Restless Wind on the Loop

Home Again!

2009-09-03T09:44:00.017-05:00

We left Menominee about 11 AM 8/25 after having some minor repairs done to our canvas. We were advised to have the dodger, bimini and all our canvas washed and waterproofed again as it took quite a beating being in the water year-round. We think the intense Florida sun was probably the hardest on it.

It wasn’t as brisk of a sail as the past two days but we were able to sail most of the day, just not very fast. About 4PM I was getting excited to be nearing home. I occupied myself by packing up whatever I could. Ginger wanted to see what was going on in the galley.

As you can see Ginger hung in there for the duration. We comment on that because she’s so darned old! We adopted her from the shelter 14 years ago (for Alison), her age was estimated at that time as 5 to 7 years old so who knows. I just know that she got lots of attention on this trip from people we encountered – especially little kids and elderly women. The usual questions are: “how old is your puppy?” and “what kind of dog is that?” She sure brought a lot of smiles to a lot of faces.

This is one of the channel markers for the big ships that come into Green Bay. The cormorant population is doing very well here.

This isn’t as scenic as most of the places we’ve been on the trip but the Tower Drive Bridge (or the newer name Leo Frigo Bridge) over the Fox River in Green Bay was a pretty exciting sight to us.

This is The Boat Yard near downtown Green Bay where we store for the winter and Alison waiving to us from the dock.

Here's the happy (and relieved) crew.

Just a few final statistics:
Our trip in statute (land) miles came to 6,586 miles. We went through 70 locks. The number of nights we (or just the boat) stayed in marinas was 216; nights spent at anchor was 129; nights at free docks was 57, and nights on a mooring ball was 40. Grand total: 442 nights

We’re grateful to the Good Lord for keeping us in His loving care and to family and friends for your support, prayers, blog comments, phone calls and emails along the way. Also to those who took us in: Patti and Steve in Peoria, IL, Jim and Lou in FL (several times!) and Chuck and Linda in MD for letting us use their dock on the Chesapeake. Thank you to Paul's Cousin Sandy for printing our boat cards, hooking us up with your friends in AL, the phone calls and all the special treats you sent. Thanks to my Cousin Audray for taking such good care of us in Ohio. It was great to see family along the way and to meet so many kind and helpful people all throughout the trip. We both think the Kentucky Lakes area was our favorite overall place, the Hudson River Valley in NY the most scenic, and sailing past the Statue of Liberty and going under the Brooklyn Bridge in our own boat was the most memorable experience. The members of the yacht club in Dunkirk, NY on Lake Erie are without a doubt the most friendly and hospitable group of folks we encountered.

Something happened since we’ve been back that makes us especially glad we did this trip when we did. We attended the funeral of a fellow sailor, age 69, who died from a sudden illness. He lived life to the full and took many wonderful trips with family and friends, often chartering in the Caribbean during the winter months. I know those will be precious memories for his loved ones.

We are now "graduate loopers" and can fly the gold burgee to prove it. It replaces the white one we flew during the trip. The letters AGLCA stand for "America's Great Loop Cruising Association". They have a terrific website and newsletter for members to share information about doing the trip.

The mast was taken off the boat yesterday and as of today, Restless Wind is now out of the water for the season. I think she deserves a break. Look Ma - no barnacles!

We had a big surprise today when we came back from pulling the boat. Kyle's car was in the driveway (the son in Brooklyn, NY). Our three "kids" planned to meet us on the dock when we came back over Labor Day weekend but we spoiled the plan by coming back early. No matter - it'll be fun to have the whole family here for the weekend and we really were surprised!

Thanks for sharing our once in a lifetime adventure.

A Great Crossing and Loop Closing

2009-08-26T09:30:00.013-05:00

When the weather finally cleared on Sunday, there was a mass exodus of boats from Leland and we were one of them. There was still a lot of wave action but, now, not a lot of wind so it was a little rough. Here’s a view of the sand dunes on Michigan’s beautiful coastline along the way.

We arrived after about 6 hours on the water. This is the Frankfort Light at the mouth of the Betsie River.

We tried to stay out of the way of the numerous fishermen here and anchored out with a few other boats off the Municipal Marina in Lake Betsie. We had a peaceful night and at 8AM were ready to head across the Lake. The first hour or so was motor-sailing; the seas were rather rough but not that much wind. Poor Ginger even got a little seasick. Then the wind picked up and we remembered why we got into sailing in the first place!

We were headed W/NW and the wind was W/SW so it was a close reach which changed to more of a beam reach. It was sunny all day but cool, high 60s. It was just a really enjoyable sail, averaging 6+ knots. We were out of sight of land for about 2 ½ hours. It’s understandable that the early sailors thought the earth was flat – it certainly does appear that way when you can’t see anything but water!

After about 8 hours, we saw this familiar sight - the entrance to the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal. The white buildings are the Coast Guard Station. At 3:42 CDT we officially completed America's Great Loop as this is where we began our trip. We both were feeling a sense of relief to know we accomplished our goal. Maybe we’ll have a sense of let-down later but not today.

We called to open the Bay View Bridge but had to wait for the 5pm opening of the new Ogden St. Bridge. Just as we were going through there was some excitement. A distress call came on the radio – a woman on a sailboat asking anyone in the area to come to their aid. They had lost power and were drifting into one of the large ore boats in the harbor. Someone nearby did get there in time and here’s the Good Samaritan towing the Jacinda Rose to the same wall we were having trouble tying to (the wind was pushing us away from the wall). We finally got tied up and were able to help Jacinda Rose dock along with a few others – no easy feat. She weighs 44,000 lbs. and with the gusty wind and no power – yikes. But no damage to either boat thank goodness. Here’s the rescuer and rescuee:

Here are the freighters the sailboat was about to drift into:

After the thousands of miles we traveled on this trip, it’s amazing to realize that we’ve never had anything really traumatic happen. Although running aground and being pulled toward that long tow off Moorehead City, SC seemed pretty scary at the time!

We planned to head to Green Bay the next day; however, since the wind was west/southwest, we would have had to motor the whole way. We decided to sail to Menominee, our home marina, instead. And we had a brisk 2 ½ hour sail from Door County across Green Bay to Menominee, MI. Wow, two consecutive days of no motoring! It was rather odd to ask for a transient slip on the radio. They put us on our old dock, just farther out, in B-29 instead of B-20. Here’s B Dock looking toward shore.

This marina has great facilities. A very comfortable boaters’ lounge, wonderful separate showers, wifi, a computer for boaters to use – so many things we took for granted before we stayed at some really sub-par marinas. We even got a free bag of ice and restaurant coupons as visitors. We sort of feel as if we’re “home” already but one more little trip to go. We’re off to Green Bay later this morning where daughter Alison will pick us up. Check back one more time for the final wrap-up.

Waiting to Cross Lake Michigan

2009-08-21T21:55:00.008-05:00

Besides the m/v Knot Home being in Charlevoix, there were about 8 other Looper couples there. Two separate Happy Hours combined into one so everyone got acquainted. There were boaters from Florida, Florida Keys, Virginia, Ontario, Alabama, and Michigan. Also a friend of ours from Green Bay, Dan, was here on vacation on his m/v Margaretaville, so it was a fun two days in Charlevoix – even got to hear a community band concert from the boat. They had cable TV at the docks, rather a novelty since we hadn’t seen that in months.

It’s very handy being docked next to Larry “The Ice Man”. He kept us supplied with the surplus from their icemaker. This is Restless Wind and Knot Home at the new docks and Dorothy and Ginger on their boat.

Instead of anchoring out in Lake Charlevoix as planned, on Wednesday we headed out on the big water. High winds were forecast for the next day and we didn’t want to be stranded. After 5 ½ hours of mostly motoring, we came into Leland for fuel and decided to stay. They’re undergoing a renovation and expansion also. Since the showers and some other amenities won’t be finished this season, they’re offering a half price rate for dockage. This is their new unfinished facility – it’s going to be a great place to stop next summer.

Leland is a little village on the Leelanau Peninsula with neat little shops, galleries and eateries. The historical district, known as Fishtown, has the rustic shanties and docks reminiscent of a commercial fishing village over 100 years ago. It has charter fishing available and the only public ferry to the Manitou Islands, also a really nice sandy beach near the marina. This is what Lake Michigan looked like on Wednesday night from the beach – so peaceful. It hasn't looked anything like that the past two days. The howling winds make it a pretty angry looking lake.

As of this writing, we’re spending our third night in Leland. The weather predictions were correct and we’ve had two days of rain showers and very high winds. The boat is actually rocking around quite a bit in the slip! The small red flag under the US flag on this mast indicates a small craft warning is in effect. Waves occasionally spill over the rocks which is neat to see but I'm glad we're on this side of the breakwater.

The winds had been from the west but are now out of the north indicating the front is moving through. The current plan is to sail to Frankfort Saturday and cross Lake Michigan from there to Sturgeon Bay (Lord willing and the creek don’t rise). The finish line is in sight!

Little Traverse Bay and Charlevoix

2009-08-20T10:14:00.012-05:00

We left Mackinaw City on Saturday morning. It’s kind of a thrill passing under the huge Mackinac Bridge. It’s a real engineering marvel with a total length of 5 miles, the third longest suspension bridge in the world. It contains 42,000 miles of steel cable; five workers’ lives were lost during construction. I remember coming up here on a family car trip as a young girl when the bridge was brand new and it was a BIG deal – still is!

We’re now on the waters of Lake Michigan but it wasn’t a good sailing day. There was plenty of wind but it was right on our nose so we motor-sailed to Harbor Springs on Little Traverse Bay. This is the first time a marina has been full on this leg of the trip and there are more big yachts here than anywhere we’d been. We anchored in the harbor – deeper than we’d like at 32.5 feet but we held fine and had a peaceful night.

The next day was just a short 3-mile ride across the Bay to Petoskey. We got a slip right next to Looper friends Larry and Dorothy on m/v Knot Home. They live in Florida and are doing the Loop over 3 years; they’ll winter their boat in Michigan and continue next summer. We first met them in Charleston, SC and again on the Erie Canal last summer. It was fun to see them again and share Looper stories and dinner (Dorothy cooked dinner and we ate on our boat – such a deal!)

There was a really unusual sunset in Petoskey. This picture doesn’t do it justice but you can get the idea.

We changed our plan to stay in Petoskey another night due to weather forecasts so it was off to Charlevoix Monday AM. In about 3 hours we were in Charlevoix and just made it through the 1PM bridge opening. This will be a familiar sight to boaters in northeast Wisconsin who have cruised to Charlevoix.

I got this aerial view from a photo in the boater’s lounge. At the bottom is Lake Michigan, then the channel coming into Round Lake and Charlevoix. Lake Charlevoix is at the top of the photo. The water is a gorgeous color here and the weather actually felt summer-like for a change!

The marina here has undergone a major renovation and expansion. It now has 70 slips, beautiful landscaping and great facilities with free cable TV. (I almost forgot such a thing existed!) Marina staff will drop you off in their GEM (Global Electronic Motorcar). I'd never been in one - kind of fun to tool around town at 25mph. We also got our bikes out for a ride. There is an interactive fountain for the kids – this is looking out from the upper deck of the office and boater’s lounge. What a great marina!

Farewell Canada, Hello Michigan

2009-08-14T20:51:00.010-05:00

Tuesday, August 11th felt like a milestone. We were able to sail most of the way to Drummond Island, MICHIGAN – back in the good old United States of America!

The U.S. Customs Agents come right to your boat to check you back into the country. We didn’t need to show our passports but many of the same questions were asked plus “did we have any citrus fruit on board?” Since we had the completed I-68 forms with us, we could have checked in by phone but we needed fuel anyway and this way seemed more official!

We anchored that night off Harbor Island, only about a mile from Drummond. We had a great 33 days in Ontario but it felt good to be back in the U.S. Paul decided he wouldn’t miss charts showing meters, fathoms and sometimes feet and the Canadian weather forecasts on the marine radio (no detailed information and the French portion seemed to be on whenever we tuned in). I will miss asking if I could have “two loonies for a twonie” for the washers!

The next day we passed the DeTour Reef Light and we were officially back into Lake Huron from the North Channel. The light marks the DeTour Passage where ships heading up the St. Mary's River would travel heading to and from Lake Superior. It looked very stately and the American flag flying proudly was a nice touch.
We anchored in the Le Cheneaux Islands, also known as “the channels” or “the snows”. Most of the islands are privately owned but Government Island is public land and has a great anchorage. We spent one night there and I can tell you the water is just as chilly here as it was in Canada – brrr! As of today we are once again able to use our cell phones. I think I’ll like not feeling so out of touch.

On Thursday we crossed the Straits of Mackinac, which has been a crossroads of the Great Lakes since 1670. It's located at the meeting of Lake Huron and Lake Michigan. We sailed around the north shore of Mackinac Island instead of the busy south side. We didn’t plan to visit the Island as we’d been there twice previously when our kids were on band trips. We got a glimpse of the Grand Hotel passing by but were able to avoid all the ferry traffic such as you see below.

We had planned to dock in St. Ignace since we hadn’t been there before but we found out through a few phone calls that in Mackinaw City, we’d have access to a diesel service facility. We were able to have someone look at the engine the next morning. Nothing major, we just needed to have the driveshaft re-aligned. We were having a lot of vibration at higher RPMs and hopefully this will take care of it.

It was fun knocking around Mackinaw City, lots of shops, lots of chances to buy FUDGE, which we did. We took a long walk up to the restored Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse. Here's part of the lighthouse with the Mackinac Bridge in the distance.

There’s a free museum telling about the building of the Mackinac Bridge, completed on November 1, 1957. Before the bridge, vehicles would take ferries from one peninsula of Michigan to the other. Now over four million vehicles cross the Bridge every year. Here’s “MIGHTY MAC” from a park on shore.

It’s really a majestic-looking sight and we’ll get an even better view tomorrow sailing under it. We feel we’re in familiar waters now since we’ve been here before. Ever Onward!!

Little Current to Thessalon

2009-08-10T18:43:00.012-05:00

We came into Little Current Thursday, Aug. 6th. In the native tongue it’s Baiwejewung, “where the waters begin to flow”. The waters of the North Channel are funneled into a passage only 100 yards wide, creating stiff currents as they empty into Georgian Bay. The only spot we really noticed the current was going under the swing bridge. The bridge only opens on the hour so there’s quite a line-up waiting on either side of the bridge.

This is the largest town on Manitoulin Island (Spirit Island in the Ojibwe tongue) and many boaters provision here before heading out to anchorages. Manitoulin is a very large and unusual shaped island. It forms almost the entire southern shore of the North Channel. We walked up the hill for a few groceries. Here’s the view on our walk back down to the dock.

We were on the town dock directly in front of the federal building which houses the “Bureau de Poste” (post office) and the Customs Dept. So it’s very easy for the agents to spot the boats with the American flags and pay them a visit. They mainly wanted our Canadian Customs report number, to see our passports and answers to a few questions: what did we declare to Customs when we entered Canada, how long did we plan to be in the country, etc. They filled out a form for us to display along with our customs report number.

We only enjoyed civilization for one night and were off to anchor in Clapperton Harbor. We headed that way to be closer to our destination of Kagawong, in Mudge Bay, also on Manitoulin Island. There were two items of interest that took us on this little side trip. Here’s the first, St. John Anglican Church, also known as “The Sailors’ Church”, dedicated in 1938.

Here’s the interior. The pulpit is actually part of the bow of a cruiser that was wrecked in a storm in 1965. Many other nautical touches were donated by members of Kagawong.

The other point of interest is Bridal Veil Falls, from which Kagawong actually got it’s name. It’s Ojibwe for “where the mists rise from falling waters”. We were told the water volume is down right now, at times you can walk behind the falls and even swim here. It was still neat to see as was the half-mile hike through the woods to get there.

We anchored that night in the South Benjamin Islands, a really well-known anchorage with interesting rock formations. You can go ashore here, unfortunately it was rainy when we got here and when we left in the morning.

We did a security call on the radio while traveling on Sunday. This narrow passage is the Little Detroit Strait and it’s best to let other boats know you’re coming through so there isn’t a problem.

We anchored that night off John Island, this is about 2/3 of the way across the North Channel. We decided since the weather wasn’t exactly cooperating and we would probably be back this way again sometime, we’d make a little more progress and head for Thessalon. This will be our last stop in Canada. It’s a pretty quiet little town but the marina is very nice and has bikes for boaters to use. We actually talked to three other boaters here who are either doing the Loop or planning to. It’s always fun to exchange information and experiences. So that’s all from the public library in Thessalon, Ontario.

Entering the North Channel

2009-08-10T18:26:00.012-05:00

Killarney lies on the north shore of Georgian Bay and was once a busy commercial fishing village. It wasn’t until 1962 that it was accessible to vehicles. It now relies mostly on tourism and is known as the eastern gateway to the North Channel. This is the view leaving Killarney; the S. La Cloche Range is in the distance.

I thought this picture was noteworthy because the sun came out late morning, the first time we’d seen it in awhile.

The North Channel Waterway stretches some 160 nautical miles from Sault Ste. Marie, MI to Killarney and is known as one of the world’s finest cruising grounds. We had some pretty stiff winds but were able to sail a lot of the way to Baie Fine (pronounced Bay Finn), the only fjord in North America. We were able to sail most of the ten miles to our anchorage with the genoa only and the wind at our stern – so peaceful.

We went the 10 miles to the end of the Bay and anchored in The Pool. There were about 11 boats there for the night and only 3 were power boats. Here’s a view of part of the shoreline from our dinghy.

We dinghied to shore and hiked up the marked trail to Topaz Lake. A lot of the trail followed a dry creek bed.
We didn’t find any blueberries as we'd hoped but there is a gorgeous view of the lake. A few boaters who came up after us took a swim but we weren’t moved to do that.

When we pulled up anchor to leave the Pool, we also pulled up the biggest clump of grass we’d ever encountered. Here's Paul working on untangling the chain and anchor. It took awhile!

We anchored that night in another scenic spot off Heywood Island with a few other boats. Next stop Little Current.

On to Killarney

2009-08-06T13:21:00.011-05:00

I finally got one load of laundry done about 11pm before we left Parry Sound on Thursday (7/30). There was just one washer and dryer and there was someone waiting every time I checked during the day. This time there was a very friendly Canadian with his drink in hand just finishing up. He said he had been in Wis. often on business and thanked me numerous times for visiting his country – an interesting laundry experience.

We’d heard a pump out in Parry Sound was pretty pricey so we went the 10 miles on to Killbear Marina for that and fuel. Well, a pump out there was $25 – the most we’ve ever paid. Every other time we used that service in Canada, there was no charge. Now that we’re in what’s called the “Canadian Crest”, solid granite everywhere, marinas have to use holding tanks and the price reflects it but that’s understandable.

We saw numerous spots like this one during the day but thankfully they're well marked.

We passed this lighthouse on the way into the anchorage at Snug Harbor. Guess what – Snug Harbor Light. It was a very peaceful anchorage with 3 other boats. No going to shore here either because of the cottages.

On Friday it was more beautiful scenery and more narrow rocky passages. This is Pointe au Baril Lighthouse (in French, the point with the barrel).

To the far left of the picture, right at the point, there’s an elevated wooden barrel and a sign “site of the original barrel denoting safe passage through turbulent waters”. In the mid-1800s, local residents erected a barrel with a lantern on top to better guide boats into the channel, hence the name.

We anchored in an unnamed and uncharted cove off Nare’s Inlet. We asked a cottager on shore about depth and he said we’d be fine in the middle and we were. He said it’s called Portage Bay so it’s now named on our charts. Two other boats came in for a total of three. It’s the first time in awhile we anchored “Mediterranean Style” where you put out a bow anchor and tie the stern to shore. It was handy to take Ginger to shore – didn’t even need the oars.

Everything about this spot was great except for about 2 dozen mosquitoes that somehow got inside the cabin before we got things closed up. They were very elusive but we got nearly all of them before we went to bed. Then the last few met their demise after about two hours – ugh.

We left the anchorage at 7:15 am Saturday to cross from the 30,000 Islands to Killarney on the northwestern end of Georgian Bay, where we arrived about 4pm. We decided we’d dodged enough granite for this trip. We actually were able to sail the boat all day – yippee! It was a bit rocky but we couldn’t complain since the wind was in our favor for once. It sprinkled while we were anchoring just outside Covered Portage Cove but poured for hours once we were settled so our timing was perfect.

Here’s a picture from inside the Cove where we moved to on Sunday morning after about six boats left.

There’s a little trail from shore where you can climb up for a scenic view. Here’s the anchorage from the top. We’re the third sailboat from the left.

The northwestern end of Georgian Bay leads to the North Channel, a really popular cruising area. We’re seeing a lot of Michigan boats here. Until now, we hadn’t seen any cruising boats from the U.S. except for the Loopers we met at the gathering in Penetanguishene. Killarney is the easternmost point of the North Channel. Surprisingly, it wasn’t settled by Irish immigrants but French. A VIP visitor back in the day said the area reminded her of the Town of Killarney in Kerry County, Ireland and the name stuck.

We stayed one night in Killarney at the Sportsmen’s Inn Marina. Rain jackets were the fashion of the day most of the time we were there. The “must do” here is to have fresh fish at Mister Perch. No frills but very tasty. You order at one window of this bus and pick up at another; condiments are at the front fender. Picnic tables are off to the side. Quite a fun and different way to enjoy a fish fry.

30,000 Islands

2009-07-30T09:04:00.018-05:00

The area north of Penetang Harbor along the Eastern Shore of Georgian Bay is known as the 30,000 Islands. Some people say it’s closer to 50 or 60,000; we just know there are a lot! As we headed into the islands we were surprised to see how many homes were perched on any good sized rock. Here’s a couple; on the second one you can see how the trees are windswept by the prevailing westerly winds.

We’ve had rain at least some part of every day except one in the past six or seven days. This was a late afternoon at anchor when it was sunny AND rainy at the same time.

These are the four places we anchored after leaving Midland on Saturday: “Hockey Stick” off Bone Island; Indian Harbor; Wahneen Bay and Kilcousie Bay at Killbear Provincial Park. There were from 5 to 13 other boats in every anchorage. You’re unable to explore the shore on the privately owned land and much more of it is populated by cottages than we would have expected. The Provincial Parks equate to our State Parks and you can go to shore there.

Here’s one of the narrow channels we encountered. Both of us were paying close attention to the charts – both electronic and paper.

This is how close to shore you were supposed to be to get into the Waheene Bay anchorage – yikes!

The scenery inside was beautiful and worth the effort.

A “must see” stop on the Eastern Shore is “Henry’s Fish and Chips” on Frying Pan Island. Here’s Paul talking to the owner, also Paul, after a tasty, but expensive, lunch.

Historical Tidbits:
The first non-native explorer to visit this area was Samuel de Champlain in 1615.
Georgian Bay was named in honor of King George IV in 1820.
Georgian Bay is almost as large as Lake Ontario.
In Canada it’s Pickerel; USA it’s walleye and Europeans call it Pike Perch (same fish)

That's all for now from scenic Parry Sound, about half-way up the Eastern Shore. A lot of sea planes leave from here for tours - they are really loud. We got to provision up here; Sobey's Grocery sends a free shuttle to the marina for pick-ups so that was wonderful. It's still very cool - I'm sitting here typing at a picnic table outside the marina office in jeans and a jacket. The natives are in shorts and tanktops - this is summer darn it! We'll be out of touch again for a few days. We plan to take more of an outside route and not go through so many islands up to Port Au Baril.

Penetanguishene

2009-07-25T09:39:00.007-05:00

We headed the few minutes over to Penetanguishene on Tuesday. Bay Moorings Marina is sponsoring a 2-day gathering for Loopers to share information and socialize. About 30 boats are expected (29 power and one sailboat). This is the reason we took the side trip to this part of the Georgian Bay instead of heading directly to the North Channel. All the other boats came through the Trent-Severn Waterway instead of the Erie Canal as we did.

Penetanguishene is considered the “Gateway to the Georgian Bay” and we were told this area is considered the “Carribean of the North” as far as cruising is concerned. It is unbelieveable how many huge marinas there are between Penetang and Midland (just across the peninsula). There are literally thousands of slips and lots of sailboats in them.

The Town of Penetanguishene is a picturesque bilingual community; they still have "French" schools and "English" schools. Its’ colorful history reflects its three founding cultures – Aboriginal, French and British. The largest outdoor historic mural in North America is here along with thirty others throughout the town. Here is one of the HMS Bee from Discovery Harbor:

Bay Moorings Marina did a fantastic job of organizing and hosting the Looper Gathering. We stayed there 3 nights; we would have left sooner but it poured most of the day on Thursday. Probably our favorite thing was getting to know fellow Loopers and sailors, Pat and Lynn, who grew up and still live here. Their sailboat is currently stored on the east coast of Florida awaiting their return in October. They’ll spend their second winter in the Bahamas and then continue on the Loop route. Pat actually built their 39ft. sailboat himself and judging from pictures, he did an amazing job. They were so gracious to us, taking us out for breakfast, running us around by car, giving us tips on the area, letting us use their empty slip and inviting us to the Friday Pub Night at their sailing club. Pat and Paul are going over charts on the picture below. Thanks again Pat and Lynn – I hope we see you again on the waterways!

Here’s Paul making a selection in “The Beer Store” – that’s really what it’s called! Nothing is on display, you decide what you want by looking at the signs on the wall, place your order and it comes out on the conveyer belt. VERY different for us but interesting.

Our current location is marked by the pink arrow on this partial view of the Georgian Bay. We plan to anchor for a few nights on our way to Parry Sound, the next place to provision.

Discovery Harbor

2009-07-22T11:06:00.008-05:00

After Owen Sound we spent one night at a marina in Meaford. The weather was still windy and unseasonably cool. How do you know when it’s summer in Canada? No one’s wearing a parka! Meaford has a very well cared for marina. I was so impressed with the lovely flowers and landscaping. Lydia, the harbormaster on duty, was pruning shrubs when we came in, we've never seen that before. Here’s their new office, lounge and showers.

This was another point of interest here, the retired Coast Guard Search and Rescue vessel the Westford. You can see that everything is printed in English and French.

We’re now using Skype to call back to the States as it would be $1.25/min. to use our cell phones. Another new experience was ordering potato salad and sliced turkey from a deli in grams.

On Sunday, July 19th, we motor-sailed on rolling seas all the way to Penetang Harbor in southern Georgian Bay. We spent two nights at a great anchorage. We were directly off Discovery Harbor, a reconstructed British naval/army establishment.

On Monday, summer was back, shorts weather again finally. We took a guided tour of the living museum; costumed interpreters help tell the story of life here in the early 1820s when it was home to more than 20 vessels.

Replicas of the H.M.S. Bee, a transport vessel and H.M.S. Tecumseth, built as a warship, are here today. Years ago they took passengers out on the Bay but because of government regulations on safety, etc. they are no longer used in this way. Too bad!

Here’s the lonely Restless Wind at anchor; Magazine Island is to the right. Explosives were stored there to safeguard the settlement. (my first thought was of periodicals – not correct)

We also learned about British Naval Officer Henry Wolsey Bayfield (1795 – 1885). He devoted his life to naval hydrography (charting) and is responsible for charts of the coastal waters of all the Great Lakes including Georgian Bay. He did not chart Lake Michigan as it belonged to the U.S. He did his work here in the winter and was out on the water with his survey crew from the ice melt in spring to autumn. His charts were amazingly accurate considering the tools available at that time: sextant, theodolite, telescope, timekeeper and compass. Nautical surveyors still refer to them today.

There is also a professional summer theatre which performs four shows per season at the King's Wharf Theatre. The large red barn-like building in the upper picture is the venue, it's a replica of the former Naval Storehouse. Here is a link if anyone would like to learn more about this look into the past: http://www.discoveryharbour.on.ca

Bruce Peninsula

2009-07-17T20:16:00.009-05:00

A couple more tidbits on Port Elgin: I saw in some travelers' info that from Buffalo, NY to Port Elgin, Ontario would be a 3 ¼ hour trip by car. So it took us 27 days, we had more of an adventure! The sunset viewing from this marina is amazing and a popular thing to do. Sunset was around 9:00 pm eastern time but for about a full hour after, there’s a beautiful orange/red glow on the horizon, as there’s nothing but water between here and the eastern shore of Michigan.

On this map I think you can see Lake Erie at the bottom, then the Detroit River leading into Lake Saint Clair, the St. Clair River leading into Lake Huron and the towns we’ve been to on the eastern shore. Then up at the tip of the Bruce Peninsula is our destination, Tobermory.

Tuesday was a much better day to travel so we left Port Elgin at 6:15am – early for us. It was in the mid-50s with northerly winds so we were quite bundled up for July, especially Ginger!

We had to motor-sail most of the way as our destination was too close to the direction of the wind to sail alone (no, that never happens!) It was 63 nautical miles or 72 statute miles to Tobermory at the tip of the Bruce Peninsula, the strip of land that separates Lake Huron from Georgian Bay (see above map). The Door County Peninsula in Wisconsin is actually Lake Michigan’s counterpart of the Bruce Peninsula. They were both formed from the same Niagara Escarpment. There are two natural harbors near Tobermory: Little Tub and Big Tub. This light marks Big Tub Harbor.

Tobermory means “Well of the Virgin Mary” in Gaelic, tobar moiré. The town of 1,200 residents is known as the diving capital of Canada. Some seasons, 8,000 divers may travel here to explore the many shipwrecks and dive sites that range from 20 ft. to 230 ft. Some of the charter dive boats are converted commercial fishing boats. Glass-bottomed boats like this one leave from here to travel to Fathom Five National Marine Park. This is the area where we planned to anchor but found it’s now restricted. Also the 325 ft. car ferry, Chi-Cheemaun (meaning big canoe) travels between here and Manitoulin Island.

We got a slip at the Tobermory Marina in Little Tub Harbor where we took on 66.3 liters of diesel at $1.20/liter (1 gal. is 3.8 liters). Fish and chips is big here so we had whitefish at The Shipwreck where we could eat outside. On the bill there are 3 separate taxes listed: GST (goods and services tax), Food Tax and Liquor Tax. I guess that’s how they pay for their “free” healthcare. I thought these flowers at a gift shop were so pretty and different that I had to include them.

The next day we had a brisk sail the 18 nautical miles to Winfield Basin. This is the only chance we had to anchor out since Erie, PA. We averaged about 7 knots with sails reefed. There were six other boats here for the night. One sailboat from Canada had the Looper burgee too; they plan to start the Loop in September of 2010. Paul suggested he have the mast shipped and he said they were planning on it. The wind really piped up during the night but it was well protected from all directions as you can see on this picture of the narrow opening to the basin.

We had another day of sailing on Thursday. First the wind was at our back then across our beam. It was a pleasant 23-mile ride to McGregor Harbor off Melville Sound, near Lion Head, Ontario. The bluffs we saw along the way reminded us of the Hudson River Valley north of NYC.

We had the whole anchorage to ourselves, except for cottages along the shore. We were entertained by watching a loon dive for his dinner (we found out they can stay submerged 45 seconds) and listening to the Brewers on satellite radio. No wifi or tv reception here.

Friday morning we sailed and motor-sailed to a marina in Owen Sound, further south in Georgian Bay, and that's where we are right now. Nothing eventful about the trip here, which is not necessarily a bad thing.

O Canada!

2009-07-12T19:02:00.016-05:00

On Thursday, July 9th, we left Port Huron after getting a pump out and fueling up. This is a picture of the Blue Water Bridge, just before you enter Lake Huron.

We saw a 4.2 knot current under the bridge. The 6-ft. drop in elevation from Lake Huron to Lake St. Clair causes the rapid current.

The Lake was flat calm so we motored but it was a good chance for Paul to check out a rattle in the engine. To access the engine (50-hp Perkins diesel), we have to remove the 4-step ladder into the cabin. So this is looking straight down from the cockpit.

We traveled about 7 miles off the shore which was to our southeast. Lake Huron is deeper than Erie, our depth sounder often showed over 100 feet. The wind picked up and we able to motor-sail. We arrived at Harbor Lights Marine in Bayfield late afternoon and are now in Ontario, Canada! Paul called the toll-free phone number to check in with Canadian Customs. He had quite a conversation with the officer who mainly wanted to know our reason for being in the country. Some of the questions asked were: what do we have on board re cash, food and liquor, info on any pets, Paul’s date and place of birth and if we are both US citizens and Paul’s middle name (not mine?). They already had the info on our vessel through cooperation with US Customs. Now that we were “legal”, we raised our Canadian courtesy flag. It goes above the Power Squadron ensign and the AGLCA ensign (that’s the Looper association).

We got a take-out from “The Docks” right at the marina but didn’t see any of Bayfield; it’s about a mile from the marina. There’s a lot of construction still going on to repair the damage a major ice jam did to the docks last winter. Harbor Lights has a 1953 fire engine they use as a shuttle to take boaters to town – that might have been fun!

Friday was very still and very buggy out on the Lake. Since we were just motoring, Paul was able to give the boat a bath on the way and get rid of a few thousand of the gnat-like critters. I couldn’t stand the bugs so Ginger and I spent most of the day down below. Paul’s using the wash-down pump and hose he installed in the anchor locker and it works great with all this fresh water. We’re not missing the salt water we lived on last year!

The wind picked up finally, the bugs left and we were able to sail part of the way to the Kincardine Marina. The town of 12,500 is very proud of their Scottish and Irish heritage. I doubt you can see it on this picture, but there’s a “phantom piper” at the top of the Kincardine Lighthouse piping down the sun. (more construction; they’re putting in a new bridge)

The story goes that in October of 1856, a vessel heading to Kincardine was in trouble in stormy weather. A townsman, Donald Sinclair, feared they wouldn’t find the harbor. He fetched his bagpipes and played them into the harbor. He continued to play the pipes at dusk and the tradition continues to this day.

We spent two nights here. There’s a popular beach, Station Beach, right next to the marina with a gardened boardwalk. Each section has a plaque with the name of who designed and tends it. The water is pretty chilly, we just got our feet wet. This view is to the south.

We were glad we were here on a Saturday as we got to experience the Kincardine Scottish Pipe Band parading down Queen Street. The band has been together since 1908 and the Saturday night parades in summer have gone on since 1948. It was a great experiencel but once again, we were glad Ginger doesn't hear very well!

After the band passes by, anyone who cares to joins in and follows them back to Victoria Park where they form a circle and perform a concert. The town is very proud of them and rightfully so!

Here’s some of our Canadian currency. The paper money is really colorful and I got a kick out of the $1 coins being called “Loonies” as there’s a loon on the opposite side of the Queen; the $2 coin at the bottom is called a “Twonie”. So when Paul went into the bank, they gave him loonies and twonies as he needed change for the laundromat – too funny!

The present exchange rate is 13.95%, meaning for $100 in US dollars, you’d get $113.95 in Canadian money. When you use a credit card from the US, your account is automatically charged the exchange rate. We definitely noticed higher prices in the grocery store and at the laundromat, for a quarter you got a whole FIVE minutes of dryer time! I took most of the clothes back to the boat damp and hung them out on the boom and life lines!

Also we’ll need to adjust to metric measurements and Celsius for temperatures. Today someone told me it’s been a really cool summer, that it should be about 30 by now (which to me means 86 degrees). They use the word "hydro" for electric at the marinas and they say “holiday” instead of vacation which I think it kind of cute. Most signs and labels are in English and French.

Leaving Kincardine, we saw many wind generators along the Lake and passed by the Bruce Nuclear Power Development at Douglas Point, one of the world's largest nuclear plants. We arrived at Port Elgin (that's with a hard G) Sunday afternoon. We're tied up to a wall right in front of a little restaurant that's adjacent to a park and beach. We feel a little like goldfish in a bowl as there were lots of people around Sunday night for a concert in the park. Eating ice cream and checking out the transient boats seemed to be the evening's activity. Here's a view looking forward.

Monday 7/14: We had planned to stay just one night but are still here. It was really blowing early this morning when we would have left and we just weren't up for a "lumpy" ride for such a long distance - all the way to Tobermory. We had breakfast at the little restaurant here and took our bikes into town. Paul went into a LCBO which is the Liquor Control Board of Ontario for a box of wine. No beer or liquor is sold in any convenience or grocery stores (now we know we're not in Wisconsin anymore!) Also any alcohol is heavily taxed so the price was about 1/3 more - great.

The End of Lake Erie

2009-07-08T20:55:00.012-05:00

It was a motor sail leaving the Erie Islands heading to Detroit. Two milestones on the way: we saw the last of Lake Erie and turned 2,000 hours on our engine. We were at 1,100 when we began the trip. Paul says that’s why this should have been a motor trip! This is a view heading into the Livingstone Channel, one of a series of bypass channels of the Detroit River. This one was about 5 miles long and 33 miles deep.

We were going against a current of approximately 3 mph so our knot meter speed and SOG (speed over ground) on the GPS were showing quite a disparity. Since it was Sunday on a holiday weekend, there were lots of power boats overtaking us. The wakes they caused added to the chop we were already feeling – rather a rough ride. Here they come!

We passed an area of McMansions along the shoreline then an industrial area, US Steel and Great Lakes Works were a couple of the larger ones. Here’s a view of the Ambassador Bridge and the skyline of Detroit. Windsor, Ontario is directly across from Detroit. Caesar’s seemed to have the most prominent buildings on the Windsor side.

Here’s the Detroit Princess Paddlewheel and the corporate offices of General Motors, which has been in the news quite often lately with all of their financial woes.

We called ahead to Kean’s Marine in Detroit for a slip for the night. I found out they don’t use the word “slip” in these parts, it’s called a WELL. We got to Well #120 about 6:15, after ten hours on the water. We were too late to get a key for the gate as the office closed at 5pm but we hadn’t planned to leave the marina anyway. You would have to get a car service to go anywhere, nothing is within walking distance and that’s not advised.

As we left Kean’s on Monday, we saw groups of junior sailors out for sailing class but were surprised as it was really windy. We saw one boat capsize but there were plenty of monitors keeping an eye on things.

We were able to sail on a beam reach heading northeast on Lake Saint Clair, winds were from the northwest. It’s a very shallow lake, about 14 feet outside the shipping channel. We stayed in the channel as it’s the most direct route to the St. Clair River and is dredged to about 33 feet. We hit 9 knots a few times – what a treat to have the wind in our favor for a change. Here’s me taking a brief turn, it’s usually Cap’n Paul at the wheel but I’d much rather have the helm when we’re not motoring.

It seems as though as soon as we went from Ohio to Michigan, the water turned this pretty blue-green color, we think it’s the sandy bottom that causes it. It reminds me of the Florida Keys. Sometimes I find myself looking for dolphins and wondering where all the pelicans are!

After sailing ALL the way across Lake Saint Clair, we were on the St. Clair River (Saint is only abbreviated for the river for some reason). It was a rather odd feeling going down the center of the river with Michigan on our left and Ontario, Canada on our right. We got a WELL at the Harbor Club in Algonac, MI which was on a channel about a mile off the river. We spied a KFC sign within walking distance and decided to be bad to our arteries and got a carry-out. I don’t think we’d been there in years. There was no wifi or TV reception in Algonac but the showers were pretty nice.

When we left Algonac Tuesday morning, it was in the 50s and the Canadian man in the boat next to us was shirtless! I couldn’t decide if he was just very warm-blooded, showing off his tan or crazy!

We fought the current again all the way up the St. Clair River. You feel you’re making great time when the knot meter shows 6+ knots until you check the GPS and it shows barely 4 knots. We were also motoring directly into the wind which slowed us down even more. We saw our first freighter on Lake Saint Clair but saw more on the river. The river is wide enough that no communication with the freighter captain is necessary, unlike the narrow rivers we were on down south. Here’s one of the big guys.

After 35 nautical miles, we turned onto the Black River into Port Huron, MI in time to make the 5pm bridge opening. We got a well (or maybe they’re slips again here) at the River Street Marina. It’s a nice facility but my favorite thing is probably the few steps to take Ginger to the grass, it’s usually quite a hike. The banners on the street lights remind us we're getting very close to Canada.

We needed to do an errand and stock up on some groceries so the Blue Water Area Transit (bus) seemed the best option as shopping was quite a distance from the river. Long story short: We spent FOUR hours doing those two things! That will certainly make one appreciate having a car at your disposal. The caption for this picture could be "WHERE’S THAT BUS???" By the way, Ginger is sleeping in that canvas bag at the bottom of the picture. She went undiscovered on several bus rides, at Target and the Kroger grocery store. Good Dog!

We plan to leave early tomorrow, destination Bayfield, Ontario, Canada. I hope to keep blogging regularly but we're not sure how often we'll get a good wifi signal when we get WAY up north!

Sandusky and Put-in-Bay

2009-07-07T16:51:00.013-05:00

We actually had a nice sail to Sandusky. It was only about 10 miles but not having to motor was a novelty to us. We had this view of the amusement park on Cedar Point just as we came into Sandusky Bay. I couldn’t believe the vertical drop on some of the rides.

We got a slip at The Dock of the Bay Marina. Harry the Dockmaster was having a little “Canada Day” party with four Canadian boaters who observed July1st by having cocktails WAY before 5 o’clock. Speaking of Canada, this is where we planned to take care of the paperwork needed to enter our neighbor to the north. First we each needed three photos so off we went to “Snap Shots” to have that done. Then we found the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, gave the officer our photos, passports, one of our driver’s licenses and boat information. We now have our CBP Form I-68 forms in hand; luckily both these places were within walking distance from the marina. Paul had already gone online to get the decal required for boats over 30 feet. Supposedly the fine can be up to $10,000 without it. Needless to say there are many more regulations today compared to the last time we boated in Canadian waters way back in 1982.

The next day was breezy and cloudy but no storms expected so we headed northwest to Put-in-Bay on South Bass Island. There are 11 Erie Islands, but only three are open to the public: Kelleys Island, Middle Bass and South Bass Islands. All the rest are privately owned. We could sail a lot of the way there too but it was really close to the wind. Here’s a peek through the dodger.

For awhile it was pretty rocky so Ginger was more secure in the pet carrier we got for the flight to NY. It was one of the things left in Kyle’s car but he mailed it back to us at my cousin’s in Cleveland so that worked out well. She actually fell asleep in there.

We grabbed a mooring ball, one of about 80 maintained by The Boardwalk Marina and Restaurant in Put-in-Bay, hereafter known as PIB. PIB has been an ideal stopping point for boaters ever since Native Americans “put in at the bay” during their many journeys across Lake Erie. We rocked around quite a bit the first night as winds were causing quite a chop. Water taxi service is included in the daily fee for the mooring ball. Here’s one of the drivers approaching our address (H-6) to drop us off after a shore visit.

In the morning we had coffee and a bite at the Village Bakery and met a boating couple from Rocky River, OH who gave us some tips about the area. We did the tourist thing and took a tour of the island on the little yellow and orange Tour Train, the drivers are always entertaining. We got off to tour the Heineman’s Winery which is the oldest family-owned winery in Ohio, in operation since 1888. We also got to stand in a real geode; a tour of the Crystal Cave is included in the winery tour – such a deal. It was 57 degrees down there; I wouldn’t recommend it for claustrophobics. After a sample glass of wine we walked to the “GOAT Soup and Whiskey” for lunch (funny name but the food was good and we could eat outdoors). Ginger made many friends there with her antics; she gets quite animated when there’s food to be had. Then it was back on the Tour Train to head back to the waterfront.

There used to be 1,000 year-round residents on the island, currently there are 350; 80 of them are students in the K-12 school we passed. The HS Class of 2009 had 5 graduates. There are 5 full-time police officers in the winter and 30 in the summer. There are no doctors on the island, emergency patients are taken by helicopter to the mainland. There are only two churches, one Episcopal and one Roman Catholic but numerous bars. One of them claims to be the “longest bar in the world” but our son in Milwaukee informed us that a Milw bar also claims that distinction. Since it was 4th of July weekend, PIB was hopping. The bar scene is pretty active in the evening but we were back on the boat by nightfall and left that to the “young people”. This is how most of the tourists get around – there are golf carts to rent everywhere:

Perry’s Victory and International Peace Memorial was our landmark heading to PIB as it rises 352 feet over Lake Erie. It was built between 1912 and 1915 to commemorate Admiral Perry’s victory over the British fleet in Lake Erie during the War of 1812. This victory helped persuade the British to cease hostilities and enabled the U.S. to claim the Northwest at the peace talks a year later and contributed to a lasting peace between the U.S. and the British.

I wasn’t able to take the elevator up with Ginger, “No Pets Allowed”, but Paul went up to the top and got this great picture. We’re to the far left side of the mooring field, the ferry dock is at the bottom. On clear days you can see 10 miles northwest to the battle site.

We saw a parade of antique cars on the 4th and got a kick out of how fast they rolled by. I said if there HAD been a marching band, they’d have been run over! The fireworks display on Saturday night was fabulous, lasting about 45 minutes. We know Ginger is REALLY deaf as she fell asleep in the midst of the kabooms! She used to panic when a little firecracker went off in the neighborhood. This is a peaceful sunset moments before the action started.

We hadn’t really planned to be anywhere special on the 4th as we didn’t want to be somewhere crowded and crazy but we had a great time on our 3 nights in PIB. This was our last night spent in Ohio - on to Michigan.

A Visit with Family near Cleveland

2009-06-30T15:01:00.008-05:00

Cleveland is the largest city on Lake Erie with a 5-five mile long breakwater to protect the harbor but there’s no safe place to anchor. This being the home of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, reporters often did stories from there on the untimely death of Michael Jackson which occurred while we were here. We know there’s a lot to do here but we planned to go into Rocky River instead to visit family. Also I hate leaving Ginger alone on the boat. Her separation anxiety may have gotten worse in her old age; she now barks until we return to the boat.

The Cleveland Yachting Club was our home for the next two days. I enjoyed the pool as the weather was hot and muggy. The AC the previous owner of the boat installed was much appreciated; this is a luxury we’re only able to use when in a marina. We thought the finger piers were narrow in Grand River but these have them beat. They consist of two 10-in. boards so we were wary walkers! They can squeeze a lot of boats in this way and I guess you’d get to know your neighbors.

My cousin (and godmother) Audray and husband Ernie live quite close and they were very gracious to see to our every need while we were here (got errands done, groceries, laundry and catching up). This is where we had lunch at the Emerald Necklace Marina overlooking the Rocky River. It’s a very pretty area.

An unexpected pleasant surprise was seeing Audray’s brother Dan and wife Gail from Madison. They were on their way back from a trip to the Smoky Mountains.

We were so glad to be off the boat during the thunderstorm that blew through that night. I think you can see the rain on the windows on the sun porch. There was a LOT of lightening which is always a concern being on a boat with a mast. Audray’s 2-yr old grandson was pretty entertained by it though! It was great to reconnect with family and thanks again, Audray and Ernie, for taking such good care of us!

We arrived in Lorain, OH late aft. on Friday, June 26th where we stayed at Spitzer Riverside Marina (still no safe anchorages). This marina has such long docks that golf carts give rides up to the office, showers, etc. But before 9am or after 7pm you’re out of luck. We saw a lot of other Beneteaus on the docks as there’s a dealer in nearby Vermillion. Hunter sailboats are also plentiful as their dealer is in Huron. Here’s the Lorain Lighthouse at the breakwater entrance. It’s very similar to ones we’ve seen lately.

We came into the Huron Boat Basin the next day. The guidebook states Huron is the southernmost port on Lake Erie, and all of the Great Lakes actually. They were at capacity due to a large group having a rendezvous, the Greater Cleveland Boating Association. But they had a spot for us on the inside wall which worked out fine. Here’s us to the left of “the hut”.

There are concerts in the nearby amphitheater Saturday nights and we could hear 60s music by the British invasion group, “The ReBeats”. I walked over for a listen but Paul thought he could hear as much as he wanted to from the boat. Fireworks were also going off nearby so it was a busy place. We ended up staying another night as the $1.50/foot rate drops to $25/boat on weeknights.

On Sunday morning we did a new thing – went to church by boat! We found out that Zion Lutheran Church in Huron holds an 8AM service at a nearby marina. We took the dinghy the 10 min. or so down river and found about 20 people and 1 dog gathered for a brief worship service led by a lay person as the pastor was out of town. The only time Ginger made a peep was a loud “AMEN” after the Lord’s Prayer. She’d finally spotted the other dog there; the timing got a few chuckles.

On Monday we walked Ginger to the Firelands Animal Hospital for some medicine (nothing serious, Ginger lovers). This is one of the areas in the region called the Firelands for this reason: During the Revolutionary War, some Connecticut residents were given land grants to make restitution for property burned and pillaged by the British. Huron has been a destination since the French began trading with the Indians in the mid 1700s.

As of this writing, Tuesday 6/30, we’ll be spending our 4th night here. We had planned to leave today but didn’t think it was prudent to head into 15 – 25mph winds out of the direction we’re heading and battle 4 – 6 ft. seas. What’s one more day, besides we like the $25/day rate and it’s a very nice facility with shopping within walking distance.

Now you’re caught up on your favorite Loopers! Thanks for checking in.

Lake Erie - calm so far

2009-06-28T15:48:00.008-05:00

Leaving Erie, PA we motor-sailed about 4 miles off shore; a nice breeze but not enough for any speed. So far Erie has been quite smooth although it’s not a very deep lake and can get choppy in a hurry. We came into Ashtabula, OH and tied up at the wall downtown to use the free pump-out. We had planned to tie there overnight but contrary to what our guidebook told us, the sign said ”No Overnight Docking” so off we went. We found our way down the river to the Ashtabula Yacht Club and stayed for $1.50/foot (not quite as welcoming as Dunkirk).

There was a unique vessel across the river from us: The Historic Bum Boat Pub circa 1930, according to the sign. A few boats pulled up but most clientele came by land.

The Ashtabula lift bridge opens on the hour and half hour. It was lit at night with blue floodlights which made it look much prettier. Plaques commemorated the community project of lighting the bridge and listed the donors and amounts given. Evidently they're quite proud of it.

The lake was like glass so we motored to Grand River Marine in Fairport, not to be confused with Grand River Marine in Grand River. We got to the correct one on the second try. This was the first day it actually felt HOT. The wobbly metal finger piers were none too wide at 30 in. Best not to be “tipsy” walking on those things. As you can see, the view across the river was none too scenic.

One of the reasons we wanted to make Fairport was access to a diesel mechanic as we had some fuel leakage in the engine. Capt. thought he’d found the source but his attempt to remedy it wasn’t successful. Hooray for Ed from Diesel Pro who found and fixed the problem. Luckily it didn’t involve big bucks. We were out of there the next day, less than desirable facilities and NO wifi available.

We saw “Point Counterpoint” as we left the next day. The vessel belongs to The American Wind Symphony Orchestra in Pittsburgh, PA. We could hear them rehearsing for the Sat. night concert. The raised center portion is the stage and faces the audience on land. What a unique summer experience for the music students; I would loved to have been there for the concert.

Westward Ho - on to Cleveland.

Erie, PA

2009-06-27T17:26:00.006-05:00

The weather had been unseasonably cool until June 22nd. I guess it was appropriate that after the calendar said it was officially summer, it started to feel summer-like.

Good anchorage spots aren’t easy to find in this part of Lake Erie but we found a great one in Presque Isle Bay. This Bay was a natural harbor more than 150 years ago when Admiral Oliver Perry’s fleet was built here. It’s said to be the best harbor in all of the Great Lakes. The spot we found was just off a marina and state park and protected on all sides; water depth 13 ft. The next day we planned to get a slip at the Erie Yacht Club – we were told they had fabulous showers! However, they were having phone problems and we weren’t able to contact them by phone or radio. It was actually better docking at Wolverine Moorings for $1/foot as it was more conveniently located. We had to go under a 68-ft. high skywalk linking a Sheraton and the Bayfront Convention Center. That was a first.

This is a popular thing to do on the weekends, stroll out to the Bicentennial Tower. We had Sunday brunch at the Smuggler’s Wharf near here. I really liked sitting under the shady pergola with all the grapevines and hanging plants and a view of the waterfront.

The Victorian Princess paddleboat was getting ready for a sunset cruise. The birds in the water are Canada Geese. They're very abundant here!

Erie is the home port of the U.S. Brig Niagara. It’s a sailing school vessel and is sailed by a crew of 17 professionals and 20 trainees for 3-week periods during the summer. The replica of Admiral Oliver Perry’s warship was built in 1988. It was on the original Niagara that Admiral Perry won the Battle of Lake Erie in 1813. Perry’s famous quote “Don’t Give up the Ship!” is appropriate to the City of Erie today as the sailing program is in jeopardy due to budget concerns at the State level.

This is the Brig Niagara and where she's docked in Erie.

Our only stop in Pennsylvania was Erie as the State only has about 40 miles of shoreline on Lake Erie. On to Ohio!

Buffalo and Dunkirk, NY

2009-06-20T16:15:00.008-05:00

After visiting Niagara Falls on Monday, we finally left Smith Boys in N. Tonawanda. They treated us very fairly for winter storage and would highly recommend their facility to other boaters. Lizzie came along with us and Kyle was the wheel man. We needed to go through one more lock before Lake Erie. Paul and Lizzie held the lines while we were very slowly raised about 5 ft. at Black Rock Lock to reach the level of Lake Erie. That makes SEVENTY locks in all on our trip. We traveled down the Black Rock Canal and through the Conrail swing bridge which was open; we requested a bascule bridge to open for us. Here’s Capt. Paul on the radio.

Two more fixed bridges were no problem for our mast height of 55 ft. Erie Basin Marina in Buffalo was our destination. The area is actually dredged to form the shape of a buffalo. As near as we could figure, we were in the hind quarters of the beast. Kyle eventually met us there; he took the opportunity to get a new muffler on his car outside “the city”. It was a bit tricky being on the wall; we needed our 2-step ladder to get on and off the boat. The rate was $1.90/foot and the best amenity was the observation tower nearby.

This is the view of the sun setting over Lake Erie from the tower.

We had dinner on board and enjoyed Eric’s birthday cake in his honor.

Tuesday about mid-day, we left for Dunkirk, NY and Kyle and Lizzie were off to Brooklyn. We didn’t realize it until much later but our extra clothes and bags stored in the car trunk went along with them! We think there are only a few things we need mailed to us so I guess that’s not too bad.

We sailed with motor assist in light variable winds the 33 miles to the Dunkirk Yacht Club. It’s rather unique as their entire facility is built over the water. You can hear the sounds of the water beneath you in the bathroom and shower. The power plant to the left keeps the water from freezing over winter. It’s supposedly a great fishing spot; they also had a very strong free wifi signal (always a plus).

We have never been made to feel more welcome than at this yacht club of about 100 members. Everyone was so friendly and helpful. Paul was invited to coffee with the guys every morning and someone was usually making breakfast in their clubhouse kitchen.

We were told about some of the members' restoration of a 1927 John Alden Yawl Malibar Junior. They were having a party the next night at the workshop and they made sure we had a ride. So we got to see the results of their labor of love of the past SEVEN years. The rigging, spars and sails were lost in a fire at the workshop in 1998. The whole process is quite a story. Here's two of the guys showing Paul the topside of Muirgen, which means "she who is from the sea" in Gaelic.

Here's a view of the transom. These guys are real craftsmen; we were so impressed with the quality of the work done and especially their dedication. They also have a lot of fun along the way - a great group of people.

Here's a link to the website if anyone has more interest in reading about the restoration. They've done an excellent job with photographing and documenting the project which will hopefully be completed next June.

http://web.mac.com/bjurlin/Site/MUIRGEN.html

Another really interesting thing about our visit was meeting Tom and Jon, two Cleveland State rowers who are rowing to raise funds and awareness for Habitat for Humanity. Their goal is to reach KEY WEST! Here's their craft, a 1972 converted 19' O'Day Mariner. The boat is cleverly renamed Not For Sail. Good luck and God Bless to those guys!

Here's a link to their website and blog http://www.habitatcrew.com/Habitat-Crew-Home.php

Our one night in Dunkirk stretched to three as it rained for two days after we arrived, besides we were having fun. We were on the water 7 1/2 hours on Friday making it to Presque Isle State Park just off Erie, PA. We crossed the watery state line sometime Friday afternoon. We anchored one night and are currently in a slip at the marina at Wolverine Park. We hiked for a few grocery items in the rain as we never did find that darned free trolley!

All for now from the crew of Restless Wind. Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there!

Guests and Niagara Falls

2009-06-18T12:16:00.016-05:00

We were never fans of the loud cigarette-type power boats, but are even less so now. Holy Cow those things are loud! We happened to have ring-side seats for the poker run on Sat. the 13th at Smith Boys in N. Tonawanda. Here’s a group picking up their poker card at the dock right across from us:

Here are some of their friends coming up behind – one louder than the next!

On Sunday Kyle and Lizzie drove the 400 miles from Brooklyn for a visit. We had dinner at a local Italian place Paul and Eric had visited. Then we got a few groceries at the local Top’s Grocery, including a birthday cake in Eric’s honor. We always take advantage of having a car available to us. To make more room in the aft berth, we stored some things in Kyle’s car. Paul and I found we both brought too much clothing with us; we couldn’t remember how much we left on the boat in the fall (should have made a list!)

Monday, June 15th – Happy Birthday Eric! Niagara Falls was a must-see so we drove the 10 miles or so over there. Lizzie and I (Em) had never seen it. Lizzie is a professional photographer and there were lots of photo ops to try out her new camera.

Thank goodness Kyle saved her from tumbling into the raging Niagara River and ending her budding career!!

My Hero!

The summer daytime flow of water is 75,000 gallons per second on the American side of the Falls. There are a dozen pictures I could post but here are just a few:

Gulls perch on the logs in the rapids of the river:

A Maid of the Mist tour boat is heading under the rainbow at the American Falls. The skyline across the river is Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada:

We didn’t get this up close and personal with the falls. I’m not sure these flimsy yellow rain slickers were doing the job keeping these tourists dry heading to the Cave of the Winds!

Heading down the hill toward the famous Horseshoe Falls:

The tour boats get as close as they’re able and try to hold steady in the current. The roar of the water must be incredible.

We were so glad we got to see and enjoy this well-known marvel of our Creator's handiwork.

Landlubbers No More

2009-06-12T11:35:00.009-05:00

At last writing in mid-September, we were back in Green Bay after living aboard for 12 months. In that time we traveled 5,061 statute (land) miles. We spent 159 nights at marinas; 107 nights at anchor; 55 nights at free docks and 40 nights on mooring balls. I think we were both ready for a break and the comforts of home. Ironically, the winter brought even more snow than the previous one we spent in Florida, and that was a record breaker. Paul got himself a new heftier snow blower but that didn’t stop him from grumbling about the weather. Em, however, kept her promise to never complain about the cold (since I never stopped griping about the heat on our trip!)

Paul was kept quite busy with his contract work but my temporary work was pretty slow. I was forced to get things done around the house and keep the pets company. Nap time: that’s Ferris, Alison’s evil cat, with me and Ginger. I shouldn’t say “evil” but extremely unpredictable at the least!

Spring arrived at last. I especially enjoyed seeing things greening up, spring flowers and our magnolia tree in bloom for too brief a time. I missed those things last year being in a warm climate all winter (I'm not complaining!)

Mother’s Day and my birthday was much more fun this year. It brought a family trip to Miller Park for a Milwaukee Brewers’ victory and dinner out in Green Bay with Alison the next day.

I now have FOUR snuggies (2 burgundy; 2 aqua) compliments of Paul! I brought one along to keep me warm in the cockpit on a cool summer night.

Paul and our son Eric drove to the Buffalo, NY area May 29th to get the boat ready for launch. The van was packed full of everything we could imagine we’d need. No pictures of the launch since the camera was at home but all went well. Thank you SO much, Eric, for taking vacation time to help us out and for all your hard work! Paul replaced our non-working radar system with another one and found the problem was in our display unit. He attempted to repair the wiring to the anometer (wind machine) but as of yet, hasn’t been successful in getting it to work. The boat is getting in “ship-shape” however, inside and out. I'm the inside cleaner/organizer.

I delayed heading to NY to attend a family wedding. It worked out well for two reasons: I got to see family and friends I don't often see and I missed the 12-hour drive in the van. I flew out with Ginger on June 9th; GB to Detroit and from there to Buffalo. I was a little worried about Ginger flying at her advanced age but she was just fine in the pet carrier Eric got for us. I was so glad it had wheels and a long strap for the long walk during the layover. She was a source of many conversations as usual.

These unusual towers are close to our dock at Smith Boys Marina. They’re remnants of a paper mill and are now home to LOTS of swallows and working and non-working grills.

We’re actually on Tonawanda Island in the fast flowing Niagara River. This was the view last night from our stern looking toward the river. I guess I did miss those great sunset views!

We’re looking forward to a visit from Kyle and Lizzie this weekend when they drive across the state from Brooklyn. Then we’re off to Lake Erie. Thanks for sticking with us on the journey!

End of the Canal and the End of Boating Season

2008-09-17T21:52:00.017-05:00

The twin cities of Tonawanda and North Tonawanda form the western terminus of the Erie Canal and are historically known as a lumber capitol. The Canal officially ends where it enters the Niagara River. We got the feeling most boaters go from west to east on the Canal as the dock where we stayed is in Gateway Park and this sign says Gateway Harbor.

Paul asked if I wanted to turn around and do it again from west to east; I said “no thanks” or something like that. We didn’t actually go to Buffalo, which I learned is New York’s second largest city. Evidently it’s much easier going there by bus than by water as you have to go against the current of the Niagara River.

We spent two nights at the town dock and made a grocery run on foot (their rate is $20/night with new showers/restrooms). The football game on local TV was the NY Jets/Dolphins game with Brett Farve starting for the Jets which we thought was rather ironic. It sure was strange seeing him in a different uniform after all those years as a Packer. Alison told us she watched the game at home as a GB station picked up the Jets games this year – too funny!

We decided awhile back that we would rather finish the Loop in the Spring so this is the end of our travels for this year. The days will be getting short, it’s getting quite cool at night and after 5,061 miles, we both need a little break. This way we can take our time and enjoy the Great Lakes part of the trip and not feel rushed.

On Monday, Sept. 8th we headed over to Smith Boys Marina on Tonawanda Island, just a short trip. There’s a lot of current running through there as it’s just off the Niagara River. Smith Boys was recommended as a good place to pull the boat and store it for the winter. Here we are being hauled out on Wednesday.

The anti-fouling paint Paul applied to the bottom held up really well. However, since we sat lower in the water than usual (dinghy davits, extra equipment), our stern and part of the gelcoat were susceptible to barnacles. Here’s a shot of the nasty creatures.

Power washing has no effect on them; they’re hard as rocks.

So…..out came the scrapers. Even the prop was covered with barnacles.

Hooray for power tools! Paul worked really hard and did a great job. I mostly gave moral support and worked on the inside.

We actually stayed on the boat for two nights after it was out of the water. We had electricity and water but couldn’t use the refrigeration as it’s a water-cooled system. So we got ice and used our freezer as an ice box. We of course didn’t bring a ladder with us so we had to improvise to get up and down. With the swim ladder extended and the 2-step ladder we found at Home Depot (we had a rental car by this time) there wasn’t too big of a gap. A couple of times with Ginger in one arm, a bag in the other, rain pouring down, I was thankful I didn’t kill myself. I kept telling myself this was just adding to the adventure (especially with the bathroom situation - after we winterized the “heads” we couldn’t use them again). It was a pretty strange two days!

We had planned to store indoors but since our cradle (wooden frame to support the boat) is back home, they had to put us on jack stands outdoors. They’ll be shrink wrapping the boat later – hopefully before one of their famous snowstorms. This is what the “Restless Wind” looked like when we left her.

We found that we had a LOT of stuff to haul home after living aboard for a whole year. That little Impala was loaded! Ironically it was exactly one year to the day since we began this journey. We left Green Bay last Sept. 12th - we probably couldn’t have done that if we’d planned it! Here's a view of our living area in the middle of packing - yikes!

We drove in rain all day Friday (effects of Hurricane Ike) and stayed with our son, Eric, in Milwaukee that night. We returned the rental car there and Eric drove us the rest of the way on Saturday. Now we were even more loaded down as now we had Eric’s laundry in the car too. Ginger and I were very cozy in the back seat – often we’ve been glad she’s only a 6 lb. dog.

So, we’re safely back at our land home. Thank you for your interest in our travels and for your good thoughts and prayers for our safety. We plan to head back to the boat in May to get the boat ready, put the mast up and head onto Lake Erie and complete “The Loop” before the end of summer.

Check back next May for further adventures of the crew of “Restless Wind”.

Thankfully,
Paul, Emy and Ginger

Nearing the End of the Canal - Lockport

2008-09-13T20:21:00.011-05:00

It was only a 7-mile run from Gasport to Lockport. This is the LAST lift bridge on the Canal heading west. This is the view of the Exchange St. Bridge in Lockport in the raised position.

The LAST two locks, Lock 34 and 35, are “staircase” locks; they are adjacent to each other with no space between them. Here you can see the two 25-ft. locks with a R.R. bridge is in the foreground.

We may be in somebody’s home videos; we went through both locks with this tour boat and the cameras were trained on us!

There’s a steep rise to get to the top of the Niagara Escarpment here. Originally there was a double set of five locks, one set for eastbound traffic, the other for westbound. It was quite an engineering marvel when it was completed in 1825. You can walk along the site of the original eastbound section which is now the spillway.

The locks were enlarged in 1862, you can see how narrow they were originally. Then the double set of locks was replaced with the present system in 1910. It was kind of fun to view the locking process from on land instead of in a boat.

Here’s another tour boat locking through then leaving the lock .

There wasn’t much of a place to dock here.

They put us on the wall opposite the lock. This is actually the top of the spillway where all the debris collects (old tires, brush and trash). That crane on the dock collects it periodically I guess. I thought Paul did a great job getting us around that tight turn then backing us out again. We were only there long enough to tour the little Canal museum and look around a little. Then on we went to Tonawanda. Really getting close now!

Erie Canal Part 5

2008-09-11T09:47:00.013-05:00

Labor Day was pretty much just another day on the water for us; not even any extra boat traffic. We went through Locks 29 and 30 with no further incidents with the First Mate’s life and limbs. We spent that night and the next at Fairport. Its’ name was changed in the 1800s from Perrinsville because travelers thought it such a “fair port” and we would agree.

One of the unique things here is the Main St. Liftbridge over the Canal. It’s the only bridge in the world built so that the south end is higher than the north end. Also no corners on the bridge floor are square, earning it mention in “Ripley’s Believe It or Not” 16 times.

Em finally found her “Ole Pal Sal”!

Other highlights were the “Lickety Split” ice cream shoppe, riding our bikes on part of the Canalway Trail and the Tuesday night classic car show complete with food and live music. The community makes very good use of their proximity to the Canal here.

The two locks we encountered on Sept. 3rd were in the worst shape of any we’d seen. We even heard chunks of the lock wall falling into the water as our fender boards moved against them!

Near here the Genesee River crosses the Canal. We went past Rochester, the third largest city in New York. In days past it was best known for milling flour. We went under bridge after bridge; only three of them were lift bridges that we had to open. Many were old fixed bridges like these.

This 4-mile section of the Canal is known as the “Rock Cut”. The deep cut was made through solid rock in the early 1900s. It’s hard to imagine how this work was done before modern machinery. Italian and Irish immigrants were hired for much of this work. Their influence in the area is very much in evidence as many of their descendants remained in this part of New York.

We spent that night at Brockport and spent 8 whole dollars for the dock and electricity – love this Erie Canal! There’s a nice new visitors’ center here too with showers, etc. The State University of NY (SUNY-Brockport) is here so it has a college-town feel. Brockport is the home of Cyrus McCormick, the inventor of the mechanical reaper. Production of this first practical farm implement began in 1845. There’s a lot of Victorian type architecture here. Here’s a scene on Brockport's Main Street.
Sept. 4th was the day of bridges. We went under 20 fixed bridges, 2 guard gates and 7 lift bridges we had to have opened for us. These lift bridges are only about 7 feet above the water at the normal position and are raised ten feet for boats to pass under.

We crossed over Culvert Road on an aqueduct; the only place where you can drive under the Erie Canal. It was built in 1823 and is noted in “Ripley’s Believe It Or Not”. The clearance for RVs going under the canal is 7ft. 6 in. We wondered what it would look like to drive under the Canal and see a boat going past above you – we may have to try that sometime!

We passed a llama farm and several huge orchards with trees just loaded with apples. When we got to Medina where we stayed at a free dock for the night, we were glad to see there was a little Farmers’ Market nearby with apples for sale. Just going past all those apple trees made us hungry for apples – they were delicious.

The next day was on to Gasport. In 1826 natural gas was discovered here bubbling out of the water so the name of the town was changed! Another free dock here; we met one of the homeowners along the Canal, Ethel. She welcomed us to Gasport and gave us a tip on where to get the local specialty – Beef on a Weck. (really Kimmelwick – a sort of Kaiser Roll piled high with roast beef – really tasty). Some of the friendly locals were there relaxing after work and were interested in our trip so that was kind of fun. Here it is, the Canal Side Inn of Gasport, New York!

There are "roaming operators" for some of the lift bridges on this part of the Canal. One person is responsible for two bridges; some are less than 1/2 mile apart but some are 3 to 5 miles apart so the guy opens one bridge then jumps in his truck and roars down to the next one. We never had to wait long but some boaters get stuck waiting for quite awhile to get through the 2 bridges.

We were told that the entire Canal is drained for the winter so the bottom can be inspected and repaired. The water goes into Oneida Lake, Niagara Falls and the Hudson River. It's something we'd never thought about but found it pretty interesting.

Nearing the end of this part of the adventure - Em, Paul and Ginger

Sidetrip to Seneca Falls

2008-09-07T09:59:00.020-05:00

Friday, August 29th did NOT feel like August. It was 66 degrees, cloudy and breezy when we left Baldwinsville, NY.

We went through what is called the Ditch Cut and crossed over Cross Lake, which is about 2 miles long. We’re still on the Seneca River portion of the Canal. We passed through part of the Montezuma National Refuge and saw Great Blue Herons (pictured), egrets, osprey and bald eagles.

This farm had some beautiful horses out in the pasture.

Here are some of the remains of the Montezuma Aqueduct, originally 900 feet long, near Richmond. This is where the Canal of 1862 crossed the Seneca River.

We took the turnoff south on the Cayuga/Seneca Canal to Seneca Falls. This canal is actually two short canals joining the Erie Canal with Cayuga and Seneca Lakes. We’d heard a lot about the Finger Lakes Region, wine country in New York, and wanted to visit it. We went through C/S (Cayuga/Seneca) Locks 1, 2 and 3, all raising us, before Seneca Falls. This is the free dock in Seneca Falls.

Seneca Falls is the site of the 1848 Women’s Rights Convention and has museums and historical sites to honor that. It is also the likely inspiration for the fictional town of Bedford Falls in Frank Capra’s classic “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Remember Zuzu? This café is named after George Bailey’s youngest daughter in the movie. Seneca County alone has 28 wineries; there are over 70 in the entire Finger Lakes Region. We got our tickets for the wine tour at the visitors’ center. For $10/person the mini-bus takes you to 6 local wineries. You get on and off as you like; the wineries charge a nominal fee for you to sample a selection of wines.

The Finger Lakes area has a more temperate climate than the rest of central New York and is ideal for growing grapes. Temperatures rarely go below freezing so the lakes don't freeze over in winter. Here’s a view of Cayuga Lake from one of the wineries. It was a beautiful day and the scenery was spectacular.

The pictures below were taken at the Thirsty Owl Winery where we had lunch overlooking the lake in their outdoor bistro shaded by a grape arbor. I didn’t want to leave!

Several of the vineyards are now growing a white hybrid grape being developed by Cornell University named Cayuga. The white wines, especially Rieslings, seemed to be the specialties. We ended up with 10 bottles of wine and one jar of peach butter from four of the wineries. We didn’t have to lug it around; the bus driver kept it for us. Here’s Paul at the last winery on the tour with some of our treasures.

The legend is the Great Spirit created the Finger Lakes by dragging his hand across the land. Somewhat more romantic than saying they were created by glaciers. They do rather look like fingers if you use your imagination. The two largest lakes are extremely deep in places. The gold line at the top of the chart is the Canal route.

We left the next day and headed back through the three C/S Locks – locking down this time. I took my turn fending off the bow. It makes Capt. Paul nervous if the mast comes too close to the lock wall!

We went through 5 more locks after that for a total of EIGHT. Two of them were more exciting than we’d like. The tip of the boat hook I use is mostly worn away from the rough lock walls. If you push off the top of the wall where it’s painted, it slips and the first mate is left hanging on the life lines (a rather scary moment!) At the last lock of the day, I was in the process of taking a picture and tripped over the wooden mast supports and fell backwards. The deck is a real obstacle course right now with the mast down. No real harm done except for a scraped and bruised shin but that was enough fun for the day. All the locks have an info sign. This is the one from the infamous Lock 28-B.

We went under the lowest bridge on the Canal this aft. It’s an old R.R. bridge and has a clearance of 15 ½ ft. We are now 11 ft. at the highest point so no problem.

We spent the night at Newark, NY, another free dock. This one with a free washer and dryer – what a bonus! There were about 7 boats there at one point but none were left when we departed in the morning. There were historical murals painted along the bridge walls – new this year.

Retired local gents man the visitors’ center and give you the restroom key and any information you need about the town – really a nice service. And that’s the end of this side trip.

Erie Canal Part 4

2008-09-05T08:47:00.010-05:00

On Tuesday, August 26th we got to experience the first locks on the Canal that lowered us instead of raised us up. Lock 21 and Lock 22 are about 1.5 miles apart and each lowered us 25 feet to reach the level of Oneida Lake. After 20 locks going UP, it felt very odd to start at the top of the lock and end up at the bottom. We reached Sylvan Beach on the eastern end of Oneida Lake at mid-day but decided to stop for the day. The wind was blowing quite hard out of the west and the Lake was kicking up quite a bit.

Sylvan Beach is a summer resort area with a little amusement park and lots of eateries and shops. This area is known as “the playground of Central New York” or was back in the day. We had lunch at Eddie’s (best haddock sandwich ever), a well-known local eatery since 1934. This is the renovated free dock which had electricity and wifi; we’re tickled when we get a reliable internet connection so we spent the afternoon trading off using it and catching up.

This is the cute little 2-car roller coaster at the amusement park. It really made a lot of racket!

There were lots of people walking along the dock and one woman asked Paul, “do all sailboats look like that?” We also got asked if we can sail anywhere along the Canal. Sometimes it’s hard not to laugh! Here’s a sunset at Sylvan Beach, New York.

It was much smoother the next day so we’re glad we waited. Oneida Lake is the largest body of water on the Erie Canal; it’s 20 miles long and fairly shallow. The original Erie Canal passed to the south of the Lake. This is when it was basically a ditch which mules and horses pulled barges through. In 1917 the Canal was enlarged and relocated to accommodate self-propelled boats and now passes through the Lake.

Our destination was Winter Harbor Marina in Brewerton, a mile or so up the Canal on the western side of Oneida Lake. We fueled up at $4.39/gallon; they’re known to have the lowest fuel prices on the Canal. The dockage was 90 cents/ft. with a Boat U.S. discount so we were pleased with that. Another neat thing was the pots of vegetables on the fuel dock for boaters to harvest. I helped myself to cherry tomatoes, basil and parsley. This was the extent of my gardening for the entire summer so I enjoyed it!

They let us borrow one of their courtesy cars to do laundry and get some groceries. Do you like our new Mercedes?

This had to be one of the more unique marina cars we’ve used. It’s a 1987 Mercedes with 213,000 miles on it. It’s actually pale yellow – the picture doesn’t do it justice!

We also found a boat supply store that had a life vest to fit a 6-lb. dog. Ginger can actually move normally in this vest so we got it and she wears it when we’re in the locks and can't keep an eye on her. She barks if we put her down below where she can't see what's going on.

We left the marina the next day and went through the last lock down on the Canal. Lock 23 was only a 7 ft. drop. We knew how far we had to go to Buffalo when we saw this sign at Canal Junction. It’s the turnoff for the Oswego Canal which you would take if you were heading to Lake Ontario.

We spent a quiet night just past Lock 24 in Baldwinsville, NY. Actually it was VERY quiet – we were at the free dock right in front of a cemetery. The weather was rainy so we didn’t even walk to check out the town but we didn’t think we missed too much.

I'm slowly getting caught up on writing. We're currently in Medina, NY - just another stop away from the end of the Canal. I'm writing from the Shirt Factory Cafe which was built as a hotel in 1876. In 1919 it became a shirt factory and operated here until 2004. It's the coolest place with antique furniture, original art on the walls, yummy danish and coffee and James Taylor playing. Who could want anything more?

Erie Canal Part 3

2008-09-01T17:24:00.012-05:00

The next stop was in Utica, NY. We’re right next to the Aqua Vino Restaurant and the $1/foot dockage is paid to them but there aren’t any amenities except for the restrooms in the restaurant.

Our main reason for stopping here is we thought taking a brewery tour might be fun. So the next day we got the bikes out again and headed for the Saranac Brewery.

Saranac is owned by the F. X. Matt Family and is the oldest family-owned brewery in the State of New York. There were once 12 breweries in Utica but this is the only one here today. This is part of the extensive gift shop.

There was an ad campaign in the 60s starring two talking beer steins, Schultz (the German) and Dooley (the Irishman). Some of the people on the tour remembered the ads and got a kick out of seeing all the different Schultz and Dooley steins. They also had a 5-gal. beer stein with the inscription in German: "only a real man can drink this full".

There were 25 people in our tour group led by Alison who gave us a history lesson along with info on the making of their beer. They weren’t bottling as it was a Sunday so we watched a video on that. The brewery’s slogan is “Spirit of the Adirondacks” and that’s the source of the water used in the brewing process. This is a display of some of their specialty beers (also I liked the stained glass). There were quite a few beautiful original Tiffany lamps along the tour.

We hopped on the 1888 trolley and were dropped back at the main building to finish the tour at the Hospitality Room (bar). We were given tokens to be used for 2 pints of any of their beers or soft drinks (root beer, orange and Shirley Temple) so that was kind of fun. This is the only brewery to keg their own root beer so maybe we should have tried it. Paul was surprised that he liked their summer beer, Pomegranate Wheat (he thought it would be a girly beer!)

We learned that after the 13 yrs of prohibition ended, Saranac was the first brewery in the U.S. to begin brewing beer, within one hour of the announcement! They have a collection of polyphones (the old time music boxes) that played periodically. Here’s one of them, beautifully restored.

The tour was very well done and a worthwhile stop. We didn’t overdo and made it back on our bicycles just fine and headed out into the Canal. Right after Lock 20 there’s a park and place to dock overnight. I got a kick out of this sign on the restroom building. Thanks, Loyal Order of Moose, for the flush toilets! That night was the closing ceremony of the Olympics from Beijing. We were surprised we were able to see a lot of the coverage of the games since our mast is down and we weren't sure what kind of reception we'd get.

Monday night, Aug. 25th, was spent at the free dock in Rome, NY. It’s at a park near a dam but no electricity or facilities. We used our bikes again and did some errands and shopping and used the library. Hopefully when we were in Rome we “did as the Romans did”!

ps: Thanks to the 2 people who sent us the words to the Erie Canal song, which I learned is entitled "Low Bridge". Now I can have more of the words running through my head!

The Erie Canal - Part 2

2008-08-29T18:03:00.012-05:00

♫ “I’ve got a mule her name is Sal, 15 miles on the Erie Canal” ♫ I’ve had that song in my head ever since we started on the Canal; I wish I could remember more of the words. Paul said he has no recollection of singing it in grade school but it definitely stuck in my mind!

We left Canajoharie Thursday, the 21st and saw some beautiful bucolic scenery along the way. As you can see the wind wasn’t a factor today. Now that we’re strictly a power boat, no wind is just fine with us.

We went through 5 locks, #13 through #17. Lock 17 is just before Little Falls and raised us up 40 ft. It’s the largest single step lock on the Erie Canal. This is the view off our stern after the lock doors closed.

All except for our first day we've usually been the only boat in a lock. We're way behind most of the Loopers traveling this way but the consensus is that the high cost of fuel is keeping a lot of boaters off the canal this year. We’d never shared a lock with kayakers before but there were 6 of them in Lock 17 with us.

Little Falls is nestled in a deep gorge at the heart of the Mohawk Valley and is a great stop along the Canal. There’s a new facility for boaters with a lounge area and showers. Dockage is $1/ft. with electricity and water. The library in town is in a restored old home; we had the old dining room all to ourselves to use their wifi – very cool. We were in Little Falls two nights and got to use our bicycles quite a bit.

The m/v Knot Home was there also so we had another visit with Larry and Dorothy on our boat this time. On Sat. morning we went together to a great little Farmer’s Market. The prices were great and we got the sweetest corn and tastiest tomatoes I think I’ve ever had. We all had breakfast at a café near the canal and we were off. Safe travels Knot Home!

Another neat thing we did in Little Falls was visit the 1764 Herkimer Home. It was about a 3-mile bicycle ride on this trail that was a former railroad track. There’s also a multi-use Canalway Trail between Albany and Buffalo that closely parallels the Canal. Nearly ¾ of the 350-mile trail has been completed; we often see bikers on it along the way.

This is the rear of the Georgian style home of Brigadier General Nicholas Herkimer.

Herkimer was a Palatine German farmer, Indian trader, and prominent Mohawk Valley businessman who became commander of the Tryon County local militia. He became a hero during the Battle of Oriskany in 1777. Despite a bullet wound to his leg, and although greatly outnumbered by the British and Mohawk, he and his command held the field. Following the battle, Herkimer was carried home, where he died 10 days later. His actual cause of death was attributed to inept medical care as he bled to death.

A costumed interpreter gave a very informative tour of the home and grounds. We learned she is a native to the area and is actually distantly related to the former master of the house.

Here’s the beautiful view overlooking the present day Erie Canal/Mohawk River from the front yard. I wondered the age of this huge maple tree.

A happy and safe Labor Day weekend to everyone from the beautiful new library in Seneca Falls, NY (we're on another sidetrip from the Loop route).

The Erie Canal - Part 1

2008-08-25T14:36:00.005-05:00

The Erie Canal, built between 1817 and 1825, is 363 miles long and was the first all-water link between the Atlantic Seaboard and the Great Lakes. It opened vast areas of the upper Midwest to settlement and commercial agriculture and made New York City the nation’s prime seaport and seat of world trade. The current canal has 35 locks which will raise us approximately 565 feet to the level of Lake Erie. After hearing so much about it, we were anxious to get started.

We bought a season pass for $75 so we could take our time; the other options are 2-day and 10-day passes. We left Waterford on Tuesday August 19th in a light drizzle so on went the foul weather gear. Locks 2 thru 6 (remember there is no Lock #1) are called “the Flight of Five” and raise you 169 feet in just 1.5 miles. This is Paul keeping our mast off the lock wall at Lock 4.

These locks all had ropes for your bow and stern and some also have a cable or pipe to tie at midships. We found having the line at amidships and using a boat hook at the bow and stern was just as effective as holding onto the slimy lock ropes.

Here’s an eastbound boat exiting the lock we’re heading for next. It was one lock right after another and kept us very busy for a couple of hours.

This first part of the Erie actually follows the Mohawk River. This is one of the reasons we had to have the mast lowered – lots of low bridges.

This dam at Lock 8 is quite wide, some are much smaller.

We went through a total of TEN locks on Tuesday – definitely a record for us. The highest lift was 35 feet and the lowest was 12 feet. We tied up for the night just past Lock #11 at Amsterdam, NY. This was a free dock with electricity provided by the town but not a lot happening. We walked to find a store in the morning but weren’t successful so on we went. It’s getting quite cool at night and the feeling of fall is definitely in the air.

There were only two locks to negotiate the next day but the wind was brisk so we had to be vigilant about not letting the mast hit the lock walls. Luckily they were only a 12ft. and 8ft. rise so no real problem. The locktender was wearing a NY Jets shirt so we had the Brett Farve discussion. The Jets fans don’t seem that thrilled to have him.

It felt rather odd to be cruising down the Mohawk at 7mph with the traffic of I-90 (NY Thruway) on our left and freight trains speeding by on our right!

We stopped for the night at Canajoharie and tied behind m/v Knot Home. We’d first met these Loopers from FL, Larry and Dorothy, in Charleston, SC so it was fun to share Loop adventure stories with them at happy hour on their boat. (The wooden cut-out dog is one of three there to scare away the geese. It's not working so well; the lawn you see is full of goose doo doo!)

Canajoharie means “the pot that washes itself” in a native language. So we took a walk to see this natural wonder scoured into the creek’s dolostone bedrock. Paul is standing in front of one of the boiling pots but the water was rather low so it wasn’t as dramatic as it could have been but still neat to see.

Another item of interest was this traffic light they call a “dummy light”. It’s supposedly one of the earliest traffic lights and the oldest in the country still in use today – wow!

Enough excitement for one blog posting!

No More Sailing

2008-08-18T17:53:00.017-05:00

Last Wednesday the 13th we left Hyde Park Marina on a beautiful sunny day with more gorgeous scenery to see along the Hudson River. We arrived at our destination on Catskill Creek around 2pm.

This “unique” place was recommended as a good facility to have your mast taken down. The low bridges on the next part of the route and the locks on the Eric Canal require us to be a power boat again. The Creekside Restaurant is on site and is much nicer inside than their restrooms/showers building – see picture. Most boaters decide to shower on their boats.

We had a big problem getting the roller furling disconnected as the drum mechanism is buried in the anchor locker. By the way, Beneteau no longer puts this system on their newer models and we know why! Paul and Shawn of Hop-O-Nose alternated having their heads in the anchor locker working on it until Paul finally got it to let loose and their crane lowered our mast onto the supports around 9pm! By this time we had been through intermittent thundershowers and made a run to the local Price Chopper for groceries in a borrowed car. They said we won the prize for being the “biggest pain in the ___”. Just our roller furling that is!

We ended up being there three nights. This is our new "look" as we left on Saturday the 15th. We did a simpler job this time and didn't detach all the rigging. We just laid everything along the mast and wrapped it with a large roll of clear plastic. Also we'll be on calmer waters, not like the waves on Lake Michigan last Fall.

Back on the Hudson we motored under the Rip Van Winkle Bridge.

This was our view aft (behind us) of the lovely Catskill Mountains.

This was our obstructed view forward going under another set of bridges.

It’s a little challenging to see through the supports , shrouds, etc.

We spent a peaceful night anchored in Schodack Creek off the river. There were quite a few boats rafted together that were there for the night also.

On Sunday we went past Albany, the capitol of New York. The most exciting thing about Albany was seeing five or so homemade boats in some sort of a parade. We weren’t sure what it was all about but they looked like they were having a good time!

Later on we encountered our 29th lock of the trip but our first since June 5th leaving the Dismal Canal in Virginia. The lock at Troy, NY is a federal lock operated by the U.S. Corps of Engineers, unlike those on the Erie Canal which are operated by the State of New York.

This lock was a bit different as you put your line around a pipe going down the side of the lock wall. We had that line midships, Paul was at the bow keeping the mast off the wall (very important!) and I was at the stern fending off as needed. It was a little tense at the start but all went well. ONE down and thirty-four to go!

This was the sign as we turned west and tied up at the Waterford, NY Visitors’ Center.

We think we’re going to like this part of the trip. There’s no charge for your first two nights at the dock, after that it’s $10! The town provides free water, electricity and a shower (of sorts) in the visitors’ center but what do you want for nothing? We ate at an Irish Pub in town and walked a few blocks to a very new and clean laundromat (something else we’ve come to appreciate on this trip). We also checked out Don and Paul's coffee shop. We were told they have depression era prices. I (Em) had the special of two eggs, toast and coffee for $1.75 - such a deal!

Tomorrow morning we’re off to the first lock of the Erie Canal which is about 100 yards in front of us. Paul says to say that it’s officially Lock #2 (there is no Lock #1).

Note to those who love Ginger: more evidence of fleas - boo! The Frontline Plus AND Hartz flea powder AND flea collar don’t seem to be working. Luckily we’ve never seen any of the critters in the boat and only a very few on her, just their “leavings” – so icky!

Back to NYC and up the Hudson River

2008-08-14T12:35:00.020-05:00

August 8 was the opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympics and we were able to watch some of it while on the mooring ball back in Port Washington. We were there again to reconnect with Kyle. He came in on the train to begin Part II of his Loop experience. The next day we did the reverse trip from Long Island Sound to NYC via the East River. It was fun having Kyle along on this portion. He enjoyed sailing under the bridges he’s driven over so often and getting a different perspective of other familiar places in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Hell Gate wasn’t “hellish” this time either; the trick is leaving at the right time to have the tide in your favor.

We turned into the Hudson River at the tip of Lower Manhattan with another view of Lady Liberty. This was new territory for us seeing Manhattan from the west side of the island. We got a mooring ball at the West 79th Street Boat Basin for $30. It was a great location right at Riverside Park where there were lots of bikers, joggers and families out for a stroll – great for people watching. This was the first mooring ball in a long time that had a dinghy dock instead of a water taxi so that’s how we got to shore to see some of the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

This is the view looking north toward the George Washington Bridge from our mooring ball. Believe me it wasn’t always this peaceful! The basin is well known for rough water and we did our share of rocking and rolling from the passing tows and other boat traffic. We knew it was only for a night so we weren’t too bothered by it.

We had a great lunch at a place Kyle knew, Niko’s on Broadway at W. 77th Street. Then we walked to a little bakery and had what we thought to be the best cookies in the world! We walked some more and saw part of the west side of Central Park. I’d seen this balloon on TV a few times on the Today Show so I got a kick out of seeing it “in person”. People were out in rowboats on this little lake in the park - one of several. Building such a large park right in the center of Manhattan Island seems like a brilliant idea to me.

Kyle showed us the Dakota Building where John Lennon was killed and where Yoko Ono still lives. It was also the film location for "Rosemary's Baby". We picked up a few groceries at a packed little market and visited a wine store. No celebrities were sighted.

Monday it was time to head north up the Hudson. This is a view of the famed George Washington Bridge between Manhattan and New Jersey.

This was momentous for us as our boat insurance rates drop considerably once we’re under this bridge! We went past Yonkers, another place where Kyle lived during grad school. Just north of there is the northern border of New Jersey. New York is on both sides of the Hudson from here on. The next famous bridge was the Tappan Zee, another name of Dutch heritage. This area is the setting for Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow". In fact, in 1996, North Tarrytown, NY changed its' name to Sleepy Hollow and the author is buried in the cemetery there. We were able to sail a lot of the way as the river is quite wide – 3 miles at the widest point with high bluffs on either side - beautiful scenery. Water depths reach over 100 feet here.

This is an area familiar to Kyle; he and Lizzie enjoy hiking near here. This is Bear Mountain Bridge where the Appalachian Trail crosses the Hudson River.

We anchored off a county park in Haverstraw Bay near Croton and had a much more peaceful night. Kyle really enjoys the peace and quiet and wide-open spaces. It’s therapeutic for the city dweller who grew up in rural Wisconsin.

It was mainly a motor trip on Tuesday; part of it in some heavy rain. The West Point Military Academy is very impressive from the water. Paul had visited there in the sixties for his Brother Jim’s graduation. It’s no longer possible to dock your boat and tour the academy but we would have loved to do that. Kyle voiced his opinion by yelling "War is not the answer!" while we passed by, but I don't think anyone heard him!

Here are some of the helicopters we saw airlifting cadets in training.

We went about 42 miles to the Hyde Park Marina just past Poughkeepsie. We passed Vasser College on the east bank of the river and saw two of their sculling boats gliding down the river. Capt. Joe was there to greet us. We felt a bit dwarfed docked behind “Blue Sky” at 103 feet!

On Wednesday Capt. Joe (what a character) gave us a ride and we toured FDR’s boyhood home and museum and library just a few miles away. It was all very interesting and informative learning more about his presidency from 1933 to 1945. Here’s part of the front of the home.

We learned that the Dutch pronunciation of Roosevelt would be Roosenvelde which means garden of roses. It's appropriate then that the gravesite of FDR, his wife Eleanor, and favorite dog Fala, contains many varieties of roses, all of them beautiful.

Then it was a last farewell to Kyle. It was fun having him share a few more days of the trip with us. Capt. Joe gave us a lift to the train station in Poughkeepsie and Kyle was off to Grand Central Station in NY, then the subway to Brooklyn.

Here’s the view north from the marina where we stayed two nights. The scenery is gorgeous here.
It was just a half day trip for us to the Hop-O-Nose Marina on Catskill Creek where we’re having the mast taken down for the Erie Canal. The sails are off and bagged and Paul will work on re-building the supports this afternoon. This is where he really envies the Loopers in their trawlers who don’t have all this work taking down their masts; however, we wouldn’t trade them their bills at the fuel dock!

Misc:
It was interesting to be in the NY area when all the Brett Farve hubub was going on. We bought a "Newsday" in Long Island with a full page picture of Brett with “JET FARVE” in huge green letters. TV covered his meeting with Mayor Bloomberg but he wasn’t presented the key to the city – yet! What a strange turn of events.

All for now from Catskill, NY.

Adventures on Long Island

2008-08-08T10:55:00.013-05:00

On Tuesday we crossed to the northern side of the Sound. We came up the Norwalk River and tied up at the Visitors Dock in Norwalk, Connecticut. We mainly explored the So No (South Norwalk) part of town and ate at the Brewhouse. When Paul ordered their own microbrewery specialty, we found out they haven’t brewed their own beer in six years – go figure!

The next night we anchored off tiny Charles Island near Milford, CT and the night after we were on a mooring ball in the Thimble Islands near Stony Creek, CT. They’re said to resemble islands off the coast of Maine but they reminded us of the North Channel.

We thought about continuing east and exploring Rhode Island a bit but decided against it. It’s been quite foggy in the mornings and since our radar decided to stop working awhile ago, we didn’t want to chance being out in fog. We headed south back to the New York side of the Sound and got a mooring ball with the Setauket Yacht Club at Port Jefferson. The deal here is the mooring ball is $45 per night and the launch to go to shore is included. Port Jefferson is another town that reminded us of Fish Creek in Door County. It’s a picturesque waterside village with lots of gift shops, art galleries and the best ice cream we’ve had on the whole trip!

Here’s part of the mooring field and one of the three ferries that cross from Bridgeport, CT to Port Jefferson, NY - about a 75-minute trip. We definitely noticed when they were coming and going with the warning horns and wake they created. Thankfully the last run was at 9:30 pm.

Here’s a sculpture on the waterfront designed to honor the shipbuilding past of the area:
The best option for a grocery store here was 2+ miles out of town so we treated ourselves to a taxi ride for that. It was actually kind of fun shopping at Giunta’s Meat Farm. Their produce was mostly local and priced quite low. Also ordering from the deli was a little different from my Festival Foods in Green Bay, WI! It’s times like this that I long for a larger refrigerator. If I buy corn on the cob and too many bulky items it’s quite a challenge to fit everything in. I love melons but I guess they're out for this summer.

We headed back to Oyster Bay again. There was plenty of wind but of course it was coming from the northwest where we were headed so lots of tacking involved. At one point I counted 100 sailboats within view! Here’s a scene from along the shoreline - it’s really a beautiful area.

Here’s where the big adventure begins. As we were motoring in to Oyster Bay to anchor, our alternator light came on (not a good thing). Paul was afraid once we shut the engine down it wouldn’t start again and he was right. We thought it was a similar problem to what happened back in Cambridge, MD but we weren’t able to get it started this time. Long story short: we were anchored here FOUR nights instead of the one we’d planned! Paul called four different marinas/boatyards and they all seemed to be backed up with work. One place sounded promising, lots of calls back and forth, but we finally gave up and called a place nearby in Huntington and they had a mechanic available – yay! We thought we’d get a chance sometime on this trip to take advantage of having Boat U.S. towing insurance and this was it. The tow driver showed up Thursday morning and off we went for the 10-mile ride back to Huntington. The funny thing was he called at midnight the night before (we were asleep) to say he was in the area and did we want to go in 30 min? We declined. It would have been a circus leaving in the dark trying to unwind two anchor lines that had gotten entangled. The tow ride was kind of relaxing; just sit back, steer a little and enjoy being pulled along at 7.4 knots.

This is approaching Huntington Harbor; hundreds and hundreds of boats on moorings. There isn’t dock space available besides the cost is quite high to keep a boat at a slip in this area.

As we came into the harbor, the tow boat came alongside, tied his lines to us and steered us up to the gas dock – pretty slick.

Here’s Mitch and his co-pilot, Jessie. It was funny how Ginger and Jessie barked back and forth to each other. I think Ginger wondered how this other dog just showed up out in the middle of the water!

I don’t want to make this too long but we actually had two problems: a loose wire and a bad alternator. This is the one we had rebuilt back in Savannah, GA in May. It only had about 200 hours on it since the rebuild so this shouldn’t have happened. Now we have a brand new one and the mechanic, Bruce, was fast and very competent. We had the work done at Willis Marine Center, very good work and a fair price. They let us borrow their truck for a West Marine and grocery store run too. We used one of their mooring balls that night and we’ve never seen rain like that. It’s a good thing Ginger is going deaf – the thunder claps were unbelievable. It would let up a little then start pouring again, probably more than an hour total. It hailed for about a minute then sirens started going off. We didn’t see any funnel clouds, not like we could head for the basement, so we stayed put.

So we’re heading out today, back to Port Washington on Manhasset Bay where Kyle plans to come by train and ride back with us on the East River and through Hell Gate again. This has been quite a side trip – more memories for a lifetime and thank you Lord for keeping us safe!

On to Long Island

2008-08-02T10:11:00.012-05:00

On Saturday, July 26th we began our first side trip off the official Loop trip. We were told Long Island Sound was a neat place to explore and do some sailing and when I (Em) heard it would be cooler and less humid than the Chesapeake Bay area, I was all for it.

We headed north up the East River and made our way through the commercial and Saturday boat traffic. Here’s one of the four waterfalls that are on display in NY until mid-October.

It was very cool to see the famed Brooklyn Bridge from the water.

In this picture you can see the Brooklyn Bridge, the Manhattan Bridge, the Williamsburg Bridge and another one of the waterfalls.

We went past the Empire State Building, the United Nations, near La Guardia Airport and under the Queensborough and Triborough Bridges. Next was the notorious Hell Gate. It can be quite treacherous if you don’t time it right to be going with the tide, then the currents can run up to 5 knots. Aided by the current, we were motoring along at 11.5 knots at one point. The underwater terrain is very uneven with depths from 34 to 107 ft.; Mill Rock and two islands in the East River contribute to the turbulence and whirlpools. This old R.R. bridge really WAS a “bridge over troubled water!”

After passing under the Throggs Neck Bridge (love these names), we were in Long Island Sound. The Sound is 90 nautical miles long and 20 miles wide at the widest point. At the western end there is an 8 to 10 ft. tidal exchange but less than 3 feet as you travel east. There were an amazing number of sailboats out on this breezy Saturday afternoon. Usually we feel like we’re outnumbered by powerboats but definitely not in this area.

We came into Manhasset Bay near Port Washington. We were able to hook onto one of the town’s mooring balls which is free the first two nights and $25 thereafter. There isn’t a dinghy dock that you can use for more than 15 minutes so the mode of transportation to shore is the water taxi. There are public restrooms but no shower or laundry facilities.

Kyle and Lizzie drove out on Sunday to take a sail but it was a rainy day so that didn’t happen. We took advantage of having a car and did errands and some grocery shopping. There was a hot and heavy game of UNO before dinner onboard. (I don’t have a shot of Kyle sans cap but you might notice he got a major haircut since we saw him a week earlier).

The next day we ended up anchoring in Oyster Bay. It was a motor day as the winds were calm until mid-afternoon when we were nearly at our destination. This seems to be the pattern around here. This was the sunset from our anchor spot.

This is one of the oyster boats we saw in Oyster Bay (imagine that) and a closer view of the workers harvesting the oysters.

We also spent 3 nights on the Connecticut side but more on that later. All for now from the Free Library in Port Jefferson, NY. (that really is the name of the library!)

Sights of New York

2008-07-28T09:37:00.010-05:00

After our visit in Brooklyn, it was back to Staten Island where we moved the boat from the mooring ball to a dock at the Great Kills (a Dutch word for creek) Yacht Club. Through a former Looper who is a member there, we were able to stay there for $1/ft. – an unheard of price for the NY area. Thank you again John C! He said about 25 Loopers have visited there but we were the first sailboat! The only down side was it was quite a long drive from Brooklyn for Kyle and it wasn’t exactly convenient to shopping, etc. We did have quite an ethnic adventure shopping at a local Russian market though. I don’t think there was one thing in the deli case I recognized but we managed to get some produce and basic items. Kyle lives in a very Polish neighborhood - interesting shopping there too and hearing so many other languages spoken by people passing by. We hauled laundry to a laundromat on our bikes which was an adventure in itself.

There was a family of mute swans with three little ones in the area. This was what I saw peeping in my galley window the morning we left.

On Friday the 25th we left Staten Island and went under the impressive Verrazano-Narrows Bridge which connects Staten Island to Brooklyn. It's one of the world's largest suspension bridges. I can’t resist taking pictures of impressive bridges and this area has a lot of them.

We entered New York Harbor not knowing exactly what to expect. There was quite a lot of chop with all the boat traffic. Here’s one of the famous orange Staten Island ferries passing by Lady Liberty. We feel somewhat of a connection to these ferries as they’re built in Marinette, WI.

Here’s one of the Circle Line tour boats passing a portion of the famed Manhattan skyline.

Here’s another view of the Statue of Liberty. It’s rather unbelievable to think we’re actually seeing her from our very own boat all the way from Green Bay, WI! I climbed up to the crown with a HS group many years ago but you’re not able to do that anymore.

Here’s Ellis Island where the immigrants were processed for entry into the U.S. I wanted to tour it but it didn’t work out to do that on this trip. Only tour boats are allowed to dock here and at Liberty Island.

We anchored for the night off Liberty State Park on the New Jersey side near Liberty Island with a few other boats. We could see the green lights of the Verrazano Bridge in the distance; they looked like twinkling emeralds – beautiful.

Capt. Paul diligently prepared for the next day’s adventure: a side trip up the East River through Hell Gate!

Getting Kyle Back to New York

2008-07-20T16:21:00.017-05:00

As we left Baltimore we passed Fort McHenry. Here's an aerial view of the fort showing why it was known as the star fort. This is the fort that successfully defended Baltimore from a British attack during the War of 1812.

There is a special buoy in Baltimore Harbor painted red, white and blue to mark the spot where Francis Scott Key penned the words to our national anthem. He was being held prisoner on a British barge during the War of 1812 several miles from Fort McHenry. We could see why he would ask "Oh say does that star spangled banner still wave..." it was a long way away! We were lucky enough to see two YP (Yard Patrol) ships from the Naval Academy pass the buoy. The midshipmen were saluting it while the national anthem was playing aboard ship - what timing!

Kyle, being the dedicated professional musician that he is, found a way to get in some practice time while onboard. (the cool hat belongs to his Dad).

The first night was spent anchored in a river near Rock Hall, MD. We spent some time at a free dock but didn't want to risk the $100 fine for overnight docking even though we never saw anyone around. The next night we stopped at Chesapeake City. There's also a free dock there that does allow boats to tie up overnight but it was low tide and we hit bottom on the way in so we decided to anchor in the basin with a few other boats instead.
The C & D Canal was next, it's about a 12-mile long man-made cut from the 18th century that connects Chesapeake Bay to Delaware Bay. It allows ocean liners to go from Baltimore to Philadelphia. No sailing on the canal but we were able to sail some on Delaware Bay. After another shorter canal we were in New Jersey - wow three states in one day! We decided to take a bit of a shortcut into Cape May and go under two 55-ft. bridges (just about our mast height with the vhf radio antenna). It was low tide and we made them both - but barely. The Cap'n felt it was a bit too close for comfort! We got a slip in Cape May at the South Jersey Marina. At $2.95 per foot, it was even pricier than the Keys but it was nice to be in a marina; the weather had turned quite warm and humid.
From Cape May we were out in the Atlantic Ocean. There wasn't really enough wind to sail so we motor-sailed. The ocean swells weren't that pleasant and some of the crew was a bit uncomfortable (we won't mention who but one of them was Ginger). We made it to Atlantic City by late afternoon. I wasn't expecting the skyline to be so impressive but no casino visits for us. The neon light show on the side of one of the high-rise hotels was kind of fun to watch though, also the full moon was gorgeous.

We anchored in the only area allowed in a fairly strong current but had no trouble with our anchor holding. Kyle, Em and Ginger took the dinghy to shore but Paul stayed with the boat. You can see the speed of the current by the effect on this buoy.

We pulled anchor at 6:30 am (early for us) and headed back out into the Atlantic. We decided to make the run to Sandy Hook, NJ - again motor-sailing but the water was smoother and the waves were behind us. After 13 hours and 86 nautical miles, we anchored in a cove just past Sandy Hook. With the Verrazano Bridge at the entrance of New York Harbor in view, Kyle felt as though he was nearly home.

The next day we went an hour or so over to Staten Island and got a mooring ball at the Great Kills Yacht Club. That's where Restless Wind is right now and here's a couple pictures of our visit with Kyle and his girlfriend, Lizzie.

Here they are next to the famous Brooklyn Bridge, completed in 1883, with Manhattan in the background.

We plan to spend a little time in the Long Island Sound - hopefully actually doing some sailing! After that it's on to the Hudson River heading north.

Annapolis and Baltimore

2008-07-16T18:22:00.015-05:00

We arrived back at the boat from the trip home on July 10th. To backtrack a bit, we toured the Naval Academy before we drove home and I wanted to include some pictures of that. The midshipmen weren’t on the Yard as classes weren’t in session and the Chapel isn’t open to tours on Friday afternoons, beyond that the tour was very interesting.

The Naval Academy was founded in 1845 by then Secretary of the Navy, George Bancroft. It sits on 338 acres facing the Severn River, grounds of the former US Army Post Fort Severn. It's a beautiful setting. This is part of Bancroft Hall where the approximately 4,200 midshipmen live and have their meals.

This is part of the rotunda in Bancroft Hall. Paintings of historic naval scenes line the walls.

Part of the tour includes the crypt of John Paul Jones, a Scotsman who became a naval hero during the Revolutionary War.

One of the marinas in Annapolis with the Maryland Statehouse in the background.

With a final thank-you to our generous hosts, Chuck and Linda, we were off to Baltimore.

This was the view going under the expansive Chesapeake Bay Bridge.

We anchored one night on the way near Dobbins Island. It was a Friday night and about 13 boats stayed for the night, down from the 26 or so that were there earlier. This home on shore has its’ own lighthouse – rather cool we thought.

Kyle took the train from NY down to Baltimore and we met up with him on Saturday the 12th. Jim and Lou and family were there with their family to visit their son so they were able to pick Kyle up at Penn Station. Kyle enjoyed re-connecting with them until we got to our marina. We all got together for dinner that night at a Mexican restaurant. I didn’t get a picture of the whole group but this is their oldest daughter, Shannon, and her girls, Emily and Mariel, with Ginger.

This is a view of the Inner Harbor at Baltimore with a replica of the USS Constellation.

Another view of the Inner Harbor; it was a beautiful day for a dragon-boat ride.

St Michaels and a trip home

2008-07-05T10:16:00.010-05:00

We made a trip over to St. Michaels on the eastern shore as we’d heard a lot about it. We were told it would remind us of Fish Creek in Door County, WI and it definitely had that feel about it. Lots of unique shops and art galleries, beautiful scenery, lots of boats and ice cream! We anchored off the town and used the public dock for dinghies. Here is one of the beautiful boats we saw coming in from an afternoon cruise:

There was also a sailing regatta to watch.

There was a minor adventure with the small boats going by the anchorage. A brief knockdown and he was back up and ready to go.

The maritime museum for the whole Chesapeake Bay is located in St. Michaels. It’s a great museum with wonderful exhibits, old restored boats and hands-on activities. This is the Hooper Strait Lighthouse moved here in 1966 from the waters of Hooper Strait:

This is a miniature skipjack, “Spat”. The skipjack became a popular workboat in the 1890s. They were built to be sturdy and swift and were especially suited to the waters of Chesapeake Bay.

Maryland’s state flag is the only one in the U.S. based on heraldic emblems. The design was taken from the shield of the coat of arms of the Calvert family, colonial proprietors of the State of Maryland. We thought it was really unique and now we know why.

This is actually being written back home in Green Bay. We rented a car in Annapolis and left Restless Wind at the private dock of our generous new friends, Chuck and Linda. The only thing they wanted in return was some brats and cheese from Wisconsin so that’s what we’ll be taking back for them. We had some medical appointments but the main reason for the trip back was to help our daughter move. Alison is starting a new job at Fox-11 in Green Bay and will be looking after our house while we’re gone. We were able to get the freezer operational again before we left. The technician who repaired it was from "Shiver Me Timbers" marine refrigeration - too cute!

We drove the 1,000 miles straight through (ugh) but plan to do it in two days for the return trip. They tell us we’re here for the best week of weather for the entire summer so far and I’m loving the cooler air and low humidity (Em speaking). When we return, the plan is to head up to Baltimore and meet up with Kyle who will come down by train from NY. I hope everyone had a happy and safe 4th of July.

A Crabby Experience

2008-07-01T16:16:00.014-05:00

On Friday, June 20 we headed to Galesville on the western side of the Bay. The only tricky part of the trip was making it through Knapp’s Narrows, a 1-mile shortcut canal which is subject to shoaling. Here’s one of the old Skipjack fishing boats docked in Knapp’s Narrows:

Early evening we hooked onto a mooring ball off the West River Sailing Club. That worked out fine except poor Ginger took a tumble down the four steps from the cockpit down into the cabin while we were busy getting tied to the ball. Thanks goodness she didn’t break anything but it took her quite awhile to recover (poor old gal).

The main reason we came to Galesville was to look up a relative of boating friends from Green Bay, Bob and Nan. We took a short dinghy ride over to meet Chuck and Linda (Nan’s cousin) Saturday morning and had breakfast at their lovely home. They were kind enough to offer the use of their private dock on Tenthouse Creek so we moved our home on water over there. The water is a bit low when the tide is out but a little mud never hurt anybody. Here we are next to their SabreLine m/v Molly's Magic:

We had a little tour of Annapolis and were guests of Chuck and Linda’s for lunch at their yacht club overlooking the Naval Academy. That night was “Rhythm on the River” a fundraiser event for West/Rhode RIVERKEEPER®, a group Linda is very involved with. It was a treat to hear the steel band, enjoy the catered food, hear more about what Riverkeeper does and meet fellow boaters.

I got such a kick out of their two sweet golden retrievers, I guess because they're so different from Ginger! I call them the “golden girls” - Here are the mellow Cookie and Carly chilling out. They really enjoyed riding along on the Boston Whaler when Linda gave us a tour of the area.

One of the advantages of having your own dock just off the Chesapeake Bay is you’re allowed to put down two crab traps for your own use. Here is Paul trying his hand at harvesting the Blue Crabs who took the bait of turkey necks.

Here are the unsuspecting victims, soon to be dinner:

We were given a hands-on lesson in shelling a Blue Crab. It’s quite a process but they’re really delicious. They even have a chart with pictures for novices!

You can see how the color of the shell changes during the steaming process. (sorry Alison!)

Thanks to Linda driving us to a dog groomer, we were able to get Ginger’s “problem” taken care of. They gave her a pill to kill the fleas and after her bath and haircut, we all felt much better. She was even up to helping study the charts again!

ps: She’s on Frontline Plus for the rest of the trip.

Solomons Island, Oxford, Cambridge, MD

2008-06-25T15:56:00.009-05:00

We were in Solomons Island, MD four nights; two at Calvert’s Marina and two at anchor near the Holiday Inn. You can use their dinghy dock for $2/day and we could grab the hotel's wifi signal. If we were ZZ Top fans, a bonus would have been being able to hear the live concert coming from the maritime museum Monday night. We’re not huge fans of the classic rock trio so we were glad we weren’t closer to the action!

The other excitement started out with a search for ice cream. We took the long dinghy ride from our anchorage to the other end of town to the public dock and walked a bit.

As we had cones in hand, the sky darkened and the winds swirled down the street. Instead of taking cover, we ran back to the dinghy as we wanted to make sure our anchor was holding in the storm. Here’s a picture of the wild ride back to the boat.

First we got wet from the wave action, then we got wetter from the pouring rain – at least it washed off the salt water! Our anchor was fine but we did see another sailboat whose anchor must have been sliding as they were heading over to a mooring ball to grab on. The storms do come up fast around here.

Leaving the Solomons there was a lot of radio traffic requesting boaters to stay a mile off a specific target area. It was coming from the nearby Patuxent River Naval Air Warfare Center – a good place to stay clear of! During WW II this area was a very active ATB (Amphibious Training Base). Our days of finding locally harvested shrimp on the menu is past; crab, especially Blue Crab, is king here.

We went through another thunderstorm anchored off Oxford, MD off the Choptank River. I think the rainfall levels must be in good shape by now with three storms in the past five days. We saw the m/v Mystic Bond there with a “For Sale” on it. It belongs to Canadian friends we’d met back in IL in Sept. who have finished the Loop but we were surprised to see the boat for sale. I don’t think that will happen to us but you never know!

We moved on to another of the English Crown Colonies, Cambridge, and enjoyed the free dock there for two nights. It was directly in front of the Dorchester County building and we don’t think they minded sharing their restrooms with us during office hours. This was about the time we realized Ginger had an infestation of fleas! This is something we've never dealt with in our Wisconsin weather so it was all new to us. We weren't able to locate a groomer here or any products that might help so we had to take our fleas along with us! To be continued.....

We had a great lunch at Snapper’s Waterfront Café with the couple living aboard m/v “Tardis”, the boat ahead of us at the dock. They’re graduate Loopers and were kind enough to help us with our starter problem as we were leaving.

The boat below is an example of the dreaded "brown mustache" I mentioned awhile back. The cypress roots and other vegetation contains tannins which color the water and it can stain your hull. We don't have one as Cap'n Paul is very diligent about keeping a clean ship!

I’ll close with a sign we saw in the Solomons:

Chesapeake Bay and into Maryland

2008-06-16T11:42:00.013-05:00

We ended up spending four nights in Hampton, VA; two anchored off the downtown and two at the city docks plugged in to use the air conditioning during the heat wave. We talked to a sailor also at anchor who sailed up from Miami – five days on the ocean and they didn’t even go into the marina to “re-charge”. I was amazed – what troopers.

We were able to meet up with Paul’s brother Jim again. He drove over from Richmond with a mail package Eric forwarded to him. Jim was nice enough to haul us around town to do errands, shopping and laundry – thanks again, Jim!

When the winds switched to the south, it got really hazy and we could smell the smoke from the fire in the Dismal Swamp started from logging equipment. I guess we got through there just in time; I last heard on the news that nearly 1,000 acres had burned. There’s also a wildfire burning further south in N.C. that’s causing the smoky conditions.

After rounding Point Comfort near Hampton, we were on the famed Chesapeake Bay. It was named by John Smith for the Indian tribe of the same name. The shoreline and water reminded us very much of sailing back on Green Bay but this bay is WAY bigger. It has a surface area of 4,300 square miles and 7,000 miles of tidal shoreline including all the many river and creeks flowing into it. Here are a few of the sights:

This could be Green Bay (except for the jellyfish!) The biting flies feel just the same.

We're not used to seeing lighthouses out in the water. This one had an unusual name: "Point No Point Light".

Paul is smiling - we're actually sailing on Chesapeake Bay! It felt like a milestone.

We anchored two nights so far, near Fishing Bay which is off the Piankatank River near Deltaville and at Sandy Point off the Great Wicomico River near Reedville. Both were great anchorages, except for the odor at Reedville. Menhaden fish are processed there and made into fishmeal which is used in poultry and livestock feeds, oils used in various products and as an ingredient in margerine in Europe. There are planes that spot the schools of Menhaden and direct the fishing boats to them. Here’s the sunset at Fishing Bay:

We passed the mouth of the Potomoc River where you would turn off for a long side trip to Washington, D.C. Since we'd visited there numerous times we didn't make the trip but I'm sure it would be amazing to see the city from the water.

We’re currently in the Solomons Island, Maryland area off the Patuxent River. It’s a really neat area with 11 marinas in a relatively small area – boats, boats everywhere – mostly sail. This is our second night at Calvert’s Marina which is $1/ft – best price we’ve seen in a long time. They have a Mercedes for their courtesy car (not that kind of Mercedes). Not sure how old it is but it has over 218,000 miles on it and made a lot of strange noises. It served the purpose and got us to the Food Lion and back. Here's the view across Back Creek from our marina at dusk.

The weather’s been great since the dandy thunderstorm Saturday night. This is us at the floating dock just before the storm. We made it to the little restaurant at the marina and back without getting wet but then it really let loose.

Lastly, HAPPY FATHER’S DAY (belatedly) to all the Dads. And HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our oldest, Eric, who celebrated his birthday on Sunday in New York City. This is 18-mos. old Eric and the 1977 version of the three of us.

Here's a more current Eric with his love, Diana.

Paul did some addition and found that as of June 11, we had traveled 3,710 statute miles on this journey of a lifetime. Thank the Good Lord for safe travel thus far!

Harborfest in Norfolk, VA

2008-06-10T19:34:00.016-05:00

Coming into Portsmouth and Norfolk we had some waiting getting through two bridges on the Elizabeth River. They’re restricted from 3:30 to 5:30pm due to traffic and we were delayed at a R.R. bridge so there was a lot of sitting and waiting. We got a slip at the Tidewater Yacht Marina on the Portsmouth side and enjoyed modern conveniences once again.

Some tidbits about Portsmouth, VA: it's located on the world's largest and deepest natural harbor and is located at the Zero Mile Marker on the ICW - the midway point between Miami and Maine.

The next day we headed out to the anchorage off Hospital Point, home of the country’s oldest and largest US naval hospital. We hadn’t planned it this way but we’re here for Norfolk’s 23rd annual Harborfest. This ferry crosses the river every 30 min. for $1 so we went over to look around. Historical tidbit: the first ferry service in America was established on the Elizabeth River between Portsmouth and Norfolk in 1636.

Norfolk is known for their mermaid statues; this is one at the waterfront and one of the tall ships in for the festival.

I liked this sculpture – it’s called The Homecoming.

We had ringside seats Friday evening for the Parade of Sail complete with tall ships and a huge Navy ship with sailors lining the decks – really neat to see.

The heat wave continues – really too hot to enjoy the Harborfest. We found some relief in the downtown mall, MacArthur Center, and even discreetly brought our non-service dog in with us. Then we toured the USS Wisconsin battleship and tried to stay in the shade.

Here are some stats of the Iowa -Class ship: Length 887 ft; Beam 108 ft.; Draft with full load 37ft. 9 in. She was launched in December 1943 and saw action in WW II, the Korean War and Operation Desert Storm. The Wisconsin is currently in the Inactive Fleet, reserved for national emergencies. The big guns were pretty impressive.

This was the view of the bow from the dinghy dock – also impressive!

Back at the anchorage it's party time. The boats are pouring in now for the fireworks show tonight; I saw one group of 20 boats rafted together. We counted six “blue lights” cruising around: Portsmouth and Norfolk Police Depts; Portsmouth Fire Dept; Norfolk Fire and Rescue and US Coast Guard. We felt very safe! The Coast Guard did a rescue demonstration complete with helicopter and there was another parade of working boats. The climax was the spectacular fireworks display at 9:30pm. We’re actually glad Ginger is losing her hearing. Fireworks used to terrify her; now she just gets nervous!

Just so you know I’m not exaggerating about the heat, here is proof of the 100+ temps out in the cockpit. It was only 98 down below – pretty tough for these northern people!

Leaving Norfolk it was impressive going past the huge naval ships and aircraft carriers in our "little" boat; there's a major naval presence here. We're currently in Hampton, VA and it's supposedly the last day of the heat wave. It was 100 again today; the average high for early June is 81 degrees. We anchored here the first night and came into the city marina the past two nights mainly to plug in our air conditioning - aaaah, relief!

The Great Dismal Swamp

2008-06-09T20:06:00.014-05:00

After Elizabeth City we continued on the scenic Pasquotank River. It started out fairly wide but soon turned into a winding, narrow passage through beautiful wooded areas. We had to be careful of floating deadheads. Next was our first lock since November 10th in Alabama! The South Mills Lock is the southern entrance to the 22-mile Dismal Swamp Canal. It opens four times a day and lifted us up 8 feet as the Swamp is actually higher than the land surrounding it. We decided locking through is MUCH easier with the mast up instead of sticking out at the bow and stern! The Dismal Swamp posed a formidable obstacle to early settlers and explorers. By 1764, the Virginia Assembly granted a company made up of George Washington and five fellow investors, permission to build a canal but only a preliminary ditch was dug.

In 1784, with the backing of Gov. Patrick Henry of Virginia, the Dismal Swamp Canal Company was created and digging began by hired slave labor in 1793. The canal is the oldest one continually operating in the U.S. but is primarily used now for recreational traffic. It was dismally hot and sticky but the scenery was anything but dismal.

The trees reflect in the water almost like a mirror. Someone wrote that it’s “mysteriously beautiful” and I’d agree.

There were six boats at the free dock the night we were there. The visitors’ center had wonderful A.C. and since it’s a rest stop off a US Highway (17), the restrooms were open 24 hours for the boaters to use. It was rather odd to hear highway traffic when you walked away from the solitude of the canal.

Did I mention it was hot? At 5pm it was 93.7 degrees below in the cabin – a new record; thank goodness for fans! Bad timing for our freezer to die but that’s what happened. Here’s what Ginger thought of it.

The next day we toured the new Education Center. You access it and the nature/biking trails by crossing the canal on a swing bridge. About a month ago there was a lot more boat traffic through here; we’re kind of at the tail end of the snowbirds traveling north.

We left the next morning; it felt great to be moving and creating a breeze! This was the view looking aft; the trail of bubbles was quite visible in the still, dark water.

The canal is about 100 ft. wide and heavily wooded on both sides. We had to stay to the middle to avoid having a tree branch on the banks saying hello to our mast! After a few miles we passed into Virginia.

It was 17 miles to the Deep Creek Lock at the northern end of the canal where we were raised 10 feet up to the Elizabeth River. The mileage sign at the lock showed we’d come 1,239 statute miles from Key West - amazing!

Sailing and Motoring On Up the ICW

2008-06-03T13:29:00.007-05:00

We had a rather scary moment on our way to Beaufort, NC on Onslow Bay. We knew from radio traffic that there was a very long tow ahead of us trailing dredging pipes. The whole length of it wouldn’t fit in a picture but it was about ¼ mile long!

Paul called the captain and asked if it was okay to pass on the starboard side, he said okay and we proceeded to pass slowly. Unfortunately that part of the channel has some shoaling areas and we were about ¾ of the way past him when we ran aground – really bad timing! We started drifting toward those long pipes and Paul had to radio him to shut his engines down so we wouldn’t get pulled into him. It seemed like forever but eventually we motored off in reverse and just stayed aft of him until there was a safer place to pass. He was going super slowly and we were behind him about an hour. The two tugboats with him had to try and keep the long pipes in place as they were snaking around.

The “other Beaufort” was settled by the French in 1709 and is North Carolina’s third oldest city. We were able to hook onto a mooring ball in Taylors Creek just off the riverfront and dinghy to a free dock. We would never anchor this close to shore but felt okay on a mooring ball; the depth stayed at about 13 feet. (that’s another couple on shore walking their 3 Scotties). We saw two of the wild horses in the area grazing on the shoreline.

We ended up staying two nights on the mooring ball as the weather was changing. We were able to borrow a car from the gent we rented the mooring ball from and got groceries across the bridge in Morehead City. The North Carolina Maritime Museum is here; they have many interesting exhibits along with lovely, clean restrooms! They have artifacts recovered from the 18th century shipwreck believed to be Queen Anne’s Revenge which lies in the waters off Beaufort. She was the flagship of Capt. Edward Teach, otherwise known as Blackbeard the Pirate – aaargh! Here’s one of the lovely restored homes in Beaufort (c. 1886) and one of my favorite flowers, the Easter Lily. Hydrangeas are blooming also in hues I haven’t seen before – just gorgeous.

The next destination is Oriental, NC. This is a sight you don’t like to see along the way. Luckily we managed to miss this shallow spot. Tow Boat U.S. is busy around these parts.

Oriental is located at the mouth of the Neuse River on Pamlico Sound. The Sound reminded us of Lake Winnebago; it’s no more than 20 ft deep and gets choppy in a hurry. The town was once known as Smith’s Creek but was re-named by the postmaster’s wife after she saw the name on the name board of a Union steamship that sank off Hatteras in 1862. I guess she just liked the sound of it! Oriental is called the sailing capital of North Carolina and has three times as many sailboats as residents. This is Oriental Harbor Marina where we stayed for one night. There’s very little tidal action here so no more floating docks.

We were able to sail quite a bit after leaving Oriental; the Neuse and Alligator Rivers are really wide, more like a bay. We also were on the Alligator River/Pungo River Canal (a land cut between the two rivers) heading east for about 20 miles with no chance to sail. It's quite narrow with debris and stumps so you need to keep to the middle. We anchored the next three nights: first in the South River off the Neuse River, next off Bellhaven, then just off the Alligator River where we got to watch (and hear) a North Carolina thunderstorm. It had been close to 90 degrees and humid all day so it cooled things down considerably.

We crossed the Albemarle Sound into the Pasquotank River and saw Coast Guard planes practicing “touch and goes” at the largest and most diverse Coast Guard command in the nation with 1,000 active duty personnel. We’re currently in Elizabeth City, NC - ”One of America’s Best Small Towns”. They have free docks for 14 boats; there are just 5 of us here today. The town is well-known for its’ hospitality to boaters. If enough new boats come in, there’ll be a wine and cheese party and the ladies get a rose; I have my fingers crossed! Nora gave us a ride for groceries and Sam gave Paul a ride to a gas station so I'd agree that it IS a Harbor of Hospitality!

One of us went through the Museum of the Albermarle a block from our dock and enjoyed it and the gift shop very much. A couple of tidbits I picked up: The Coast Guard here is the main air search and rescue base for the Atlantic Coast from New Jersey to Georgia. If we're going to get into trouble this would be the place to do it. The Wright Brothers came to Elizabeth City by car then took a boat to Kitty Hawk. It was there on the Outer Banks where the first aircraft successfully flew in December 1903.

We're in North Carolina

2008-05-28T13:53:00.015-05:00

Southport is another quaint southern town with lots of pretty old homes. This was one of the newer ones built in 1910. I thought the trim was lovely but I sure wouldn't want to paint it .

Something about this home doesn’t seem to fit; maybe it’s the two satellite TV dishes on the porch roof!

The marina at Southport is a really nice new facility. We got a kick out of this sign on one of the boats there.

Leaving Southport we were on the Cape Fear River and went past Bald Island and Oak Island. There was a rising tide and we didn’t see any depths less than 10 feet, so the Captain was happy; this can be a tricky area with shoaling. We took the Snow’s Cut across Pleasure Island into Myrtle Grove Sound. This picture in Snow’s Cut shows how deeply they had to cut through to make the waterway.

There were a lot of nice homes along Carolina Beach and LOTS of Sunday boat traffic. Everybody seems to be in a really big rush to get somewhere. I say "slow down" and enjoy the scenery!

I think these two boats are about at their maximum capacity for passengers.

Upon arrival at Wrightsville Beach we’d had enough of the traffic and decided to join the large group of boats anchored off the town. There’s a free dinghy dock to tie to, we wanted to get off the boat as it was a bit rocky at anchor with all the little powerboats buzzing around. It looked like spring break all over again at the beach. It doesn't seem that it can be Memorial Day weekend to us, our seasons are very confused this year. We would just be starting our boating season in Wisconsin and we've been living aboard for 8 months already.

These flowers were growing wild on the walk to the beach:

We met people on two sailboats from Appleton here: the Ariel and Another Adventure. They’re heading up to Maine after wintering in the Bahamas.

On Monday we headed back out in the ICW but the traffic wasn’t nearly as bad as on Sunday. We had to open three bridges that only open on the hour. We had to wait a bit for two but hit the Surf City one just right. We were on Stump Sound most of the day; very scenic and wide enough that we could motor-sail. We anchored in Mile Hammock Bay with about ten other sailboats and two trawlers off Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base. There was no going to shore here as it’s a restricted military area. Tied up at the dock was an old looking military transport or landing craft. It had a good sized gun on the bow looking down at us. We were a bit disappointed that we didn’t see any Marines training.

The next day we headed on to the "other Beaufort". We saw this sign along the way but no shots were fired.All for now from the Carteret County Library in Beaufort, NC.

Farewell to South Carolina

2008-05-28T13:30:00.014-05:00

After Georgetown we traveled about 22 miles on the Waccamaw River portion of the ICW. We’re not sure what causes it but the water here is the color of tea from the tannins in the cypress trees. You see a lot of boats with discoloration on the bow which Paul calls a “brown mustache”. We went through a lot of natural area and saw many ospreys nesting on the channel markers. This one was not happy to have his space violated! (note: the channel markers on the ICW have either a yellow square or triangle to distinguish them from other channel markers)

After the Waccamaw we were on the part of the ICW known as “The Ditch”, it’s very straight and narrow with no other rivers or creeks flowing into it. This was an odd sight – cable cars crossing the waterway carrying golfers and their clubs to play the holes on the other side of the ICW!

As we got near Myrtle Beach we were back in civilization again, even saw a McDonalds just off the waterway, a marked contrast to what we’d seen earlier in the day.

This is the Myrtle Beach Yacht Club. We thought the lighthouse was pretty impressive.

We got a slip for the night at the Barefoot Resort Yacht Club in North Myrtle Beach. Supposedly they have the largest swimming pool in South Carolina at their resort – too bad it isn’t heated! We had dinner at the Dock Siders Restaurant at the complex. The food and the live music were both enjoyable.

This was our last night in South Carolina. The license plates for the State claim “Smiling Faces and Beautiful Places” and I’d say that’s fairly accurate. We saw a lot more Beneteaus around here than back home (FYI that’s what type of boat we have). Beneteau has a plant in Marion, SC which we toured a couple of years ago. Weather update: average daily temps are mid-80s and mid-60s at night – very pleasant.

Here is the rather exotic looking State Flag of South Carolina. Col. William Moultrie was asked to design a flag for the use of the S.C. troups in the Fall of 1775. He chose a blue background, which matched their uniforms, and a crescent, which was worn as a silver emblem on their caps. The palmetto was added after S.C. seceded from the Union and needed a national flag.

On Saturday we entered North Carolina about mid-morning after crossing the Calabash River. The ICW is very scenic here. There are still marshy areas here and there but it’s mostly woodland. Wildlife sightings: we saw two deer swimming across the ICW and saw dolphin for the first time in quite awhile. We got stuck waiting 45 minutes for a zero clearance pontoon bridge that only opened on the hour – every boat had to wait for that one. There was a light rain most of the day but when it got rather nasty we decided to get a slip at the marina in Southport, North Carolina.

More Historic South Carolina in Georgetown

2008-05-24T15:17:00.019-05:00

North of Charleston, the ICW went through a large area of preserved coastline. The large wetland holdings came from the huge rice plantations which flourished before the Civil War. It’s a major refuge for migrating waterfowl and contains about 20 percent of the coastal marshland on the east coast. The places you could anchor along there weren’t too appealing so we went on to Georgetown where you can anchor just off the public dinghy dock. Georgetown is on the Sampit River which is off the Pee Dee River and Winyah Bay; these names are the most obvious legacies left by the Native Americans who lived here.

Georgetown, named after Prince George who later became George II, was founded in 1730 and is the third oldest city in South Carolina. One of the heroes of the area is Francis Marion, also known as the “Swamp Fox”, who used guerrilla warfare and eluded the British during the Revolutionary War by traveling along swamp paths. The character Benjamin Martin in the movie “The Patriot” is loosely based on Marion’s life. Indigo (dyestuff) and rice were major crops and the seaport exported more rice than any port in the world at one time.

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY! This is us from the town dock, I loved that it was close enough to row Ginger to shore (also public restrooms for humans were nearby). There was a "Don't Feed the Alligators" sign at the dock. We didn't see any but evidently they're plentiful in the rivers and marshes in the area.

We did our own walking tour of the historic district where more than 50 buildings and sites are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The town did a great job with this 1500 foot Harborwalk. A number of restaurants on Front Street have access to it with outdoor seating.

The William Doyle Morgan House (c. 1880). This one was beautifully restored.

This historic home is now a Bed and Breakfast. I thought the porch looked really inviting.

Here's one of the lovely streets lined with Live Oaks. There was a special sign for a 570-year old Champion Live Oak. They're called that because they're green year-round.

This is Prince George, Winyah, Episcopal Church (c. 1747)

Prince George is one of the few original church buildings still in use in South Carolina dating to the colonial period. The box pews were customary in colonial times. The pews were assigned a number and members owned their pew!

Since there was no heat in the church, pew owners frequently brought charcoal burners from their carriages in cold weather and the pews retained the heat. The "good old days"?

Another inviting porch on a lovely old southern home.

The sign below explains the historic building above.

A "watch cat" sleeping on the job inside a store on Front Street.

This town landmark also houses the Rice Museum (c. 1842). It was originally an open-air market. Surrender papers were signed here in 1865.

That's all for Georgetown, we really enjoyed our two nights anchored here. The only downside was the "pungent" odor from the paper/pulp mill when the wind was right. It was very similar to the air when you're nearing Kaukauna on Hwy. 41 in Northeast Wisconsin (many of you will relate!)

Charleston is Beautiful

2008-05-22T20:12:00.016-05:00

Charleston (originally Charles Towne) was founded in 1670 by the British. It was built on a peninsula with the Cooper River and Ashley Rivers flowing around it to form Charleston Harbor. We anchored on the Ashley River just off the Mega Dock of the City Marina for one night and the next day we moved to the Maritime Center on the other side of the peninsula.

Here’s a sunset from the City Marina dinghy dock.

Here’s a view of the city on our way over to the marina. Part of the charm of Charleston is there are no very tall buildings and the church spires are very prominent.

We took a horse-drawn carriage tour which about the only way to see the historic area; no trolleys here. Candace was our driver and this is Richard the Percheron and our carriage. It took old Dick awhile to get in “gear” but he eventually did a fine job for his passengers.

The historic homes are very well cared for and the gardens and flowers are beautiful. The Confederate Jasmine and Magnolia trees were in bloom and smelled wonderful.

Here are a few of the scenes of Charleston:

A replica of the tall ship, La Amistad, was docked at our marina, as a stop on its’ America’s Atlantic Freedom Tour. It was a slave ship made famous by book and movie. There was an area set up at the marina with storyboards and displays for school groups tours.

You would need much more time than we had to see the area. A ferryboat can take you out to tour Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. The Fort is famous for being the site of the official start of the Civil War, or, as it’s referred to in the South, “The War of Northern Aggression”. The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina founded in 1842, is located northwest of Charleston. We stayed an extra night in Charleston as the storm you can see in the above picture was predicted. There was hail and damaging winds in neighboring counties but only rain where we were. The other tall ship there for the Harborfest was "Spirit of South Carolina".

All for now from the Restless Wind currently at anchor off Georgetown, SC.

The Low Country

2008-05-22T10:25:00.010-05:00

After leaving Beaufort, we enjoyed one of our all time most calm nights at anchor. We were in Steamboat Creek off the N. Edisto River on the ICW. For once there was zero wind and the nearly full moon shining on the water added to the ambiance. There was a boat landing so I (Em) decided to try out the oars and rowed Ginger to shore. Going over was a snap but returning was a bit of a challenge with the tidal current, it probably took four times as long!

One of the lovely homes on the Beaufort River part of the ICW north of Beaufort.

Low Country View: This boat really isn’t aground. This part of the ICW is just very flat and winding and you see some strange sights.

A view of the Low Country from Steamboat Creek. They call this part of the country the "Coastal Empire" on the local news.

This was the sunset in Steamboat Creek; this sailboat was from St. Louis, MO. You can see smoke coming from a fire on shore that we'd seen all afternoon.

We left mid-morning heading for Charleston.

Savannah, GA and Beaufort, SC

2008-05-16T18:00:00.018-05:00

We were in Thunderbolt, GA waiting for our alternator to be repaired until Thursday the 15th. May is starting off to be an expensive month too! Here’s one of the yachts in the boatyard, “Kisses”. I wondered if the owners were some of the Hershey family.

Paul heard one owner’s bill is currently at two million dollars; hard to imagine, isn’t it? Evidently it was in a horrendous storm in the Atlantic and has been in for repairs since last fall. The owners of these yachts are rarely onboard but their crews were certainly busy keeping them squeaky clean just in case they ever showed up.

We did get to spend a day in Savannah, known as the birthplace of Georgia. General James Ogelthorpe founded the colony of Georgia in 1733 when he landed on the Savannah River bluff 18 miles from the Atlantic Ocean. There are over 1,000 historic buildings restored and in use in the 2-square mile historic district. The city was spared being burned as Gen. Sherman had his headquarters here. We took the 90-min. tour on an open-air trolley, shopped a bit, had lunch at The Cotton Exchange at the riverfront and Em finally got her birthday treat (a huge brownie sundae) at Leopold’s, famous for ice cream since 1919. Filming on some famous movies was done here, among them: "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil"; "The Legend of Bagger Vance" and "Forrest Gump". Here are a few of the sights:

These green areas are called squares, not parks. The city was laid out on a grid system and there are still 21 of the lovely squares in use. The trees are Live Oaks and what we call spanish moss hanging from them is neither spanish nor moss but air plants.

This is Whitfield Square, named after George Whitefield, an English clergyman who ministered to the city's earliest colonists. The gazebo is a popular spot for weddings.

This is the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. We toured the inside, the stained glass windows are incredibly beautiful. Another interesting thing about Savannah is it is known as the most haunted city in America as a result of the large number of violent and untimely deaths.

Paula Deen has a restaurant and retail store here called The Lady and Sons. Evidently it's hugely popular and you make your reservations for dinner at 9:30 AM. We went past it on our tour and could see the piles of fried chicken at the buffet table through the windows but thought we'd keep our arteries clear and take a pass!

We traveled the ICW through more of the Low Country, though it didn’t look quite so low and marshy with more trees on shore. We were in the Sea Islands of South Carolina after crossing the Savannah River. We were able to sail quite a bit of the day with southerly winds.

This is a view of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.

We went past the U.S. Marine Corps Recruit Depot at Parris Island where Marines have been trained since 1915 (no not the same ones). I got a kick out of the 1 800 MARINES on the water tower. After sailing through Port Royal Sound we decided to get a slip at Port Royal Marina, just south of Beaufort, SC. This is the one pronounced BEWFORT, not to be confused with Beaufort, NC pronounced BOWFORT. I think we finally have that straight! We have never bobbed around so much tied up to a dock; the winds were crazy! There were several things to be excited about: free wifi and cable tv AND a courtesy pick-up truck! We haven’t seen that in a very long time. Since it was supposed to storm the next day, we decided to stay two nights. Dockage fees are getting better, $1.50 per foot but now there are charges for pump-outs whereas in Florida it was usually free. We think Florida receives federal funding to help with the costs as part of an environmental program. Whatever the reason, it was much appreciated.

Beaufort is supposed to have all the history and charm of Savannah and Charleston without the traffic. There are a lot of art galleries, shops and eateries in the historic district. A lot of the historic homes along the river are now bed and breakfasts. Here are a few of the sights of Beaufort:
Here's a "swinger" at the riverfront. I thought these swings were a great idea.

We've seen holly bushes before but these had the red berries. It sure doesn't feel like Christmas! Next destination, Charleston, SC.

Georgia On Our Minds

2008-05-12T13:24:00.009-05:00

On Wed. the 7th we traveled on the “outside” (the Atlantic Ocean) instead of the ICW, the “inside”. We went through the St. Mary’s Inlet out to the big water and had to go a long way to get past the jettys. We motor-sailed awhile until the winds shifted. We were able to go with sails alone for part of the day at least. We went in at the St. Simon’s Inlet – we had to share the channel with this big guy coming in.

We anchored between two islands – IN GEORGIA! We saw 10 ft. of water when we anchored around 5pm. When we went to bed it was showing 20 ft. The tidal action is still a novelty to us.

The next day we left the anchorage a little before 8am to have the tide in our favor as we were going to be on the inside. We’d heard a lot about this part of the ICW having problems with depth and not being that well marked. We went past Brunswick, GA and were on the Mackay River which led into a series of small rivers and sounds. It was very meandering and marshy. We picked up a swarm of huge greenish flies that only bit occasionally. We’d heard it would start to get buggy around here so we have our bug spray handy (thanks, Sandy!) Around 4:30 we anchored off St. Catherine’s Island in Walberg Creek with two other sailboats. The best thing about this spot was we picked up a really strong wifi signal. The wind really picked up (the second night in a row for that) and with the tidal current keeping us from pointing into the wind it wasn’t that pleasant. Paul was afraid the anchor line might be wound around the keel but thankfully that didn’t happen. Check out the swirling water, definitely not what we’re used to anchoring in back home!

On Friday we left early to get through Hell’s Gate, a notoriously tricky spot, at high water. We passed the mouth of the real Moon River, made famous by the Johnny Mercer song. We saw dolphins, a few shrimp boats and an island populated by wild hogs.

I guess Ginger wasn’t all that thrilled with the scenery.

I don’t think we’ve ever seen a realty sign like this; three private islands could be yours!

We came in to the Thunderbolt Marina in Thunderbolt, GA which is about 6 miles from Savannah on Friday. We’d planned to spend a couple of days seeing Savannah anyway but now we had another reason to stop there. Paul discovered this morning that our alternator went out and this marina has a yard that could do the work. Our refrigeration is giving us problems too we’ll have that checked out as well. This used to be a Palmer-Johnson operation and is now a repair facility for some huge yachts. This is the marina that treats you right. They bring a small box of Krispy-Kreme doughnuts and a morning paper right to your boat – very nice!

Since it was Friday afternoon, the work couldn’t be done until Monday so after one night in the marina we headed to a nearby anchorage, Herb River, for Sat. and Sun. nights and planned to come back to the marina at least once. Saturday night was very calm but Sunday was another story. It was definitely an unusual Birthday/Mother’s Day for Mom as we weren’t even able to get off the boat. There were thunderstorms and high winds; even heard of tornadoes not that far south of us. Going to church and eating out after didn’t happen but Paul promised to take me out today instead. We’ll definitely take a tour of Savannah before we leave the area too.

All for now from the Live Oak Library in Thunderbolt, Georgia.

Goodbye to Florida

2008-05-07T07:41:00.008-05:00

From St. Augustine we were on the Tolomato River part of the ICW (it’s named after an ancient Indian tribe). We motor-sailed with just the genoa since there were a lot of turns in the river and that was easier to manage. It was refreshing to see a lot of natural areas along the shoreline but as we neared Jacksonville, it was one mansion after another again. At Jacksonville we picked up the St. John’s River which is well known for its’ strong current. You can see the tidal current going past this buoy.

We went past an industrial area with shipbuilding and anchored just off the river between two islands near Broward Bridge. There was a really strong current plus a stiff breeze – one coming from one way and one from the other. It wasn’t the greatest anchorage but not a lot of options here. There was no going to shore for the doggy trip in the morning; when the tide came up the shoreline disappeared!

On Sunday we headed the 4 miles back to the ICW. We opened the Sister’s Creek Bridge and were traveling at 9 knots going through the bridge aided by the current. Sister’s Creek became Saw Pit Creek. They really look more like lakes than what we’d think of as creeks – very wide open. There were lots of egrets and heron and dolphin sightings. We crossed Nassau Sound and were on the S. Amelia River. We traveled 21.3 miles by the time we got to Fernandina Beach which is actually on Amelia Island. The familiar aroma of paper mills was in the air! We hooked up to a mooring ball and had to wait to go ashore as there was a Blessing of the Fleet and boat parade going on. Here are some of the shrimp boats in the parade.

We happened to be here for the last day of the 45th Annual Shrimp Festival. The town was mobbed, a lot like Menominee, MI during the Waterfront Festival. We got some shrimp from food booths manned by local groups, walked through the juried art show and enjoyed live music. It was quite a party, complete with pirates and their ladies!

Evidently the tide in Fernandina Beach is the most dramatic in Florida – a 7 ft. fluctuation, definitely the most tidal effect we’ve seen. The depth at our slip went from 13 feet to 20 feet. If they didn’t have floating docks it’d be pretty ridiculous trying to get on and off your boat.

We got a slip here for Monday night and planned to head out on Tuesday but the winds were supposed to be pretty strong out of the northeast so we decided to wait. So we went back out on a mooring ball on Tuesday. As it turned out I’m glad we stayed because we got to see Jim and Lou again and have lunch together. They were on their drive back “up north” to Richmond, VA after wintering in Bonita Springs, FL. There are a lot of historic buildings here, cute shops and lots of restaurants so it was definitely a worthwhile stop.

It’s time for another sunset. This is looking out at the mooring field from the Fernandina Beach Harbor Marina.

THIS N THAT

We’re seeing a lot of boats from the east coast now, mainly Maryland, Delaware and Rhode Island. They’re heading back home from spending the winter in warmer places.

We noticed we’re starting to hear southern accents again. You just don’t hear that further south in Florida because so many residents are from "up north" and you don't meet many native Floridians.

The State Bird of Florida, the Mockingbird, is very entertaining to listen to. They really put on a show. The first time we heard one we couldn’t believe it was just one bird as they have such a large repertoire of songs!

I checked to see when we first arrived in Florida and it was November 28th. No wonder it felt like we were here a long time – we were. On to Georgia!

St Augustine

2008-05-04T16:48:00.015-05:00

After Daytona Beach, we stayed one night at a marina in Palm Coast, FL. We had planned to anchor out but there were no good options. It was a motor trip; the winds were directly out of the north. We were on the Halifax River part of the ICW until about Ormond by the Sea when it became the Matanzas River. Here is a view of one of the docks at Palm Coast from a nearby bridge. We’re the second boat from the left. The new dinghy just takes up a bit more room on the stern but we like it a lot. The ride is much more stable and much drier.

One our way to St. Augustine, we went past Fort Matanzas, a research reserve with a lot of natural area and Rattlesnake Island. We saw a lot of dolphins along the way. The river became very winding near St. Augustine. Once at St. Augustine, we sat on the south side of The Bridge of Lions for 30 min. waiting for the opening with 5 other sailboats. The goofy bridge tender wouldn’t open because no one officially called him on the radio in time (even though he could see us all sitting there) so he made us wait until 3:30. I guess work has been going on at the bridge since 2005. Here are some of the boats going under the bridge; the lift part of it is temporary. They must have removed the decorative lions during construction as I didn’t see any.

We anchored on the north side of the bridge in Matanzas Bay and spent three nights there. The marina charges $10/day for use of their dinghy dock and facilities. It’s a fairly calm anchorage and convenient to the marina but the best part is the great view. We’re the middle boat in this view of the anchorage. This is the view of Castillo de San Marcos at dusk. The cross you see isn't actually at the fort, it's a bit further north and marks the spot where Pedro Menendez de Aviles actually landed.

There’s so much history here; it was really neat to be so close to this historic site in our very own boat! St. Augustine was established in 1565 by the Spaniards and is the oldest permanent European settlement in the continental United States. The fort, Castillo de San Marcos, was completed in 1695. The fort is surprisingly long lasting; the main reason being the rather rare form of limestone the walls are made of. It's called coquina, spanish for tiny shell. It contains millions of microscopic air pockets making it compressible. When cannonballs hit the fort, they burrowed in, instead of shattering the wall. Rather like if you shot a BB gun into styrofoam.

There’s a great view from up on the gundeck. The schooner under sail is “Freedom” a charter that takes tour groups out several times a day.

These horse-drawn carriages wait on Avenida Menendez for passengers. There were three more parked behind these two. Em’s brother Bob would have loved this. The aroma in the air was reminiscent of Mackinac Island!

We took the Sunshine Bus over to Anastasia Island to tour the St. Augustine Lighthouse and Museum. We actually climbed the 219 steps (equiv. to 14 stories) to the top. My (Em’s) legs were fine going up but felt like rubber by the time we got back down. On the ride back over the bridge we had to wait while it opened for three sailboats. Kind of interesting being on the other end of that process!

Here’s the 165ft. lighthouse and a view from the top looking toward the ocean (that isn’t our anchorage). They did a fantastic job on the restoration of the lighthouse and the museum. If you're interested in more information on the lighthouse, here's their website: http://www.staugustinelighthouse.com/

We’re heading toward Jacksonville later this morning; there isn’t much of Florida left!

Palm Beach to Daytona Beach

2008-04-29T17:56:00.014-05:00

On Monday morning, the 21st, we took the cut through to the ocean. The winds were pretty light so we motor-sailed. The northerly winds were supposed to turn more to the west but that never happened (that’s because we were heading north I suppose). It was a pretty uneventful 9 hours on the water (no running aground; no sails tearing; no Sunday drivers and not a lot to see). We took the cut to the ICW at Ft. Pierce and anchored near a tiny island with one other sailboat and spent a very peaceful night. Since ABC was about the only network we could receive, Em was able to watch “Dancing with the Stars” so that was a good thing!

On Tuesday we fueled up at Ft. Pierce and headed north on the ICW. There were only three bridges today; the first one we needed to open and the other two were 65 ft. so no problem. We decided to only go the 2 hours to Vero Beach. We’d heard it was a nice place to stop and Paul somehow picked up a cold so we didn’t need another long day. There are mooring balls off the Vero Beach City Marina for $11. They were full but they had us raft off another boat, with a nice couple on s/v Mariah. They were heading below for a nap as they’d done an overnight sail all the way from Key Biscayne. There were two familiar Loopers boats here, “Another Compromise” and “Distant Shores”. We haven’t seen them since we parted ways back in Mobile, AL in November so it was fun to catch up. They had both spent time in the Bahamas where fuel was $5.30 a gallon!

This was how we spent two days in the Vero Beach mooring field. The Mariah was attached to the mooring ball and we were attached to them.

This is somebody showing off sailing around the mooring balls - it's not us!

We spent two nights at Vero Beach hoping Paul’s cold would improve. The winds really picked up Wed. afternoon. I was nearly stranded on shore doing laundry but got a ride back with our “neighbors” on Mariah. Paul was still not in great shape Thursday morning but we headed out anyway. The ICW here is the fairly wide Indian River. After 5 ½ hours on the water, we anchored in the Melbourne, FL area on the eastern shore with eight other boats. We got wet twice on the way, but most of the time it was a beautiful sunny day. It’s been in the low 80s with low humidity and really breezy out of the north. Em immediately checked the tv reception and was pleased that we get ABC pretty well. It wouldn’t be pretty if she couldn’t watch the new episode of “LOST”. Last night “American Idol” was very snowy and kept cutting out – kind of annoying! I just like to keep a connection with my “previous life”!

On Friday we left the anchorage just off the Indian River at the mouth of the Banana River about 9am. We were actually able to sail almost the whole way to Titusville – the first time that’s happened on the ICW. It’s still the Indian River here and it’s very wide with the channel well marked. We were headed north and the winds were easterly so that worked; we even sailed under the three fixed bridges. There were two that had to open for us; one the typical bascule type and the other a swing bridge. This is the Titusville swing bridge, we don't see many of these.

The Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island was off to our right. You can see the huge Vehicle Assembly Building for miles. We’d toured the Center some years back so didn’t make the effort to take the tour again.

We anchored just off the Titusville City Marina mid-afternoon Friday. You can use their dinghy dock free for the first week; they charge $2 to use their showers. We saw another “Restless Wind” sailboat there. We saw a “Restless Spirit” last fall but never the exact same name as ours. That reminds me that we were mistakenly called “Reckless Wind” by a lock tender back in Alabama when he misunderstood us on the radio (or did he?) The good news was that it was a very calm night; the bad news was that we still couldn’t pick up a wifi signal (that’s why I got so behind with this blog!)

Here are two entries in our “sad boat contest” from the Titusville anchorage. Some of them are unbelievably neglected.

On Saturday morning we followed the ICW across the Indian River to the Haulover Canal which is a one-mile rocky cut between the Indian River and Mosquito Bay with one bridge to open. We saw lots of families kayaking and fishing. That led us into Mosquito Lagoon which was much nicer than it sounded; we were on it about 8 miles. We saw dolphins, picnics along the shore, lots of recreational boaters but they had to go slow as it was a manatee zone. This was a scene along Mosquito Lagoon with New Smyrna Beach in the background.

We had planned to stop there but decided to keep going since it was early. We saw the Ponce de Leon inlet (the cut to the ocean) and Lighthouse off to the east. This was a charter boat we encountered on the ICW near there. Most of the passengers were on the port side and it was listing a bit; it looked like a party!

We had to take the Ponce de Leon cut and it was like rush hour on the highway with all the Saturday traffic. There was dredging going on too to watch out for. This is a view looking aft. I think there are 7 boats visible.

A few of the larger cruisers will slow down to give you a slow pass but all of the little boats just roar on by. We heard on the news there was a boating fatality not too far north of us when two boats collided head on. It wasn’t hard to imagine that happening with all the traffic.

After the cut we were on the Halifax River part of the ICW. After 7 hours on the water we arrived at Daytona Beach. We anchored in about 8 feet of water just off the channel with a few other boats. We had a fairly peaceful night but at 6:18 am we were nearly rocked out of our berth by a wake. It was pretty violent; some plates even flew off a galley shelf! We never saw what caused the wake but when it’s flat calm like it was it doesn’t take much I guess. On Sunday we took a long dinghy ride to shore and looked around Daytona Beach. We checked out the Halifax Harbor Marina and found a West Marine store. Guess what – we bought a new inflatable dinghy! Paul had been looking at them for awhile now and decided to go for it.

On Monday, the 28th, we came into the marina for a pump-out, fuel and a slip for the night; first time at a marina in about 2 weeks – it’s huge with SIX shower and laundry buildings in different parts of the marina. We picked up the new dinghy and here it is. It’s a 10ft. West Marine brand RIB (rigid inflatable bottom) made of PVC which should be a smoother ride plus it won’t leak! PVC isn’t very desirable in this climate so it was less expensive but in our area it’s not a problem.

Here are some stories from the local news that you probably won’t hear in Wisconsin:

There were two shark bites over the weekend in New Smyrna Beach (the Shark Bite Capitol of the World – 20 per year). Both victims were surfers who hopped off their boards onto small sharks – ouch!
There was a dolphin accident at Sea World. Two dolphins collided during a mid-air jump and one was fatally injured – how sad.
There were 92 swimmers rescued from rip currents over the weekend on Daytona Beach. One 19-year old man is still missing.

Heading North

2008-04-26T21:25:00.008-05:00

The repaired sail was ready on Friday, the 18th. We took the bus to and from UK Sailmakers and used the 2-wheeled cart to transport the sail which saved our backs. They trimmed 9 inches off the leach (the back side of the triangle) to repair the torn area.

It felt great to be on our way again on Saturday. We were actually glad to leave the Miami area. We felt rather in the minority speaking English; almost like we were in a foreign country! It took almost two hours to make our way through the Port of Miami and out into the Atlantic. Here are some of the sights we saw:

We went under the Rickenbacher Causeway Bridge. That's the Miami skyline on the left; about five cruise ships were docked on the right.

It was interesting to see how they load the massive container ships. This one was from St. John's; others had Nassau and Majuro on the stern.

We passed these condos just as we were heading out into the Atlantic Ocean.

Further up the coast was Miami Beach; high rise after high rise!

We were able to sail most of the way heading northeast with an easterly wind. No worries about running aground here; we saw depths from 310 to 583 feet (this is per the charts; our depth meter was stuck at 195 feet). We think we may have been getting a boost from the Gulf Stream because our knot meter showed 5.2 and the GPS showed 7 knots; it’s sort of hard to tell for sure. We came through the inlet at Fort Lauderdale and into the ICW.

We hooked onto a mooring ball next to the Las Olmos Bridge in Ft. Lauderdale, “the yachting capital of the world”. There are an amazing number of HUGE yachts here, most flying the flag of the Cayman Islands. Paul thinks they register them outside of the U.S. for the tax advantage. It was $30 for the mooring ball which gave you access to the dinghy dock and marina facilities. Here’s a view of what they call “the miracle mile”. Million dollar yacht after million dollar yacht!

No sailing on Sunday; we stayed on the “inside”, the ICW. The view along the way was like lifestyles of the rich and famous! We haven’t seen mansions like this since Naples. Here’s a nice one with a dock for your yacht. This one wasn’t for sale but a lot of them were.

It probably wasn’t the best idea being on this stretch on a weekend; lots of “Sunday drivers”. The county we’re traveling through, Broward County, has the most registered vessels in Florida, 42,000! One power boater cut us off as we were coming through a bridge and Capt. Paul was just a bit upset with him. We used our horn but the guy was totally oblivious. Here’s some of the Sunday boat traffic on the ICW.

We needed to have a total of 19 bridges opened. The first one was the Las Olmos in Fort Lauderdale and the last was the Flagler Memorial Bridge near Palm Beach. A lot of them open on request, you call them on the marine radio, and others open every quarter hour or half hour. I thought this was one of the nicer looking ones, the Ocean Avenue Bridge:

After making 42 nautical miles we anchored in a large mooring field/ anchorage on Lake Worth in 10 ft. of water. The winds picked up and it rained some but no problems with the anchor holding.

Farewell to the Keys

2008-04-17T13:12:00.005-05:00

On Sunday the 13th we unhooked from mooring ball E-4 and headed out of Boot Key Harbor for the second time. The last time we were here we were on the end of Q Row – Q-10, so E-4 was a whole lot closer to the dinghy dock which made Em very happy (and that’s important!)

We fueled up at Pancho’s again, this time diesel was $4.45/gal (it was $4.08 a couple of weeks ago). This is the most we’ve ever paid for diesel, the good thing was we only needed 11 gallons.

We headed out into Hawk Channel which runs between the barrier reef and the islands but we’re technically in the Atlantic Ocean. We saw one depth of 34 ft. but average depth was around 20 ft; the water’s a gorgeous turquoise color. Winds were very light so we motored with the main up; the genoa (the foresail) was in and out. We had a very close encounter with dolphins; two of them were swimming right at our bow just below the surface. It would have been a very cool picture but by the time I got the camera out, they were gone!

We listened to the Brewers beat the NY Mets on XM Radio on the way. Since we were listening to baseball when we began this trip in September, it seems funny that now it’s baseball season again and we’re still out here cruising.

Here’s the view at sunset from our anchorage at Rodriquez Key off Key Largo. It was a spot recommended to us but it was wide open (not very protected) and no chance to go to shore; just two other sailboats anchored there overnight.

Of course the winds really piped up by the time we anchored. We set the Fortress anchor but when we noticed it was dragging we put out the Bruce which did a fine job for us. Paul decided to sleep in the cockpit and keep one ear alerted to the depth alarm anyway. I slept okay until 3:30am when the rocking got to be a bit too much to be comfortable. The “cold” front they’d been forecasting for days arrived during the night.

On Tuesday we were able to sail quite a bit of the way to Key Biscayne heading northeast in gusty winds. That’s the good news; the bad news is that the wind ripped the genoa along the leach side. We knew that these sails were nearing their end so we weren’t that surprised. After that we motor-sailed with just the main. We got a kick out of seeing three of these yachts towing their “little boats” – kind of like the big RVs towing their cars on the highways!

This was a strange sight to see out in the middle of the water. There are 7 of these homes left in "Stiltsville". They were built one mile offshore as gambling wasn't allowed any closer to shore. Before Hurricane Andrew in 1993, there were over 20 structures still standing and were under private lease until 1999. The Biscayne National Park Service has established a "Stiltsville Trust" to try and restore the structures and eventually open them for park use. Now that would be a water view!

We’d planned to anchor in No Name Harbor off Bill Baggs State Park but it was pretty crowded; about a dozen boats were in a very small space. We were unsuccessful getting the anchor to grab because we couldn’t let out much line so we headed to the second choice, Hurricane Harbor. This is actually more like a canal with a basin that’s available for public anchoring but no shore access as there are private homes all along the wall. The Bruce held well in the brisk winds but the Captain had another night of sleeping with “one ear open” for any changes.

Here’s a view of the Miami skyline from Biscayne Bay. It reminded me of being on Lake Michigan and seeing the skyline of Chicago in the distance.

Here’s the view from where we anchored in Hurricane Harbor.

On Tuesday we headed over to Dinner Key Marina on the mainland, a huge place with room for 582 boats. We hadn’t planned to spend any time in Miami but the ripped sail changed that plan. We arranged for the sail repair place to pick the sail up at our dock; they said it would be $300 and done in a couple of days. The marina was around $100 for one night; April is getting to be an expensive month!

The “cold front” felt great! The high temp of 69 degrees actually broke a record: the lowest high temp for April 15th since they’ve kept records! It got down to the 50s at night; good sleeping weather.

We’ve now moved over to the mooring field at the Coconut Grove Sailing Club – adjacent to the Dinner Key Marina. It’s a very short dinghy ride to their dinghy dock. They charge $25/day with use of their facilities so we’ll hang out here until the sail is repaired. The boats are really close together but I guess that’s not a problem. No one uses a dinghy; the sailing club provides transportation to and from your boat. What may be a problem is there’s a crocodile on the loose. They’re protected (alligators are not) so they’re working on getting him moved out of the area. We’ll keep an extra close eye on Ginger! Speaking of, here she is in her new cooler “do”:

Since we’re now out of the Keys, here are some factoids on the Keys:

The Keys are called “the islands you can drive to”
42 bridges connect 126 miles of the Keys
The longest island is Key Largo at 30 miles long
Key is derived from Cayo, the Spanish word for island
The highest point in the Keys is in Islamorada at 18 feet above sea level

That’s all for now - I'm all blogged out! I thought I'd better take this chance to give an update since we're right across the street from the library.

One More Day in Marathon

2008-04-16T14:35:00.012-05:00

We decided to stay an extra day at Marathon – “the heart of the Keys” for two reasons: we wanted to take a snorkel trip and some fellow Loopers arrived in Boot Key and we wanted to spend a little time reconnecting with them.

On Saturday we took the 1pm snorkel trip on the “Starfish” which takes you out about 5 mi. to the Sombrero Reef Marine Sanctuary and Lighthouse. We thought it was pretty reasonably priced at $28/person plus $6 if you want a wetsuit. Before we left, we got to meet “Lumpy” a manatee who frequents the area, this is Lumpy getting a drink (this is a no-no but I guess they really like it). I did get to touch this one (another no-no).

Here’s a picture of the power catamaran, Starfish. They can take as many as 40 passengers; on Sat. we had 15 people plus a crew of three.

This is Capt. Steve and his son, Tristan. Steve was very knowledgeable about the area and lives aboard his sailboat so Paul enjoyed talking with him all the way out to the reef. He was nice enough to give us a ride back to our dinghy and Carolyn, one of the employees, picked us up on her way to work so that worked out great for us “no wheels” people.

We took our time getting out to the reef as there was a group of dolphins ready to put on a show. The one furthest out of the water was the baby of the group. We’ve seen dolphins quite often but never saw such a little one.

I wasn’t able to stay in the water that long; I was feeling a bit claustrophobic with the mask and snorkel plus the waves that far out were a bit intimidating – I probably need to practice first in a swimming pool! But what I did have a chance to see of the underwater world was just beautiful. The coral and plant life and brightly colored fish are truly God’s handiwork! It was 15 – 20 ft. deep and the water was crystal clear. There are mooring balls at various places along the reef to protect it from the damage from anchors – a pretty neat system. The State of Florida and the federal government have been working together for over 25 years to protect the marine environment in the Keys. The Keys National Marine Sanctuary is North America’s only coral barrier reef and the third longest in the world. Here’s some of the group in the water and a group of yellowtails going crazy after Steve threw food overboard for them.

We’d first met Mark and Linda of the m/v Lolligag, a Nordic Tug 32, back in September in Chicago where they began the Loop. The last time we saw them was back in the Kentucky Lakes so it was fun to get together. We have been able to keep up with each others’ trips through our blogs which is great. We each dinghied over to Burdine’s for dinner Saturday night, had a great meal and the smoothest dinghy ride in memory on the way back. The only bad thing was our nav. light (the red and green one in the bow) must have come loose and went overboard while we were climbing up on the dock because it was nowhere to be found when we needed it in the dark.

We really are planning to leave Marathon, "the heart of the Keys" tomorrow!

Back in the Water!

2008-04-11T11:25:00.011-05:00

We would never have imagined this seemingly minor repair would have kept us out of the water this long but.....after TEN days, we launched Thursday the 10th and are back on a mooring ball at Boot Key Harbor in Marathon - yay!

This is Paul using a hose to pump compressed air inside various holes drilled in the rudder to force the water out. They started this process on Tuesday after we got back from the four days "up north" in Florida visiting Paul's brother Jim and family who were good enough to take in the "homeless couple". We weren't supposed to live aboard while the boat wasn't in the water because of the marina's insurance (we kind of had to work around that later in the week however).

By Wednesday afternoon, the technician was able to fill the holes and do the rudder repair with a West System product. After that set up, he was able to apply the barrier coat and bottom paint.
(sorry this is probably not that interesting to non-boaters).

Below is the finished product before we were lowered into the water on Thursday noon. We thought Joe did a great job and we were pleased that the bill from the boatyard wasn't nearly as high as we expected. We'd recommend Marathon Boatyard for anyone needing work done in the area. It was rather ironic that after all that time waiting, Cap'n Paul wasn't even here for the big launch. He happened to be returning the RAV we'd rented and was madly peddling his bike back from the airport. It was great having the car for a week and being able to get groceries and run errands anytime we needed to.

They also discovered our props had minor damage and were "dog-eared", probably from hitting a "deadhead" coming into Mobile, AL back in November (a deadhead is a log or piece of wood floating in the water but just under the surface). Here's our feathering prop after the re-conditioning work was done. They also replaced the disintegrating zincs with new ones when we discovered they needed replacing. Salt water eats up the zincs which prevent the shaft from being damaged. Salt water is definitely different from the fresh water of the Great Lakes and very hard on your vessel.

While we were waiting, Paul diligently worked on our inflatable dinghy to plug the leaks. Unfortunately, we found out yesterday that we still have the problem. We may be in the market for a new dinghy before too long. Weather permitting, we'll be heading northeast up the Keys toward the mainland tomorrow. It's been in the high 80s and too hot down here for us northern people. We did finally get Ginger a real haircut and she's much more comfortable. Em had been her "barber" for the past 7 months and it looked like it!

Misc: We met a couple from Wausau on the mooring ball who have been wintering down here on their s/v catamaran "Camelot" and saw m/v "Heaven Bound" with a home port of Sturgeon Bay.

Dry Docked

2008-04-02T15:23:00.010-05:00

This was the sunset at our anchorage spot on Saturday night, Newfound Harbor off Big Pine Key.

Sunday aft, March 30th, we got to the Marathon Boat Yard where we were to have the rudder repair work done. This was the scene Monday morning when they lifted us out of the water.

Here's our rudder with a chunk missing from too many groundings. We think just the final one was an encounter with "something hard" and did us in. It doesn't look awful but Paul wasn't comfortable going out into the Atlantic not knowing what could be going on inside the rudder. The keel had a little paint missing in places but no damage.

The yard charges $10 per foot for pulling your boat; labor charges will be $80 per hour once they can start the repairs. The worst part is the yard doesn't allow you to stay on your boat once it's out of the water due to insurance so.... they arranged for us to stay at the Blue Water Motel across the street at the supposedly reduced rate of $129 per night which is $143.04 after taxes. Not that it wasn't enjoyable to have a real bed, shower, air conditioning and cable tv but we would have gladly stayed onboard and climbed up and down this ladder (below).

When on Wednesday the water was still dripping out of the rudder preventing the repair work from starting, we decided to rent a car and leave the rudder to drip. So on Thursday Paul biked to the airport to pick up a rental car and off we went for the 5-hour drive back up to Bonita Springs where we're staying with Jim and Lou for a few days. You guys are a godsend!

It was a pretty drive and interesting to see the Keys from the land side. You can see very clearly what they call the "bayside" on our left and the "oceanside" on our right. We crossed the state from east to west on I-75, known as "Alligator Alley". I only saw one gator though. Hopefully at next posting we'll be back in the water.

Key West

2008-03-31T12:27:00.027-05:00

Now we have another reason to be glad we chose this winter to do this trip. Apparently the previous record for snowfall in Green Bay, set in 1891, has been broken at 82 inches. The average snowfall in a season is just under 50 inches – crazy! We hired a service for lawn care and snow removal if it snows more than 2 inches so we’re getting the bills. Paul is sure he would have had to buy a bigger snow blower to do the job! Some other stats: the average high in the Keys for late March is 80 degrees and the average LOW is 70 degrees. Sunrise is now at 7:25 am and sunset at 7:40 pm.

We had a nice sail of about 30 miles from Bahia Honda down to Key West on Sat the 22nd. We were heading southwest and the winds were east/southeast – what a novelty. I almost forgot what heeling felt like but Ginger remembered that she doesn’t like it! We were doing between 7 and 8 knots most of the way. We did have to don the foul weather gear as some rain moved through; fortunately no high winds with it.

We called ahead to get a mooring ball at Garrison Bight Harbor – arranged through Key West City Marina. It was really tricky getting hooked up to the ball as there’s no pennant or line to grab, plus the wind was pretty gusty to add to the fun. Thankfully a nice couple in their dinghy saw our dilemma and gave us a hand.

I can’t really go into detail what we did every day but we did spend four nights on the mooring ball and went “into town” every day except Tuesday when it was just too rough to take the dinghy to shore. We headed west to the old town historic district and seaport or east to more “regular” type of shopping. We also used the bus system quite a lot; 50 cent fare for us oldsters over 55. The actual island of Key West is about 4 miles long and 2 miles across.

Here’s a picture of our view from the mooring field that day. We know from experience that we would have gotten drenched in the dinghy!

We heard from some people that Key West was “ruined” since the cruise ships starting docking here, that it used to be quaint and kind of sleepy. Now it rather reminds me of “Wisconsin Dells South” times 50 with a t-shirt shop on every corner. It’s got quite a bar scene if you’re into that and the sunset celebration on Mallory Square is a must see. I took tons of pictures but here’s just a few:

Lots of interesting architecture and lush foliage. This is the former home of Dr. Joseph Porter, first health officer of the State of Florida from 1889 to 1917.

This has got to be the most unusual Walgreens we'd ever seen. The scooter and bicycles you see out front are everywhere.Now these are what you call "House" boats.

On Wed the 26th we headed over to the Sunset Marina on Stock Island for two nights. This was a new plateau in dockage fees for us: $2.75/ft and when the 7.5% sales tax is added on it’s a whopping $118 per night for staying on your own boat. It was a treat to have internet, cable tv, showers and laundry available though. We were able to get the bikes out and had a nice ride to see a lot of the sights in the historic district. There are rental bikes and scooters everywhere so motorists are pretty used to watching out for you. Here are a few more sights of the area:

The crow of a rooster is heard quite often throughout the day. We only saw one hen with chicks but saw lots of roosters. Evidently they're descendants of the chickens brought over by the Cubans in the late 1800s.
Below is a popular photo spot for tourists at the southernmost spot in the U.S. Only 90 miles from Cuba as the sign says.

We never saw more than one of these huge cruise ships docked but evidently at times there are three of them. They sure take up a lot of space.
This is one of the colorful characters around Key West. His passenger had fun barking his way down the street!

On Friday we saw a manatee up close and personal right on our dock. Another boater gave it a head rub but I'd read you're not supposed to touch them; he said it felt spongy! Most of them have slash marks from encounters with boat propellers (so sad). I wished Alison was here to see it but I took some pictures for her.

We made a quick run on the bikes for a few groceries then headed off to anchor for one night off the historic seaport district. We had checked out where the dinghy dock was the day before and since the winds had calmed down it wasn’t too bad of a ride. I carried Ginger around in the Snugli baby carrier that straps on my front and thought with all the unusual characters we wouldn’t stand out in the crowd but I was wrong - she got lots of attention! Here are some of the sights from Mallory Square:

The one-man band; the crowd at Mallory Square and the crowd trying to get a picture of the setting sun.

Saturday morning the 29th was farewell to Key West. We’re off to anchor at Newfound Harbor off Big Pine Key on the way back to Marathon, FL.

Bahia Honda Key State Park

2008-03-26T16:21:00.009-05:00

We left Boot Key Harbor in Marathon Friday am and fueled up at Pancho’s. We bought just over 23 gallons of diesel at $4.08.9 per gal plus 7.5% sales tax; the bill was $101 – our highest yet. We were headed for Bahia Honda Key State Park on Hawk Channel, a gap between a barrier reef and the Keys away from the Atlantic Ocean. We couldn't travel the Gulf side because of the depths and our draught of 4' 8". We motored as the wind was just about on our nose heading west/southwest; where are those easterly winds when you need them? Here are some pictures of the park where we anchored for two nights.

This is the view of our anchorage from atop the old R.R. bridge; we're the boat on the far left. The bridge on the upper left is the new one. The sign below explains the history of the bridge.

This is the "Calypso Gypsy" leaving Bahia Honda through the old bridge and a view of the beach.

We spent two nights here and left for Key West on Sat. March 22nd (Happy Birthday again to our sister-in-law, Jeanne!) Paul got to do a bit of snorkeling - that's the good news. The bad news is he saw some damage to our rudder which we need to get repaired. As of this writing, this is our fifth night in Key West but more on that later. We're still safe and sound; Em is still on board but may have headed home on Monday if there had been a way to do it! There are certainly ups and downs to this live aboard life; Monday was a down day; mooring balls aren't fun in high winds. Today is much better; we're in a marina for the first time in 12 nights =)

Naples to The Keys

2008-03-18T13:17:00.011-05:00

On Palm Sunday, March 16th, we finally made it to the Keys!

To backtrack a bit – On Thursday the 13th we got to see some boater friends from our home marina: Tom H. of “Glissade” (Judy was out sick) and Kurt and Jan of “Aftershock”. We took in some of the sights of Naples and the live music along Third Street. It was so pretty with the lighted trees, colorful flowers, lovely fountains, the beautifully dressed people and the smell of money in the air! I overheard someone say they saw a pair of shoes for $1000 so we only window shopped. I would have felt like Julia Roberts' Vivian in Pretty Woman in my jeans and faded sweatshirt!

We left Naples about 9am the next day. Since sunrise isn’t until about 7:45am with the time change, it’s a little harder to get going early in the morning.

We were able to sail some heading south past Marco Island with a light southeastern breeze. Four knots and dropping wasn’t cutting it so the engine started up again and we motor-sailed. Later the wind came directly out of the south and temps were in the mid 70s but 3 miles off shore the air felt cooler at times. I went from jeans to shorts and back again a couple of times.

We’re now hearing the Coast Guard from Miami on the marine radio. We’re seeing fields of crab pots again that we need to avoid.

We anchored around 4:30pm. After being in the same area for so long, it was a novelty to spend 7 ½ hours on the water. We set anchor in Russell Pass, that’s near Everglades City. We anchored near Dan and Judy on m/v “Fanta Sea” who were in the slip next to us in Naples. We first met them back in Pebble Isle in TN. We set the anchor in 13ft of water (deep for these parts). Paul put out 100 ft of rode with 70 ft of it chain. We’re now in the Ten Thousand Islands portion of the Everglades National Park. The green arrow marks our anchorage.

We left Russell Pass with a destination of Little Shark River, about a 35-mile trip. Nothing real eventful about the day; a little sailing but mostly motor-sailing; our anometer (wind speed indicater) still isn’t working. Paul went up the mast in Cape Coral to check it out but couldn’t locate a problem. Little Shark River felt more like we were in the Everglades, which we were. Very humid and a little buggy with the return of “no-see-ums”; nasty little things that bite with no warning as you really don’t see or hear them, you just feel a bite and the next day you itch! It felt like boating in the “old days” – no cell phone coverage, no internet and just one TV channel (from Miami now). We think there was a manatee or two here but didn’t get a good view; just saw a snout come up for a breath a couple of times. There were nine boats anchored that we could see. This was the peaceful view ahead of us at sunset.

We put out a small stern anchor to keep from swinging around in the current, that turned out to be a mistake! Somehow it got snagged on something in the 13 ft. of water. As hard as Paul tried to free it by pulling the line then pulling it with the motor on the dinghy, it wouldn’t budge. So he had to cut the line and the sea god Neptune got our anchor; luckily it was a cheapie and we didn’t feel too badly.

The stars were amazing when I peeked out thinking it was the middle of the night; turns out it was 6am. I’ve never seen the Milky Way so clearly; now I don’t feel so cheated not seeing any stars during our Gulf crossing because of the cloud cover.

We left the anchorage just before 8am with Boot Key Harbor at Marathon our destination. Once we got back to the Gulf our heading was 179 degrees or almost due south with temps in the mid-80s and humid. Really no wind to speak of; all the sailboats we saw were motoring today. We encountered a lot of crab pot fields again. The depths were no more than 14 ft. all the way to Marathon. When it got to 11 ft. you could see the bottom. It felt almost like we were in a glass-bottomed boat. We saw jellyfish, unusual plant life and 3 large sea turtles. This shows how flat calm and hazy it was.

We went under what is it’s the world’s only 7-mile bridge! Marathon is the largest city in the Middle Keys and supposedly got its' name from the construction workers task of building this huge bridge across a huge expanse of water - a marathon. It's since been replaced by a new taller bridge but the original one is still in place and is a popular spot for fishing and diving. It's a 45-mile drive by car from here down to Key West.

After we passed under it we were officially in the Atlantic Ocean for a bit. Next there was the 26-ft Boot Key Bridge which opens on request and we were in Boot Key Harbor. We called ahead to the city marina for a mooring ball assignment. They have a mooring field with about 200 mooring balls; a community unto itself with many live aboards. Once again we were assigned a mooring in the outer reaches so it was a LONG dinghy ride to the marina. It’s $20/day for the use of the mooring ball which includes use of the marina facilities, their dinghy dock and a weekly pumpout. Also, water for your boat costs 5 cents a gallon.

We took the dinghy to the Dockside Bar & Grill for something to eat and ran into another Looper couple, Ed and Connie from “Sea Estate”, who are on their way back from Key West. We first met them back in October at Pickwick Lake in TN and last saw them in Mobile, AL so it was fun to catch up with them. Their home port is Caseville, MI.

Monday was super windy, just about the opposite of the earlier dead calm picture. We were glad we got here when we did. The dinghy ride over on Monday was kind of exciting with all the spray hitting us (me on my back and Paul in his face as he was driving). Not so fun but the same thing will probably happen tomorrow as it’s supposed to continue to blow. Here’s the dinghy dock at the city marina. Soft dinghies on one side and hard ones on the other. You get an ID tag for your dinghy and even your bicycle if you leave it there. They have quite a system for keeping track of who’s paid up. The building on the right is the dockmaster's office, laundry, showers, tv, book exchange, etc. It's a lot like a warehouse inside - nothing fancy. The luxurious Cape Harbour Marina in Cape Coral is but a fond memory now!

I'm writing this on Tuesday at the library. We dinghied to a West Marine dock then I walked to a salon to get my hair cut. My lack of a sense of direction prevailed and I managed to turn the wrong way and walked about 40 minutes the opposite direction of the library. A kindly female sheriff's deputy gave me a ride as I was trying to call a cab. The adventure continues!

It's still blowing hard out of the east/southeast at 20 to 25 mph and we're all getting a bit tired of it. We'd planned to be here until Thursday, then head on south to Bahia Honda State Park but we'll have to wait and see what the weather situation is.

A HAPPY AND BLESSED EASTER TO ALL!

Moving south

2008-03-13T16:37:00.016-05:00

We had a thunderstorm the night Eric left, Friday, the 7th. Saturday was cool (high of 68) and super windy. We saw there was a gust of 48 mph. There was a fundraiser for Ronald McDonald House going on at the Tarpon Point Marina so we checked that out then Alison and I went to a Flea Market. I thought the best thing was the produce market at the exits. Strawberries and tomatoes are abundant right now so we’ve been enjoying them. It got down to the 40s Saturday night so the space heater was put back into use. The boat seems a little larger inside with one 6’ 2” body gone; you’re missed though Eric (my comic relief!)

Sunday was another ride down to the Everglades; this time Jim and Lou were our tour guides. We had a picnic in an area of the Big Cypress National Preserve and got to see quite a few alligators and lots of birds: Ibis, Blue Heron, Egrets, Anhingas, Tri-Color Heron and Great Blue Heron. We also drove past the smallest US Post Office in the country in Ochopee, Florida. It was about the size of an old-time outhouse!

I wish I could add the sound this Great Blue Heron makes - it's an ungodly loud SQUAAAAWK that startles you if it catches you unaware! The bird on the upper right is an American Anhinga. They have to spread their wings to dry out their feathers as they don't have an oily coating like most waterfowl. Our Creator knew this would better enable them to dive for fish.

We stopped for ice cream in Everglades City. Alison was hopeful of seeing a manatee there but no luck yet. We stopped in Naples on the way back and checked out the Tin City shops but it was near closing time so we had to hurry. Thanks again Jim and Lou for a fun day!

I really liked this fountain at the entrance of the Tarpon Point complex; but then I just really like fountains.

On Monday Paul moved the boat by himself from Tarpon Point heading back to Moss Marine in Ft Myers Beach (he did a great job solo!) Alison and I took the rental car to meet him there by way of the Tanger Outlet Shops which was great fun. The Florida weather hasn’t been very kind to Alison her last days here. The only chance she had to spend on the beach Monday aft. was cloudy and cool - jeans and sweatshirt weather. Oh well, it was still better than snow!

Tuesday the 11th was departure day for Alison and the manatee remained elusive. Time was growing short. Our last chance was to drive to Manatee Park in Ft Myers on our way to the airport. I had to stay in the car with Ginger as pets weren’t allowed. They came back with smiles as there was ONE manatee there enjoying the warmer water from the power plant nearby. Mission accomplished! We grabbed some lunch and headed for the airport. Upon pulling her suitcase from the trunk, we realized we neglected to bring her winter coat from the boat. It was tucked away in a closet and never thought of again! Poor Alison with no winter coat headed to Green Bay via Kansas City then Milwaukee; not real direct. The last leg of the journey was to drive 1½ hrs from Green Bay to Wausau, WI where she arrived at 11pm – what a day! I hope you enjoyed your escape from winter; we sure enjoyed having you!

That night we got to have dinner and enjoy some time with Green Bay friends, Phil and Kathy, who have a condo on Ft Myers Beach. They’re friends from our Sail and Power Squadron group in Green Bay and are also babysitting some of our plants while we’re gone! We picked up some groceries on our way back to the boat – our last night with “wheels”.

On Wed. we left Ft Myers Beach after being in the area for three weeks; that’s a long time in one spot for us “restless” ones. After Paul returned our rented Toyota Corolla, we headed south to Naples and mostly motor-sailed the 23 or so miles.

This is someone we saw along the way leaving Ft. Myers Beach. Look at all the condos!
After we went through Gordon Pass into Naples Bay, one mansion was bigger than the next. I took lots of pictures but here’s a nice one if you like pink.

You've got to wonder who would live in a place like that! Actually it's probably only lived in for a very short part of the year. Another lifestyle that's for sure!
We’re at the City Dock in Naples for two nights. Jim and Lou, bless their hearts, drove up on a mission of mercy (we each left something behind that they retrieved for us). We had dinner together at “The Dock”, an extremely popular place right next to the marina.

On Thursday we got to see old friends, Jack and Joyce, for a bit. We first met them in Milwaukee in the early 70s when Jack and Paul worked together. They winter here in Naples and go back to Eau Claire, WI for the summer. Thanks for the great margarita – God bless!

We saw a pelican feeding frenzy on the way back to the boat. The fishermen throw scraps to them and they don’t give up easily! Charter fishing is very big here so the pelicans are well fed.

Tomorrow we're off to parts south; not sure where we'll find internet access again. We had a milestone this week. March 12th is exactly six months since we left Green Bay on our journey.
ps: I think we’re over the disappointment about Brett Farve’s retirement – we still get comments about it. Alison was especially bummed since she was down here and didn’t get to cover the big story!

Cape Coral Area

2008-03-09T19:46:00.014-05:00

We haven’t been covering very much water lately but we HAVE been having a lot of fun!

When we left the Matanzas Mooring Field we traveled on the Caloosahatchee River to Cape Harbor Marina in Cape Coral. It’s called a “yachting community” because it’s so much more than a marina. They gave us an excellent transient rate so we spent six nights there basking in the luxury. One of my favorite things there was the free use of the washer and dryer. I think I did laundry every day and washed just about everything in the boat! There was a pool, great showers and shops and eateries to check out. This is the view from our dock. We rented a car and were able to park it in a little lot adjacent to our dock so life was good!

Eric liked going to the beach so we made a couple trips over to Ft. Myers Beach. This is a view of the north side of the pier on a busy Sunday afternoon and Eric and I having lunch at Burrito A-Go-Go.

We took a drive south to the Big Cypress National Preserve and took an airboat ride through the mangroves. We only saw one alligator but it was lots of fun. This is Captain Lloyd taking another group out after us. The pelicans liked hitching a ride until the boat speeded up.

Here's one of Cape Coral's famous burrowing owls. Eric and I discovered it on a bike ride and later found on a website that they're quite well known and even have a web cam! Their burrows are surrounded with stakes and construction crews have to keep at least 10 feet from them. They're very cute and not afraid of people but if they start head bobbing they're getting nervous and you need to back off.

We did have one unfortunate (and expensive) thing happen while there. We had the water pump for the engine replaced; parts and labor came to around $500. It was only a slow leak but we didn't want to have it repaired somewhere like the Keys at ten times the cost. A Carver Rep was able to help us out; they had a boat for sale docked near us and Paul got to talking with him so it worked out pretty well.

Alison came in on Tuesday the 4th so we had she and Eric aboard for 3 nights - cozy on our boat. This is on the way from Cape Harbor to the Cape Coral Yacht Basin where we spent two nights.

They had a great time at a Twins spring training game in Ft. Myers. Alison was happy the Twins beat the Orioles 8 to 7; she's still a fan from her days at the U of MN.

We had a short but wild ride from the Cape Coral Yacht Basin over to Tarpon Point Marina. The wind was really gusting and we all got a bit wet (especially Alison) from the spray. There's also a beautiful pool here and we all got to enjoy it before the "cold" front moved in on Saturday. It did get down to the 40s last night but hit the mid-70s today so we can't complain.

This was at the airport when Eric flew back to chilly Milwaukee on Friday night. Alison is still with us for a little while longer. Thanks for all your help, Eric! He had the job of riding Paul's bike back to the marina for the rental car and bringing it back to our new spot (in some pretty high winds too!)

Ft Myers Beach

2008-02-28T15:48:00.015-06:00

We left Cayo Costa State Park on Wed the 20th. We hit bottom coming out of Pelican Bay but nothing serious. We were able to motor-sail with the genoa out on the ICW in Pine Island Sound. We passed by North Captiva Island and Sanibel Island; crossed the “Miserable Mile” (so named for the squirrelly currents). Captain Paul said the rudder felt “mushy” with the tidal pressure. We ended up in San Carlos Bay at the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River. We encountered two shrimp boats that ran aground entering the Matanzas Pass into Ft Myers Beach. A third shrimper was on the radio thanking pleasure craft for creating the wakes which helped him get underway again! We think they were in an area where they usually have plenty of water but storms may have recently silted in the pass. Shrimping is a very big industry here bringing $60 million to the economy, second only to tourism. The high cost of fuel has kept many of the boats in the harbors, however. Here’s one of the aground boats:

We got a slip at Moss Marine in Ft. Myers Beach. I was anxious to do some laundry but found out my timing was off. There’s a huge casino ship that docks there, the Big “M”, and they happened to be filling her water tanks, hence the water pressure for anything else was practically zero! But we did have a great view of the lunar eclipse when the clouds cleared.

On Thursday we moved over to the Matanzas Mooring Field run by the Matanzas Inn. It’s $13 per day which includes head (toilet) pump outs at your boat and limited shower/laundry facilities. The downside is the close to 15-min. dinghy ride to the dinghy docks. We’re on mooring ball #53 which is almost at the end of the 60-ball field. We paid a week’s rent and may be able to move closer if one becomes available. There’s a public trolley for a quarter which takes you just about wherever you’d want to go. But…. we got to grocery shop in a “real car” when Paul’s brother Jim and wife Lou picked us up. They’re nearby now in Bonita Springs so we’ll be seeing them a few times while we’re in the area – yay!

This one is for you Sue Hall! She'd asked what temps we're enjoying. This was in the internet cafe we went to on Friday by trolley. The 80 degree reading was in the shade so it felt much warmer in the sun. Paul figures I'll be complaining about the heat soon (he's probably right!) Ft Myers Beach is a very busy place this time of year - lots of traffic and lack of parking spots.

On Saturday morning, we took the dinghy over to Salty Sam’s Marina and paid the $10 to leave it there as it was way more convenient than the other dinghy dock. Jim and Lou picked us up there; we drove to Naples and had breakfast at a nice outdoor café. We were entertained by the “attack cat” and her owner who sat next to us – very strange! We toured around Naples and checked out the municipal marina for a possible place to stay. We hit a produce market on our way back to Jim and Lou’s lovely condo at Coconut Shores in Bonita Springs. They made us a delicious dinner and the evening was topped off by a “real” shower and sleeping in a “real” bed - what a treat!
Sunday was spent running some errands, taking in a Florida flea market, some clothes shopping and a visit with Bill and Mary, Lou’s sister and brother-in-law who live in Cape Coral. This picture was taken poolside in their lanai (a Hawaiian word for a screened-in patio). Paul's brother Jim and Lou are on the right.

Then we checked out the Cape Harbor Marina and “yachting community” where we’ll be moving later in the week. We got back to the dinghy, then the boat on good old Mooring Ball #53 on Sunday evening. Thanks again Jim and Lou for a fun weekend!

Monday was almost “hot” (low 80s) and humid – I’m almost looking forward to the “cold” front that supposed to be moving in! We finally saw one of our “Looper” friends; Andre and Olga of “Mystic Bond” are here on a mooring ball but headed out on Monday. We took the trolley back to a point where Brother Jim could more easily pick us up. Later that night he drove us out to the airport where Eric’s flight came in at 8:10. I think he was glad to shed his winter coat and enjoy some warm weather. Milwaukee was expecting about 6 in. of snow but he made it out before that arrived. We had a nice dinner and stayed the night on land (thanks again Jim and Lou!)

On Tuesday we headed back to the boat via Jim’s car and the trolley. It took two dinghy trips to get the three of us plus bags to the boat; we’d stopped for some groceries on the way. Here’s Paul (in his new hat) and Eric (the bearded one) at the helm of our little dinghy.

Eric and I spent some time at the beach on Tuesday aft. Ft. Myers Beach is a pretty popular destination as you can see from this picture.

The wind really picked up during the night. We feel pretty secure being tied to the mooring ball as opposed to an anchor though. Here’s a view of part of the mooring field from the upper deck of the Matanzas Inn where Eric and I enjoyed a beverage.

Paul had a pretty low-key birthday (the way he wanted it I think) on Wednesday. We had a mini carrot cake with candles and the three of us went to dinner at the Parrot Key Bar and Grill (the Packer-flavored place) at Salty Sam's Marina. It was a chilly dinghy ride over there. It was only in the 60s today and may hit 40 tonight. I guess Eric brought the cold weather with him!

This is our last night on "good ole mooring ball #53 - we're moving on over to the marina in Cape Coral tomorrow.

Venice to Charlotte Harbor

2008-02-22T10:44:00.012-06:00

We’d planned to leave Sarasota on Wed. the 13th but when Paul discovered a leak in the hose going to the impeller in the engine compartment, our plans changed. He took the dinghy back to shore, hopped on a city bus and found a replacement hose at a West Marine. He almost made it back before the skies opened! We were glad we stayed put since the weather turned nasty. The irony was I just overheard Paul on the phone telling his brother how the engine has “performed flawlessly” during the whole trip! It really is the first part we’d had to replace (so far).

Before leaving on Thursday, we had both anchors to pull up so it took awhile (actually 1½ hours). I was at the helm and Paul did the grunt work. We had one night of pouring rain there and one night with very high winds so we felt we needed to have both anchors out. Here are a couple of our neighbors in the anchorages. I thought the potted palm trees on top of the houseboat were a nice touch!

The water changed to that beautiful aquamarine color partway through Little Sarasota Bay. Lots more mansions along the way. It seems strange to us to realize the owners probably only live in them a few months of the year. There must be more millionaires in Florida than almost anywhere in the U.S.

The Blackburn Bridge was the only swing bridge of the four bridges we encountered. All the others were the Bascule type bridges.

We got a slip at the Crow’s Nest Marina in Venice. We were tied on an outside wall fairly close to the jetty out to the Gulf opening and thought it might be a little rough but it wasn’t too bad. What WAS bad was the extra fee they charged us for having the dinghy on the davits off the stern. So, we were charged $2/ft for a 45-ft boat instead of the 40 feet that we are – kind of annoying since they had plenty of space on their transient dock and the facilities weren’t anything special.

We enjoyed getting together with a former associate of Paul's from his Milwaukee days who winters in Venice. Henry and his wife, Lois, treated us to dinner at The British Open and a tour around the area. We didn’t think we’d be doing anything special for Valentine’s Day so that was a nice surprise. Thank you again – it was great seeing you both!

Since we were so close to the Gulf, Em got to spend some “strolling on the beach looking for shells time" in the morning before we left Venice.

We left Venice around noon, still on the ICW. We have five bridges to open, all on request so there should be no long waits. It’s very shallow in Lemon Bay so you have to be very careful to stay in the channel. We saw these pelicans flying in formation along the way. They look so graceful in flight and so awkward plopping along with their big webbed feet on land.

We anchored near Englewood Beach in about 8 ft. of water. There was a man standing about hip-high in the anchorage fishing. We’re getting accustomed to these shallow anchorages. The access to shore wasn’t very good but we finally found a little spot where you could dinghy to shore.

We have former Green Bay neighbors who retired in Englewood and live on a canal but it didn’t work out for us to use their dock – too narrow and too shallow. Paul and I took a LONG dinghy ride over to see Linda (Jerry is still in northern Wis. working on their cottage – poor him!) Linda took us grocery shopping and fixed us dinner. Then Paul took the dinghy back and Linda gave me and the groceries a lift back to where Paul picked me up. It was fun catching up, we haven’t seen them for four years. Thanks again, Linda and Happy Birthday on the 23rd! This is Paul heading out of their canal back to the anchorage.

We left Englewood mid-morning on Sunday. We had both anchors out again but it was much less hassle pulling them up this time. There was a nice breeze but it was directly out of the south so we motored on the ICW: Lemon Bay to Gasparilla Sound and into Charlotte Harbor. Since it was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, it was like a highway with all the boat traffic. The sailboat ahead of us in this picture called us on the radio to chat – they’re from Oconto, WI! They leave the boat down here year-round and come down in winter to live aboard in the mooring field in Fort Myers. We didn't catch their name but the name of their boat is “Memories” in case any Wisconsinites know them.

The only bridge we encountered was the Boca Grande Swing Bridge on our way to Pelican Bay and the anchorage off Cayo Costa State Park. It’s a huge anchorage; I counted 26 boats and there was room for lots more. The depths coming in went below 6 ft. for a bit so the captain was a bit nervous but we didn’t hit the bottom (this time). There’s a nice dock to dinghy to and restrooms nearby. The island of Cayo Costa is 10 miles long with 30 tent sites and 12 cabins for the campers who come to the island by ferry boat; similar to camping on Rock Island in Door County, Wis. We took the tractor-driven tram the .9 mile to the beach on Monday. The sign at the dock says "This is the “Real Florida”. It is neat to see a part of the state that isn’t developed for a change!

We’re almost feeling guilty enjoying this beautiful weather when our “kids” are having the opposite. Eric in Milwaukee is enduring another snowstorm with some rain; Alison got stranded in Green Bay and couldn’t drive back to Wausau until Monday AM because of the snow and Kyle is in Fairbanks, Alaska for a week where it’s probably about 100 degrees colder than where we are today!

We spent three nights anchored at Cayo Costa Island. Here’s a picture at our anchorage (again not us).

I'm actually writing this in Fort Myers Beach at an internet cafe. We ran out of luck picking up an internet connection for quite awhile so I got behind. The adventure continues.....

Longboat Key and Sarasota

2008-02-13T09:26:00.007-06:00

On Saturday the 9th we left Bradenton in a light rain heading west on the Manatee River into the ICW. There were lots of huge mansions along the way. Here's a couple of them:

We needed to have the Anna Maria and Cortez Bridges opened. The Cortez bridge tender commented on our Packer windsock – he’s formerly from a small town near Ashland, WI so it caught his eye. We went along Anna Maria Island leaving Tampa Bay and entering Anna Maria Sound. We anchored around 5pm at Longboat Key near Sarasota. There were four other boats anchored off Moores Stone Crab Restaurant. We were surprised to get a really strong wifi signal there and enjoyed a very peaceful night. This is the view at sunset from our anchor spot. (this isn't us!)

In the morning we took the dinghy to shore and walked to The Market where we had a second breakfast outdoors. It's great that so many places are dog-friendly with outdoor seating. We left there around noon heading for Sarasota. Here's some interesting architecture nearing Sarasota:

We actually got to sail along the way where the channel was wide enough in Sarasota Bay. With just the genoa out (the foresail) we did around 5.5 knots but we were in no hurry. It was great not having the engine running for a change. We got to the anchorage near Marina Jack’s, just past the Ringling Causeway Bridge, mid afternoon. There are about 65 boats on moorings or anchored here – much different from last night! We took the dinghy to shore at O’Leary’s Tiki Bar and Grill, evidently a really popular place on Sunday afternoons with live music. The big thing seemed to be to bring your dog (or dogs) along so we fit right in! The view of the downtown is beautiful at night. We had a lot of rain Tuesday night but not the high winds, thank goodness.

We've been making a daily trip to the Library in Sarasota. This is Ginger waiting with me outside the door while Paul was taking his turn on the computer. She sure generates a lot of comments from passersby. Paul said IF he were looking to pick up women she'd be very helpful! The statue is entitled "Best Friends".

THIS ‘N THAT

We were happy to see recycling bins at the marina in St. Petersburg and thought that would continue but that doesn’t seem to be the case. We HATE throwing our cans and bottles in the trash; evidently most places don’t value recycling as much as Wisconsin and Michigan. I was saving them for awhile but it became a space issue. We did actually haul them from the boat to a little grocery store here in Sarasota.

We miss seeing other “Loopers” along the way. Most of the boaters we met along the rivers are ahead of us now, hopefully we’ll catch up to them further south in Florida.

In the Tampa area, the State Fair was being promoted for later in the month. That seemed very odd to hear about a State Fair in February!

After hearing about all the nasty winter weather “up north”, we’re especially glad we picked THIS year to do this trip. We feel your pain, people of the northlands!

The next planned stop is Venice; the weather is still a bit iffy today so we may stay put another day. We're trying to see how long we can anchor out. Tonight will be night #5.

We liked Bradenton!

2008-02-11T09:41:00.005-06:00

We came into Bradenton on Thursday, Feb. 7th and stayed two nights at the Twin Dolphins Marina. I knew we’d like it right away as our slip assignment was F-5. That meant to me it’d be close to shore (with such a low number) and the floating docks are always a treat. We felt pretty pampered with a beautiful heated pool, hot tub and private showers. The marina provided discount coupons for the restaurant and museum and a free bag of ice a day. There’s a really nice restaurant, Mattison’s, right at the marina and we went there Thursday night. It felt very “Hawaii-like” eating outdoors, with tiki torches, live music and a view of the water. We got to use the bicycles quite a bit here. Here's the manatee fountain in front of the marina.

On Friday we toured the South Florida Museum which is about a block from the marina. Em got to see two of the planetarium shows and the feeding of the manatees. (Paul didn’t spend near as much time there as he had boat projects). There are four manatees there right now: Snooty is 59 YEARS OLD and has never lived in the “wild”; there are three 2-year old females that will be released when they are ready. Snooty totally ignores them as he doesn't know he's a manatee; the staffperson said he thinks he's a lapdog! That's romaine lettuce floating in their tank; they also eat water hyacinth and Snooty gets special treats of cabbage and apples. We see lots of signs for “manatee zones” but have never encountered any except these in the aquarium.

We saw a lot of Island Packet Sailboats being prepped for the big Miami Boat Show. They’re built near here in Largo, FL; we got to go aboard a 37ft. motor-sailor but we like our boat better! We got 11 gal. of diesel before we left; we had to wait quite awhile for a yacht to finish fueling. The dock attendant said he took on 1100 gal. of fuel. At over $3 per gal. that was quite a bill. Makes us really glad we have a sailboat. We haven’t gotten to sail all that much but we only go through about .75 gal. an hour motoring. We’d definitely recommend the Twin Dolphins Marina in Bradenton – the nicest marina we’ve stayed at for some time.