March 5, 2006

The Harvey Canal is closed to through traffic for a year while a floodgate is being built so we used the Algiers Lock to cross the Mississippi after spending the night at the Boomtown Casino ( free) dock. Co-incidence, as we transited the Mississippi Sound saw tugs pulling another Boomtown casino barge Eastward. 

We guess that it was headed for the Mississippi casino district that was devastated by Katrina.
We happened to be in Ocean Springs, Ms. On the six month anniversary of Katrina. Friends gave us the grand tour of the entire area. The extent of the destruction is mindboggling. In Ocean Springs the tidal surge was 21 feet, in the
Bay St. Louis, Waveland area it was over 25 feet. Compare this with the pictures that we saw of the tsunami!!!!!!!
Ocean Springs has bull dozed most of the severely damaged houses and hauled off the debris. In fact the morning after the storm the city bulldozed all of the yachts that had washed up onto city streets---no questions asked. They did the same with houses blocking streets. Compare this to New Orleans. While we were touring the damage in Mississippi we heard a news broadcast that a Federal judge in New Orleans had finally allowed the city to bulldoze houses blocking streets. This was six months to the day the storm came ashore!!!!!!!

Back to boating. Developed a transmission leak but it turned out to be only a damaged brass fitting that I was able to get in an auto parts store for $2. Oh happy Day.
By the way the common anchoring spot at the intersection of the ICW and the Rigoletts now has a thick layer of soupy mud that has made anchoring problematic.

We have now given up on it. YMMV The marinas at Pass Christian and Gulfport, Ms. are completely destroyed. We did tie up in Pass Christian but at two pilings not connected to the shrimp boat docks. Both of those places are favorites of ours and we do note that both are in the process of rebuilding.
We managed to spend four nights at a friends dock on the Bon Secour River at Gulf Shores, Ms. Pat reminded me that this was the longest that we have stayed in one place in a long time. Hey, the company was good, the food was good and the dock free!!!! While whiling away some time there I fabricated No See um screens for the doors, windows and ports. Pat is happy.

Tonight we are anchored off Navarre Beach at Santa Rosa Island, Ms. Cool, light wind and a good forecast for tomorrow.

==============================

March 20, 2006

HELLO ALL STATIONS, HELLO ALL STATIONS

We are in Tarpon Springs. Left Apalachicola yesterday at 9:15 am and arrived here today at 9:15 am.
 Had a beautiful crossing, light winds and slight seas. At dark it was DARK, like running into a black hole. Then the moon came up. Bingo. That is portal-to-portal time.  Includes a detour around Government Cut at Apalachicola (used the Dog Island Pass) due to shoaling and finding a slip in Tarpon.
It was Pat's call to go across and not stop at Steinhatchee, Cedar Key etc Weather constraints and mostly that we could go to Mass here in Tarpon today. There is zip in Stinehatchee and with the weather that was forecast we would have had to stay there several days.

We met surprisingly few boats during the course of the night. Did meet a sailboat that hailed us for a meeting agreement. Knew how to use a radio and had it on!!! Met him the next day in Tarpon Springs. They were in their dingy and saw the name of our boat. We had a good conversation about the crossing and I complimented him on his expertise. They had left Dog Island Pass at 7 am and left at noon. They arrived Tarpon about 3hours behind us.
One great thing about such a crossing in a trawler is that I made it in my bedroom slippers, with no foul weather gear, harness and the like.
CCC
_________

Greetings from the WIFE:

This week's message is: Do something that scares you.

I don't mean something crazy like riding a horse through town naked.  I realize that my scary may be someone else's "piece of cake" so it's all relative. There were several things that really scared me about this "Great Circle Cruise", here's a short list
1.   Going through New Orleans and those darn locks
2.    Finding a place to stop on the Mississippi coast after Katrina
3.   A Gulf crossing and a 24-hour trip some of which is in the dark.

There are a couple of others but I may wimp out on those so I'm not telling you what they are. But today marks the completion of the top 3 listed above. I believe my direct statement to Charles was if you want to go across the Gulf from Apalachicola to Tarpon Springs, fine but I'm not doing it. See you on the other side. Charles figured that we would go "around the Bend" which takes 3 or 4 days instead of the overnight trip. So, what happened?  Trust me on this, Charles is not crazy enough to "talk me into something" that he knows I am seriously opposed to. He has learned throughout the years that it is less painful to just stick a boat hook into his eye, sure, it'll hurt, but the pain will be gone sooner than the aggravation I would inflict.

I had to ask myself, "Is this fear reasonable, is it based on something other than, Oooh I don't want to do that?" The answer was, no it's not reasonable, people do it all the time, be cautious, look at the weather and just go.  Thanks in large part to Rich Gano, who helped without knowing that he was (or maybe he did know). There is an issue that needs to be addressed in the boating world and that is sometimes people (usually guys) will tell about their worst experience of doing something (like locking or crossing the Gulf). War stories. Because it's fun for them, conquering the big challenge, etc. What they don't realize is that sometimes I am actually paying attention when they're speaking and it scares me to pieces.  Now what Rich did was talk about it a calm and reasonable "you can do it" kind of way that helped me see the thing in a different light. Yes my husband had done the same thing but he had an agenda and that was to get us to Tarpon Springs before the weather was too bad to go. Not that that is a bad thing and this time he really was more "hands off" because if the thing went bad, it was my decision to go.

We went, the weather was perfect, the water was amazing and the topper was a perfect docking by Charles in a space exactly 15' across (the boat's beam is actually 14' 10", leaving a 2 inch margin) I tell you it was a thing of beauty.
In closing, I remember a movie with Julia Roberts in which she said, "I would rather have one wonderful day than a whole lifetime of nothing special." Sometimes you just need to do something that scares you.

THE WIFE

Greetings from THE WIFE

Re the above mentioned subject- here is an example: Charles and I are docked in downtown Tarpon Springs.  It is so cute (he's not crazy about cute). There are shops and many Greek restaurants (He likes restaurants). Greek music plays in the street all day; this is the second largest Greek population in the country, according to the local folks. There are people standing on the street with megaphones to get people to come into their shops or watch an actual sponge diver exhibition (Tarpon Springs is the sponge capital) or take a boat ride. Doesn't that all sound really cute? This goes on all day and the tourists are everywhere, zillions of them.  Charles doesn't really think of himself as a tourist. Today was exciting, we did laundry.  I left Charles at the laundry to go to the grocery store, when I came back he was ready to go, he had shoved all of the clothes into the laundry bags (no folding or fluffing) and was waiting as patiently as he could (I'm sure God was smiling). Yesterday we were supposed to go to Mass on a tourist bus, well the tourist shuttle didn't stop so we got on a city bus (this was a little scary and is not recommended, I actually think that's why there are tourist shuttles, because public transportation is so scary).  You know there could be a problem when 2 guys are talking about their unfortunate incarceration for drug charges and you're wishing really hard that your husband had left the Rolex at home.  It's OK- we have clean clothes, a great T-Shirt and a sponge and lest I forget- God is smiling!

THE WIFE

While docked in Tarpon a man came up to me, I was on the dock, and asked if I was Charles Culotta. My response was, "All depends on why you are looking for him!"
He had seen a post by me on the Trawler List about being in Tarpon Springs so he drove 45 minutes and searched the marinas looking for us. Had a great visit.

Since Tarpon Springs we have anchored every night at different small islands. This is our 4th anchorage and 5th night. Tomorrow we will dock at a friend's home in Cape Coral. 
Patterson is looking real good as a place to live on the water. Here it is extremely crowded and expensive beyond belief. A friend near Tampa is esthetic that he will be paying ONLY $6 per foot per month for his boat slip instead of the $15 he is presently paying!!!!!

CCC and THE WIFE

==============================

HELLO ALL STATIONS, HELLO ALL STATIONS
March 29, 2006

We are 29 days out of Patterson, (Calumet to the initiated). What with all the condos that are pandemic, as I said before, Calumet is looking better every day.For instance, we are in Everglades City and it is in the middle of nowhere. Condo creep has not taken hold---yet. A MOBIL home in a mobile home park, not acreage, $239,000.

After we left Tarpon Springs, we started anchoring and have done so now 10 nights in a row. Less than 1/3 of water on board has been used since the last fill.

At Ft. Myers we had planned to tie up at a friends home, but due to heavy North winds blowing all the water out we could not get in. Plan B was to use a mooring but there were none available to accommodate our boat. So anchor out it was for 3 days. Actually the anchorage at Ft. Myers is better than the mooring field except for lots of old sailboats with liveaboards. It is  surrounded by tall mangroves, but for the site of one high rise you could be in a secluded anchorage in the keys. The dingy ride in is about 1 1/4 mile. While there we visited with several MOTA members the Ford-Smiths and D'Austachio's.When it became apparent that the tides were not coming up anytime soon we left for points South.

The ICW ends at Ft. Myers so it is outside from now on. The last several days on the Gulf have been picture perfect. In fact Pat commented today that that has been better than the inside with all the pleasure boat traffic. TOTALY unlike the Northern Gulf Coast. As I have often said, towboats know the rules and are courteous which is a lot more than I can say about a large percentage of the traffic here.

That brings to mind a war story.  We were meeting 3 big sport fishing boats running together. They were not slowing for traffic. As a rule it does not bother me, much, if in a meeting situation the oncoming boat does not slow as I can turn into the wake. In this case the channel was narrow and the 3 boats were closely spaced. I called them and said "This is the trawler style meeting the 3 sport fishing boats north bound that are not slowing for traffic. I am turning into the wake of the first boat to minimize damage.  This will put me in the path of the other 2 boats. Deal with it."  They slowed.

Back to Everglades City. There are throngs of tourists taking boat tips into the mangroves. A lot of that is Airboat and you know how noisy they are.

We are headed to Marathon and will get there in 2 days, or so! Man it is nice to not have a schedule. We will go into a marina there, replenish supplies and wash the boat.
 I made a modification to the winch, the one on the front of the boat not the wench inside.Yea, I know that it is actually a windlass but this has a better ring to it. Wish that I had my shop here.
Till next time.
Keep your ship together.

================================

HELLO ALL STATIONS, HELLO ALL STATIONS April 1, 2006

We continue down the coast along the Everglades Park.  It is really big. We are anchored in the park in the Little Shark River along with 4 other boats with mangroves all around, lots of birds and even an eagle. The tidal range here is 5.5 ft. A little more than that to which we have become accustomed. By the way no cell nor aircard coverage here!!! Since we are south of Ft. Myers traffic has really thinned out. The vast majority of boats on the Great Circle Cruise do not come down here but cut across Florida on the Ochechobee Waterway.  No services nor Sea Tow. That brings up the proliferation of towing services in the Panhandle down to Ft. Myers. Those boats are everywhere and are constantly busy. It also seems that every boater feels compelled to call for a radio check every time he leaves the dock.

Today we clocked 1,000 miles from Calumet, right on.

I mentioned the aircard (used for internet access and e mail). It and the navigation software do not play well together. We must completely disconnect one when using the other. Kind of a pain.

We spent two nights at the Little Shark River waiting for weather. Four other boats with us. We got to visit around via dinghy, trade war stories, boat cards and traveling info.  Hey, that is what this is all about.

Since the forgoing was written we continued thru the Gulf, ran out of ICW at Ft. Myers, and are officially in the Keys.  Lying Boot Key (Marathon). We crossed  onto the Atlantic side at one o'clock today.

Fla.  Is proud of their diesel fuel and water.  Yes you get charged for filling your water tanks and even have to pay a fee to tie up your dinghy. Almost as bad as Taxachusettes.

We needed a marina after 10 or 12 days out to replenish supplies, get ready for the Dry Tortugas and go to church.  The cheapest place that we could find is $1.75 per foot and the boat is 45 ft. per night. Do the math. In a day or so we will continue south. Pat said that she is taking a $1.75 /ft shower tonight.

On another subject, for you cruisers, the water tower at Ocean Springs that looks like a lighthouse is no longer.  Katrina did it in. What a loss.

Greetings from THE WIFE

Oh my gosh! We need a marina!

Dirty boat - dirty clothes and I'm almost out of chocolate. Not to mention I'm sick of my cooking. We actually tied up to an abandoned dock yesterday and went for a walk and found a restaurant.  We walked in to check out the menu-fried-fried & more fried stuff . But right there on the menu was the statement "We charge $4 to split/share plates" Are you kidding? So at that point I said, forget it, we'll eat on board. I think once you sell me a plate of food , what I choose to do with it (short of flinging bits of it across the room) is my prerogative.  Each of these plates cost about $18 and they pile tons of food on it that no average person can or should consume in a sitting and the idea of leftover fried stuff is not that appealing.

We spent yesterday in Everglades City (yes, we went all the way in) we tied up to a floating dock that was in front of what was to be a "condo resort". There are just 2 structures that were never completed. The entire project has been abandoned. It appears that a storm or storms have damaged parts of the area but from what we could see the rest of the small town has recovered.  This was one of those times we should have taken the bikes off. Of course by the time I realized this we had walked too far to go back and start over. There is a ranger station and Oh, yes you can tour the Everglades in an AIR BOAT.  It seemed as though there were so many airboats that each tourist could have one all to himself. And they pass by the dock all day until almost sunset. Speaking of sunsets, we got to see one of the best. The sun in Florida, when it sets, is HUGE! Yesterday it was red and then became yellow. It was gorgeous. We're enjoying Florida, the sunsets, sun rises, the weather is phenomenal (only 2 rainy days since we left) beautiful clear water and calm seas. The only down side is due to all of the above: too may people and way too many boats. Yes I know we're contributing to the too many, etc. but I'm just telling you so that when you come you'll remember to plan some quiet anchorages along the way.
 
Stay tuned

CCC and Pat
=====================

HELLO ALL STATIONS...HELLO ALL STATIONS...

On April 5 we left Key West headed to the Dry Tortugas with a stop at the Marquesas Keys.  The water is absolutely picture perfect.  It was too shallow for us to get into the bay so we anchored outside with 5 other boats-none in close proximity to us.

On arrival at the Tortugas there were 15 boats in the anchorage, over half were power and of that 4 were trawlers.  We spoke to most over the 3 nights and 4 days there and NONE but we are on the Great Circle Cruise.
Not long after anchoring--and checking the set by looking over the bow at the anchor a big Jewfish (well over 200 lbs.) parked himself in the shade of our boat.  He was soon joined by a large Barracuda.  We were told by the park rangers that they hang around the anchorage all the time.  So much for boats disturbing the fauna! (yes, that is correct)
We have seen flying fish, sea turtles, stingrays and sharks-all while underway.

One morning I went ashore and the rangers had a boat that 16 Cubans had come ashore in that night. It was the best constructed boat that they had seen. It really was a piece of work. Constructed of aluminum, double wall w/foam in between.  It was fastened with rivets and metal roof screws. They had a four cylinder Mercedes diesel running a Volvo outdrive with Teleflex steering and Morse controls-even a muffler. Did I mention that is 21 feet long and a catamaran. Somebody in that bunch is going to make a heck of a good worker.

That same night a smuggler dropped off 18 more Cubans, all on Loggerhead Key a scant 2 miles from us. We did dinghy over to see them and take pictures before the Coast Guard picked them up .It was a bit of a rough trip as the wind was blowing pretty hard,ut the RIB can really handle it.(Pat said that she can now add "near drowning" to her list of things she does for me) They do get to stay as they made it to U.S. soil. The park service flies the US flag day and night on Loggerhead because so many Cubans make for it. There is also a sign, in Spanish, that this is the US.
The Cubans had obviously chosen a night when the seas were somewhat rough so that they would be hard to pick up on radar in the sea clutter.

Quite a few tourists came out to the Fort on ferries from Key West and others arrive on a Cessna Caravan on floats that makes 5 or 6 trips per day. I missed getting a really good picture of one takeoff when he was headed directly at CC Rider, we were anchored,- that would have been a great shot. The wind shifted and his takeoff path was never again right on us.
The Tortugas are 75 miles from Key West so a large number of fishermen in 25' or so center console boats come out and tent camp on the Key for a few days of fishing. As many as 8 would be there on a given day. As I write this missive we are headed back to Key West on a beautiful day (as usual) but a little 'bumpy" as The Wife says. Since some bad weather is forecast(as in thunderstorms) we will not stop at the Marquesas. Antonio Pilote is handling the helm duties just fine!
Made it into the anchorage at Key West well ahead of the weather. There are hundreds of boats anchored. A fair number of derelicts with many having been washed ashore in storms.

Keep your boat in the water
Keep the water out of your boat
Keep the people in the boat and,
most important
Keep your ship together.

Greetings from THE WIFE:

Tips to Captains;
If your wife, First Mate, Admiral or whatever term of endearment you choose complains to you about the same thing 3 times and it's an easy, reasonably affordable fix, do yourself a favor & DO IT.  It will not get better if you don't and she will not "just forget about it" especially if you take long cruises (my definition of long cruise is a month plus).
This thing, whatever it is, will wear on her and become bigger every time I (she) thinks about it.

What follows is a list of things that I am particularly grateful for (in no particular order):
1. The new kitchen faucet that is tall and flexible and sprays (the old one was a real pain to use)
2. New battery TV- For YEARS we used this awful thing that had to be tuned MANUALLY every time the power went off (which is every time the boat moves). I can't tell you how many hours were spent muttering at this thing. Sometimes Charles would walk into the room unaware that I'd been tuning and I would growl at him (literally).
3. Water filter- Installed under the sink just before this trip. You'll understand this if you've ever schlepped 35 gallon jugs thru your house, down the steps and on to the boat. Once we forgot a few gallons on board (guess what, plastic cracks) and the water leaked, soaked into the wood and you can imagine the rest.
4. That darn "air card" from Verizon-I don't care so much about email but Charles does and keeping him happy is always a good thing.
5. The new(ish) dinghy ( a really good RIB) - we actually use it.
6. Inflatable life jackets- Kind of like the airbags in your car-you don't know if they work until....but these things are so much more comfortable and cooler to wear.
7. My monster fenders- for those of you who remember Houston Trawlerfest and ""the weenie fender story"- enough said.
8. The brand new Windlass with a motor! Of course Charles has modified it beyond recognition but it's a fun thing to watch (both the modification and the windlass).

I am always amazed that when you buy one boat thing it begats many additional things i.e. windlass=more chain=aluminum bits and something else I can't recall, but when I was going through the credit card statement, I asked Charles what's this charge he answers "the new winch" next item, he answers "the new winch" and then I say "What's this Steinmart charge? And then I answered, "Oh that's the other wench, the old one."

======================================

April 6, 2006

Disclaimer: I know I said something about "war stories" recently but I can't help myself, so what follows is one, for those of you who want to hold me to a promise, delete this message.

Greetings form THE WIFE

Picture it
It's about 5 pm, I've already walked Charles all over Key West most of the day and we're about to have a lovely Cuban meal. He suddenly realizes that the anchor is dragging. We anchored in this spot the day before and spent the night.    The nightmare begins.

So we start the engines and move--plop in the anchor and all that chain and IT WON'T HOLD. So we move again and repeat the procedure and IT WON'T HOLD. So we move again, by this time, it's almost 7 (it takes a while to find a spot & then to determine that it is sticking)
One piece of information that's critical to laying a foundation (this is one of Charles' terms) is that Charles has been boating since birth and he has never had an anchor drag once set.
Welcome to anchor hell.

We're at Spot #4 and we get a call from Sue who is on a sailboat near us to tell me that the boat behind us is trying to call on the VHF (my fault, I have it turned down so that I can hear Charles on the bow)
I respond to the guy (hereafter referred to as guy #1) who thinks we're too close to him. I respond by telling him that we're assessing the situation and then he wants to talk about arc & swing & winds. This would be a good time to mention that the winds are North at about 15 knots with gusts and the water is bumpy. I don't like bumpy. I ask Charles to stop what he' doing to talk to guy #1. Charles was very cordial and patient saying something like relax, we're all out here to have fun and that he doesn't think we're too close & they have a brief discussion of arc and currents & then guy #1 begins the "Sermon on the Sea" lecturing on personal and financial liability and the rules of anchoring, most of which Charles missed because he had returned to the bow and the anchor. Guy #1 gets a big fat "N" in the conduct section of his report card for the day.

Charles asks what I want to do and we decide it's not worth the aggravation to stay there, it's getting late, the weather is getting worse so we head for the mooring field.  Key West has a huge mooring field but the dots (mooring balls) have little eyes that don't open very much, making the grab and threading the line even on a calm day a little tricky. By the time we get  there it's 7:30 pm and there are white caps in the field and really gusty winds. Charles tries to grab 4 different dots and they pull away hard, one time the boat hook got caught in the dot & Charles had to let it go or fall in after it. (Aside, we moored here last week and tied on the first try without difficulty.) The sun is setting, so Charles decides to just drop the anchor, he does and it holds (answered prayer) Just at that moment guy #2 appears in his dinghy and asks if he can help us tie to a mooring. It's dark now so Charles says no and thanks him profusely.  In hindsight (an hour later) I should have vetoed that one. Just because I would have slept better but the anchor is sticking nicely. Charles sets the anchor alarm on GPS and goes off in the dinghy to find the boat hook.  Meanwhile guy #2 finds the hook & brings it back to me & then goes to let Charles know hook has been returned.

Moral of the story:
What kind of boater are you? Guy #1 or Guy #2?

Another thing worth remembering is that there is no lovely Cuban meal in Anchor Hell, just a peanut butter & jelly sandwich.
My knight in shining armor (that would be Charles) has returned and is sleeping in the pilot house tonight so I won't worry about the anchor dragging & the storm.  I tell him that I'm very proud of how he behaved in Anchor Hell & he gets an A+ in the conduct section of his report card for the day. 

Pat

======================================

April 29, 2006

Report from the road, so to speak.

Spent a week a  Key West and another at Key Largo then on to Miami Beach.
That is where it got interesting one evening.  Picture this:

Anchored off Palm Island a really nice place, no home under  2 mil. !!! Anyway, just North of us is a large mooring field with dozens of boats. Just before dark I noticed someone attempting to anchor a 3 ft.boat upwind of us. The man leaves the bow and gets in his dingy with the anchor hanging, not in the water.

Even I can see trouble. He comes toward CCRIDER and says it is not his boat and that he is trying to save it, as it broke loose from it's mooring. By now it is bearing down on us.  I grab a line and ask him to get it on the drifting boat but in the 25 mph wind it is already hitting my anchor rode. I push it off with a pole as he gets a line on it and I tie it to my boat.
By the way there is a low bridge about 75 yards behind us that would have wrecked the boat.
 I climb aboard and find the anchor line and chain frozen in the windlass. I cut the line and tie it direct to the anchor getting ready to deploy it if my anchor starts to drag with the extra weight.
 While all this is going on Pat call the Coast Guard who show up within minutes as does SEA TOW.

They take the boat and we breath easier.

The runaway boat was tied to the mooring with a measly 1/2 inch braided line that had chaffed thru. Now for the "rest of the story" it was a SEA RAY. What else!!!!!

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May 21, 2006
                                                       
HELLO ALL STATIONS, HELLO ALL STATIONS

On May 21 we finally cleared Florida after 81 days out of Patterson, La. (My insurance agent is delighted.) THAT is how to start the GREAT CIRCLE CRUSE. No finishing this trip in one year!!!! We turned 1910 miles from home and anchored at Cumberland Island, Ga. It is a great place to stop for a day or two and cheap, no charge as I am now officially a senior as I am a Card Carrying Member of the US Park Service "Senior Passport".
We did see some of the wild horses on the island, not while we were walking around but later from the boat. While walking we did see proof that they were there, as in droppings!!

While anchored at Cumberland Island there was a boat that was anchored near us at Key West and several others that we have hop scotched up the coast with. One MTOA and another a TWILL, (boat groups).
We started the trip with the intent to make it to the MTOA Rendevouz in Portsmouth, Va. in September and hope to see a bunch of Turtles ( that would be MTOA members) there.

 We also anchored at ST MARY'S, Ga., which, coincidently is across from AMELIA ISLAND. (Our home is in St. Mary Parish La. and Amelia is a nearby community.) For those of you traveling this area it is worth a stop just to see the submarine museum. The town is right on the waterfront and has many historic homes and buildings. Anchoring is fast, easy and in town. Speaking of subs, as we passed the submarine base, patrol boats armed with big machine guns came out to greet us. A nuclear sub (that is all we now have) was going to sea. The patrol boats shooed us aside and I got some great shots, (perhaps that is a poor choice of words-pictures) of both the sub and the gunboats.

We started this trip doing the normal 50 miles or so a day but gradually dropped to 30 or so then 20 and now we are doing 10 to 12 and when a 26 mile day looms, tomorrow, it seems long. Gawd it is nice not having a schedule.

Since leaving the thousands of manatee zones of South Fla. We have seen numerous manatees, sometimes in groups. Yesterday there was a huge one right beside the boat. Again these are renegades and need training to stay in the designated zones (reservations)!!!!

Another benefit of leaving South Fla. is that the price of fuel is dropping but CC RIDER is treating us nice in that department, averaging 2.57 GPH for the last 801 miles and that is total for both engines and the gen set. We fueled in Boot Key, Marathon, and then went down to the Marquesas, Islands, then the Dry   Tortugas and all the way up to Fernandina Beach before refueling, still had 210 gallons on board. 

We are becoming accustomed to the huge, to us, tide differentials, now 7 feet. Gives the art of anchoring a whole new dimension. If at all possible we prefer to anchor at LOW tide!

There are several tug boats from south Louisiana working in the Fernandina area, including the sub base Chouest, who else. We see a tow every few weeks, there are practically none at all which is unfortunate as one is never surprised by the actions of a tow as they are professionals quite unlike the actions of a substantial percentage of pleasure boaters. Lets say there is a lot of stupidity and ignorance out there. Ignorance of how to safely and prudently operate a boat can be remedied with study, whereas stupidity is terminal! End of rant.

For you boaters, on raising the anchor at Fernandina an abandoned rusted out anchor came up with mine. Stuff like that makes one worry when one is anchored in a swift running tidal river that reverses twice a day.

Pat kids me about all the notations that I put on the charts. I call it value added!!

One day I called a go fast boat that was about to overtake me and told him that I would slow to an idle as he passes and would he give me a "slow bell". Not only did he quickly agree but added," All of us TIARA owners are not jerks." I thanked him profusley and put that in my logbook.

BOOK REVIEW: I just finished reading THE DA VINCI DECEPTION that compiles all of the, innuendo, misleading "facts" and out and out lies contained in the DA VINCI CODE.  If you have read the book or seen the movie, this book is mandatory reading. What an eye opener it is. The format is easy and it lays out all of Brown's deceptive practices.
It is available at bookstores and on line at davincioutreach.com for $7

This is a must read and I don't say that lightly.

CCC

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 June 18, 2006

HELLO ALL STATIONS, HELLO ALL STATIONS

We are half way into the first leg of this cruise. Three and one half months to go.
Anchored at Oriental, NC, a very pretty little town, small harbor and a nice anchorage.
 Interesting that a shrimp boat here has Houma, La.  as it's homeport.
Most of the anchorages along the way have been crowded with sailboats but not this one.  All power boats. Tonight we are all alone the only boat left.
Since leaving home we have covered 2440 miles and only have 180 more miles to the end of the Atlantic ICW. There are a few side trips that we will make in that leg so it will be well into July before we get into the Chesapeake. Recall that that is at 7-8 mph!!!!

Just missed seeing the Queen Mary II at Charleston.

The weather could not have been better so far. Warm days and cool nights. No a/c, YET.
There was the matter of Alberto. We were anchored at Camp Lejeune, NC when it was headed our way.  We decided to tie up in a marina for it, two nights at Swansboro, NC.
Strange owner of it (Casper Marina). He wanted me to make up with a bowline first and when we first did a spring line, he got MAD and stormed off the dock!!!! I have seen a lot but that takes it. I 'll never grace his place again.

After leaving Camp Lejeune we were in a heavy thunderstorm and got hit with a micro burst while in a sound. Pat was at the wheel and said that the boat was not responding so I said " Oh Pat, I'll take it."  She was right. It pushed the boat 90 degrees to the channel and I was having a time holding  position ( my depth finder registering 0)  and the rain was so hard I could only see abt 30 yds. As aircraft pilots say," And there I was..."
Trying to hold the boat off the shoal when a couple of go fast cruisers start to pass behind me. He actually called me on the radio to tell me what he was doing. I responded that I was backing down with little control!!!! He passed anyway , not 10 yds. Off my stern---throwing a wake.  I can't make this stuff up.

We are way behind the Snow Birds who go up and down the ICW as most (except the aforementioned two) left in April-May. I can see that traveling at that time would make the waterway,anchorages and marinas crowded.

We met some folks in Beaufort, SC who suggested that we stop and see them in Carolina Beach when we passed thru. We did a week or so later.  They had a few friends over to meet us and of all things one of the couples there were the people from whom we had purchased the charts for this trip, all 78 lbs of them) ( charts not the people). Small world out there. Oh, the way we met.  I was flying my Past Commander of USPS flag and one of the boats that had docked right behind us had a past commander onboard. In fact there were 3 in the group.

Have met MTOA members the same way.
While we were down in the Keys someone said that the definition of cruising is that you get to work on your boat in strange places. Right!!!! Thank goodness nothing serious

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July 5, 2006

HELLO ALL STATIONS, HELLO ALL STATIONS

July 1 we commenced our FIFTH MONTH of this cruise. As THE WIFE says, no splashes and no broken bones. We are anchored, this day at SM 102 of the Atlantic ICW, that translates to 102 miles from Portsmouth, Va. or 2712 miles from Patterson, and 388 hours on the engines. We continue to spend our nights at anchor over 90% of the time.

Spent July 4th at Belhaven, N.C. a very small town but they had a eat celebration with a parade that featured a dozen classic John Deere (and other makes) tractors in pristine condition.

Had to get another laptop so if we did not answer you or something like that, trust me we tried but it may be lost in cyber space.

One of the recipients of our little diatribes commented   that, my contribution is "boring".
OK, he is not a boater. (He really likes THE WIFE'S stuff.)
In response I sent the following quote:

Several days ago we started  to the Outer Banks, more particularly, Ocracoke, Island but weather forced us back. So we are trying to get to the banks from the North. It is still looking dicey weather wise. High winds all day and night coupled with thunderstorms.
Speaking of such, one day THE WIFE came into the pilot house and recited the weather forcast, virtually verbatim from the weather radio. As I said  my  usual "Yes Pat, anything you say Pat's." She spotted the "Storm 9 Weather" van stop near the boat. That was all she needed emphasizing the bad weather. Ended up that I was interviewed by them and appeared on TV that night!!!!

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August 6, 2006

HELLO ALL STATIONS HELLO ALL STATIONS
 
Today is our 159th day out ( in our 6th month ), 3141 miles from home.

Many have asked ,"What is the cost of cruising?"
 
The simple answer is about  as much as you want to spend. I'll elaborate.  The single largest expense can  be marinas. 77% of the time we are at anchor so that leaves 23% in marinas. That is  over our goal. But, even with the high cost of marinas on the East coast we are a few bucks under budget on that one!!!

Pat had estimated 4 nts. per month , average, in a marina and that is what we have done. Some times conditions dictate a marina stay due to no anchorage,etc.  and we want to visit an area.  We have NOT limited  marina stays based on allotted time as we use  them when we want. We  have used marinas more this month due to the oppressive heat and that is what ran up the percentage.

We know of one couple who made the whole Great Circle Cruise with out anchoring at all. I would not want the bill for that one nor the experience. We can stay in a marina at home!!

Marinas are flat expensive on this coast , $2.25 per foot per nt. PLUS ADDITIONAL FOR ELECTRICITY is not unusual and not top cost. Some even charge for the swim step and anchor pulpit. Can you spell rape. Needless to say we have avoided such places.

The next expenditure is fuel. We are using the amount that I guestimated before leaving and that is an AVERAGE of 265 gallons per month. Unfortunately the cost started up the month that we left!!!! We travel many days only a few miles and then stay for 2 or 3 and then move on. For instance, 91 days in Fla. and  a whole month hanging around North Carolina. A note on fuel usage. At 1500 rpm my twin Perkins 6.354's total usage is 3 gph total  for both engines, this equates to 8mph so the AVERAGE burn is somewhat less and has been consistent 2.80-2.95per hr. If we are running against the current, so be it. Unless it is vitally important we do not increase the fuel burn. I have a placard on the throttles with the RPM settings and the attendant fuel burn!!!

The third area of expense is dining out. Of course we do that more than at home so this counts. One has total control over this one, spend what you want.Your actual cruising expenses are the costs incurred ONLY due to cruising ,not any expense that you have if at home such as: by way of example: groceries,  insurance of all types, meds, toiletries, clothes ( for the most part), etc.

What  it boils down to is: fuel, marinas, eating out over what you would do at home, extra telephone and computer connection charges, Laundromat, rental cars, ( our first of this trip will be later this week), repairs, additional equipment dictated by the cruise.

CCC and THE WIFE
Lying Baltimore, Md.

 p.s.

 Attended a Chesapeake Cruisers do last weekend and there were 29 boats in attendance with all but 6 anchored out. These were all trawler styles. We will start down the Eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay later in the week to slowly make our way back to  Portsmouth, Va. for the MARINE TRAWLER OWNERS

ASSOCIATION national rendezvous on Sept. 14.  After that we will come back to Baltimore to haul and store the boat for the winter. Then we fly home.

In the spring we will launch about April 1 to continue on to Maine.
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Aug 16, 2006

GREETINGS FROM THE WIFE:

The month of July is over and I couldn't be happier. I haven't written much (except for a couple of whinny posts to Janene) because it was too hot to live. Some days the temperature was 100 degrees. Charles' solution to the heat wave was to find an ice cream shop and get a large malt EVERY DAY. Do you have any idea how annoying it is to watch his skinny self sucking the cold chocolate goo into his face?   Fortunately for him the happy pills (hormone replacement) kicked in about the 3rd week of July and his life was spared. Occasionally he would smile and ask"don't you want one?" And I would respond sweetly with a stream of sweat running down the middle of my spine, "No, you go ahead." This is how it starts a malt here and a sundae there and next thing you know, your back side is as wide as an ax handle and he says something like,"I remember when I used to get both arms around you and my hands could still clasp together." He has no idea how close he came to being a big splash.

One day I was sitting on the swim platform with both legs in the water, seriously contemplating easing into the dark and somewhat murky water when I saw a huge jellyfish ooze by. Probably the same jellyfish that clogged the air conditioner intake on a regular basis.

For the past 2 weeks we have been in marinas.  The first week we were at Old Bay Marina just outside Baltimore that's owned by one of Charles' Ebuds, Brian. He's going to haul out the boat next month and was kind enough to make room for us in Po Chang's (another Ebud)slip. It was great, we just stayed in and waited for the heat wave to pass. We stayed in the air conditioned boat,in the air conditioned rental car, in an air conditioned restaurant, etc. But then, like manna from heaven a cool front came in from Canada or God and once again the world became a lovely place.

During the hot week we made several car trips into Blatimore andon one of those excursions we met Hans & Peggy (fellow turtles) and they offered us A FREE SLIP. My heart sank because I knew that we would miss some of the gorgeous anchoring weather because there is no way Charles can resist tying to anything for free.  They were extremely gracious and we ended up staying the week and would probably be there still had I not threatened something scary.  It also helped that Hans overbooked the slip (which is ironic because he works for a major airline) and new turtles Molly & Ron on colonel's Lady moved in on Monday.  I was a little anxious to leave and we left Baltimore on Sunday (never do this because crazy boats are on the water on summer weekends). Mondays are the official trawler moving day. 

We have crossed the Chesapeake and are finally on the Eastern Shore.  It's really beautiful, the weather is perfect and the water is calm.  By the way, my nautical word of the week is "fetch" and the only time I want to hear it is when the words "not much" precede it. I have no clue why there are so many ways to say bumpy water. Boaters can be so odd.

Yesterday was perfect-we traveled 15 miles to Chestertown, Maryland, launched the dinghy for a short ride to town-had a great lunch (it was a girl lunch, with sprouts & quiche & funny sauces with fruit in them) Don't feel too bad for Charles though because he still had the large malt. All this followed by a walk through historic Chestertown and back to the boat for a nap.

Today we're back out on the bay headed to an anchorage just past the Kent Island Narrows. The temperature is 82, low humidity, not a cloud in the sky, calm seas and a lovely breeze.  The Narrows are something that Charles has heard of for years and he's really happy he's getting to go through today.  He may be a little "too happy". I awoke this morning at 6 am to country music blasting from the XM radio/  I sometimes think he's trying to reprogram the music chip in my brain (or he could be trying to make me crazy?).  He thinks by constant playing of "vintage country and 50's music" I'll forget other kinds of music.  It hasn't worked.

One other comment on the bucolic and pastoral Eastern Shore, the development we've seen thus far tends to blend into the tree line so that you actually see the trees and land before you notice the huge houses.  However, the closer we get to Kent Island those condos begin to obstruct and loom rather large on the horizon.  Oh well, at least they put a cute lighthouse in the middle of the development. Maybe we'll do some shopping today, I'm sure there must be at least one nautical gift I haven't seen.

THE WIFE

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