, and visited with the people docked at Lang’s. It was chilly and
rainy…and the no-seeums
came out in force. Wayne tried to do some work on the boat but was foiled by the
bugs!!
April 1- Three boats pulled out of Lang’s on that morning: Segue, Free Bird, and
Sea Song. All of us were headed north, which meant going through St. Andrew’s
Sound. The course requires going almost out to sea before you get to turn back
in towards land, the shoaling is so bad there. People in the know tend to be
very cautious about the time and weather conditions when going through this
area. We were the only ones who
hadn’t been through it before,
so we were glad to hear the other two boats were up for a group trip through the
sound. We left the dock first...then Sea Song and Free Bird. It was a little
foggy, as you can see.
The current at the marina was fierce and it took a lot of maneuvering and help
on the dock to break free and out into the river. Between the current, wind, and
the tides (8-9 ft. down here) you really have to think out any boat maneuvering.
We're learning.
Leo and Mary on
Sea Song...
John
and Pat on Free Bird...
.
Leo
and Mary leading us out into St. Andrew's Sound...
Leo and Mary led the pack, followed by us and then Free Bird. Fortunately, the
trip through the sound went just fine.
We had reservations at Jekyll Island Harbor Marina that evening, knowing they
supply a courtesy car and we needed some groceries. Jekyll Island is at the
north end of St. Andrew's Sound so it wasn't long after we'd all made our way
safely through the sound and back into sheltered water before we broke off and
headed for the docks. Free Bird and Sea Song were both going further that day
before stopping so we wished them safe waters and figured we might catch up with
them again before our trip was over.
Jekyll Island was gorgeous. The beach areas have that natural, "ungroomed" look.
But they look like the kind of beaches that might hold all manner of sea
treasures. We got in around noon and ate lunch at SeaJay's Restaurant right
there at the marina. I had the Brunswick stew with cornbread and it was
delicious! After lunch we borrowed the courtesy car and drove to the island's
one grocery store. We had a huge list of needs...but seeing the size of the
store decided to cut back to the basics for this run. We still managed to have a
trunk load of supplies.
That afternoon we borrowed a couple of the courtesy bikes and toured the island.
There are bike trails everywhere there. We went down to the historical district
and felt a little like we were at Disney World, everything is so beautifully
landscaped and clean.
Back at the dock we met a couple in a motor sailer, Sandpiper, who have done the
Loop twice. They spent the winter at Jekyll and would spend the summer in Maine.
We didn't realize they were pulling out early the next morning so we didn't get
their names...but enjoyed talking with them about their favorite parts of the
trip.
That evening as we were enjoying the sunset on the back deck we spotted about 12
guys doing the "paddle your surf board" thing. Remember the guy at Key West?
Well, what was different about these guys was that they had their cooler with
them. Take a good look at the fellow wearing the red shirt.
Wednesday, April 2 - Ready to head out again the next day, we were setting our
course for an anchorage called Walburg Creek just south of St. Catherine's Sound
and right up against St. Catherine's Island. We were looking forward to staying
"on the hook" for at least 2...maybe 3 days in a row. If the conditions are
right, that can be so relaxing. Reading, painting, napping. Nice!
When we got to Walburg Creek the current was fast...and the tide was high. We
anchored and set the alarm. Everything was fine until the next morning when the
winds were howling and we started dragging anchor. We decided to go in closer to
the bank to knock off some of the wind coming in. That worked and we settled
back in for another day on the hook.
Friday, April 4 - Time to move on. We had another spot picked out for anchorage,
Turner Creek near Savannah. We hadn't been able to take on fresh water at Jekyll
the morning we left so we decided to stop in at Hogan's Marina on Turner Creek
to fill up before we anchored. That done, we picked a spot down near the fixed
bridge and set anchor. And the anchor did indeed set! The wind was really
blowing that night (too)! We got the dinghy down and took Lucy in for a walk at
the public boat launch right by the bridge. Around 10:30PM the tide switched
direction and the wind died down. As a result, we ended up floating alongside a
private dock...about 3 ft away. We decided it would be judicious for us to just
tie up to the dock until morning to ensure that we didn't bounce up against it
all night. We did...and in the morning let go the lines and floated back to our
original spot in the creek.
Saturday, April 5 - The weather forecast was calling for storms, some severe, in
the Savannah area. We had planned to spend two nights in Turner Creek but
decided to go on up to Thunderbolt Marina in Thunderbolt, GA, to tie up to a
dock for the next 24 hours. We were only a few miles away, so we were in
Thunderbolt in time for lunch at Tubby's Seafood Restaurant. Very good! As we
pulled into the dock we saw some familiar faces: Bob and Vicky Riggs on Si Como
No who'd helped us dock in Fairhope, AL; Charlie and Ginny on the sailboat Lady,
our neighbors on the dock at St. Mary's, GA; and later that afternoon Pat and
John Olson on Freebird. The weather did turn nasty that afternoon...in fact
there was a tornado alert sounded and many of us gathered in the ship's store
for a while to see the alarm through. It wasn't bad. Just rain and really black
clouds. We were still glad to have been tied up to a dock!
Sunday, April 6 - The no-seeums were fierce at Thunderbolt, especially after the
rain. We decide to head on up to Beaufort that day so we'd have plenty of time
to get the boat straightened up and cleaned before Carla and Jay came on
Tuesday. The trip from Thunderbolt to Beaufort gave us such beautiful scenery.
The clouds were the highlight of the day.
Beaufort Downtown Marina has a courtesy car so as soon as we checked in that
afternoon we took the car to the nearest grocery store and stocked up BIG time.
The tides in this area are big, like a change of 8 feet between high and low
tide. That afternoon the tide was out. When we got back with this car load of
supplies and loaded up a cart we soon realized there would be NO WAY we could
hold onto that cart as we made our way down the ramp to the dock. It would be
hard enough to walk down the ramp! After due consideration we unloaded much of
the cart and left it up top...then made several small trips up and down the
ramp. Note to self: check the incline of the dock ramp before going on a
large grocery run!
And who did we find already docked at the Beaufort Marina when we arrived? Leo
and Mary on Sea Song. We had heard them hailing the marina as we were coming in.
Leo told the dockmaster he was having trouble with his starboard engine so was
hoping there would not be a lot of maneuvering to do to get into a slip. I
looked in surprise to Wayne who said, "There's nothing wrong with Leo's engine.
He's just being sly!" Turns out, Wayne was right. There's so much we have to
learn... :-)
Monday, April 7 - Laundry day and boat clean-up. I washed the clothes while
Wayne washed the boat. I think I got the better deal. I met a lady named Helen
French who lives on a boat in the marina. It's a houseboat...without
engines...and it looks like a lady's parlor inside. She's 89 years old and had
some great stories to tell about Beaufort and Pat Conroy. She said her first
husband had died early...and her second hadn't died early enough! The time
passed quickly in the laundromat.
That afternoon Bob and Vicky on Si Como No pulled in and docked next to us.
Tuesday, April 8 - Carla and Jay Livingston came in that afternoon for a visit.
They'd been to Seabrook for a few days and were going with us to Charleston. A
local shopkeeper had recommended a restaurant in Port Royal called the
Dockside...and the shopkeeper also informed me that the Lady Vols were playing a
championship game that evening. He even had a recommendation for a local
brewery, Brewer's Brewery, for watching the game. The evening was planned!
Dockside was wonderful. It was some of the best seafood we've had on this trip.
The vidalia slaw is worth the trip!
Jay and Wayne then dropped Carla and I at the boat and they proceeded to the
brewery to watch the Lady Vols rack up another championship.
Wednesday, April 9 - Wednesday we went in search of bicycles. Why, Doris (you'll
say), don't you have bikes??? Ah, the bikes. See...we left one of our $25 bikes
in Daytona because we brought a better bike from home. That better bike blew off
the dock in St. Mary's, GA, one windy night. Note to self: listen to Wayne
when he says to lay down the bike and not stand it up by kickstand. The
second $25 bike was the worst bike of the lot and after trying out "beach
cruising bikes" at Jekyll (read: one gear, pedal brakes, comfort seat) we knew
we needed to find a place to ditch it and purchase new ones. On Tuesday Wayne
came in and said, "Be careful of what you wish for...lest it come to pass." The
worst bike had been stolen off the cockpit during the night. One problem solved.
Anyway, on Wednesday morning we went to the local Walmart to check out the bikes
and found exactly what we wanted. We told them we would like them assembled and
would come back later that afternoon. Later that afternoon we called to find
they had not been assembled...and the guy who normally did that work was busy on
another project. We cancelled the order and decided to pick up bikes later.
Instead, we walked around Beaufort in search of the Big Chill house. Not sure we
saw it...but the looking was fun!
We ate at Plum's Restaurant twice that day. Both meals were very good.
Thursday, April 10 - With the Livingston Crew ready and trained, we took off for
a 50 mile trip to Bohicket Village Marina on Johns Island, SC, off the North
Edisto River. Again the cloud scapes were the feature of the day.
The weather was perfect so we took a brief trip out into the Atlantic Ocean at
the North Edisto River Inlet. Carla wanted to keep going to Ireland, but we
didn't quite have enough fuel so we turned around and headed for the dock at
Bohicket. That evening we dined at Up the Creek, one of the four restaurants
near the marina.
Friday, April 11 - Charleston, here we come!! We were only about 40 miles away,
so we weren't concerned when we had fog that morning and delayed our departure.
We motored out to the North Edisto River and saw so much fog that we dallied a
while in the Bohicket Creek. The views, again, were so nice.
Another good weather day. 70's, low wind, beautiful skies and water. We got into
the Charleston Maritime Center at around 2:30PM. Wayne skillfully docked Segue
between two other boats alongside a long dock and we set out to see the city.
This is a great location. We had planned to stay at Cooper River Marina but
decided this one would be better for the week before the Looper conference.
We're thinking we might just stay here both weeks. We have a great view of the
Cooper River Bridge and are within 2.5 blocks of a Harris Teeter grocery store
and a hardware. What more could we want???
The view from the Maritime is spectacular. We're seeing huge ships in the harbor
AND the Cooper River Bridge.
After docking we had plenty of time for a stroll around the area.
Carla and Jay recommended the Charleston Crab House near the City Market and we
enjoyed an early dinner there on the rooftop. We ended the day sitting on the
back deck enjoying the views and talking.
Saturday, April 12 - Time for Carla and Jay to take off for Knoxville. We've had
such a good time traveling with them and catching up on everything!
Carla
had to help rid the boat of a bee-like varmit...
Wayne, Jay and I set out that morning at around 8:30. I stopped by the farmer's
market at Marion Square while the guys went on to pick up the rental car that
would take Carla and Jay back to Beaufort. We went with Carla and Jay to
Beaufort in exchange for keeping the car that day for reprovisioning. We left
Beaufort at around 11:00 and drove around Charleston a good part of that
afternoon trying to locate bicycles. We ended up at the local Harris Teeter for
supplies, then back to the boat.
There was a note on the boat when we returned. Nick Glover, the boat's former
owner, lives in the condos next to the Charleston Maritime Center. He looked out
that morning to see his old boat sitting in the harbor! We called Nick and made
arrangements for a visit on the following night.
We stayed in Charleston from April 11 - 25, tied up to a dock at the Charleston
Maritime Center.
When we visit Charleston again by water, we’ll definitely stay at the Maritime
Center…even though the wave action here from the Cooper River sometimes rocks
the boat BIG time. It’s about location, location, location. Two and a half
blocks from a Harris Teeter grocery store, a block from the bus stop, free
laundry, walking or biking distance of Charleston’s “must see” features…and a
reasonable dockage rate.
While in Charleston we had dinner a couple of nights with Nick and Kathleen
Glover, previous owners of Segue.
And we enjoyed a visit from our friends from Knoxville, Dana and Jeff Dobson,
who were in Charleston on business. (We had hoped to have them stay with us a
few nights but a “head” issue, which reared its "ugly head" a week earlier, came
back and had to be dealt with instead.)
We did have a chance to visit with Dana and Jeff’s friends, Lin and Ric Raines,
at their Folly Beach home. Their house is right on the ocean and is so unique,
having been built by a boat captain who used a lot of hardware, wood, etc., from
a salvaged boat. Here’s a picture of Ric and Lin, Jeff and Dana, me, Lucy, and
Wayne on the boat.
The restaurants that we enjoyed at Charleston include the Wreck (Mt. Pleasant),
Fleet Landing, and the Mystic Café (breakfast and lunch).
The AGLCA Looper conference was very helpful and we met so many great
people…including Diane and Louis Wade from Morehead City, NC.
We’re looking forward to catching up again with Diane and Louis when they begin
their own Great Loop trip on Bella Luna.
On the last night of the conference we met at the Yorktown aircraft carrier for
dinner and a guided tour.
We walked the Cooper River Bridge in Charleston. What a view!!
Today, Friday, April 25, we left Charleston. The trip to Georgetown, SC, was
slow due to no-wake-zones, but pretty uneventful. (Biting flies were out, but we
outran them!) Georgetown is a pleasant surprise. Larger than we had thought…and
with some neat older homes.
Tomorrow we head out for Myrtle Beach and an extended stay to visit with David,
Heather and Alex! My sister, Nadine, and her husband, Jerry, will join us on the
3rd of May for a trip up to Morehead City, NC. More to come….
We arrived in Myrtle Beach on Saturday, April 26. We had
reservations at the Osprey Marina for over a week while we visited with family
and friends. Osprey was a great place and we had a beautiful view from the
boat...
The night after we arrived we met with our long-time-friends Linda and Joe
Conner...and Janet and Jim Hesser. Janet, Joe, Linda and Wayne were all in high
school together in Athens, TN. We had a great time! We're going to try and meet
up with them next year this time in Myrtle Beach.
The Bimini Oyster Bar was a real hit with this group...and Joe dressed for the
event!
Wednesday, April 30, Dave, Heather and Alex came to Myrtle Beach. They had
booked a condo at the Caribbean Resort oceanfront Myrtle Beach where there were
all kinds of pools for Alex to enjoy. This was a special trip for them because
it would be the first time Alex would experience the ocean. We were all
wondering how he'd take to it. Well, he loved it...to the point that he would
bolt for the water after feigning play in the sand! Here are some of the MANY
pictures we took that week...
Alex found out that pockets could hold treasures!
..And pepperoni pizza is goo-o-d!
We had a wonderful time running around with them for the next few days. One day
Heather and I took Alex to a zoo just down the street from the marina
(ah...don't ask.) Alex loved the Lemurs!! Here's his "Lemur Dance."
On Saturday, May 3, my sister Nadine and her husband, Jerry, came to join us for
a visit and to travel with us north of Myrtle Beach. We had a good mini-family
reunion that Saturday and all enjoyed dinner from Phillips Seafood.
Sunday morning, May 4, we left Myrtle Beach and headed for Southport, SC.
The trip was definitely eventful! First we had to weave our way through the Rock
Pile (rocks just underwater on either side of the channel). Then we found
ourselves at the Sunset Beach Pontoon Bridge. The bridge opens on the half
hour...provided there's enough water for the pontoon to move. We got there at
1:40...low tide. The bridge didn't open until 3:40. We anchored, along with
several other boats, and relaxed!
That evening we docked at Southport City Marina, a great marina.
We had carry-out seafood from the Provision Company and called it
a day.
The next morning, May 5, Nadine, Lucy and I took a nice walk around downtown
Southport before we left. We had about a 50-mile day planned up to Surf City,
NC. (Cue the Jan and Dean lyrics now...) We spotted some dolphins on the trip
and I was just telling Jerry and Nadine about the times when they've come along
side the boat and "run" with us for a while...when they did just that! It really
is a pretty exciting thing! Nadine and Wayne met on the bow to discuss ...the
weather.
We wound up getting to the Surf City Swing Bridge about 30 mins. early...so,
again, we anchored and waited it out.
Fortunately our marina for the night, the Beach House Marina, was right next to
the bridge on the north side. Beach House Marina is very small...about 10-12
slips. We had just tied up when the rains came. We ordered Dominos Pizza and
made ourselves "to home."
Tuesday, May 6 - Our last full day with Nadine and Jerry was to take us to
Beaufort, NC. Nadine, Lucy and I again took a nice walk that morning...this time
on Surf City Beach. We were naturally drawn to check out the sand for any sharks
teeth that might have washed up (we have vacationed at Edisto Beach, SC, for
years and have honed our teeth-hunting skills there.) No teeth, but we did find
some gorgeous stones.
We got into Beaufort around 3:30PM, in time to take a walk around downtown
before the rain set in and check out the restaurant menus. We decided on the Net
House Restaurant and had a great meal there.
Nadine and Jerry had planned to rent a car in Beaufort and let me drive them to
New Bern on Wednesday morning to pick up a one-way rental at the airport. Nadine
spotted an ad that evening advertising a ride to local airport. She checked it
out and they ended up getting a ride to New Bern for about the same money.
Wednesday, May 7 - We walked out with Jerry and Nadine to the town clock in
Beaufort and waited on their ride. The no-seeums were thick! Shortly after 8 AM
they left us and made their way towards New Bern and home.
Segue needed some work done, so we left Beaufort that morning and headed back to
Morehead City and Taylor Boat Works. Diane and Louis Wade kindly showed us
around their second home, Morehead City, and we visited their waterfront home on
Atlantic Beach.
Friday, May 9, we picked up a rental car and drove to Raleigh for Heather's
graduation weekend. Heather was receiving a PhD in biomedical engineering at
Duke. We stayed at the Comfort Suites on Capitol Blvd. and put Lucy in a kennel.
We had a wonderful weekend! Heather's parents, Tommy and Brenda Ledbetter, flew
in on Friday evening for the event. We had a great time visiting with them and
with Dave, Heather and Alex. On Saturday evening we all attended the "hooding
ceremony" and the reception following. Alex did great! He was up about 2 hours
past his bedtime, but was good for the entire time. We are so proud of Heather!!
Sunday, May 11, Brenda and Tommy flew back to Huntsville, AL. Wayne and I
enjoyed keeping Alex while Heather and Dave went to receive her diploma and
celebrate the occasion that afternoon.
Monday, May 12, Wayne and I left Raleigh and made our way back to Morehead City
and Segue. We felt like the boat work wouldn't be done until Tuesday...and we
were almost right. Actually it was Wednesday, May 14, before we were ready to
pull out of the boat yard.
We really became fond of the people there. John, the boat yard manager, and his
crew....and our "next door neighbor" in the yard, Tim.
The boat yard is located on the Peletier Creek in Morehead City and this is our
view from the boat yard...
On the way out of town we stopped at Geer Oil for fuel...then made our way to
Oriental, NC, and the Oriental Marina.
The trip to Oriental was easy. We had dolphins swimming off the sides of the
boat for part of the way. We pulled into Oriental Marina at around 5:00. The
docking was a challenge because the slip was narrow...but Wayne pulled it off in
only 2 tries. We'd been to this marina/motel by car before and knew it was a
friendly place. Tomorrow Linda and Jon Efteland will join us for a couple of
nights and a cruise on Friday to Belhaven, NC.
Thursday, May 15 - We had some cleaning up to do! A week (or more) in a boat
yard... We were through by around 3PM and were glad to see Linda and Jon arrive
at around 8:30PM. We ordered "peel and eat" shrimp from the Toucan Restaurant at
the Marina and caught up with our friends. Having checked the weather for Friday
we altered plans. It was going to be windy and rainy. We decided to wait in
Oriental until Saturday and let Linda and Jon take Friday to tour Ocracoke.
Friday, May 16 - Jon and Linda left at 8AM for their day out. Wayne and I worked
on boat-related projects, took a bike ride around town, napped, and did some
reading.
Saturday, May 17 - After Linda and I took Lucy for a quick walk down by the
waterway, we left Oriental and headed out north into the ICW. It was a beautiful
day! Linda and Jon both took turns driving...
and when she wasn't driving, Linda was working on needlework...and laughing at
my antics over bugs coming into the bridge area!
Belhaven Waterway Marina was our destination, having been recommended by a
friend we met at the Looper conference, Dave Bowers. We arrived in Belhaven
around 1:30PM. After tying up Linda and Jon walked over to get their car while
we registered and walked Lucy. Then we went in search of lunch. Not a hard task
since there was only one restaurant open at 2 PM (besides Hardees)...Back Bay
Cafe. Boy, were we lucky! We all enjoyed gourmet lunches! Back Bay Cafe is owned
and operated by a couple who have an adjacent book store and wine shop, Wine &
Words.
While we were finishing up on lunch Dave Bowers came in and joined us. Jon and
Linda left us at the restaurant and resumed their tour of the Outer Banks.
Dave took us out to see his boat (he and his wife, Betty, are starting the Loop
in a couple of weeks) and his home in Belhaven. That evening we four went to the
Oyster Bar in town and had dinner.
Belhaven was a really is a nice little marina!
The owners, Brenda and Les, have a miniature schnauzer named "Marina." Marina
was a tad suspicious of Lucy (and visa versa)...but Lucy did have a good time
romping on the large, green lawn with several other dogs.
Sunday, May 18 - Alligator River Marina, near the Albemarle Sound, was our
destination this day. The trip was mostly calm...except for the last little bit
on the River when the wind started whipping around and the water got choppy.
When we turned to go into the marina, the "beam seas" gave us a good beating!
Alligator River Marina is a small one...in the middle of nowhere. If we did this
trip again we would stay elsewhere.
Monday, May 19 - We were crossing the Albemarle Sound that day to reach the
Dismal Swamp. The sound is known for being a rough body of water, so we were
looking at the weather closely. The weather sounded about par for the sound: 2-3
ft. waves and winds 10-15 mph.
We left out with several other boats that morning. Many of them came back. We
weren't crazy about the marina and didn't look forward to an extended stay...so
we decided to check out the waves for ourselves. They tossed us around, no
doubt! They seemed 2-3 with some 4's thrown in. But...we felt it was do-able.
Little did we know that crossing the sound would be the easiest thing in the
course towards Elizabeth City and our destination, the Dismal Swamp Canal!
We rocked and rolled, but had prepared for that. What we hadn’t prepared for
came on the other side (right about the time we thought we were near “safe”) and
we started up the Pasquotank River to Elizabeth City. The wind kicked up (seemed
to us like 20-25 with gusts to 30) and the 3 and 4 ft. waves were coming
directly on our bow. The wind was the scary thing. We’re so high in the
water...we were wondering if our canvas covering would hold up! But it held up,
as did we.
Were we ever glad to be over that part of the trip!! At last we were in the
river channel headed for the Dismal Swamp. And this part of the Pasquotank was
some of the prettiest river landscape we've seen on the trip. The wind was still
cropping up occasionally, but nothing like it was earlier. We made it to the
South Mills Lock at the bottom of the Dismal Swamp for the 11:00 opening. There
were two sailboats going through the lock with us, "Nice and Easy" and "Etude."
This was the first lock we'd been into on the Atlantic Coast! The lock only went
up 8 ft....not much by TVA standards. The dockmaster assisted us with the tie
up... a stern and a bow line to posts on the dock. Then we held onto the lines
and took up the slack as the boat came up. After the lock opened, the lockmaster
jumped in his truck and drove to the South Mills Bridge, a few yards beyond the
lock, so he could open THAT and let us through to the Dismal Swamp.
The Dismal Swamp Canal is the oldest artificial waterway in the United States,
officially opened in 1805. It's very shallow (it used to carry flat boats) and
in the past 12 months has been closed because of too little water. The canal is
maintained to keep a depth of 6 ft., but it's so narrow that fallen trees are
often the hazard you'll come across while in the canal. Wayne has been looking
forward to this section of the trip because he had read that George Washington
did the surveying on the canal.
We stayed that night at the Dismal Swamp Welcome Center, tied up to a free dock.
The welcome center is located on Hwy. 17 at the VA/NC state line. It's the only
state welcome center that welcomes both cars and boats. We got there with "Nice
and Easy" and "Etude"...and there was already a catamaran on the dock, "Ming."
The sailboats rafted up together and we all settled in for the evening. Visitors
came by and chatted during that late afternoon and we took a walk on one of the
trails nearby. After the Albemarle ordeal we were absolutely beat! By 8 PM we
were headed to bed...and we slept until around 7 AM.
Tuesday, May 20 - The smell of honeysuckle greeted us this morning. This was one
of our most enjoyable dockings on the trip! The weather was a little rainy as we
left the welcome center...so the Swamp really did look "dismal."
We pulled out at about 8:45 AM, after the other boats had already
left. We needed to make 18 miles to the Deep Creek Lock by the next opening
time, 11:30. Traveling on the Dismal Swamp is at "no wake speed," which means
instead of our usual 10 mph we would be making around 7 mph. We made it just
fine.
When we reached Deep Creek Lock our new friends on "Nice and Easy," "Etude," and
"Ming" were there already.
There's a bridge before this lock and we waited for the bridge to be opened
before we could access the lock. The other boats let us go through first since
we would likely travel at a faster pace than they would.
Having gone through the lock we were then out of the Swamp and headed for
Norfolk and our night's destination...the Downtown Hampton Public Piers. Would
you believe we had another "bridge incident?" The railroad bridge right before
Gilmerton Bascule Bridge is normally open. This day, however, it was stuck in
the closed position for maintenance. When we got to the bridge there were about
8 boats already circling the area, waiting for the bridge to open. We followed
their pattern and waited about a half an hour before the bridge lifted.
Schedule, schmedule!
The Norfolk/Portsmouth area is incredibly busy. There are US Naval shipyards
everywhere and security is very obvious.
We arrived at Hampton just before a storm set in. The view from our slip is
wonderful...and we're looking forward to spending a restful day or two here.
Wednesday, May 21 - We had some boat maintenance to take care of
this day (get the pattern?)...but still managed to walk around Hampton and bike
to the grocery store for a few items. The waterfront area is so pretty, but the
little town seems very quiet...like, not quite thriving. If we'd had longer we
could have visited the Hampton University and the Air and Space Museum...
Thursday, May 22 - We'd called around for fuel prices in Hampton and in
Deltaville.
The "cheap" fuel ($3.89/gallon) was at the Old Comfort Point Marina in Hampton.
So on this morning we left the slip at around 8 AM and stopped for fuel before
we set out. We got the last of their diesel. The next truck would come, they
said, later that day...and the price would go up.
It was after 9 AM before we really left Hampton, then. It was a beautiful day
for travel, even though the waves made it necessary to lock everything down and
close all the windows and hatches.
We pulled into
Dozier's Regatta Point Marina in
Deltaville,
VA, at around 2 PM. Little did we know, we had stumbled into a lair of
Loopers!
We tied up next to Bob and Lynn Williamson on
Legrace. Lynn told us they (and six other
Looper couples) were getting together at 4 PM to give
Bill Truex
and Jill Williams on Transition a certificate for having completed the
Loop...then we'd all go to dinner at
Cocomos at 5. We signed on!
Wayne washed the salt off the boat while I went to grab a few supplies with the
courtesy car. This is a picture taken from the marina office. We're the second
boat from left (Legrace)
on the front row.
At 4 PM we all met in the boaters' lounge and, after introducing ourselves, the
Transition crew was presented the certificate. Then we all "talked the talk"
about Loop experiences, advice, etc. There were 19 of us who went to dinner that
night: David and Gracie from Carry Forward, Woody and Ellen of Double SS, Bill,
Jane and their grandson Danny from Wayfarer, Jack and Patsy from
Honga,
Greg and Susan on
Allegria, Bob and Lynn on
Legrace,
Jim and Peg of Sanctuary, Bill and Jill of Transition and Wayne and I. At 5 PM
two pickup trucks came to carry the 19 of us to dinner. Yes, we're still in the
South!!
So happens it was Woody's birthday so we got in on another celebration when the
restaurant staff brought him a mini-birthday cake!
Dinner was great...though the hour wait for the checks was a hassle. We were
then transported back to the marina in a variety of vehicles.
Tomorrow many of us are leaving for Solomons, MD. We're hoping to get a mooring
ball or anchorage and "veg" for a few days.....
May 23 - We woke up and checked the weather, first thing, (that's the norm for
days when we plan to be moving) and the weather was suddenly looking iffy to us:
small craft warning out for the area of the Chesapeake Bay that intersects the
Potomac River and above. It didn't take us too long to decide that we would
rather stay at
Deltaville another day and get
some housekeeping done rather than have a bumpy ride to Solomons.
Legrace
and others left early that day on the trip and reported a good day on the
water...but we, and several others, stayed at
Deltaville another night.
We gathered more supplies, washed the boat, did four loads of laundry, worked on
the air conditioning pump... and other "fun" boat maintenance projects. That
afternoon Gracie, Jane, Gail and I went to town for a few things. It was like a
"mini" girls day out! (See, we had the courtesy car and you could only have it
for an hour!) We managed to hit the grocery store, Family Dollar, hardware,
library (they had a great book sale going on with special reductions on the
prices that day) and seafood/gourmet shop. I came home with shrimp,
tabbouleh and crab fritters for supper. Yum! And we only ran over
about 20 minutes on our car time!
Saturday, May 24 - Memorial Day weekend! Check out time was noon and we only had
about 20 miles to go that day to get to an anchorage just below the Potomac,
Sandy Point, so we took our time getting out that morning. Several others were
going to the same area that day...Carry Forward, Gail Frances and Wayfarer. I
took a nice, long walk into town and Wayne and Jane followed later in the
courtesy car to pick me up. Jane and I went to the farmers' market while Wayne
looked for a tool at the hardware. After coffee and a snack at Coffee Delights,
Jane and I met back up with Wayne and we stopped at the seafood shop before
getting back to the marina.
I'd noticed the little roads around this area had clever name placards posted on
a tree to indicate which families lived down that road. Jane, Gracie and I
walked back to one of those roads for some pictures...and we would have walked
down the road to see a replica of the Stingray Point lighthouse, but these were
country roads and the traffic had picked up so that it was not a safe thing to
do.
We headed back to the marina, each of us with our SLR cameras in hand, and as we
were entering the marina area decided to stop for some more pictures. As we were
snapping away, a truck pulled in with two young men who offered to take a
picture of us together...
Around noon we pulled out, followed a little later by the other three boats. The
water and wind were obliging and we had our best day yet on the waters of the
Chesapeake.
As we made our way out of the channel to
Dozier's I snapped an osprey
nest we'd seen on the way in.
By 3 o'clock Segue and Carry Forward were anchored in Sandy Point and Gail
Frances and Wayfarer were docked at the
Reedville Marina a short ride
away.
Sandy Point is beautiful! We took Lucy to shore on a little chunk of beach and
settled back to enjoy the rest of the day. It's been a while since we've had a
calm anchorage, and we both have missed it. We'd love to stay here another
night, but the weather tomorrow is supposed to be ideal for our next piece of
the trip so we'll probably move on.
I called our friends David and Cathy on the sailboat Orion and told them how
much we were enjoying the anchorage here (they had made the recommendation). I
told them we were planning to go up to Solomons on Sunday and they gave us some
alternative anchorages in case Solomons turns out to be too crowded. We'll wait
until Sunday morning to decide. Meanwhile, we watched the sunset and a movie
that Gracie on Carry Forward had loaned us.
Sunday, May 25 - We had a nice trip up to Solomons today. We got a late start,
taking Lucy to shore in the dinghy and all, but got up here by about 3:00 PM.
Crossing the mouth of the Potomac wasn't bad at all. We had a few big waves, but
not many.
We had to laugh at a couple of things. First, the places we passed on the way:
Point Lookout, Point Look-In...and Point No Point. Gotta love it! This is the
Point No Point Lighthouse.
Then, we heard this distress call from a sailboat couple in their 70's who'd
gotten too close to a lighthouse and were stuck on the rocks. We listened
intently as the Coast Guard questioned them about their condition, location,
etc., and said help was on the way. Then we heard another call to the
Coast Guard:
CG: Vessel calling the Coast Guard, go ahead.
Vessel: Yes, I need to report a family in distress on Jane's Island.
CG: A family in distress?
Vessel: Yes. They don't have a radio. They were apparently dropped off on the
island and need to leave but don't have a way off.
CG: What is the nature of their distress?
Vessel: Well...the children are being attacked by horseflies!
CG: Please switch to channel 22 (after which I'm pretty sure they passed on the
distressed family call.)
I hate those flies, but I hadn't thought of calling the Coast Guard on
them...yet!
When we got into the Solomons area we picked out an anchorage down next to the
Holiday Inn so we could dinghy in to their dock. The anchorage became a little
more crowded as the afternoon went on, but it's still very pleasant. Reminds us
a little of being in Marathon, FL, with all the boats moored about and
dinghies
everywhere.
And what's Lucy been up to lately? Well, she needs a trim, but otherwise she's
still doing great. Still loving the lap time...
We'll
stay in Solomons through Tuesday for sure...then on over to the eastern shore to
visit either St.
Michael's or Oxford.
Monday, May 26 - Beautiful day in Solomons, MD. Still not as much
boat traffic around as we had expected, which is good. We're anchored in Back
Creek near the Holiday Inn.
We have a problem with our dinghy motor. After taking Lucy to shore yesterday
afternoon we took the dinghy over to see Gail Frances at Spring Cove Marina and
then headed out for a dinghy tour of Solomons Island. The little Yamaha motor
quit! And nothing Wayne could do would get it going again. A couple on a jet ski
towed us back to the boat (how humiliating...) and Wayne worked on it a little
longer...but still no go. We knew what the plan for Monday was: try to find out
what's wrong with the motor and see if we can fix it on Memorial Day.
So...this Monday morning we packed up Lucy in the dinghy and paddled into shore.
Fortunately we're not that far away! At noon we set out again by paddle to look
for a fuel filter, grab some lunch and check out the town. The Holiday Inn is
right behind a gourmet market and shopping center with a post office. One block
away is the West Marine. Pretty convenient! To get into the "town" part of the
island we walked about a mile, passing by this lovely piece of land right on the
Patuxent
River.
We checked out a few boat places for the filter (no luck), and ate lunch at the
Captain's Table at Beacon Marina. (Good
crab cakes, but not a place we
would go again.)
We'll be here through tomorrow, we know, and will hopefully be able to resolve
the dinghy issue by then.
Tuesday, May 27 - We woke up and looked at the weather again. Could we make it
to Oxford, MD, before storms set in...even if we did get the motor repaired?
We'll try!! We paddled Lucy into shore. Wayne had arranged to have another
dinghy tow us back to the boat by the time she'd finished her business. Then
Wayne started out to paddle to the marina that had a repair facility. A large
sailboat (45 ft. or more) saw him paddling and offered a tow. They took him all
the way into the harbor of the marina. Have we said it before...or enough?
Cruising boaters are the best!
A couple of hours later we were pulling out of Solomons and heading for Oxford
on the eastern shore. The problem with the motor turned out to be a leaking fuel
tank which had let water into the fuel. We replaced the tank and the marina shop
cleaned out the motor and we were ready to go. This was the calmest day ever on
the Chesapeake for us. So calm, in fact, that there was no wind at all. We
fought biting flies the whole way!! Coast Guard, where are you???
We'd called ahead to Oxford to find the lowest fuel price. Campbell's Boatyard
at Jack's Point was lowest at $4.22...and they had a transient slip available
for the night. We got in around 4 PM and fueled up. Campbell's does a lot of
work on wooden boats and there were some gorgeous vessels on site.
In the slip next to the fuel dock was a boat named Mystic Bond...and it was
flying a gold
Looper flag. (We have a white
Looper flag because we're in the process of doing the
Loop. You get a gold flag when you've done the Loop at least once.) So after
walking Lucy we stopped by to visit with the owners, Olga and Andre
Massicotte
from Canada (originally, Nova
Scotia).
Olga and Andre built their boat. What they couldn't do they contracted out...and
living in boat-building territory as they were, this was easy to do. It's their
first time owning a boat, too! They sold their house and left out on Mystic Bond
in 2006. They completed the Loop once and have been traveling around since then.
They are leaving the boat here in Oxford with a for-sale sign on it. Now they
want to go to Europe, buy a boat and continue the adventure!
Coming into Oxford we were both impressed with the look of the place. We're
anxious to check it out tomorrow!
Wednesday, May 28 – We loved Oxford! Pretty homes, some little and some big.
Quaint. We went out that morning looking for breakfast. While we
didn’t
find a restaurant open for breakfast we did travel by bicycle all around the
town.
This
looked like it could have been a library at one time but is now called the
Mystery Loves Company Bookstore...
That afternoon we went back with Olga to the farmer’s market. Freshly made ice
cream from a local creamery, organic greens and local strawberries were among
our purchases. The market was small, but well stocked. And it was definitely the
place for catching up with neighbors. There were a lot of people out that
afternoon. We had a salad of
arugula, oak-leaf lettuce and
shelled fresh peas that evening…YUM.
Thursday, May 29 – Let’s go 80+ miles today to
Havre
de
Grace, MD, at the top of the Chesapeake! We were out by 8 AM and got to our
destination by 5 PM. It was a long day, but easy travel on the Chesapeake. We
tied up at
Havre
de Grace Marina at the Log Pond
(don’t ask…) and chatted for a while with another cruising couple there, Carey
and Phil on
Apolonia. Turns out Carey was from Big Stone Gap, VA, and we had a
mutual acquaintance! Small world. Phil has done the Loop (Carey was still
working then and came to visit for a few weeks at a time) so now they are going
to Nova
Scotia by boat. We’ll likely cross paths again somewhere up in the
canals…
Friday, May 30 – The weather was going to be good for travel this day, but we
had to wait in
Havre
de
Grace long enough to get a UPS package we’d had directed to the marina.
Meanwhile we went in search of breakfast…a-gain. We settled for coffee from a
“java shop” and a huge cinnamon roll ($1.20) from
Holl’s
Bakery. We ate all we wanted of the roll and still had half left! Then we
proceeded to walk the town streets.
Havre
de
Grace has a nice feel to it. Maybe the first "northern" town we've been to on
the Chesapeake (or on this trip!) When I walked around the first night I came
back saying it reminded me a lot of my old Detroit neighborhood somehow. Maybe
the style of the houses, the closeness of the houses, and the activity on the
sidewalks.
Havre
de Grace is really close to
Baltimore and Washington, DC., and I suspect a lot of the boats we saw there are
owned by people who don't live in the town.
We found the marina office about 12 blocks away and found out UPS usually
delivered between 11 and 2. At 11 we had lunch at
MacGregors
Tavern, then stopped by the Save-a-Lot grocery on the way back to the boat. By
now it was after noon so Wayne biked back to the marina office to wait on the
package. The UPS truck was busy that day…we
didn’t get out of town until
around 2:15PM.
We have been passing these neat bell markers up here...As waves rock it, the
bell rings. An alert in foggy or dark conditions, I guess, but there have to be
enough waves to move the ringer.
Fortunately, the run to Chesapeake City was short and we were anchored in the
basin by 4 PM. Bill and Jane on Wayfarer tied up at the restaurant dock since
the town docks were full.
Saturday, May 31 – Windy, stormy weather today so we’re not traveling. (I
started to say we’re not moving, but that would be wrong.) There’s a tornado
watch out this afternoon until 5 PM. We’re hoping this front moves through
tonight so we can make the run tomorrow down the Delaware Bay to Cape May. Wayne
is spending the afternoon working on the battery hook ups.
Chesapeake City is a really neat little town. A real sea town. Pretty little
houses with gated yards and lots of flowers.
So this afternoon I called Diane Wade on Bella Luna to see where they were this
stormy day. They were here in Chesapeake City...within spitting distance! We
took the dinghy over that evening and visited with Louis and Diane...and Bud and
Muriel from Sunshine. Tomorrow we all plan to leave out around 8 AM for Cape
May. May the weather gods be with us...
June 1 - I will always picture the Delaware Bay on a map with a
HUGE black fly on it. We left this Sunday morning with four boats: Bella Luna
and Summertime in the lead, followed by Segue and Wayfarer. Making our way
across the C & D Canal (Chesapeake and Delaware Canal) we were anticipating the
entrance onto the Delaware Bay and hoping that our calculations about tide and
wind would give us an easy day down to Cape May.
Oh, thank God, the seas are calm! Oh, my God, the seas are calm and the flies
are OUT!! We killed a ton of flies. We didn't just kill them for fun (well...).
They were biting us!! Bringing up blood! We killed so may flies on the bridge it
looked like a war zone. Diane on Bella Luna said it was the first time in her
life she'd ever had to wash a fly swatter, it was so bloody!!
I was dreading the night at Cape May if this continued. Turns out the flies are
only a phenomenon on the Delaware Bay.
So, we went on to our marina in Cape May, the Miss Chris Marina. We'd told
Wayfarer's Bill and Jane about the place and they had called for reservations,
too. Being a fast vessel with owners who like to "pick it up a little," (smile)
Wayfarer got to the marina first. We heard them hailing the marina on channel 16
but couldn't hear the subsequent conversations. Then we heard Wayfarer calling
another local marina. What happened??? Well, when we got to Miss Chris we
figured out what happened. The slip they had for us was a set of really tall
poles along side...and a floating dock at the stern. Miss Chris Marina holds a
couple of large whale watcher boats and some fishing boats. Not many transient
slips available there. It took us about a half an hour to tie up. Bill and Jane
had taken one look at this and moved on! For only one night, we decided to go
through with it...I think Wayne likes a challenge every now and then.
We took our bikes and rode over to the little historic town of Cape May and
brought back as many groceries as we could carry. The whole Cape May historic
area is full of well preserved Victorian era houses. If we weren't looking at a
really short weather window for traveling up the Atlantic coast to NYC, we'd
have stayed a while. We'll come back...by sea or by land.
Cape May is at the bottom of New Jersey right where the Delaware Bay meets the
Atlantic Ocean. To travel to New York City (where we'll take the Hudson River on
up to the Erie Canal) a boat can either travel "inside" on the
ICW
or run "outside" in the Atlantic Ocean. With a lot of shoaling on the New Jersey
inside route we had decided to do the trip to New York in three sections: Cape
May to Atlantic City; Atlantic City to
Manasquan Inlet;
Manasquan
Inlet to New York. The weather has a greater influence on our travel plans when
we're going into the ocean versus when we're traveling "inside."
We checked the weather that Sunday evening and talked with another couple, Pat
and John Olson on Free Bird, about whether it would be a good day on Monday to
go to Atlantic City. Pat and John are finishing their second Loop trip and are
headed home to the upper peninsula of Michigan. We knew the weather was supposed
to be nasty in the middle of the week, so if we could travel Monday, we would.
Monday, June 2 - We checked the weather, called the Olsons and arranged to meet
them at the Cape May Inlet for a trip up to Atlantic City. Free Bird led since
they have auto pilot on board. We stayed really close to shore, which isn't
risky at all along the New Jersey coast. It's deep and sandy. The trip was easy
and we were in Atlantic City by lunch time.
We stopped for fuel at Kammerman's Marina and saw Wayfarer there. Bill and Jane
are staying a while with friends in the area and will leave Wayfarer at
Kammerman's while they visit.
We stayed the night at the Gardner's Basin Marina, right next to the Atlantic
City Aquarium.
Gardner's Basin is like the city marina. The whole little waterfront area around
the aquarium is pretty, but seems a little run down. We ate lunch with Pat and
John at the Flying Cloud Cafe, right next to the marina on the water. The food
was good and we enjoyed catching up with the Olsons after having seen them last
in Beaufort, SC.
We also discussed plans for the next day. John and Pat had been to Manasquan
Inlet the last trip around and had some concerns about the shoaling there and
the current. An option to consider was a 10-hour run to New York City, skipping
Manasquan all together. We were game, so it was decided that we would go
together the next day to New York.
Tuesday, June 3 - We're usually out and about on the water by 8 or 8:30 AM. This
morning we were leaving the Gardner's Basin dock at 5:45 AM. We had 10 hours
ahead of us and wanted to get most of the travel in before the weather started
changing that afternoon.
Again, we had an easy trip, staying in close to shore most all the way. Ten
hours is a long time out there! We each took turns going down for a nap
(something we felt comfortable doing with Free Bird leading) and tried to sketch
out our trip from New York to the Trent Severn.
There's an optional side trip on the Loop route that goes up the Champlain River
to Montreal then back down the
Rideau before continuing on over
to the Trent Severn. We've heard so much about the Champlain trip and how
beautiful it is that we'd decided (somewhere down in Florida) that we would do
that, too. Now that we're almost 3700 miles into the trip (!!!) we're changing
our minds. The first half of the trip has gone by so quickly...and we feel the
need to linger over the remainder. More time in one place. More anchorages.
So...we're not going to do the Champlain trip at this time. (Maybe later, again,
by boat or by car.) Instead, we're going to mosey up to Lake Ontario and stay a
week in
Belleville, Ontario, to get the curtains replaced on the bridge.
Our friends on the Mystic Bond, Olga and Andre, had recommended a shop there.
Getting back to today's trip, though, the highlight, of course, was entering the
New York Harbor that Tuesday afternoon. Here's a picture of Free Bird going in
ahead of us...and you can see one of the high-speed ferries in the distance that
had just zoomed past.
We were all eyes and ears on this section, trying to keep down the awe factor
enough to be aware of what was going on around (often behind) us.
We were anchoring that night in a little park just behind the Statue of Liberty.
Coming by the Statue of Liberty is an experience people have raved about...and
I'll have to say, it was everything we'd hoped for and more! It was a really
special experience for us to think that we've come all the way to the Statue of
Liberty by water from Tennessee...and to have this new view of something we've
seen in person so many times. It was definitely a highlight of this trip, so
far.
The anchorage had one other boat in it so we had no trouble finding space. The
holding was good...and that was a good thing because the winds that evening
picked up. We got down the dinghy to take Lucy to the shore...and half way over
to the dock the dinghy motor quit again. The winds were blowing and we were
rowing! We got there OK and I took Lucy for a walk while Wayne tinkered with the
motor. (Shades of Solomons Island...) In the meantime, John had seen us leave
out and saw that the motor had quit. He got their dinghy down and motored over
to tow us back just about the time Wayne got ours going again. John followed
with us back to the boat just to make sure we didn't have another rowing
session.
Wednesday, June 4 - We were setting our sights for the 79th Street Marina in
Manhattan this day. The marina is city owned and they don't take reservations,
it's a first-come-first-served deal. I called that morning and they said they
did have room for us. There was a fog settled in over the little channel leading
from the harbor to the park, but we weren't sure how intense the fog would be in
the harbor itself. We lingered until about 9 AM then all three boats started out
to make our separate ways. (John and Pat were heading up the Hudson to an
anchorage that evening.) It didn't take us long to realize that the fog was
dense...so dense that we decided to come back and wait another 30 minutes. The
Olsons went on, hugging the western shore, and the other boat, Sesame, came back
to wait along with us. Finally we decided to ease on out and feel our way up the
harbor on the western side. Our radar, both mechanical and human, was "up." We
only had a couple of brushes with big boats...they weren't in the shipping
channel and neither were we. They definitely had a course in mind, though, and
both times it involved them heading straight for us! Fortunately we can speed up
when needed...and we did.
79th Street Marina has it's down side. We were positioned on a stationary wooden
dock just inside the T-dock. Most of the time we were there two large sailboats
were positioned opposite our slip on the outside, providing a wave buffer. But
the stationary dock thing: we sometimes had trouble figuring how to get on and
off the boat. I nearly always needed help getting Lucy off and onto the boat.
And when the sailboats left on Friday we had a rocky,
rolly
day and night. BUT...all things considered...we were a fifteen minute walk from
Zabar's! The subway had stops at 79th and the bus came right by the marina. For
three days we felt like we sort of lived in New York! Not for everyone, but for
us the marina's benefits far outweighed the problems. Here's what we were
looking at daily.
We spent three wonderful, packed full days in New York City. We bought specialty
foods at Zabar's, stocked up on some groceries from Fairway and Westside
markets, loaded up on bagels from H & H Bagels and ate breakfast at Big Nick's.
We even managed to wash a load of clothes each at a local laundromat. For a
couple who enjoy people watching, we had front row seats outside the laundromat
one afternoon as 4 o'clock activity picked up on the street. The laundromat
itself was a new experience for us. Basically it was a wash and fold business so
the machines available to the walk-in clients were few and far between, but the
staff was very helpful in shifting around their loads so we could get ours done.
On our last day there, Friday, June 6, we had a special outing. Thanks to our
friend Jeff
Dobson in Knoxville and his (identical twin) brother, Jerry, we
were able to see the American Geographical Society's Fliers' and Explorers'
Globe at the AGS headquarters down on Wall St. Jerry is the current President of
AGS and arranged for us to contact Mary Lynne Bird, the Executive Director, for
a special look at the globe since it's not out for public viewing. The Fliers'
and Explorers' Globe has been signed over the years by "men and women who
have explored certain places on earth for the first time in recorded history,
reached new extremes of height or depth, pioneered new means of travel, or set
aviation records," according to the AGS website.
Charles Lindbergh, Amelia
Earhart, Sir Edmund Hillary, William Beebe, and the Apollo 13 astronauts are
among those having signed the globe. We felt really special to have been able to
see the globe. Thank you, Jeff and Jerry!
I had my Sharpie, but couldn't get close enough to leave our signature on the
Loop route!
The globe was originally donated to the Society in 1929 by John H. Finley,
President of AGS at that time and also Editor-in-Chief of the New York Times.
The poem on the back of the globe was written by Finley...and I thought that was
interesting.
We left the
AGS and started making our way down to the North Cove Marina for a
reunion with our friend Beth Doxsee. Beth worked for 13-30 back in the late 70's
while I was working at Lawson McGhee Library. We became friends...then she moved
back to her home in New York in 1980. I had visited New York and seen Beth once
in the early 80's, but we hadn't seen each other since...just kept up by
correspondence.
Beth is a captain on the 134 ft. sailing vessel called the
Corwith
Cramer.
The Cramer
is one of the sailing ships used by SEA, the Sea Education Association, "an
educational institution dedicated to the study of the ocean environment and its
relationship to the Earth and to human affairs." (www.sea.edu). The
Cramer was in New York for a while and we were lucky
enough to pass through during its stay. Beth gave us a tour of the ship...and it
was fascinating! It's a gorgeous vessel and it was neat to see the salon and
galley for a boat that can
accommodate a crew of over thirty people.
Saturday, June 7 - As Alex would say, "Bye-bye, New York!" We couldn't resist
running back out that morning while we waited for the water to rise a bit and
gather in some more goodies. We pulled out at around 10 AM and started the trip
up the Hudson River. We were headed to
Haverstraw Bay to anchor out.
As the day wore on, the heat increased! By the time we got to
Haverstraw
Bay that afternoon we were steaming hot. Being a weekend...and a warm one at
that...Haverstraw
was packed with boats of all sizes. Fortunately, there's plenty of room so we
had no problem getting a spot. Most of the boats cleared out around 5 o'clock,
anyway.
Sunday, June 8 - Sunday took us through some of the most beautiful
landscape
that we've ever seen. And coming from the Tennessee River area,
that's saying a lot!
We passed by West Point
(their marina is closed to boats unless you're a general or have "contacts") and
many impressive homes. We also passed Pollepel Island and Bannerman's Island
Arsenal. The following story about this arsenal is taken from A Personal
Travel Guide to the Hudson River
by Lawrence Zeitlin, Cortlandt Manor, NY:
"Pollepel Island, about four miles north of Cold Spring, holds the romantic
ruins of
Bannerman's Castle. Bannerman was an arms dealer who bought up all the Union’s
military supplies left after the Civil War and the military surplus of the
Spanish American
War. He stored them in a warehouse in New York City and sold them out of a New
York
storefront. He published a mail order catalog of the arms holdings and became
the Sears
Roebuck of munitions. Most of the world's rebellions from 1880 through 1910 were
fought with Bannerman supplied weapons. Eventually New York's city fathers
became
uneasy about having a munitions store in mid-town and convinced Bannerman to
move.
He relocated his warehouse to Pollapel Island, figuring that the locals would be
more
tolerant of a few hundred tons of explosive in the basement. The warehouse was
constructed to look like a medieval castle, although it was made of conventional
brick
and concrete. Bannerman and his family moved there. Unfortunately the area is no
stranger to lightning and the warehouse was destroyed by a series of fires (and
explosions) by the late 60s."
Again, it was a hot, muggy day. Amazing that we could be traveling on the boat
and still have places where the air was not moving! Around 3 that afternoon a
storm caught up with us and followed us for about half an hour. We got some
rain...but the best thing was that it brought cloud cover and a wonderful cool
breeze.
That evening we anchored near Kingston, NY, up the Rondout Creek.
Kingston looks like a town worth a second visit. Apparently there's a community
of artists there, as was evident from the water.
A nice couple who were moored nearby came over and offered advice on where to
take Lucy for a walk...and offered some history on the area. According to them,
all the PT boats made during WWII came from Kingston. We'd seen a sign coming in
touting the Fleet Obsolete, and I guess they were referring to the PT boats.
Monday, June 9 - Another scorcher day. We considered traveling north until it
got cool...but with the current on the Hudson we were only going about 7.5 miles
per hour. It might take a while!
We had reservations a the Coeyman's Landing Marina for Tuesday and Wednesday
nights...and were planning to tie up to a park dock near there on this Monday
evening so we could get into the marina early on Tuesday and get busy cleaning
the boat, stocking up on supplies and washing clothes. (Life chores, as Cheryl
Travis would say.) Well, the tide was out and the dock was very small...so we
ended up just going into the marina a day early. We'll be here until Thursday
when we'll leave for parts north....
And, oh yeah. We've decided to go ahead and do the Lake Champlain route. We
talked with a local couple who've traveled that area often and they have assured
us we can anchor out a lot and spend plenty of time on the trip...and still get
to Belleville, Ontario, around July 14. We're excited! Tomorrow we plan to get
up as far as Fort Edwards to spend the night. More to come...
Thursday, June 12 - I woke up this morning thinking about the day ahead: 20 miles to Waterford...38 to Ft. Edwards...and in between there would be 7 locks to pass through. Sounded too long. Wayne agreed, so we modified our plan. We'd get to Waterford and see if we could get on the free town dock (electricity and water also free). If not, we'd start up the Champlain Canal and go as far as Mechanicsville, NY, to either stay on the free dock or anchor out. We got a 2-day pass for the canal, knowing that if we started up the canal today and went to Mechanicsville we'd need to finish up the canal on Friday. The whole canal from Waterford to Whitehall, NY, is only 60 miles long, but you have to go through 11 locks. They estimate 30 minutes for each lock.
It was a beautiful day, and cool when we left
Coeymans. This is a view from
the river with the little park on the left, town in the center and
Coeymans
Landing Marina off on the right...just out of the picture.
On the way up from
Coeymans to Waterford we passed Albany and I loved these
buildings on the skyline...
We had on jackets until we got up to the Troy Lock. We didn't make the first
lock through because there were 3 sailboats, a barge, and a commercial ferry
ahead of us. Thirty minutes after we'd arrived at the lock we were allowed
through. Now to see if we could get a spot at the Waterford dock...
We spotted the dock at around 1PM. At first glance it looked full. Then we saw
an opening...We got up to it, had help tying up from a fellow
Looper...then
noticed it was a "no docking" zone meant for pump outs only. But...if we moved
one of the boats up ahead we could fit in. Wayne and Larry from Lauren
Grace moved the boat and we then slipped into the vacated space. Ta-da!!
Houdini and Wayne! We're the second boat from the bottom, and that vacant space
you see down below the boats is the pump out area.
Waterford is so nice! We walked over to the supermarket and they allow boaters
to take the grocery carts back to the dock. We'd provisioned a lot in
Coeymans...but
still needed some things so we took advantage of the offer. We're learning never
to pass up a grocery store!!
There are several
Looper boats here. We'll stay a couple of nights and take
out on Saturday for the Champlain Canal.
Friday, June 13 - A beautiful day in Waterford! We had breakfast at Don and
Paul's then biked down the Old Champlain Canal path to a hardware store. We
found Stewart's, a regional convenience store with ice cream parlor and lunched
on a couple of cones. We admired some of the older homes there, too.
Back at the boat the gang (there must have been around 15 boats either tied up
to the town dock or on the wall just before the dock) had come up with a party
plan for that evening... we'd all get together at 5 and share heavy hors
d'ourves for a Friday the 13th
celebration. Cruisers=food, fun, 'freshments!
We talked with Van and Diane of Passport who are from Tennessee and were going
through the same flip-flop on doing the Champlain route as we had. We talked to
them about our "itinerary" for the route and the number of days we'd planned
(loosely). As we left the next morning they were still mulling it over. We'll
hope to see them, one place or another, as we make our way on up to Canada.
Saturday, June 14 - It looked like a Chinese fire drill as we left the Waterford
dock that morning. The boat in front of us moved to the pump out station, we
left for the Champlain Canal and the boat that had docked at the pump out
station came up and took our place.
We were a bit anxious this day. The lowest bridge on the whole trip was coming
up on the Champlain Canal. We had to be able to fit under a 17' railroad
bridge...and the top of
Segue's radar dome is the
highest point now with 16.5' air draft. Six inches. Whew! Wayne had already
taken down the davit for the dinghy, so we'd done about all we could. This isn't
that bridge...but one of the other "short" ones we encountered on the Champlain
Canal. (We were too panicky to take a picture on the first one!)
Before we knew it we were to the first lock. These locks are different from
those in Tennessee/Alabama. For one thing, they're a lot smaller. I think the
highest one yesterday was 18.5 ft. And the way you tie up is different. With
these, we ended up grabbing onto lines that were hanging down, one of us on the
stern and one on the bow, and holding on while the lock filled. Our gear for the
locks: headsets, life jackets, gloves...and fenders out!
We went through 6 locks of the 11 on the Champlain Canal that day. The Champlain
Canal is part of the NY Canal system. All of the locks were neatly tended with
flowers, green lawns and picnic tables...and we found all of the lock tenders to
be extremely friendly and helpful.
At one lock we saw a true "infinity pool!" Do not go near the edge!
There are several places along the canal where boats can tie up overnight for
free. Most of the locks have a wall to tie onto, but often no water or
electricity. We had decided to go to the town of Fort Edward which is near Lock
7. As we turned off in front of the lock to make our way up the little creek the
lock attendant hailed us on channel 16 to offer advice on our approach. The
channel is in need of dredging so he cautioned us to hang close to the town
wall.
The water was slim, but we made it. And we were the only boat on the wall! It
was a warm Saturday afternoon and many of the town's kids were out at the end of
the waterfront park jumping into the river for a swim.
The skies looked threatening so we took a quick walk up through town, bought
some ice, and walked back to the boat. I harnessed up Lucy for her evening
stroll. We were walking around in the park area when a man with a dog and little
girl stopped to give me a word of caution. His dog had been attacked at this
park the night before by a pit bull! Needless to say, we were very cautious when
we took Lucy out the next morning.
(The
picture above was taken BEFORE I got the word on the pit bull. Lucy is off her
leash. Wouldn't want it to look like we were putting her out there as bait. :-)
Sunday, June 15 - We were going to finish the Champlain Canal today and get up
to an anchorage just above the Fort Ticonderoga. At least that was the original
plan. The day turned out to be a beautiful day...with great
visibility. We knew the rains were coming in on the next day and
decided...once we'd made it to the bottom of the lake where it began to widen
out and we could see the mountains on the New York side...we decided to go on a
little further and take in the views.
We ended up at Button Bay that evening. It was the first time we'd anchored on a
rocky bottom, but the anchor bit in and held just fine. (In fact, we still have
a little rock wedged into the anchor from Button Bay!) Getting Lucy to shore was
another matter. We took her to the small Button Island, but the rocks were so
slick there that it took us forever to get out and "on with it."
Monday, June 16 - A windy day that we planned to spend at anchor. Trouble was,
the wind was coming from the south and making too many waves for us at Button
Bay. We pulled up anchor and motored over to Arnold Bay, within sight...and with
a nice body of land to our south to block the winds. We spent a lazy day at
anchor. Read and napped, mostly.
We've been amazed how few boats there are on the Champlain! Sunday as we were
coming up from the canal we saw a good number of fishing boats, but not many
cruising boats. Have the fuel prices made an impact? Could be.
Tuesday, June 17 - Everyone who talked about Lake Champlain said we must go to a
little town called
Vergennes on Otter Creek. It's
touted as the oldest town in Vermont and is built around waterfalls. Tuesday we
were headed for
Vergennes.
But first! We needed a pump out! You see, on Lake Champlain you are required to
use a holding tank for sewer waste. Normally we use a system on the boat called
Purisan
that treats the waste each time we flush and renders it clean for pumping
overboard. On Lake Champlain you are required to take out a piece of the pipe
that would even allow you to send waste (treated or untreated) overboard.
So...before we went to
Vergennes we stopped at Point Bay Marina for a pump out
and to take on fuel. (Another "rule of the road" is to top off the fuel whenever
you see a decent price. The definition of "decent" is changing daily as we move
north...)
As we passed by the Otter Creek that day we saw a distinct
demarcation where the Lake Champlain waters met the runoff from
Otter Creek (chocolate colored water.)
Vergennes
has docks with 15 amp power and water available. We tied up to the north side of
the docking area as it was closer to the downtown area (misnomer here, since
"downtown" was definitely UP HILL!)
Vergennes is built around a
waterfall and the image that afternoon with approaching rain was beautiful.
We got tied up in time to have a wonderful lunch at the Three Squares Cafe, then
took a walk around town. Wayne ended up going off to explore the area around the
waterfalls while I explored some of the local shops. In particular, I found the
Dog Tired Studio. Sean Callahan is the artist and his work is
watercolor...mostly dogs and other animals, but he's branching out into some
more abstract pieces. He was with a client when I dropped in the first time so I
came back by later to tell him how much I liked his work. We talked about
techniques, paints, etc., and he asked if I was available to join a painting
group on Wednesday evening for a couple of hours. Was I ever!! I accepted with
pleasure and took off to figure out what I would take to paint!
Wednesday, June 18 - Breakfast at Three Squares had looked so good we decided to
go back Wednesday morning and partake. We split an order of breakfast burrito
and an order of
challah french toast with fruit and Vermont maple syrup.
We didn't want to eat again until 4:30 PM! Man, was it good!
Later that afternoon we hiked back up the hill to spend some time at the
Vergennes
library. Gorgeous, old building with a "real" card catalog. But no Wall St.
Journal. Guess it's too expensive. Anyway, we read and took advantage of a
stronger signal on our
Internet connection to catch up
with emails.
Five thirty came and I was headed out again for the Dog Tired Studio. I had a
few things picked out to work on and took my supplies in our little fold up
cart. Sean asked to see some of my work and I showed him the cards I've made
over the past couple of years from paintings. He was very encouraging, as were
the three women who came to the gathering a little later. They were working on
some great pieces. We talked about papers and paints. Sean really likes Daniel
Smith paints and gave me some sample "squirts" onto my palette of a couple of
his favorites. It was such a nice experience! I've decided I should try to
locate painting groups whenever I have a few days someplace.
Thursday, June 19 - Time to leave
Vergennes and go up closer to
Burlington to anchor for tonight. We only had about 25 miles to go, so we were
anchored out in
Shelburne Bay in time for lunch.
On the way up we glanced at the depth finder. 345 ft. may be a record for us!
Friday, June 20 - It was raining this morning. We both suited up in our rain
gear and decided to just get the dinghy on the boat and take Lucy to shore when
we docked at the Burlington Community Boathouse. Lucy has gotten used to our
erratic schedule and just went back to the bedroom for a nap when she realized
it "wasn't time yet." The Boathouse is conveniently located right in downtown
Burlington. We were tied up by 10:30 AM. Shortly after, our friends Louis and
Diane Wade on Bella Luna came in...followed by two other Looper boats.
The Wades went with us to lunch at the Vermont Pub up the street and we caught
up on things. That evening four couples went to the Single Pebble chinese
restaurant and enjoyed a wonderful meal, sampling various dishes.
Saturday, June 21 - We rented a car with the Wades for this weekend so we could
gather in supplies. We hit the Walmart, grocery store, West Marine and Staples
in the morning. Then we did laundry in the afternoon. We were worn out by the
end of the day!!!
Sunday , June 22 - Worked around on life chores during the morning...then to
Costco with the Wades for a few hours that afternoon. I took the car back and
walked home through the town. I stopped at the public library and picked up a
couple of books from their book sale rack. Only library I've ever seen that had
garden tools for check out! I asked the desk assistant about it and she said it
was a very popular service since the tools are expensive and often only used a
few times during the gardening year. Very unique!
Speaking of unique...here are some signs I hadn't seen before.
We'll be in Burlington (by the way: Love it! Love it!) until Monday morning when
we head on up to Rouses Point and our last stop in the U.S. for a while. Tuesday
we'll enter Canada! Just a note here: We won't be answering our phones while up
there...but if you'd leave a message we'll call you using a calling card. Also,
we'll be relying on wifi connections for the internet so blog updates and email
replys may be a bit slow(er). We'll try to keep in touch!
Monday, June 23 - It rained last night in Burlington. That's an
understatement. The weather service issued a notice: "A record rainfall of 1.27
inches was set at Burlington Vermont
yesterday. This breaks the old record of 1.25 set in 1887." And this morning?
More of the same. Well, not so much at once, but it was definitely rainy. We'd
planned to leave around 8:30, but waited until 10 for the weather to break.
It was a good decision, though, because the trip to Rouses Point, NY, was rain
free. We docked at the Lighthouse Marina and were fueling up when the skies
opened up again. It's Bella Luna, Prime Time and Segue here this evening.
Tomorrow we hit the Richelieu Canal and enter Canada!
We talked with Dave, Heather and Alex this evening on Pal Talk. It was good to
see them...and hear Alex counting to 8!!
Tuesday, June 24 - Bonjour, bonjour!!
Segue, Bella Luna, and Prime Time left the Lighthouse Marina at around 8 AM. We
all took turns checking in at the Canadian customs station and then headed up
towards St. Jean and the beginning of the Chambly Canal. We were on the
Richelieu River at this point and passing by lake cottages and lots of small
fishing boats.
When we got to the first canal (actually Canal 9) at St. Jean Prime Time was in
the lead. Prime Time hailed the canal attendant and told her we had 3 boats
wishing to lock through. She took down our boat names and sizes, then called
back to say that only one could go through at this time and the other two should
wait at the tie up near the canal for the next opening. So Segue and Bella Luna
tied up and took in the hustle and bustle going on around the canal. Diane took
this picture of Wayne and I on our first day in Canada...
There were people everywhere! On one side of the canal was a biking and walking
trail and on the other side a road. People were gathered at the canal to watch
boats lock through. When we asked about a nearby bank so we could get some
Canadian money we were told banks were closed that because it was a holiday in
Quebec (not in all of Canada, just in Quebec) known as Saint-Jean-Baptiste
Day. The holiday started out as a religious holiday of the Catholic Church
to honor the patron saint of French Canadians, St. John the Baptist, but now it
has become more a political celebration. Blue and white Quebec flags were
everywhere. That explained the number of people we were seeing out!
We waited only about 20-30 minutes before it was our turn to lock through to the
canal. In these locks the attendants hand you a (clean!) line at the stern and
at the bow. Except for the occasional wind, these locks were easily managed. And
the trip in between...well, we felt like we were in a parade! People everywhere,
festive attitudes, waving hellos...it was wonderful.
The locks are hand operated...
And
they almost caught our flag on one of the openings!
Bella Luna and Segue spent the night on the wall at Chambly between Lock 3 and
Lock 4 while Prime Time went through Locks 3-1 and stayed at the Chambly marina.
That evening we gathered at 5:00 on Kaos, along with Bella Luna, Distant Shores,
and Prime Time. A good time was had by all.
Chambly is a friendly, comfortable place to stay. Diane and I were glad to see a
grocery nearby...'cause you're always "nearly out" of something. If Montreal
weren't beckoning, we'd stay a day or so longer.
Wednesday, June 25 - The lock we were getting ready to go through is a flight
lock so once you enter a lock you must complete the remaining two locks. We were
going down a total of 35 ft. in this flight lock. The view from the top lock
(No. 3) was great.
Once out of the lock we were headed up another 40 miles or so to Sorel. From
Sorel we'll go to Montreal. The scenery along this stretch of the Richeleu was
so nice...beautiful homes lining both shores. I took a few pictures. And...the
steeples along the way looked so good against the blue sky and clouds.
We stayed at Parc Nautique Sorel (marina) in Sorel. Thank goodness Gary and Pat
from Prime Time was there to help us navigate in...and help Wayne and I tuck the
boat into a very tightly fitting slip. Oh, and did I mention, the wind was
wailing??? Anyway, tomorrow could be a challenge getting out, depending on the
weather.
Thursday, June 26 - The wind was calm this morning, but it was still a tight
squeeze getting out of our slip. Fortunately the tip of our bow went over
the boat docked next to us and gave us some more room in which to maneuver.
On leaving Sorel we entered the St. Lawrence River and began making our way,
upstream, to Montreal. The current running against us cut our normal 10 mph
speed to something more like 7.5 mph. And we saw some rather large, sea-going
vessels on the way....
We left Sorel at around 8:45 AM and got into Montreal at around 4:00PM...~44
miles. As we made our way to the Montreal Yacht Club , the current increased and
we were slowed to 4.5 mph for 2 miles or so. Looking at this channel marker you
can see what we were working against!
The Montreal Yacht Club has some of the nicest docks we've seen. They have a
rubberized layer on top which makes walking around on wet surfaces much easier.
They also have cleats running in a channel alongside the slip so the cleats can
be moved to accomodate different boats. The location is great...right at the Old
Port area. Many people seem to use their boat as a summer cottage. The weekend
we were in Montreal the marina was hopping with people who were entertaining on
their boats. (This was actually a holiday weekend, too. Monday and Tuesday are
both holidays ...Tuesday is Canada Day.)
We walked Lucy,then took off for a look-see in the area. We ended up at an
outdoor restaurant on the local pedestrian mall, Place Jacques-Cartier, and
enjoyed a beverage while watching a flame-throwing entertainer "wow" a crowd.
We'd had a day, by then, and headed back to the boat for a light supper and
planning for tomorrow's exploration of the city.
Friday, June 27 - We left the boat at 8:30 and walked up to the tourist
information site and location of bus tours for Montreal. We signed up for a
3-hour tour beginning at 10...and had time for a second cup of coffee and a
cheese sandwich at a local deli. The tour covered the main parts of
Montreal...the Mont-Royal Park (normally the best view of the city, but it was
really cloudy that day) , McGill University, University of Montreal (53,000
students and totally French-speaking university), the Olympic village site...and
numerous cathedrals, government buildings, etc.
Montreal has a large "indoor city" underground linked to the Metro system.
AND...their Metro, according to a native, has rubber wheels instead of metal
(like NYC has) so the Metro is much quieter.
When we finished the tour we visited the tourist information center again and
got advice and directions for several restaurants we'd read about. Our friend,
Bob Sicignano, had recommended Schwartz's Deli for smoked meat sandwiches and we
struck out on the Metro to find it. It was around 2 PM by the time we got to the
deli and we thought maybe the lunch crunch would be over. Not so!
We waited outside for probably 20-30 minutes before being escorted into the
small restaurant and seated at a table for 6. There were already two other
couples at the table...and this is how it is. It was really a cozy place and we
talked with a series of couples as the meals were served and finished. We both
had a smoked meat sandwich with fries...and a side order of pickles. It really
was good! The bread was even good...nice and firm to be able to hold the
4 inches of meat they piled on. We couldn't finish the sandwich,but that didn't
keep us from stopping in for gelato at a nearby ice cream shop. We made it home
around 4:30 and snacked on veggies for supper, we were so full.
Saturday, June 28 - We decided to indulge our individual interests. Wayne found
a marine chart store and shopped (though unsucessfully) for some Canadian charts
we're lacking.) He wanted pasta for lunch, but ended up settling for a sandwich
on the boat because it was too early in the day to find pasta. The impeller on
one engine needed looking at because he'd spotted a water leak from it...and he
ended up working all the rest of the day on boat projects.
I headed for the Montreal Museum of Fine Art to see the exhibit of Yves Saint
Laurent couture. I thoroughly enjoyed the exhibit. It was much larger than I had
expected...and very well done. I especially liked the pieces that had been made
for individuals...and his pieces made in honor of Proust and Picasso. I had
lunch at the museum bistro (where they were playing Johnny Cash albums on the
"Ipod" and the waiter had tickets that evening to see Al Green at the Jazz
Festival.)
Did I mention the Jazz Festival? It started the night we arrived and would be
going on the whole time we were there.
We had a couple of restaurants picked out for supper...but the rains came in
that evening and we decided to eat in and watch a movie. Around 9:30 we went
outside for the fireworks display. Pretty impressive! According to a local
boater, the firework display companies compete for "best" over the summer and
then can charge "even more" for their services.
Sunday, June 29 - We hung around that morning working on the blog and catching
up on emails...then headed out for a Portugese restaurant that had been
recommended to us. We both had tourist passes for the Metro which meant we had 3
days of unlimited travel on the buses or subway, so we took a Subway up to the
restaurant. It was closed! Granted, it was only 11:30...but we were hungry! We
left out for the second choice, a French bistro on Rue St. Denis. On the way we
passed a couple of good looking eateries...but decided to press on. When we got
to L'Express and looked at the menu we decided to head back to one of the
appealing places we'd passed. It was a good decision.
Wayne had seafood pasta and I had veal scallopini...and, much to the waiter's
surprise, we ordered a side of poutine. We'd read about poutine being a true
Montreal "comfort food" and didn't want to leave without tasting it. According
to montrealpoutine.com, poutine is "a heap of crispy french fries topped by a
handful of cheddar curds, and a chicken (or, sometimes, veal) based sauce. While
great fries are important, it is the combination of sauce and curds which makes
a poutine a trascendent [sic] culinary experience." Well...it was a
"transcendent culinary experience!" Darn yummy. We asked the waiter later
whether it's usually served as a side or an entre. He said he usually eats it at
around 2 AM when he's been out drinking for a while. Poutine = chili cheese
fries!
We were enamored with the neighborhood, too. We'd walked through it on
Friday...then today. A Montreal resident from one of the neighboring tables in
the restaurant, the Universel Restaurant Cafe, came over to ask how we liked the
poutine and we asked about the area. It's part of the Latin Quarter...and we
really liked the feeling there.
We finished up, reluctantly, ...well, we'd had all we could hold...and walked
out to see the Jazz Festival venue. We caught a couple of bands...one New
Orleans jazz style and one our favorite, Latin jazz. Topping the event off with
a soft serve cone at Dairy Queen, we parted ways. Wayne headed back to the boat
and I went on to find a grocery store and some fresh fruits and veggies. I also
picked up a couple of croissants for Wayne and some St. Viateur bagels for me.
(Montreal bagels are different from NYC bagels, for instance. They are sweeter
and have more a preztel "finish" but with seeds.)
We've had a wonderful time in Montreal and would definitely come back. It rained
our last night there and I took a picture of the Clock Tower right by the
marina.
And
a scene of Montreal from our marina..
This
ends the blog for now. I'm not really checking for errors because I'm on a timed
internet connection. Send me emails with complaints! :-)
Monday, June 30 -
Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue is around 37 miles from Montreal, with two locks in
between. We left the Montreal Yacht Club around 8:30 AM and had made it through
both locks by 12:30PM. We were tied up on the south wall at St. Anne's by
3:30PM. We wondered if we'd be able to find room at the wall...but a lot of
people were there for the day only and were leaving about the time we came. By 6
that evening there were several spots still open. This wall is one of the places
covered by our annual mooring pass that we purchased for our stay in Canada.
Without the pass the rate for the night would be 90 cents/ft. We plan to use the
mooring pass often! Granted, there are often no provisions for electric or
water...but it is convenient and paid for!
Today, being a holiday, was a little "crowded" towards the end of the trip. And
this is what the locks looked like as we went through...
We spotted this cute dog out for a ride that evening...
Tuesday, July 1 - It's Canada Day! Another holiday. We had decided to stay at
Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue for one more night to let the traffic settle down on the
water and to take the time to look around the town. We were told there would be
a small parade around noon. But...around 7:30 AM the work crews began to take
down a bridge between us and the lock. Guess they didn't get a holiday...OR they
were being paid extra to work! At any rate, the atmosphere at the wall changed
completely. It wasn't "feeding our souls" so we decided to continue traveling
towards Ottawa.
We usually plan our course the evening before...so we pulled up the charts and
started planning the day. Surprise, surprise...the electronic charts kinda
dropped off the map at the Carillon Lock. Oh, we had a "blue line" to follow,
but it didn't quite match up to the markers on the water...and there were no
water depths indicated at all. Ordinarily this wouldn't be a problem because we
usually have back up paper charts. As you recall, we changed our minds about
taking this course (instead of taking the Erie Canal) so we hadn't purchased
paper charts for the areas of Canada we were now cruising.
OK, we'll leave a little later this morning. In the meantime we went back to the
marine store we'd visited yesterday on our quick walk around town to see if they
had the paper charts we needed. They had one...but not the ones that would help
us today and tomorrow. We picked up a few groceries (remember: never pass up the
chance to get groceries) and headed back to the boat to prepare for going
through the Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue Lock.
Luckily for us, we were ready to cast off at around 11:15 AM and the lock had
just opened for passage. We might have had to wait for hours! From there we went
to the Carillon Lock, a deep lock, at 65 ft., with a door that lifted up for us
to enter under. As we approached the lock we could see it was open, but wondered
whether we could make it there in time, or whether it would have room for us.
YES to both! Again...we were spared a wait and made it through smoothly. It was
strange, though, seeing the lock door lower behind us...
We headed on down to Hawkesbury for the night. One guidebook said there is a
public dock and another guidebook said it was an anchorage with complimentary
daytime docking. There was a nice, long public dock with only one small boat
docked so we decided to tie up there and check with the Chamber of Commerce
office right on the site to see if overnight tie ups were OK...and it was OK.
We'd made it to Hawkesbury by about 4:30PM...pretty good time considering the
locks and the current.
Hawkesbury was celebrating Canada Day! They had a carnival set up at a park just
across the road from the dock and families were pouring in to enjoy the
amusements. Several people stopped by to visit and comment on the boat. One man,
a boater himself, offered to bring us some of his paper charts for the trip to
Ottawa. We assured him we'd probably be able to find what we needed at a nearby
marina, but he went home and came back with two of the four we needed! We'll
mail them back to him when we've completed that portion of the trip.
A musician set up at a little venue very close to the dock and we wondered if
we'd need to close up the windows on the boat early...but we really enjoyed his
music. He had a synthesizer and an electric guitar and most of the songs he
played, we knew. I went on to bed at my usual 9:30 and Wayne stayed up long
enough to catch the fireworks that evening.
Wednesday, July 2 - First order of business this morning was to locate the
missing paper charts. Wayne set out at 8 AM to find a phone and contact the
local marina. When he had trouble completing the call, he just got directions
and walked. Meanwhile, Michael, our friend from the night before who'd loaned us
charts, came over to drive Wayne to the marina. When he realized Wayne had
already gone, he sat with me and went over his favorite places in Ottawa and the
Rideau. Wonderful information! Wayne returned with the needed charts and we set
out for our day to Ottawa.
The distance from Hawkesbury to Ottawa was almost 60 miles. Ordinarily we could
do 10 mph at 1500 rpm and be there in 6 hours. As it was, with the current
against us, we left at 9:15 AM and got to the bottom of the Ottawa 8 locks at
around 5 PM, 8 hours later. We stayed on the "blue line" that night, a section
of dock just before the entrance to a lock, meaning we were ready to go through
the locks when they opened next. This set of 8 locks has to be done in sequence.
Once you enter the first one, you have to go through number 8...no place to
stop. The locks don't close until 7:30PM...but we really didn't want to go
through the 90 minutes (minimum) trip this lock would require. We tied up and
ask the lock assistant if we could "sit it out" for the night on the "blue line"
and he said that would be fine. (Each lock has an area marked off in blue for
those boats wishing to lock through on the next opening.) See the blue line?
Already we're impressed with the look of Ottawa. We passed by the Rideau Falls
on our way...
Thursday, July 10 - We went back into town this morning and
picked up some supplies. Hit the bakery again for some treats...raspberry tarts,
more sausage rolls,
biscotti-like cookies , oh, my !
(we'd better get away from this place soon!)...And we left
Westport
around noon with Iceman...looking back over the town. I like Westport and would
visit again. The marina is trying to make a difference for the town...and I hope
they do!
This would be a short day on the water because we were only going as far as
Chaffey's
Lock. We were settled in at the upper side of the lock by 2 o'clock. The setting
is beautiful! And the scenery we passed today was gorgeous. Lots of evergreens,
lakes, rocky shorelines, little islands with cottages...and some really
narrow passages!
Wayne (of Iceman) told us to get ready for a photo op as we rounded a corner.
This ferry is self-operated and runs about 50 ft. across the gap to the other
shore. Drive up on it and pull it across on a chain.
Pierre and Pierrette had told us about having dinner at the
Opinicon
Resort Hotel, which is within easy walking distance of the
Chaffey's
Lock. The Resort has been owned and operated by the same family since 1921 and
all the food is prepared on the premises.
(http://www.theopiniconresorthotel.com/index.html) Reservations can be made at
the Opinicon
General Store for the five course, fixed price evening meal. We scheduled a
dinner for four at 6 and then walked around the area.
We walked to the Cedars Art Studio and talked with the artist, Eleanor
Pinsonneault.
She, her husband, and her dog live in the house that she was born in and she
paints in a studio area attached to the back. It's a lovely little studio.
Eleanor works in acrylic, oils, and pastels...and her work varies in style
(www.eleanorpinsonneault.com). She had both originals and prints for sale, in
addition to note cards. I was tempted to buy a print...but as is often the case,
I decided, instead, to try and duplicate the style in a watercolor.
The water at
Chaffey's was so clear you could
see clearly the rocks, weeds, and fish. A family of three came and swam for a
while that afternoon by the boat. The water temperature is 78 degrees, by our
measure. Still a little chilly for me!
Dinner at the
Opinicon that evening was a real
treat. Soup (tomato, mushroom, barley), salad (various options at a salad cart),
appetizer (fried pickerel), entree, dessert (many choices on both) and a variety
of non-alcoholic beverages. Our table had entrees of prime rib,
Cornish
game hen, and omelet...and everyone praised the meal. The total per couple,
without tip, was around $35. We waited outside on the porch before the meal...
Friday, July 8 - We left
Chaffey's at 9 AM not really
knowing where we'd end up that evening. To go all the way to Kingston would mean
doing 35 miles and 13 locks.
We got to Jones Falls and had half an hour to wait before the lock could take
us. That was fine because we got a chance to see the blacksmith shop. We picked
out a bottle opener to purchase and Iceman's Wayne wanted one, too, so the
blacksmith made him one while we watched. That was neat!
When we got to go into the locks they really packed us in. Four larger boats and
one smaller one in the middle!
The landscapes today were beautiful, just like yesterday...
And lest you think we don't have road signs up here for the twists and turns in
the channel...
Karen and Wayne on Iceman were going to Upper Brewers for the night, so we went
that far with them and said our goodbyes.
We got down to Kingston Mills Lock at around 4 PM and saw four boats waiting to
lock through. As it turned out, we were going to have a 2 hour wait, most
likely, to get into the lock...and then the time it would take to go through 4
locks... 45 min. to an hour.
We decided to shut it down for the night and stay at the upper side of the lock.
The weather was calm and (except for th
