Steve and Liz's Great Loop Adventure

January in DMop

2012-01-28T14:57:00.002-05:00

It was great fun to go "home for the holidays" as we did not make that journey on our first Loop. We had a busy social calendar and it was wonderful to see everyone after being gone for the fall. Once the festivities were over, however, it was time for some warmer weather, so we packed up the van and Lucy and headed back to Demopolis. It's about 18 hours by car (as opposed to two months by boat) with one overnight stop. We made it to St. Louis in time to catch part of the sunset from the top of the arch. Here's the view to the west. The domed building in the center is old city hall, which is now open as a museum.

It was only 23 degrees, after dark, and the dock water supply was temporarily shut off when we arrived at the boat the next day. Brrrr, but just like in MN, it's been an abnormally warm winter here, and it's only dropped into the 20's a couple of nights since. A few days after we arrived it hit 70 degrees, so we launched the dinghy for a 12 mile trip up the Black Warrior River. This river flows into the TomBigbee just above Demopolis and we wanted to see what it looked like. A little gray on the banks this time of year, but it felt good to be out on the water in January !!!

The river is navigable for 100 miles to Tuscaloosa (Roll Tide) and beyond. We spent most of our first couple of weeks on boat upkeep (it's always something). We began to think it would be a rather lonely time here, most of the Loopers are in Florida by now, but then our social life was reborn. Loopers Kathy and Bob (aka Trip Time) who we cruised with last fall, and Gold Loopers Hal and Cheryl (aka Mas Bueno) who we knew from our Loop arrived within days of each other. Along with Michelle and John (aka High C's), who are here for a while like us, we have a formed great friendships and had lots of fun. Cheryl made us Arroz con Pollo (that's chicken with rice) and we dined in the fabulous laundry room.

A few nights later it was Steve's Jambalaya followed by a delicious pot luck. We are also finding a few good local restaurants. Having a car makes a total difference and everything in DMop is within a 3 mile drive. There's two antebellum (that means before the civil war) mansions in town and we've toured them both. This is the dining room in Gaineswood.

Gaineswood was built in stages as the owner's family grew and his cotton plantation prospered. It sits on several acres and is an impressive site.

Shingebiss is docked in the last slip on the pier. We get the morning sun in the salon and frequently see a good sunset.

We have been getting a huge downpour about once a week, but for the most part the days have been sunny and in the high 60's ... much warmer than we expected. Lucy is enjoying being outside all day. She has discovered how to get under the dock decking and travels through the labyrinth on top of the floats. Here she is preparing to exit her domain by jumping to our swim platform.

There's a great place to walk just adjacent to our docks, so we often start our day with a brisk walk. Here's Hal (Mas Buenos) and Steve (Trip Time).

We thought Trip Time and Mas Bueno would be gone to the Gulf by now, but the recent heavy rains have brought the river up, cresting today so travel is not recommended. Here's Fred, the ever helpful and friendly marina owner. He's drawing a diagram of the locks and explaining to the captains why they should wait until the water goes down a bit before they travel.

As the sun goes down, we gather on the dock, trade cruising tales and all agree: Life is Good !!!

TennTom Waterway

2011-11-16T12:39:00.000-05:00

Our trip back down the Tennesse and TennTom Waterway was, as cruisers like to say "uneventful". The weather continued to be warm and sunny most days. This bridge over the Tennessee River is part of the Natchez Trace Parkway, a 444 mile north-south scenic drive. Indians and early settlers floated supplies down the river systems and then walked the trace back to their homes upstream. The Trace Parkway follows the path with campgrounds and history stops along the way.

Just before the junction with the TennTom Waterway is Waterfall Cove, a tiny anchorage we wanted to visit. There is only room for a couple of boats, but we were traveling alone and found it open. One of the neatest anchorages we've ever stayed in. We tossed out a stern anchor so we could keep the stern of the boat facing the waterfall.

This was our view out into Pickwick Lake.

We talked to some local folks in a pontoon boat who said the anchorage is filled with boats every summer weekend. Evidence emerged the next morning when I pulled the anchor and this plastic chair came up. We took it aboard and tossed it at the next marina.

On the TennTom Waterway, we had a chance to visit with some Minnesota folks. First, we made a stop to pick up Julie and Steve in Aberdeen where they will be building their winter home soon. Unfortunately, it was one of our coolest days on the water, but it was great to see them again and get caught up on news. At the Columbus Marina, we met Trisha and Charlie on their spacious liveaboard Skipperliner that they had recently brought down the rivers to move to Columbus. We all had a great dinner out and Trisha and Charlie hosted a social hour the following night.

Our journey brought us past the white cliffs of Epes...

... and this cute little towboat that was heading upstream at about 10 mph.

The Tenn Tom has some crazy switchbacks on it, where you go 20 miles to get about 3 miles as the crow flies and lots of backwaters. This stretch of river looks like a Rorschach ink blot test on the navigation program.

A couple of days ago, we landed at Demopolis Yacht Basin. This is the only marina between Columbus, MS and Mobile and has long been a looper stop. When we were here in 2009, a new basin was being excavated and is now open for business. With brand new docks and clubhouse just steps away, great WiFi and cable TV we think it's a great place to park Shingebiss for a while, so that's what we're gonna do. It's out of the hurricane belt, in fresh water, and affordable. We recently learned that friends (and loyal blog followers) Jeff and Kathy are driving their van from their vacation home in Pensacola Beach to Minnesota and they have graciously offered to pick us (and Lucy) up and let us ride with them. Our plans are to return after the holidays in our own vehicle and "ride out" the winter months here in Demopolis. We know it's not as warm as south Florida, but what the heck, we're from MN and it's gotta be warmer than there. Shingebiss will be "summer stored" here, either on the hard or in a covered slip. Next fall, we will resume our cruising journey.

Chattanooga

2011-11-04T21:19:00.001-04:00

We were looking forward to taking the 250 mile side trip up the Tennesse River to Chattanooga, TN because we had heard so many great reviews of the scenery and the city. As we progressed upriver, the hills got higher and we entered what is called the "Grand Canyon of the Tennessee". While this is a bit of an exaggeration, we agreed that this was among the most spectacular scenery we had ever seen from the deck of our boat. The leaves were at the peak of their fall colors and the sun was shining. It was a great cruise.

The Chattanooga waterfront has recently been renovated including new transient docks. Plenty of space so we pulled in with Steve and Kathy on Trip Time, their beautiful 44' Marine Trader sedan. We immediately set out on foot to explore the downtown area, starting with a walk across the newly renovated pedestrian bridge from which we took this picture.

The Delta Queen, parked right across the river from us, is currently functioning as an inn, but we heard there are plans to recommission her to again sail the inland rivers.

The next day we set out on a 2 mile walking tour completing it at the Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel. Pretty touristy, but also pretty nifty. For a price, you can stay in one of the old train cars.

Later that day we drove with Kathy and Steve in their rented car up to Rock City, high atop Lookout Mountain. Again, very touristy, but this time of year, not crowded at all. Hard to describe this place, but it was started a while back by a wealthy couple who owned the land, planted the gardens, and built miles of twisty little rock paths among the natural stone formations. We didn't know what to expect, so started down the path.

The paths are all paved in stone and edged with thousands of hand stacked stones. The amount of work is incredible and something new is around each corner.

This is called "Fat Mans Squeeze" and we had to turn sideways to get between the boulders. Too bad the pictures turn sideways also when I upload them to the blog.

The big overlook is called "Lover's Leap" named after .... yep, you guessed it an Indian maiden and her lover who threw themselves over when their warring tribes prohibited their union. The view is awesome.

We think the waterfall you see is man made, but it still looks pretty cool.

The next part of Rock City is a little "different". You enter an underground room filled with black light lit dioramas of every nursery rhyme we've ever heard. Very kitschy, but we totally enjoyed it and took pictures of each one. Here's a favorite.

The next day we went to the Tennessee Aquarium. I'm no aquarium expert, but this is truly one of the best. Fish from all over the world and more. Here's just a sample.

Blue African Parrots, world's largest

Huge crab

jellie fish, dozens of tanks of different varietys, mesmerizing

sand shark 4 story high tank which you pass on each level as you descend through the exhibits

100 year old snapping turtle getting amorous with 30 y/o female ... gotta love it

adorable penquins

American Alligator

Cool Amazon River fish

There's much more to see in Chattanooga, but it was time to head back downstream. Here's a picture of the Aquarium and the fountain adjacent to the docks taken as we departed.

It was another bright sunny day as we passed back through the canyon.

Our trip up the Tennessee River has exceeded our expectations. It's a beautiful river with inexpensive friendly marinas and pretty anchorages ... and this huge cliff known as Painted Bluff.

We plan to be at the Demopolis Yacht Basin in about a week.

AGLCA Rondevouz

2011-10-27T22:13:00.000-04:00

We woke to fog on the last day of our run to Joe Wheeler State Park (Rogersville, Alabama) for the AGLCA Rondevouz and Reunion. The harbor was filled with bass boats waiting for the fog to lift so they could get out and begin the competition.

By 9 am, the fog cleared and once the small boats raced out, eight cruising boats in the harbor headed out towards the Wilson Lock. With a 93' lift, the Wilson was the highest single lift lock in the world when it was built in the 1950's. Currently, it ranks 6th after five other locks in the Pacific Northwest. It's quite impressive.

The doors are massive, it's fun just to watch them close. Okay, you'll have to turn your computer on the side to see them ... seems I used to put "portrait" oriented pics in the blog, but this one won't turn the right way.

We came into beautiful Joe Wheeler State Park with five other boats. AGLCA volunteers on the docks were ready to direct us all in, grab our lines, and welcome us to the event. Very efficient. A total of 57 looper boats were at the event. The lodge was also filled with folks who attended by land. Three days of seminars, lunches and dinners are included with registration. The event is well sponsored by marinas along the loop who provide breakfasts, wine receptions, and goodie bags. Name tags identify each of us by name, boat name and home port, along with a ribbon to signify our "loop status". Gold for those who have completed the loop, white for those currently looping, and blue for those in the planning stages. Just walking the docks was an event, checking out all the boats and meeting fun and amazing people who were as crazy about looping as we are. On the Looper Crawls, boats were opened up for visiting and we toured some beauties including a spacious 44' Endeavor Catamaran, a crazy fancy 50' Searay, and a couple of expertly preserved older trawlers. Our favorite, however, had to be Sea Biscuit, a 38' 1962 steel Chris Craft Roamer. Her owners had spent 10 years restoring her and she was perfect both inside and out. We also met a couple from Australia, who had come to America and bought a boat just to do the loop and were close to completion.

Here's the view of our dock, seen from the deck of the lodge.

and this is the view from our back deck. As you can see, Joe Wheeler Park is gorgeous and the weather was fabulous.

We had more fun than we had ever expected and were so glad that we had finally attended a Rondevouz. Last night it was over and we left this morning .... next destination: Chattanooga.

Tennessee River Cruising

2011-10-21T23:25:00.000-04:00

We left Green Turtle Bay Marina with Eschaton (Jack and Nan plus their dog and 2 cats aboard) and went on a short cruise to anchor for the night. The shoreline along this stretch is lined with beautiful cliffs, sand beaches and forest.

There are dozens of embayments that provide quiet isolated anchorages. We turned into Sugar Bay, one of the best, where we had anchored in '09.

It was like old times as we anchored the boats together, launched the dinghys, and headed to shore for a hike through the woods.

After weeks of perfect weather, the next day brought cool temps and rain. When cruising, you have to take the good with the bad, so we drove inside where we could stay warm and dry. We came upon this homemade raft making its way along with a very small outboard motor. You have to admire their determination.

Lucy climbs up on top of the frig, under the counter whenever the engine is started. She doesn't have quite as much spirit of adventure that she had during our first loop. When we land at a marina or anchorage, she goes out onto the deck, looks around and seems to say "well, this isn't my yard" and then goes back inside. She came out and joined us for a while during the rainy days.

We stayed at a couple of new marinas and one of our old favorite marinas as we made our way south on the Tennessee. With the nighttime temps in the low 30's we appreciated the electricity to run the heat. The marinas on the Tennessee are so inexpensive (still $1/foot) and so friendly. They really seem to appreciate your business and go out of their way to make boaters feel welcome. At Clifton Marina they remembered us from 2 years ago, even though we had only stayed one night. Clifton is the kind of place where when you go in for a burger, they make you feel like they are cooking dinner just for you. We also have been surprised and pleased to run into several of the Loopers that we had met during our first loop who, like us, couldn't give up the cruising life and were heading south for the winter.

After 2 days of rain, the sun came back out, and the daytime temps have improved. After the Pickwick Lock, there are some spectacular homes on the shore.

We met this man who lives on this unusual cruising boat. We didn't get a tour of the inside, but can imagine how comfortable it must be. It's a Jay Benford design, built of steel in Guatamala.

Boaters following the Great Loop route follow the Tennessee River for about 200 miles and then turn off onto the TennTom Waterway. This time we are following the Tennessee for another 300 miles to Chattanooga, Tennessee, with a stop at the AGLCA Rondevouz along the way. The shoreline in this section of the river reminds me alot of the upper Mississippi, with more houses and more boats, even this late in the year.

Lots of action in the marina we are in tonight, music in the bar, and a bass fishing contest with 150 boats participating began today. After a month aboard, we have settled back into the cruising life and are enjoying it immensely. We're glad to say it's as much fun as it was the first time around, perhaps not quite the excitement, but maybe a bit more relaxed so far this time.

Green Turtle Bay

2011-10-16T18:12:00.000-04:00

We've had a great week at Green Turtle Bay Marina in Grand Rivers Kentucky. I apologize to the readers because I've taken very few pictures and not much to report, so this will be a quick read. This is the land entrance to the Marina and Resort. Along with 450 boat slips, there are 80 condos, health and fitness center, 2 restaurants, full service boat yard and great ships store over acres of wooded hills and trails.

Kentucky Lake, 184 miles long, was formed when the north flowing Tennessee River was dammed in the 1940's. Twenty years later, Barkley Lake was formed by damming the Cumberland River. The two beautiful lakes run parallel to each other and are connected at the north end by a free flowing canal. The Land between the Lakes National Recreation Area is the pennisula that was formed. If you check a road map of western Kentucky, you can get a visual idea of the amount of water and the 3000 miles of shoreline that form this recreation and water sports mecca. Green Turtle Bay is a Looper favorite so we've met lots of new friends and had a little social hour the other night with crews from about 12 boats attending.

One event that occurred here was a "first time ever" for the captain. We had a very small leak at the rear of the transmission and actually hired a mechanic from the marina to fix it !!! Steve said, "I could get used to this" as we had breakfast at one of the on site restaurants while the work was done.

Today we rented a golf cart for a few hours and toured all over both the Resort and the town. After lunch and a trip to the grocery, we're watching a little football. We have cable TV and great WiFi and the bathrooms and laundry have been completely redone in excellent fashion since our last visit here in 2009. We only stayed a couple of rainy and cold days then, so this long, sunny visit has been a great opportunity to fully appreciate this area. I leave you with this sunrise seen from the back deck and best hopes for the Vikings on Sunday Night Football.

Tonight Nan and Jack join us for tacos and tomorrow we depart to the south (but going upstream) on the Tennessee River.

Kentucky Lakes

2011-10-09T22:33:00.000-04:00

The last time we went by the St. Louis Arch, it was cloudy and cold, the worst possible for taking pictures. 80 degrees and sunny this time. There are no places to stop in St. Louis, so the view from the River was as close as we got.

Hoppies Marine Service is the last marina for fuel or dockage for at least 225 miles so almost everyone stops there for a night. Built on top of several barges and right on the main channel of the Mississippi, Hoppie's has its own charm, but little in the way of amenities. The cleats, however, are more than adequate.

After Hoppies, the next recommended anchorage is 110 miles downstream. The last time we traveled this route, we made this stretch in record time with the aid of a fast current that we attributed to abnormally high water. It seemed like the current was just as fast this time, even with low water, but we left at first light anyway to make sure we had enough daylight. Here's the sunrise as we departed.

Ten hours of driving so Steve actually let me take the helm for a spell. We passed many large tows going in both directions. Fortunately the River is quite wide here and there's room for all. In this picture you can see three of them and they are all moving.

With the water down, wingdams were clearly visible.

Here's an interesting chevron shaped "wingdam", another attempt to control the waters of the Mississippi, but certainly could take out a prop or outdrive if one were to stray out of the channel during high water when they are can't be seen like this.

As we neared Mile 0 on the Upper Mississippi, where the Ohio enters it, we approached this long S curve. If one were to stay on the Miss, this is how most of the Lower Miss looks. Steve's new electronic toy is an AIS receiver. Working through the VHF radio, it alerts us to commercial watercraft within VHF radio range. Each little black triangle seen on the chartplotter represents a towboat. The Ohio is BUSY.... if you click on the triange, it tells you the name of the boat along with direction and speed. Quite fun and useful little gadget, actually. Note also our speed of 12.3 MPH, pretty fast for an 8 mph trawler.

When we turned into the Ohio, upstream, it was like putting on the breaks and we were barely making 7 mph. We passed this cargo ship on the Ohio. 300' long, we had never seen a ship like this on the rivers before.

This is a view of the Olmsted Locks, still under construction on the Ohio. When complete, they will replace 2 older locks that will be removed. It's a massive project that can't possibly be shown in one photo, but this one shows the locks (structure on left) and part of the dam (white structure on right).

After about 50 miles on the Ohio, we turned into the Tennesee River. We had taken the Cumberland River last time, so yippee, a new waterway. We went by Paducah, Kentucky, no marinas here, but check out how high up that flood wall is, way up by the trees.

After a short pleasant cruise with much less current on the Tennesee, we approached the Kentucky Lock. With a 57 foot lift, this is a very high lock. This lock carries all the local towboat traffic so cruisers often have to wait hours to lock through, but the lockmaster kindly let four of us pleasure boats lock through in front of this tow.

After we cleared the lock, we took a turn to starboard and docked at the Kentucky Dam Marina, a huge marina, with good prices, great WiFi, and even cable TV. It's a very sleepy little place, however, so tomorrow we are moving to Green Turtle Bay Marina for a week stay. We are meeting our old buddies, Jack and Nan aboard the intrepid Eschaton, their 37' Gibson that took them around the Great Loop. We've traveled over 900 miles in three weeks, so are ready to slow it down a bit and enjoy the Tennesee River.

Glorious Grafton

2011-10-04T20:39:00.000-04:00

We've made to another "destination" on this cruise, Grafton, IL, at the confluence of the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers. But first, to backtrack at little, wanted to post this picture of Lock 19 at Keokuk, IA. At 1200' long, it's twice as long as all the other Mississippi locks.

A "double" tow (15 barges and one huge tow boat) can all fit into this lock without breaking in two like they do for the normal 600' locks. Here's a double waiting at the door for us to exit. As you can see there's alot going on here, an open train bridge above, the tow waiting, and the little Shingebiss sneaking out.

The river is full of upstream double tows and we waited 1-2 hours for almost every lock over the next couple of days. The only other pleasure boats were the duck hunters and fishermen who had Asian carp jumping in their wakes. Guess the carp are migrating up the Mississippi, but not nearly as plentiful as on the Illinois. We heard 'em bumping up against our hull in this peaceful anchorage above Hannibal, MO.

The next morning as we rounded the corner toward Hannibal, we saw this amazing bank of fog ahead of us.

Surrounded by blue sky, it looked like a fluffy cloud that had dropped from above.

After a mile or two of driving by radar at a very slow speed, the fog cloud lifted and we were greeted by this beautiful bluff.

Our final anchorage on this leg was also very peaceful and calm, with this panoramic view. Note the entire double tow can be seen.

The bluffs are back, the weather remains sunny with highs around 80 and lows around 50, and as we are just north of the St. Louis area, we are seeing more pleasure boats. These boats are replicas of the Nina and Pinta and are traveling the river systems. I spoke briefy to one of the captains in the laundry room today. He told me they have already done the Loop three times and were up the Mississippi and to Hudson, WI last summer. We hadn't ever heard of them before, but they were doing a brisk business giving $8 tours of the boats and said they gave 10,000 tours in Hudson.

Almost all Loopers stop at Grafton Harbor as it marks the end of their Illinois River cruise and the start of their experience on the mighty Miss. It's a good place to reprovision, do some laundry, and fill water tanks. We did all that today along with a Looper Social Hour with crew from Inconceivable and Blue Line. It's great to again sit around and talk boats and cruising the loop.

from Hannibal

2011-10-01T21:17:00.000-04:00

The weather took a turn for the worse as we cruised to the Quad Cities. Pouring rain, so we were driving at the lower helm. I went out to place the fenders for Lock 14 and oh dear, the bimini top on the flybridge had blown down and looked trashed. After a dismal lockthrough, we pulled into Safe Harbor where Looper buddies, Tom and Diann have their condo and adjacent dock. Readers might recall them from our Great Loop Adventures. It was great to see them again and be so warmly welcomed into their first class harbor and gorgeous condo. Tom and Steve went to assess the damage to the bimini, it wasn't as bad as first appeared and Steve thought he had a way to fix it. We all took a ride to the grocery and hardware store. Diann is a great cook and she served us a delicious dinner and breakfast the next morning.

Steve and Tom went to work on the bimini and Diann and I did a little yoga. More rain was forcasted and after a week of travel days, we decided to take a break and stay another night. Bimini repaired and all relaxed and refreshed, we went to dinner at the Lindsay Park Yacht Club, joined by Tom and Diann's neighbors and good friends, Ron and Carol Lee. Great fun, great food and lots of good conversation. We bought fuel the next day at about $1 more a gallon that we had paid on our Loop. We passed by Muscatine the next day, one of our favorite stops on our previous fall trips, but their harbor is too shallow to get into.

On to Burlington where again our usual stop did not have enough water for our shallow 3' draft, so we stayed free at Big Muddy's Restaurant dock. The next morning, SUN came out.

The Fort Madison Bridge (trains on the bottom, cars on top) is one of the few bridges we have to request to be opened.

We passed by Navoo, a huge historic Morman temple and early settlement.

We stayed at the Keokuk Yacht Club, a fun little place with very narrow entrance.

Tonight we are anchored above Hannibal, MO because their Municipal Marina is being dredged. The weather was in the 60's today, but sunny and calm. It was a long day, 55 miles and three locks, at 2 of them we waited over an hour. I uploaded these pics while we waited for one, so I'm going to post this now, let Steve have the air card, and will have more pics when we get to Grafton. Should be there in two more travel days. This part of the River is pretty desolate with towns and marinas few and far between. The banks are still lined with trees and a few cabins, but the bluffs are gone and the scenery is rather monotonous. The good news is that the downstream current is giving us a another couple of miles an hour. Last fall when we brought the boat home in an unusual fall flood, it took away at least three miles an hour. So with our base speed of 8 mph, we are traveling about twice as fast as we did last fall. Downstream is GOOD.

Back on the Mississippi

2011-09-25T23:11:00.000-04:00

The Shingebiss and her crew of Captain Steve, Admiral Liz and Lucy the Boat Cat are back cruising. We've missed the cruising life so decided to take the boat south and find a place to winter aboard. Currently she is "For Sale" (see trawlersmidwest.com for our listing). Yes, we want a bigger boat and would like to spend more years cruising, but if she doesn't sell, we might as well enjoy the waterways on her. It was great to be back out on the River with the towboats.

The first two cruising days were warm and sunny. This is Red Wing, MN, one of the delightful river towns that are a favorite stop for cruisers, bikers, and tourists.

Wabasha, MN, boasts the National Eagle Center, a gorgeous building on the banks of the river. Wabasha's other "claim to fame" is that the movie Grumpy Old Men was filmed in their town.

The Eagle Center has beautiful landscaping with a waterfall flowing right into the river.

Wabasha was decorating the town for Halloween with these whimsical pumpkin people. We loved them and had post a few in the blog.

After two days, the weather turned cloudy and cool, although not as cold as our trip down in October of '09. We haven't seen many other boats out, but did pass the Wyaconda, the US Coast Guard Buoy Tender that works from Dubuque, IA to the Twin Cities, placing the red and green buoys that mark the channel.

Every now and then we got a break in the clouds. The stretch of river between Dubuque and the Twin Cities is lined with bluffs, thick green trees and lots of beauty. There dozens of inviting sand beaches, possibly left after the exceptionally long (5 months) of high water this past spring.

We've been staying at marinas (so we can run the heat at night), but yesterday our plans to stay at the Dubuque Ice Harbor, one of our favorites, did not work out as the docks are under construction. It was early, so we moved on to this courtesy dock in Bellevue, IA. We hadn't visited Bellevue before, so walked up the stairway to town and had dinner at a local cafe. No electricity at this dock, but we were toasty sleeping with multiple layers of fleece and down piled on. First thing in the morning the generator is fired up, followed by heat and coffee. Then it's up to the flybridge for another day's cruise.

This lovely tour boat passed us by today. More clouds, cool weather and even some rain.

We stopped early today at the Clinton Marina, a great little harbor where we met some of the local boaters, showed them our boat and shared tales of river cruising. We are now about half way to Grafton, IL, where the Illinois River flows into the Mississippi, and then we will be back on the Great Loop. Even though we are not headed for a second Loop completion at this time, we're still Loopers and looking forward to meeting any current Loopers on that great waterway.

Home Sweet Home

2010-09-18T12:57:00.033-04:00

The beautiful scenery and clear skies continued through our final three cruising days.

We still had a few locks to go through, but we had no delays.

During the trip, we wondered if we would still appreciate our home cruising grounds after all we saw. In fact, we were asked more than once, usually by the "salt water" boaters, if people really boated on the Upper Mississippi. We tolerate a short season, locks and trains, but are rewarded with beautiful scenery, daily bald eagle sightings, no crowds, and friendly towns.

On the shores of Lake Pepin, we stopped to visit long time friends and Gold Loopers Mark and JoAnn and were treated to a fabulous dinner and great conversation.

Our final stop was Treasure Island Marina located on a beautiful backwater above Lock 3. We filled up the fuel tank for the last time and tied up at the mostly empty transient dock.

Later that evening, Larry arrived in WyLaWay, a 25' Rosborough in which he and his wife completed the Loop a few years ago. We enjoyed meeting him and having more "Looper Chat".

The Army Corps of Engineers is doing a major revision of the upper approach to Lock 3. They were hard at work loading sand from this huge pile of dredgings and bringing it to the construction site for fill.

As we neared home, the welcoming party aboard the Spirit of 76 appeared ...

... with neighbors Mark and Cheryl and Mark's parents Bob and Rose aboard.

Mark took excellent care of our lawn, plowed the snow, and kept watch over our house while we were gone and it all looked great as we approached. Thanks Mark !!

Lucy didn't want to come up to the house at first, so we went up without her and found a bucket of mail and welcome home package from Sue and Ron, who managed our mail all year. Thanks Ron !! Our friend Debbie gave us a most welcome going away present last year ... she cleaned our house the day before we arrived home and it looked great ... what a treat to come home to a clean house. Thanks Debbie !!

Here are few statistics from our trip:

miles traveled: 6705 miles
locks transited: 148
fuel purchased: 2111 gallons
average fuel consumption: 3.2 mpg (with generator use) or 2.13 gallons per hour (gph)
gone 347 days and traveled 181 of those days (52%)
averaged 37 miles per travel day at an average speed of 6.8 mph
stayed in marinas 181 nights (52%)
anchored out 86 nights (25%)
tied to free docks (including Erie Canal walls) 26 nights (8%)
floated on mooring balls 14 nights (4%)
spent 28 nights at the rented house at Cudjoe Key (8%)
tied to Canadian Park canal walls 11 nights (3%)
visited 20 states and one Canadian Province
stayed within our budget of $100/day overall
had only one significant mechanical problem (never had to be pulled out)

We've been home for almost a week now and are adjusting to "life after looping". Our house feels like a mansion and we love the daily conveniences like a car, big frig, our own laundry and unlimited water and electricity ... and watching the Twins on HD. We're looking forward to attending our first game at Target Field, thanks to nephew Jim and Pam.

It truly was the "trip of a lifetime" and writing the blog has been very fun for me (Liz). We've enjoyed all your comments and e-mails and we were glad that we could share some of it with you. If you want to read more about the loop, visit http://www.greatloop.org/ and you can find a list of other public looper blogs to read ... and if you dream of looping, go for it. Safe cruising to all !!!

Minnesota !!!

2010-09-11T13:18:00.035-04:00

After exiting the lock at the Quad Cities, we waved good bye to great Looper friends, Tom and Diann (Noah Genda), as they headed for Lindsay Park Yacht Club to make their triumphant return.

We had stayed the previous night at the Muscatine Municipal Marina. There was no one at the gas dock to pay, thus beginning a string of six "free dock" nights.

In the Quad Cities, we stayed at Isle of Capri Casino Marina ... no charge for dockage, but paid $10 for electric ... also ate a good $11 buffet at the Casino.

Although the current had let up a bit, we had three days of strong south winds. During the worst of it, sustained winds were up to 25 mph and gusts to 35. The autopilot has a difficult time steering the boat in following seas and that's what we had ... a disadvantage of the single engine ... the human pilot and first mate didn't like it very much either.

Since then, however, we've had a great run of mostly sunny days with cool nights. At Sabula, we found this small public dock available, but the ramp to shore was missing ... we stayed anyway.
With all the great new places we've visited in the past year, we almost forgot about the beauty of the upper Mississippi. The shoreline is mostly undeveloped except for the small towns and a little industry. It is unfortunate that most Loopers experience the Mississippi only on the stretch from the Illinois River to the Ohio River intersections, not the most cruiser friendly segment. It's alot different on the upper Miss, but it's a long "side trip" and not many cruising boats come up here. There are few pleasure boats after Labor Day and the barge traffic has also diminished so we are pushing through the remaining locks in a timely manner ... eat, sleep, drive.

We had locked through behind this graceful tour boat during one of the strong wind days. We provided a little entertainment for the passengers as we worked to keep the boat on the lock wall. Steve kept the engine running in reverse, but we still were holding onto our ropes with all we had. The next day, they passed us going back downstream in calmer waters.

In Dubuque, we stopped at the "Ice Harbor", where entrance is through these double gates into the man made basin. The town is protected from high water by a tall levy and the gates can be closed to complete the barrier during a flood.

Along with a few commercial boats and USCG boats, there are 24 brand new slips, no charge, mostly empty. The very new National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium is adjacent to the Harbor, so we paid a visit. We've been in many museums on this trip and this one rates among the top we've seen. Very interactive and high tech, with all sorts of exhibits about our river system. The humongous blue cat fish in the aquarium are absolutely worth the price of admission ... we couldn't see it all in the two hours we had left until closing.

The museum is at MM 579.5. These day markers are alot bigger than they appear to be when you pass them in your boat.

The William M. Black is an old steam powered dredge boat that can be toured at the museum.

There are also 3D theaters, a working boat shop, and several more exhibits that we'll have to return to at another time. After a walk through town and a dinner aboard, we let Lucy out for her evening exploration, from which she always returns ... but this time she didn't. We searched for an hour and it was getting dark. Out on the dock, we both heard a faint little "meow", then heard it again. We hung our heads over the dock and there she was, wet from her fall in the water. but she had rescued herself by climbing up onto the black plastic floats under the dock. What a relief to find her and pull her out ... that was the evening I was going to blog, but couldn't get it done after the stress of not being able to find our loyal boat kitty. The next day was a little cloudy as the gorgeous high rock bluffs that are prominent in the river banks above Dubuque started to appear.

We passed by this concept boat that has been built by http://www.rivercitiescondos.com/ as a single condo model for their grand dream. They want to build a boat of individual condos that will cruise the river systems year round and are traveling the rivers to promote their interesting idea. Maybe we can all sign up after we are unable to pilot our own boats ...

Next stop was in Guttenberg, one of our favorite towns. Last fall, they had started building their municipal marina and now it's done, so we grabbed a slip and went in search of someone to pay. We ended up at City Hall where we learned that overnight dockage is FREE this year since it's so new. It's a dandy little marina.

Last night brought us to Lansing, last town in Iowa, where we pulled up to this concrete wall and tied off for the night. The historical building is a little inn.

This morning we were allowed to lock through between two single tows heading upstream, very nice.

We stopped tonight at the Sunset Marina in Trempealeau, WI to visit Joe on his Lord Nelson Tug. Joe and Arvilla did the Loop a few years ago, so it was fun to share stories with him. As Steve was walking down the dock, one of the guys at the Saturday night dock party asked him where he was from. When he answered "Minnesota", the guy said, "you didn't come very far". Steve paused and said, "well, actually....."

Mississippi MM 404.5

2010-09-04T17:27:00.009-04:00

As soon as we turned the corner into the Mississippi, we knew it was going to be a long, slow haul. The current was about 2.5 to 3 mph, so our SOG (speed over ground) was reduced to 5 to 5.5 mph ... a 30% reduction in our baseline speed, which is pretty slow to begin with. The water has been high on this stretch since June, and everyone we met told us it was almost back to normal, but the current persisted for the first four days of our upstream trek. With the high water and swift current, the river bottom has been rearranged and is shoaling all over the place. We saw this Army Corps of Engineers dredge at work bringing the channel back to its 9 foot depth so the tow boats can get through.

We waited 2 hours at both of the 2 locks we went through the first day. Along with a fuel stop, we traveled only 40 miles in 11 hours ... a new record of slowness. At the first 4 locks we went through, the dam gates were all wide open, sending as much water downstream as possible. Those locks normally have a 10-15 foot lift, but we only went up about 6 inches in each of them. The second day we heard a Coast Guard announcement on the radio that the river was "closed" due to dredging at mile 305. The announcements of areas being dredged usually say "mariners should transit with caution", so this was a concern ... would they let us through? As we approached the "closed" section the next day, we saw these 4 double tows pushed to the side waiting to transit.

We called the dredge boat on the VHF and received our instructions on where to transit the area ... whew !! They were dredging with a "scoop", unusual on the river, it must have been quite shallow as the scoop didn't look like they were dropping it too deep into the water.

After each barge was filled with "spoils", a smaller tow boat hauled it away.

We had heard that the Des Moines River was the main source of all the extra water coming down. The Des Moines joins the Mississippi just below Keokuk ... as we approached, the current increased another mph. Now we were really crawling, and as we passed the mouth we were pushed sideways as the Des Moine emptied its water into the Mississippi. At Keokuk, there is a highway bridge, a RR bridge with low clearance that we needed to open and then the doors to the lock. The lock is also unique as it is 1200 feet long (most of the other Mississippi locks are 600 feet) so that a double tow can go through all at once. It also has a high lift of 38 feet.

Above the lock is this hydro electric plant, one of the few on the Mississippi.

Keokuk Lake is a wide area of the river and the home of the Keokuk Yacht Club, our destination for the night. A very active bunch of boaters, they were celebrating their "Summer's Over Bash" with a steak fry and a live band. It's definitely one of the best boating stops on this section of the river. Looper friends Tom and Diann (Noah Genda) were also there with family aboard for the weekend and we all enjoyed a good steak dinner.

Tonight we are in Burlington, IA, another one of the places we stopped last fall on our way down. Here's the downtown as seen from the river. It's a cute little river town, but we probably didn't fully appreciate its charm last fall ... this was the place where we had our one and only breakdown ... stuck for a week in 40 degree temperatures.

The weather is perfect and with "normal" current, we are traveling at 7 mph. Burlington marks about one third of the way ... started from ~ mile 200, now at ~ mile 400 and home is mile 830 ... so we're still aiming for mid-September.

Grafton Harbor

2010-08-30T13:49:00.008-04:00

Grafton Harbor offers a great "stay 4 nights, get 3 free" deal, so we decided to take full advantage of it while we waited for the Mississippi water levels to drop. With 7 Loop boats in the harbor, a potluck seemed in order ... delicious as always and we assembled after dinner for this group shot.

The next day, we launched the dinghy to have a look at the current. Here's a view of Grafton Harbor from the water. The small white building at the top of the hill (above the apartment building) is Aerie's Winery and Restaurant. Diann (Noah Genda) had arranged for their shuttle to pick us all up for dinner that night.

Out on the main Mississippi Channel, our hand held GPS measured a current of 2.5 mph.

The weather is hot and the pool is delightful.

The shuttle from Aries picked up 8 of us for dinner ... great view. The islands in the middle separate the Mississippi from the Illinois, with the Illinois River in the foreground. The two rivers run almost parallel and curl around at the confluence.

Great food and good company.

Here are 5 of the Looper boats at the marina. We are situated right across from the gas dock and the runabout dock ... this weekend was busy, busy. People are constantly in and out, gassing up, eating at the restaurant and walking through town. It's was quite entertaining sitting on the boat watching the action.

As of today, all but us and the red tug (Freedom) have left. Of course, all but us and Noah Genda are heading south, so it's a bit sad and nostalgic to watch them go. We've met so many wonderful new friends on this trip ... sure will miss them and all the adventures.

Great Loop Complete !!!

2010-08-26T21:08:00.013-04:00

We set out early to make it through the Peoria Lock and after only an hour wait, we made it through with 4 other Looper boats. This was the lock under repair and currently open only limited hours.

Everywhere we cruise, there are recreational boaters out enjoying American and Canadian waters and the Illinois River is no exception. Even with the Asian carp jumping in the wakes of almost every small boat we see, these folks are still out boating on the weekend.

The heat wave broke and we've had beautiful weather with 80's by day and 60's by night ... worked out well for us since the lower half of the Illinois has very few marinas, so we had to anchor out for a couple of nights. The mornings were cool and lovely.

We locked through our last lock on the Illinois with this small tow. In all our years of boating on the Mississippi, neither Steve nor I could recall ever locking through with a tow.

Here's one of the old deserted Illinois River locks.

There are also alot of abandoned sunken barges on the Illinois. Judging by the size of the trees growing in this one, we'd say it's been here for quite a while.

We pulled into Grafton Harbor with our good Looper friends, Tom and Diann (Noah Genda) who had began their Loop at their home port near the Quad Cities (on the Mississippi). We were all pretty excited because Grafton marked the completion of the Great Loop for both Noah Genda and Shingebiss. We had ordered our gold burgee (signifying successful completion of one Loop) to be sent to Grafton Harbor. We decided to have a spontaneous "gold burgee raising ceremony" and invited the crews of the six other Looper boats that were in the marina to come and celebrate with us. Here we are with our new burgee.

Grafton Harbor is located at the confluence of the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers where the waters are wide and filled with small islands. As we approached the marina, the current increased from about 1 mph to 3 mph because the Mississippi is flooding north of here. Even though we've completed our Loop, we still have to travel 600 upstream miles on the mighty Miss to get home. We're watching the river levels, both on the NOAA web site and via a mark Steve put on the spud pole in front of us, and won't be leaving until the water drops significantly. While we wait, we're enjoying our leisure time and all the accoutrements (including great WiFi, pool, and courtesy car) at this neat little marina.

If you are still following along, here's a little refresher map showing where we were at the beginning of each of the past 12 months. The black line traces the waterways we traveled. The lighter lines show alternate Loop routes.

The Loop is complete, but the blog will continue until we get home ... hoping for mid-September.

Flat Brown Water

2010-08-20T16:04:00.022-04:00

One more look at the Monroe Harbor breakwater as we head toward the Chicago Harbor Lock for our much anticipated cruise through downtown Chicago. We had experienced one of the Chicago Architectural Boat Tours with our friends Sue and Ron, so we knew it would be a very special part of our Loop.

The Chicago Harbor Lock is right around the corner from Monroe Harbor. Note the large metallic structure on the right. Designed to resemble a Great Lakes ship, it serves as the Lockmasters Building.

After the Lock, we passed under the Lake Shore Drive Bridge. We will go under 40 bridges in the next five miles.

We are now in the Chicago River with both banks lined with sky scrapers and a river walk running along side. This was our view to port ...

... and this was our view straight ahead.

Tucked among the sky scrapers are older brick buildings and many restaurants overlooking the River.

About two miles inland the River forks into the South Branch and the North Branch. We turned into the South Branch which looked like this.

The South Branch goes right by the Sears Tower, seen in this picture looking back.

This Amtrak Bridge is only 10' off the water and it does not lift during rush hour, so we timed our arrival to be after 9 am.

After this bridge the River takes a turn to the southwest, and the industry begins. Here's a sample of one ... a power plant.

The Chicago River is linked to the Illinois River via the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. In the early 1900's the good people of Chicago realized that taking their drinking water out of Lake Michigan and also sending their sewage that way via the River was not such a good idea. So the Chicago River was reversed via locks and canals, and eventually routed into the southern flowing Illinois River (and then the Mississippi). At the same time, the shipping canal was created and Loopers now have a way to return to the Rivers from the Great Lakes. The old canal walls are kinda neat, but there are signs all along this section that caution against swimming, jet skiing, wading, tubing or any human contact with this water .... hmmmm ...

The current Lake Michigan challenge is to keep the Asian Carp from entering the Lake. The Army Corps of Engineers is maintaining an electrical current "fish barrier" on the Illinois River that is either working or it's not, depending on who you talk to. There is a sign telling boats to call the Coast Guard on their VHF radio before they transit the barrier. We heard other boats call and the CG read them the rules for passing through the barrier. For example, boats under 20 feet cannot pass, passengers must get into the cabin of the boat (or wear a life jacket) and remain seated, and give a security call on your radio before you enter ... so we did because we didn't want to face fines and/or imprisonment.

We stopped for the night at Joliet, where the city has a free wall, with electric. There is alot of barge traffic and they passed quite close to us here.

It's a bit of a relief to get off Lake Michigan's big waves, although we miss the beautiful water and Steve really enjoyed the planning necessary for "big water" cruising. We've been staying in marinas because they are reasonably priced and we need the AC once we stop for the night. We've been traveling for a few days with Woody and Judy, from Maine. Woody is a retired lobsterman who bought the hull for their boat and built the rest himself.

The waterway runs 327 miles from Chicago to Grafton where it enters the Mississippi. We're currently about half way and the shoreline is much less industrial and quite pretty in parts ...

... some big rock cliffs.

Most of the tows are three long with one towboat, so they put the three barges in the lock and unhook the towboat and put it into the lock beside the barges. We've had to wait an hour or more at almost every lock. At one they told us to tie up to one of the "dolphins" above the lock to wait. Lucy had to get out and eat a little grass that was growing in the cracks.

Captain Steve is back in his element passing tow boats.

We passed by this marina where the owner is collecting old paddleboats.

The Illinois River is low as shown by these exposed tree roots.

Our next lock is Peoria where the lock is under repair and boats are only being locked through from 5 pm until 7 am. With the amount of barge traffic, they are busy with barges all night and we don't want to run at night anyway. On Sundays, however, they lock boats through all day, so we are spending Friday and Saturday night at the Eastport Marina and taking a little break from our long days of travel. Tonight we had free tacos at the bar and a swim in the pool, so it's not a bad place to wait it out. Here's a 13 second video of the Chicago River skyscrapers, a definite highlight of our trip.

Monroe Harbor, Chicago

2010-08-16T20:59:00.016-04:00

Good ol' Lake Michigan had to show us one more time who's the boss around here with 2-3 foot waves when only one foot were predicted. Oh well, it was our last day on the big water and it was a memorable one.

The Chicago skyline can be seen at about 20 miles out ... here's what we saw about 5 miles out.

We came into Monroe Harbor on a Sunday, the final day of the Chicago Air and Water Show. Our assigned mooring ball was right on the edge of the wide entrance that splits the North and South Harbors. After securing the boat to the mooring ball, we were hopeful that the wave action would smooth out. It seemed like every boat in the harbor was out for the day and as they all came back in the wakes continued to rock us almost as if we were still out on the Lake. We've been in several mooring fields on this trip and this is the first one that was NOT a "no wake" zone.

We had a great view of Buckingham Fountain right from the boat.

By dark, both the wind and the boat wakes settled down as we enjoyed the lights of the spectacular Chicago skyline. The next morning, we launched the dinghy and took some pictures of Shingebiss on her mooring ball.

To go ashore, however, we opted to use the Monroe Tender service and be picked up at our boat. These nimble little double ended tenders run around the harbor from 7 am 'til 3 am bringing boaters out and back to their moored boats. We found the service to be efficient and friendly.

Our first stop ashore was Millenium Park, built in 2004. The beautiful amphitheater has concerts all summer and seats over 11,000 people.

The "Bean" is the most popular feature of the park. This unique mirrored sculpture delights young and old as they walk around and under it, checking out the reflections.

Here's our reflection in the Bean as I take the picture.

We walked over one of the many, many Chicago River bridges that we will pass under when we transit this river tomorrow.

Down on the Riverwalk, we passed by this fountain.

For the first ten minutes of every hour, the "water arc" is turned on ... not knowing what it was, we had to wait around to find out. Here it is.

We walked out to the end of Navy Pier, with it's dozens for restaurants and tour boats. Our final stop was back to Buckingham Fountain. One of the largest fountains in the world, it was designed in France and donated to Chicago by the Buckingham family in 1928. It's so huge, you can't get it all in one picture.

Our all day walk had taken us to our favorite highlights on the Chicago lakefront. It's a great city and we're very excited to cruise through the Chicago River tomorrow.

50 mile days

2010-08-13T20:04:00.009-04:00

We've completed our journey down the east coast of Lake Michigan and are currently in Michigan City, Indiana, with plans to head for Chicago. The Lake gave us one more day of big waves that were not predicted at all, but we've had three perfect cruising days since then with sunny, hot, humid, and calm weather. We stopped in three more Michigan Harbors: Ludington, Muskegon, and South Haven. All of the towns have breakwaters with cute little lights leading to the harbor ...

... and they all have beautiful sand beaches.

We've been leaving early and encountered a bit of fog on some days, so we are grateful for our broadband radar that lets us monitor other nearby watercraft.

South Haven was a particularly favorite stop. The town is built around a narrow creek that is absolutely crammed with marinas and restaurants. We were fortunate to get a slip.
Looper friends Tom and Diann (Noah Genda) were docked right next to us. We hadn't seen them since NYC, so it was really great to see them again and get caught up. We had a good fish dinner in a local restaurant and enjoyed walking around this fun little town.

We had another long day of cruising ahead of us, so we left early. The South Haven Light was still on ...

... and got to see this lovely sunrise.

We are no longer traveling with Jack and Nan (Eschaton) as they are taking their time completing the Lake Michigan route and we are getting just a bit in a hurry to get home. Spending a night in the Chicago Harbor is about the only "must see" that we have left on our Looper Wish List. The Chicago shoreline has accomodations for 5000 boats, spread over 7 marinas and 1000 mooring balls. A quick review of their website http://www.chicagoharbors.info/ however, and we learned that only about 10% of them are for transients and are usually reserved far in advance, especially over the many festival weekends in Chicago. We are on a waiting list for a slip, but have a confirmed reservation for two nights on a mooring ball.

The marina we are in tonight is also pretty big, 600 slips. Just look at how long this dock is ...

We're sitting in the AC, listening to the Twins (alone in first place, at least for a day) and thinking we'll be home by mid-September, which will require us to keep moving at a pretty good pace.

Big Waves & Big Dunes

2010-08-08T16:00:00.008-04:00

Lake Michigan was quite cantankerous this past week, we ended up spending 3 nights in Leland waiting for the waves to settle down. The beaches on this shore of the Lake continue to amaze us, with their fine sand and turquoise water. Here's the beach just north of Leland.

Five Looper boats had come in that day and all reported that they had gotten pretty whipped around. We had a Looper gathering that evening and the next day they all headed south. The predictions didn't seem that bad and we were getting anxious to go ... so off we went. We passed by Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore, with its huge pristine sand dunes.

The waves were 2-3 feet, some larger, and that is about as big as we care to be in. After hearing the wave height reports from the Looper boats ahead of us, Eschaton turned back, but we went on. It was a pretty uncomfortable ride, hanging on with both hands, but the sun was out and Shingebiss handled it well. We passed by Betsie Point Lighthouse ...

... and these humongous sand cliffs just before our destination of Frankfort.

We were happy to enter the breakwater and the short man made cut into protected Betsie Lake.

The City Marina was full so we dropped the anchor just a short distance away in hopes of getting into the marina today. But no one left the marina and the few boats that ventured out from the other marinas (including a 60+' tour boat) almost all turned back as the seas were higher today. We took the dinghy out to (but not through) the breakwater this morning, where I snapped dozens of pictures just to get this perfect shot of the waves breaking over the wall.

On the north side of the breakwater are the dunes in the panoramic above with this beach at the base. The folks in the water look tiny in the big waves.

Even in the protected basin, the boat has been bouncing around since we got here. It's late afternoon and its finally settling down. Predictions for the coming week are for the waves to be 1-2 feet on some of the weather web sites that we monitor and less than 1 foot on others. We like to see that !!! Frankfort has a lovely park adjacent to the marina and we're getting ready to take the dinghy in for a Looper dinner gathering this evening and plan to move on tomorrow. We're sure Eschaton will catch up in a day or two.

NE Lake Michigan

2010-08-05T10:33:00.012-04:00

We're about one third of the way down the east coast of Lake Michigan and so far, it's been a great place to cruise. This arial shows the three connected bodies of water that make Charlevoix a unique place for boating. At the very bottom of the photo is a sliver of Lake Michigan, then the short canal that takes you into Round Lake, which is ringed with marinas and private docks. The next canal leads to Lake Charlevoix, about 14 miles long. We anchored for one night in the narrow cove in the lower left corner of Lake Charlevoix while we were waiting for our slip to become available.

Reservations can be made at the majority of the Michigan Harbors, but it costs $8 extra to reserve and if you cancel for any reason, another $10 ... or you can take your chances on one of the "drop in" slips. Charlevoix is the second most popular stop on the circuit, so we thought we'd better reserve. It was worth it. The building below is the new marina building, with the play fountain in front of it, beautifully landscaped and the main street of the town just steps away.

We biked up the walking path next to the canal to visit the beach on the Lake Michigan side...

... and then through the pretty town to this beach on Lake Charlevioux. This is definitely a vacation town.

Here's a view of Round Lake.

Adjacent to the marina is the amphitheater where we were treated to a Charlevoix City Band concert ... we thought the best seat in the house was right on our flybridge.

With waves about 1-2 feet we left early the next day for Leland Township Marina, where they do not take reservations. It's all first come, first serve ... they won't assign you a slip until your boat enters the harbor. We had called and been told that many boats were leaving and we should try to get there between 11 and noon. As we approached the harbor, three huge cruisers were roaring up behind us, but we all made it in and all got slips. By afternoon, they were rafting up boats all over the place, they never turn anyone away. The marina is all brand new and their marina building is also gorgeous, with a big covered porch lined with Adirondack rockers.

Leland has a long history of fishing and is still home to a large charter fleet and a few commercial fishing boats. Where the Leland River meets Lake Michigan (right next to the marina) we discovered Fishtown. This marvelous collection of old fishing shanties, previously used by the commercial fishermen in the early 1900's, has been revitalized by the Fishtown Preservation Society and houses shops and restaurants, along with the Carlson Fish Company.

Here's one of the shanties close up. On the other side of the river, some shanties have been fixed up as vacation rentals.

This device, I think, is called a net roller.

Leland has it all ... beaches, groceries, fabulous bakery all within walking distance. Last night this string quintet performed a lovely concert in town.

The Leland Harbor is on the main coast with only this breakwater between us and Lake Michigan. The ferry to Manitou Island takes campers daily over to this popular camping destination. The island can be seen in the distance in this sunset picture.

Like Minnesota, it's a short boating and vacation season in Northern Michigan and people are all squeezing in as much fun as possible. The docks are full of boats and boater (lots of big performance cruisers and sailboats) and vacationers walking the docks. Lucy sits on the front deck and soon a crowd gathers, they seem amazed to see a cat on a boat. Today, it is blowing hard (10-20 knots) and waves of 3-5 feet are being reported, so not too many boats are leaving today and it's rocking even in the slip. Since they don't accept reservations here, they won't kick us out as long as we pay our modest $39 slip fee each morning. We're very impressed with Lake Michigan boating !!

Mackinac Island

2010-08-01T15:09:00.008-04:00

The DeTour Lighthouse has guided ships from Lake Huron to the mouth of the St. Mary's River leading to Lake Superior since 1847. No longer an active lighthouse, it is preserved and open for tours and overnight stays.

We had another sunny, warm, calm day as we headed for the Mackinac Straights and the Mackinaw City Marina. We saw a couple of "lakers" ...

The Mackinac Straights connect Lake Huron to Lake Michigan and Mackinac Island is right in the middle of the Straights. There are three ferry companies each running boatloads of tourists out to the Island and back every half hour. We felt like a turtle crossing the highway dodging them and their large wakes.

The marina at the Island has a reputation for being very wavy because of the ferry wakes and they were full anyway, so we opted to stay at Mackinaw City Marina (just 7 miles away) on the mainland. We walked around the perimeter of the shoreline of this very touristy town and visited several small city parks scattered along the shoreline among the homes.

We got great views of the famous Mackinac Bridge. Yes, the water is really that color, these pictures are unaltered. The bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the world when it was built in 1957, connecting lower Michigan with the Upper Peninsula. The deer hunters were happy because every fall they waited for hours in lines stretching miles to cross to the UP. Seriously, they were instrumental in the drive to get it built.

The next day we took our bikes and rode the ferry to Mackinac Island. 500 people live on the island year round, but about a million visit each year, most of them from June to August. We went up to the Fort which has been immaculately preserved and rebuilt. There are costumed soldiers who shoot off the cannon and the rifles, conduct court marshalls, and even provide musical concerts. We enjoyed a great lunch at the Fort Cafe where we had this view of the harbor.

The Cafe is where you see the yellow umbrellas.

After lunch, we rode our bikes around the eight mile road that runs along the perimeter of the island. No cars are allowed on the island, but there are hundreds of horses (mostly pulling carriages) and thousands of bicycles. As we left the town, we passed by many meticulously maintained and beautifully landscaped homes. This one happens to belong to the Mackinac Island Yacht Club.

We stopped to hike up the hill to Arch Rock.

The views along the road were wonderful, one of the best bike rides ever and so nice to not have to worry about cars coming. It was overcast, but that kept us cool.

We stopped at the ice cream and snack stand that is strategically placed at the four mile mark. As we came back into town, we turned up the hill to see the Grand Hotel. The hotel and gardens are spectacular, but alas, it costs $10 to walk the grounds, so this was a close as we got.

A parting shot of the main street where the carriages, bikes and pedestrians all manage to move without running into each other. It's very entertaining to just sit and watch it all happen.

Today, we had another perfect day as we went under the Mackinac Bridge and entered Lake Michigan.

We are at the Municipal Marina in Petoskey tonight where we scored the last two available slips. Took a tough uphill ride to a "real American supermarket" ... fabulous ... and are now planning our next move.

DeTour Village

2010-07-29T11:09:00.027-04:00

Waiting out the weather in Little Current paid off as the next three days brought us calm waters and sunny skies. We anchored in the Benjamin Islands, a North Channel favorite. The sparkling blue water, pink granite rocks and wind swept pines were picture perfect.

We found a tiny secluded cove and had it all to ourselves.

The wind had kicked up in the afternoon, as it often does here, so we restricted our dinghy exploring to the immediate area. The water was incredibly clear as you can see here.

We found a rocky beach, took a stroll and collected a few rocks.

The small rock island across from the boats was beautifully reflected in the water the next morning.

Leaving the Benjamins, we passed the "Sow and Pigs" rock formations at the entry.

The next day we cruised through Whaleback Channel, off the northern side of the North Channel. Again, spectacular beauty ...

and pristine shoreline.

This is Whaleback Island.

There are hundreds of anchorages in the North Channel and we only got to sample a few, but after one more night's stay in Canada, we set off to re-enter the US. The water was totally calm for our 45 mile crossing of the North Channel, which brought us through islands on the American side. The water had turquoise hues that didn't really show up on the camera. Looks like a palm tree on the shore of this island.

Boats returning from Canada are required to report in at the US Customs Office at the Drummond Island Yacht Haven. Our papers were all in order, so they let us back in ...

... and as we cruised away, I took down the Canadian courtesy flag.

We anchored for the night in a large cove on Harbor Island, part of the UP (upper penisula) of Michigan. It felt good to be back in the USA and in the midwest.

A big blow came through in the night and our anchor, holding both Shingebiss and Eschaton, dragged us back a ways during the night. Good thing there was plenty of room and no boats anchored behind us. After a night of banging and bouncing, we were ready for some quiet at DeTour Village Marina. The marina is located in the DeTour Passage, which connects the North Channel to Lake Huron proper. The Michigan DNR harbor system runs 83 marinas that span all 3000 miles of Michigan Great Lake shoreline. Our slip here was only $35, and that included everything, so we think it's a pretty good deal they have going here in Michigan.

We've toured the entire town, it's small, but charming and hospitable. We've met all sorts of other cruisers here, including this creative bunch of locals who built their craft, powered it with an outboat, and included a wood fired hot tub to provide maximum comfort for the crew. It was dusk when they came by last night, so the picture is fuzzy, but you can clearly see the heads and shoulders of the four in the hot tub. American ingenuity at its best.

Little Current - North Channel

2010-07-23T21:36:00.026-04:00

From Killarney we entered the famed North Channel of Lake Huron. Here's a picture of us cruising, taken by Eschaton. We had a short cruise that day into Covered Portage Cove for our first North Channel anchorage. Note the mountains in the background.

The hills have gotten much higher and have turned to white, we are told they are quartz. Covered Portage Cove is one of the most beautiful anchorages we've ever been in. Because the water is deep to the shore and the anchorages are sometimes crowded, we anchored the boats using the med mooring style. After dropping the bow anchor, Steve brought a long stern line to the shore with the dinghy and tied it to a tree. This was the view from our bow.
Later in the day, we dinghy'd to shore and hiked up a well marked trail to the top. We were rewarded with this spectacular view of the cove.

The next day we were headed for an anchorage at Baie Fine, a 10 mile long "fiord" like gorge. After hearing the wind prediction, we decided to give Baie Fine a "drive by" and then head for a marina. A few miles up the Baie, we dropped the anchor in a small cove with this view across from us.

We hopped into the dinghy and went up the to "the pool" at the end of the Baie where we had this view. Looks like snow capped mountains, eh?
The North Channel, bordered by the mainland of Ontario on the north and Manitoulin Island (the largest fresh water island in the world) on the south, is about 140 miles long and 30 miles wide. The open water makes for great sailing and, like Georgian Bay, the beautiful anchorages are limitless. We are currently spending 3 nights at Little Current Town Marina on Manitoulin Island. Little Current is the largest town on the island and is situated in a narrow passage between the east and west parts of the North Channel. There are hundreds of boats here, all occupied by cruisers who roam the docks meeting, talking and eating ice cream all day long. The marina has a long wide boardwalk along the shore, with picnic tables, big rocks, a party shelter, yacht club, and gardens behind the boardwalk. Here's a couple of shots of the marina.

The main street is just steps away with one of the more interesting shops I've been in. Turners is one of those small town merchandise stores that sells just about everything you can think of, including quality local arts and crafts upstairs. It's been owned by five generations of Turners. I had the pleasure of talking with Debby Turner, who told me more about the history of the family, especially Barney Turner, her father-in-law. It seems that American companies have several times made attempts to cut into and mine the beautiful granite and quartz hills of the area. Thoughout his lifetime, Barney was a leader in the battle to preserve this pristine wilderness, opposing the industry and then lobbying for legislation to ensure its preservation for generations to come. He was a well loved man in the North Channel.

There's always something happening in Little Current. The Yacht Club features a Happy Hour with free snackies every day at the Anchor Inn, the Pantry offeres $5 breakfast and today there's the Mackinaw - Manitoulin sailboat race that will finish right in front of the marina ... should be exciting. Weather permitting, we should be back in the USA in a week at the most.

Georgian Bay - Part 2

2010-07-20T19:02:00.006-04:00

Other Loopers have often told us that "the best is yet to come" in describing Georgian Bay and the North Channel. We did not give it much thought because we were enjoying where ever we were at the time ... but we have to admit now that it's true. We saw far fewer cottages as we cruised to our anchorage in the Bustard Islands. We took the dinghy up this back channel with beautiful rock shores ...

... huge boulders and the pine trees grow right up out of them.

Steve found a wild blueberry patch and we had blueberry pancakes with Nan and Jack.

The next day we had an 18 mile open crossing with flat water and blue skies. We entered Collins Inlet, a 10 mile long narrow cut at the top of Georgian Bay. The rock walls were even higher...

... and higher.

... and the passages were narrow. I took a very short video and it's at the end of this entry.

The town of Killarney, Ontario is an old fishing village in the channel that connects Georgian Bay with the North Channel (both part of Lake Huron). The town was accessible only by water until a road was constructed in 1962. The road is 50 miles from a connecting road, so the town remains fairly isolated except for boaters and those who come to hike and camp in the Killarney Provincial Park. This lighthouse marks the entrance to Killarney Channel.

One of the highlights of a visit to Killarney is a fish and chips dinner at Herberts Fisheries. The fish is caught daily and unloaded from this boat ....

... and fried up with tasty "chips" in this bus.

Big portions and quite tasty.

Other than Herbert's there's not much to see in Killarney and the WiFi at the marina worked so poorly that we couldn't get a blog off, so we set off the next day for some North Channel cruising.

So check out the quick video and don't forget to read the second blog, as i'm again doing two entries.

Georgian Bay - Part 1

2010-07-18T15:09:00.013-04:00

The southeastern end of Georgian Bay is only a couple of hours from Toronto by car and easily accessible from the TSW by boat, so is the most populated part of this incredible cruising ground. Beausoleil Island is the largest island in this section of the Bay and is a Canadian National Park, so that's where we headed for our first anchorage. We were a little surprised to find at least 70 boats anchored in the protected anchorage, but it was a Saturday and by Sunday night all but eight of them had left. We spent the next day hiking on the island and swimming in the clear water.

Georgian Bay is the land of 30,000 islands, not an exaggeration by any measure. The anchorages are plentiful and all the scenery is "drop dead gorgeous". We came through a narrow passage to enter this very pristine and isolated anchorage at Echo Bay. A cloudy day, but still beautiful.

There is a "small craft channel" that runs through the islands with an occasional short outside run. It is very well marked, but the captain must keep constant attention on the markers and the charts with all the twists and turns. Sometimes the channel is quite narrow, this is called Canoe Channel.

Our next anchorage was at Regatta Bay, where we stopped to visit Looper friends, Peter and DiDi We had met them on their boat, Moon Beam, way back at Hoppie's last fall and they invited us to their cottage right across the channel. We dinghy'd over and they gave us the royal treatment, feeding us a delicious dinner and letting us use their car the next day to go for groceries. It was great to see them and share Looper Tales. Here we all are on the deck of their beautiful cottage ...

... and here are the boats at Regatta Bay.

At our next anchorage, Bayfield Inlet, we stayed put for three nights waiting for the winds and waves to settle down enough for us to make an eight mile "outside" run. We had the anchorage to ourselves and did some dinghy exploring in the maze of channels. Most of the cottages are on islands, often only one cottage per island. The cottagers have to come by boat, so there are lots of little boat marinas where they keep the boats and their cars. Today dawned bright and sunny and the winds had settled, so off we went. The scenery remains spectacular. Here are several pictures of the shoreline we went by today.

After our marathon of nine days anchored out, we are in St. Amant's Marina in Britt, Ontario tonight, enjoying the WiFi. I've done two blog entries today, so if you missed the exciting conclusion of the TSW leg, be sure to scroll back. We're about 2/3 of the way up Georgian Bay and will blog again next chance we get.

Trent Severn 12-13

2010-07-18T13:00:00.009-04:00

We got a late start out of Orillia and stopped for a pump out since we located a marina with $10 pumpouts. It's best to ask in Canada what the charge will be; one marina quoted us $45 for this most necessary service, so the $10 was looking pretty good. The western end of the Trent Severn Waterway was the last part to be built. The biggest cut through the granite rock is at McDonald's Cut; imagine excavating this cut by hand in 1905. The day was again cloudy, so the picture does not quite show the beauty of this section of the canal.
We went through Swift Rapids Lock, the tallest one on the TSW, with strong rapids at the bottom end. Our goal was to secure a tie up at the Big Chute, a highlight of the TSW. The lock tender at Swift Rapids called ahead and told us there was room.
These are the rapids next to the Big Chute. Again, cloudy day. The next day was clear and was our last day on the TSW.

The Big Chute was the last lock completed on the TSW. It was originally designed as a "temporary measure" in order to finish the waterway. As you can see, it's really not a lock at all, but a giant "travelift on rails" that you drive your boat onto and they lift it over the land. Here's a 47' Bayliner coming onto the chute car on the upstream side. They tighten the slings to hold the boat in place. They can also divide the slings into two or three abreast to take the smaller boats through. We were there early on a Saturday, so no crowds yet, but they are very efficient.

Once the boat is secure, the Chute comes up on the tracks. The back wheels and front wheels each ride on a separate track, so the boat stays level as it travels uphill to the top, which just happens to cross a road ....

.... and then down the other side, where they lower the slings and you cruise away.

Most newbies, like us, stop to watch it work a couple of times and go to the Visitors Center. We learned that in the 1970's, they were going to replace it with a regular lock. At this time, the lamphrey eel was invading the rivers, so Canada decided to leave the Chute as is in hopes of keeping the eels out. Next it was our turn. Here's the view from our flybridge at the top of the Chute. Notice the two separate tracks. Cables are attached under the lift to pull it up and lower it down ... slowly.

We drove off with Eschaton close behind.

Below the Chute are more narrow, beautiful rock gorges, with some swift current. It is advised that you give a "security call" on the VHF radio when you enter these cuts, so that you don't meet another large boat head on.

The last lock on the TSW is the busiest lock on the waterway. At just 80' long and 22' wide, it's also the smallest. On this busy Saturday, we had to pull up to the crowded "waiting wall" and wait our turn. The lockmaster tells each boat when to come in and in what order. They can only take one big boat at a time, and then bring as many small boats in as will fit. As you can see, they really pack 'em in. It's now a historic site, so they couldn't make it any bigger if they wanted to. Oh well, the whole place had a festive air about it and everyone shows patience and good cheer.

We got through and it had been a long day of cruising. We weren't done yet, we had an anchorage on Georgian Bay picked out so off we went. We had thoroughly enjoyed the TSW, but were looking forward to some "lock free" cruising.

As you know, we're depending on WiFi to blog from Canada, and it's been 10 days since our last, so i'll do a separate one on our first half of Georgian Bay after this one is published.

Trent Severn Days 9-11

2010-07-08T13:53:00.014-04:00

The "Kawartha Lakes" region of the Trent Severn Waterway has a shoreline that reminds us of a large northern Minnesota lake. Although a "luxury" cottage that pops up occasionally, most of the cottages are modest in size, but many have really cool boat garages like these two.

The town of Fenelon Falls is at the center of the action. This is the falls ...

... and our tie up along the lower lock wall right around the corner from the falls. The two cruisers on the other side of the wall from us were families who were having their summer vacation on their boats.

The garden on the other side of the lock approach had "Fenelon Falls" spelled out in a topiary of shrubs.

On the other side of the Fenelon Falls lock were these neat boat houses. Many of them were for rent as part of a resort.

Between the lakes are some very narrow canals. We met a 53' cruiser on this one, but we managed to sneak on by.

We were glad we didn't meet this Canada Waterway Cruise Boat in a narrow section. They were docked for the night, with their 40 passengers aboard down the wall from us above the Kirkfield Lock. We've really enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere at the lock walls.

We had passed through Balsam Lake, the highest point on the Trent Severn. At 840 feet we had read it's the highest elevation that you can drive your boat to (without carrying it) in the world. The remaining locks would take us down to Georgian Bay (part of Lake Huron) and the first "down" lock is a hydraulic "pan" lock ... except this time we are entering the lock on the top ...

... 5 stories above the river below. We drove in, tied off, and enjoyed the view.

This is the "hole in the wall" bridge" that was built in 1905.

Yesterday we had another run of five locks in about six miles. Like the previous few days, it was over 90 degrees out and sunny, so we didn't go too far before we decided to find a shady lock wall and swim. The water is 80 degrees, very nice. We ran the AC with the genny for a while and were able to sleep after we turned it off. Today we crossed Lake Simcoe, 20 miles long and 10 miles wide, it's the biggest lake on the Trent Severn Waterway. Here's the view as we approached the opening to the lake.

Lake Simcoe has a reputation for being quite nasty in a storm, but she was as calm as could be today. We had a gnat attack, however, that made an otherwise lovely cruise almost unbearable. They were swarming the entire boat and landing all over us. By the time we left the lake and came into the "narrows", there were piles of dead ones covering the whole boat. Check out the gnat bodies on the captain's feet.

The crews of both Shingebiss and Eschaton were ready for a marina stop. We needed some WiFi time and a night of AC, so we had plans to stay at the Port of Orillia Marina. Amazingly, the gnat attack stopped as quickly as it had come. We've cleaned the piles of dead gnat bodies off the boat and are enjoying all the amenities that come with a marina stay. When we come into a marina everyone tells us where the shopping and restaurants are, but we are usually more interested where the grocery stores and laundromats are located. So we're stocking up again and preparing for another stretch. Just 60 miles left of the TS and then Georgian Bay.

Trent-Severn Day 4-8

2010-07-05T14:47:00.005-04:00

We spent July 1, Canada Day, in the fine town of Hastings, where the wall soon filled up with boats. The boats in the marina across the river had to all leave for the evening because the fireworks were set off from the their docks.

But first we enjoyed the Parade that included this impressive bagpipe brigade.

Later in the afternoon, we shared a Canada Day picnic and cookout with our new boating friends.

The fireworks that night were very good and we had the best seat in the house from the flybridge of the Eschaton. The skies had finally cleared on July 1 and we've enjoyed hot sunny days and cool nights since then. The next day we finally were able to put on some miles as we went through the first of many long narrow lakes that form the middle part of the waterway. We stopped in Peterborough, one of the largest cities on the waterway and walked up a half mile to take a look at the famous Peterborough Lift Lock in preparation for our trip through it the next day. This unique lock was completed in 1904 and considered an engineering marvel. At 65', it's the highest lock of this type in the world. There are two "pans" filled with water. In the picture, the pan on the right is up and the boats will drive into the pan on the left.

Once the gate is closed on the lower pan, an extra foot of water is put into the upper pan and the weight pushes the upper pan down and the lower pan comes up. Here's the halfway mark ...

... and now the left side pan is up. The far gate will be opened and the boats will drive out.

The whole thing is quite remarkable and there are always lots of tourists watching the proceedings. The next day we drove up and into the lower pan. Up we went and here was our view from the top.

The next section of locks are the most historic on the waterway. Some of the walls are the original limestone blocks (which have held up better than the concrete walls). The valves that let the water into the chamber are also operated by hand in these locks. The lock operators are all very pleasant, friendly and helpful.

Some of the canal sections are quite narrow.

We are currently in the Kawartha Lakes section of the waterway, where the long winding lakes are connected by the locks. The locks are much busier here and sometimes you have to move quickly to secure an overnight spot on the walls. We're starting to see some of the rocky shoreline and rock islands that we'll see in Georgian Bay, many with just one cottage.

The locals know how to navigate their way through the rocks and islands, but we stick to the well marked channel. The water is clear so it's easy to see the rocks on the edge of the channel just below the surface ... although these are clearly above the surface.

Some spots are quite weedy and occasionally they wrap around the prop and Steve has to stop and run a burst of reverse to pop them off.

Today we are in Fenelon Falls, a busy resort town with the lock right in the center of town. I'm blogging from a combination internet cafe and hair salon !!! We're about 150 miles into the 240 mile waterway and have gone through 31 of the 44 locks. The Trent Severn is a delightful place to cruise and the towns and people along the way have been great.

Trent-Severn Day 1-3

2010-06-30T15:49:00.014-04:00

The Trent-Severn Waterway, 240 miles long, is a series of lakes and rivers joined together by canals and locks (44 of 'em) to connect Lake Ontario with Lake Huron. The first lock was built in 1833, but real momentum for lock building occured in 1907 when the government partnered with hydroelectric power companies to build locks and dams. Many of the locks still have a power plant next to them. In 1920, after almost 90 years of construction the waterway was finally completed. Today, the Trent-Severn Waterway is a national Canadian treasure and is heavily promoted for tourism, both by boat and by land. The locks are even smaller than those of the Erie Canal. Here is our entrance to Lock 1, just above Trenton on Lake Ontario ...

... and here are Shingebiss, Eschaton, and Felix at the top. All under 40' and we were close together and filled the entire wall. We got off the boats and went in to purchase our "lockage and dockage" stickers. We bought a one-way lockage pass ($158) and a season dockage pass ($333). The prices are determined with a 'per foot' charge, just like a marina slip fee.

Many of the gates are hand operated. Here's the lockmaster at Lock 1, turning the crank to open the top gate.

The Waterway is well marked, but the buoys are small. At the bottom of some of the dams, the current gets strong.

The dockage pass allows you to tie up to the lock walls below or above the locks. No electric, but there are restrooms and picnic tables. Many of them are very rural, nicely landscaped, and peaceful.

Some of the locks have a narrow car bridge above them which must be opened by the same person who's cranking the gate open. The lock tenders are all very friendly and helpful. At each lock you tell them how far you plan to travel each day and they call the next lock so that they have the doors open and waiting when you arrive. The speed limit is 10 km/hour, which is about 6 mph.

The first 36 miles has 17 locks, so it took us two six hour days to make this 36 miles. Our first nights stop was here at Lock 9 where we met Trudy and Gord, local boaters, aboard Second Thought. We shared a taco dinner and enjoyed the cool, crisp northern air.

We have passed through two sets of "flight locks". Here we are approaching the very tall gate. This gate does double duty as the top gate for the first lock, where we raise as far as the lower wall ...

... and when they open, you are already in the second chamber, where this gate is now the lower gate. Pretty cool.

In Campbellford, we pulled over to walk over this suspensiom bridge that leads to a walking trail/park on the other side.

Here's the view from the middle of it.

Here's a great view from the top of one of the flight locks, where we stayed our second night. We are again amazed that visitors can walk around the lock chambers and over the gates, even when the lock is closed for the night.

The shores of the canal are heavily wooded, lots of pines and a definite "up north" feel. Cottages and docks appear in groups as the water widens and then narrows again. The small towns seem to love the boaters and they are all promoting us to stop. We heard from Gord and Trudy that Hastings had the best fireworks for Canada Day (July 1), so we are parked on the lock wall directly across from the marina where they set them off. The lock is right in the center of this most friendly small town. The recent rains have raised the river levels, so the dam here is really ripping.

Just had to show this sign for you Mississippi River boaters. Yes, we are at the Hastings Lock !!

Notice the lock gates are made of wood.

We've tapped into the WiFi from the marina across the way and the convenience store just across the walkway from the boats has allowed us to plug our electric into their outdoor outlets.

There's a nice grocery store and laundromat about 3-4 blocks away. We had Social Hour tonight with Loopers John and Mary Jo (Recovery Room), the Camano 31 parked in front of us.

We are getting used to celcius, liters and Canadian currency, although the exchange rate is within 3 cents. The cloudy skies that have been following us are supposed to clear up tomorrow with the temps rising each day. Happy Canada Day and Happy Fourth of July too.

Trenton, Ontario

2010-06-27T16:55:00.011-04:00

Surprise, a blog from Canada !!! We made it across Lake Ontario, but that body of water is going on our list of "least enjoyable". The waves didn't start out too bad, but by half way across they had built to about 3', steep and close together. They were on our beam, so we were rolling like crazy. A touch of seasickness put me down on the couch and one hit so hard, the couch slid across the floor with me on it ... woke me right up too. Steve stayed on the flybridge the whole time ... what a great Captain. When we got anchored in Prinyer Cove, the Captains dinghy'd to the marina to clear Canadian customs using a "land line" phone. They ask specifics about how much alcohol and tobacco you have aboard. We giggled because we had read that you can bring 1.5 liters of wine, 1.14 liters of liquor, OR 24 cans of beer per adult, plus 200 cigarets and 50 cigars ... but only two days of food !!!! After the phone call, the Captain returns to the boat and hoists the Canadian courtesy flag, then the rest of the crew can leave the boat.

We thought it was interesting that the small marina where the phone is located has decided to make a bit of profit off the anchored boats. They charge $5 to bring your dog in for a walk (plus pick up the poo) ... and also charge a few bucks each for common cruiser needs like dinghy landing, trash disposal and use of the restrooms. The anchorage was so still and peaceful after our tumultuous crossing of the Lake ... the view from our boat the next morning when we left.

We were headed up the Bay of Quinte, a winding series of bays that leads to Trenton, Ontario, the entrance to the Trent-Severen Waterway. It began to rain so we drove downstairs. The scenery was pretty, but except for this ferry boat that crossed our path, it was an uneventful day.

Felix had gone to Trenton and Eschaton was staying in a marina for the night, so we anchored out in a bay off the bay. The rain persisted into the evening, and we had only our satellite radio, books, and computer solitaire for entertainment ... we really miss the internet when we don't have it. When I had set the anchor, I noticed that we were in very clear water with thick weeds growing almost to the surface. The anchor held fine, but it looked a bit odd when we pulled it up in the morning.

We had a short journey today to Trenton where the only place to stay is at the Fraser Park Marina. It's a tiny little transient place and tonight it is full of transients.

This is Fraser Park, just steps out our door....

... and here we are at dinner out with Jack and Lynn (Felix) and Nan and Jack (Eschaton)

It's raining (again), but we're both enjoying the marina WiFi. Planning to head up the T-S Waterway tomorrow and I'll blog at next opportunity.

Oswego, NY

2010-06-24T19:29:00.007-04:00

Ess Kay Yards, in Brewerton, NY turned out to be one of our favorite marinas and we stayed there for five nights. We were surprised that the water was so clear; you could see ten feet straight down to the bottom.

The Erie Canal has been such a pleasant and peaceful place, with beautiful sunsets seen from our dock at Ess Kay.

Canada is calling, however, so this morning we cast off the lines and pulled out with Eschaton and new friends Jack and Lynn, aboard Felix, their catamaran sailboat. We soon turned north into the 24 mile Oswego Canal, with its seven locks leading to Lake Ontario. The first lock we came to has a bridge right at the downstream end, so when the canal doors open, the yellow bridge goes up.

Many of the canal locks have a spillway adjacent to them, with no barrier to prevent someone who lost their engine or made a wrong turn from going right over.

The banks of the Oswego are high and heavily forested. Very lovely and reminding us of the upper Mississippi back home.

We are tied off to the lock wall, just a mile and one lock from the southeast shore of Lake Ontario. It's like a park with mowed lawn, benches and a walking path. Notice in the picture, the "fence" on the other side of the boat and the rushing water beyond which is about 6 inches lower than the level of the canal and meets up with the canal water just below the last lock. We're right in the center of the town, but the rushing water provides a nice background sound.

Tomorrow night we will be in Canada and will be there for about 4-6 weeks. We checked into using our AT&T air card in Canada, and the cost for using it about as much as we normally do would be over $6000 for a month !!!! So, guess what? The air card will not be used ... but if/when we get to a marina with WiFi, I will do a blog. If none appears for a while, that's why, don't worry, we're all fine and having a wonderful time ... and I'll get cha caught up when we get back into the USA.

Erie Canal Part 2

2010-06-19T17:04:00.011-04:00

We took a "rain day" at Canajoharie ... Steve and Lucy got some rest.

We left the next day and transited 5 locks including Lock 17, one of only 2 in North America where the downstream entrance gate is lifted like a garage door and the boat pass under to enter the lock. Yes, it did drip on us.

It is also the highest lift on the Erie at 40'.

We docked with Mas Bueno at the free dock at Herkimer because we were having mail sent there (thanks Ron!) along with some chartbooks we had ordered from West Marine. Well, we thought the chartbooks would be there, but learned that FedEx cannot deliver to a post office so our charts were traveling all around the state of NY. After learning that we could not have them delivered unless we had a "real address", we cancelled the order and have since bought them in Brewerton. The next day we finally got some sun and the Erie was beautiful.

I really like the way the banks reflect in the water, so I've got lots of shots like this.

These are "guard gates" found periodically on the canal. Apparently, they can be lowered in an emergency to prevent the water from flooding.

After spending three nights close to roads and train tracks, we were really looking for a quiet setting last night. We found it here on the wall below Lock 21. Very peaceful.

Today dawned sunny and warm ...

After transiting 21 Erie Canal locks, we crossed Oneida Lake, a 20 mile long 3-5 mile wide section of the canal that was busy with local boaters and fishermen since it is Saturday. We're back in the narrow canal at Ess Kay Yards, a family owned marina that is very inexpensive, very friendly, and has all the services we need, including a courtesy car. Lucy likes it here too, she's already caught 2 mice on the marina lawn. We've purchased the charts we need for Canada and Steve is studying our routes. After 10 more westbound miles on the Erie Canal, we'll turn north into the Oswego Canal for the 24 mile trip to Lake Ontario ... where a 40 mile big water crossing awaits ... we'll be watching the weather.

Erie Canal Part 1

2010-06-15T18:34:00.016-04:00

Every town we've visited on the east coast has its claim to fame as far as being the first, best, biggest, most, or oldest in some historical fact or figure. Waterford, NY, at the east end of the Erie Canal is no exception.

Erie Canal cruisers certainly would rate it as "most hospitable". We woke to the local farmers market setting up right on the pier, so we could step out of our boats and buy fresh local produce and bakery. It was still cloudy, but didn't rain that day.

We went up to the first Erie Canal lock to purchase our 10 day lock pass ($37.50). There is a noticeably relaxed atmosphere at these locks compared to the Mississippi Locks. We wanted to get to the other side so we just walked our bikes over the walkway on top of the gate.

The Erie Canal has a long history and is the most well known of the New York Canals. The first Erie was finished in 1825 and the barges were pulled through the water with mules or horses. The route has been changed, the dimensions increased, and the locks rebuilt twice since then. Many of the old towpaths have been made into hiking/biking paths and the old Champlain towpath is accessible from Waterford. The trees hanging out over the still waters of the old canal create a picture perfect bike path.

There were 6 Looper boats along with several other cruisers on the dock, so we had a Social Hour up on the patio of the Welcome Center. We hadn't been to a Looper/Cruiser gathering this large for quite a while. We made plans with 3 other boats to leave together the next morning.

The first five locks of the Erie are called the "flight of five", where the total lift is 169 feet over just a mile and a half of distance. In these five, I secured the boat by passing a midship line around a thick plastic coated cable, held the boat into the wall and scooted the line up the cable as the water quickly rose 30 feet.

The locks are about one fourth the size of the Mississippi Locks as you can see in this picture of Jolie Blond entering the lock.

The remarkable thing about these first five is how close together they are ... the lockmasters have the door already open for us at the next lock as we exit this one.

This sign shows that the last lock was less than a quarter mile back and the next one only .16 miles away. The locks are operated by the State of NY rather than the Army Corps and they are very efficient and friendly toward cruisers. Still, you can't make the kind of mileage in a day that we were used to on the ICW and we traveled just over 20 miles in 5 hours, transiting 7 locks our first day.

At many of the locks, you are allowed to tie for the night on the walls adjacent to the locks. We stayed at Lock 8 and all shared a great dinner on Mas Bueno, with hosts Hal and Cheryl. Here's the wall as we left this morning.

The section of the canal that we are on follows the natural path of the Mohawk River. The sun came out today and it was beautiful, easy cruising. We again locked through 7 locks, each 5-10 miles apart. Some of the locks have been recently refinished and don't have the pipe or the cable to secure the boat, but have heavy ropes hanging down to grab for bow and stern. Kind of like our Mississippi locks except they don't pull the ropes up after each lockage, but let them hang constantly in the water, so they are really dirty. I'm wearing gloves to lock through, first time ever.

Tonight we are docked at Canajoharie, a small town along the canal that provides free dockage at a canal side park.

We walked through town with Bob and Fran (Jolie Blond) and had ice cream before dinner !! We're really enjoying Erie Canal cruising.

(Fresh) Waterford, NY

2010-06-12T19:40:00.006-04:00

We left Kingston on a beautiful day with no wind and flat seas. As we moved north, we could see the Catskill Mountains on the western shore of the Hudson.

The few tugboats that we've seen are pulling their barges rather than pushing them.

We anchored for the night in the Schodack River, one of the tributaries to the Hudson. Commuter trains to NYC run along the east bank of the river.

Rain was predicted to start at noon the next day, so we got an early start hoping to get docked before it hit. We passed through Albany and finally saw some industry. The pictures just don't look good without the sun, but these two bridges close to each other made for an interesting image.

It was pouring rain when I went out on the front deck to lock through the Troy Lock. Instead of ballards, this lock had vertical pipes tucked into indents in the lock wall. Captain Steve pulled the boat smoothly to the wall and I just cleated off a line at midship, wrapped it around the pipe and held onto the other end. The water rose quickly (30'), the rope slid up the pipe, and we exited the canal into FRESH water with no tides for the first time since 11/19/09. The rain let up a bit as we passed by this sign.

At this point, Loopers must make a decision. Go straight into the Champlain Waterway or turn left into the Erie Canal. We turned left and were pleased to see that there was room for us at the docks in the Village of Waterford. Not only are the docks free for 48 hours, they also provide electricity, water, restrooms and showers, WiFi and a book exchange. What a sweet service !! The rain started in again, so we spent the afternoon planning our trip through the Erie Canal and ordering charts for Lake Ontario and Lake Huron ... oh, and taking naps too. What a life !!

Halfway up the Hudson

2010-06-09T20:00:00.025-04:00

The next segment of our Loop is the 150 mile journey up the Hudson River, tidal all the way to Albany. The rising tide actually overpowers the river current; the Native American name for the Hudson means "the river that flows both ways." Northbound mariners time their cruise to catch the tide rising in order to get a boost. The optimum time for us to leave wouldn't have been until about 2 pm, but we were too anxious to get out of the NY Harbor wakes so we left early. We were bucking a 2 mph current for the first couple of hours and were crawling up the Hudson. Here's a last look at Newport Marina in Jersey City.

The river was busy, but it's wide and there is room for everyone. We had another look at the Manhattan skyline with the Empire State Building rising above it all. We marveled at the sheer numbers of skyscrapers until we reached the northern end of the island.

The double decker George Washington Bridge is near the northern tip of Manhattan. As you can see, the scenery changes dramatically beyond this bridge.

Suspension bridges are very common here and the George Washington is particularly impressive.

The banks of the Hudson are steep, heavily wooded and feature beautiful stone cliffs that go straight down to the water. We anchored for the night in front of Bear Mountain, part of the Interstate Park System that lines the western shore. This cove was so peaceful and natural it was hard to believe that we were only 40 miles from NYC.

We had read about the trail to the top of Bear Mountain, so the next day we packed a lunch and set out in the dinghy for the park dock. The park has been around for a long time and tour boats used to come from NYC to this sturdy dock. Note the bridge in the photo, we'll see this bridge from the top after our climb.

In addition to its many hiking trails, the park also has a zoo, museums and this huge swimming pool nestled into the hill. An old lodge on the grounds, originally built by the WPA is currently being restored.

The mountain is about 1300 feet to the top. The main trail, with many switchbacks, includes 800 stone steps put in by volunteers who hand cut the native rock and set the stones in place without heavy equipment. It's very impressive, this section is especially nicely done.

Even with the steps, it was a long hike up, but the views were worth it. Looking upstream, note how far we are above the bridge in the lower right corner.

The view downstream ...

... and the small white speck near the bottom shore is Shingebiss at anchor.

Near the top, we ate our lunch on this bench.

It was a great hike, but we were outa gas by the time we got down the mountain and back to the boat, so we elected to stay another night in this beautiful setting. We set out early the next day with cooler temps. The mountains continued with homes interspersed along the cliffs. With the Hudson River's long history of commerce, we had expected more industry and more commercial traffic, but instead found a serene and peaceful river. We were finally catching a boost from the "upstream current", the water was like glass and we were loving the Hudson.

West Point is right on the banks of the Hudson and it's mighty impressive. The older parts of the complex look like a fortress and the stone work is beautiful. Before 9/11, cruisers could pull right up to the dock for a tour, but no more, so on we went.

These ruins are Bannerman Castle, built on an island in the early 1900's by Frank Bannerman as a resort. In the 1960's New York State obtained the property and gave tours, but the castle burned and is now badly deteriorated.

The Hudson has some old lighthouses.

This lighthouse stands at the entrance to Rondout Creek. By this time it was raining, and we had put up our "plugger windshield". After the last time we got drenched on the flybridge, we had bought a few yards of heavy clear plastic (Joann Fabric, who knew?) and a bag of heavy duty clips. Visibility is not the best and there's no fancy zippers, but for $20, it keeps us dry.

Of course, we had to take it down before we entered the town of Kingston. Once we got to Hideaway Marina and met the owner, however, we realized he probably would have admired our ingenuity. Inexpensive and very down home, it's not fancy, but works for us. We've been able to ride our bikes for groceries much of the trip, but too far today, so we took a cab, bought a ton, did laundry, and cleaned the boat inside and out. For some reason these routine chores are more satisfying on the boat than they ever were at home. We love the feeling of setting out with fresh provisions, clean boat and clean clothes, an empty holding tank and a full water tank and a new destination on the horizon.

For those of you following the Exploits of the Eschaton, they moved on ahead of us, but are leaving their boat for 9 days for a road trip home to Tennesee. They hope to catch back up with us before Lake Ontario.

The Big Apple

2010-06-06T18:11:00.010-04:00

We made it to New York City !!! The trip started with some excitement as we exited the Manesquan Inlet into the Atlantic Ocean (there is NO inside route). The waves in the Inlet were huge, we almost buried the bow as we came out and we held our breath as we watched the Eschaton exit. They took water over the front windows of their Gibson, but there was no turning back so they pushed on through the Inlet and into the calmer water in the ocean. We traveled up the New Jersey coast and into the lower harbor of New York. We rocked and rolled pretty much for the whole trip, but it was tolerable and we were excited to see New York. The Verrazano Narrows Bridge marks the entrance to New York Harbor and the Hudson River.

We could see the skyline of lower Manhattan in the distance. This harbor is busy, busy, busy. Ferries, tour boats and commercial craft of all kinds. It was Saturday and we saw more sailboats actually sailing than we've seen in one place the entire trip.

We saw the Statue of Liberty ...

... and then we took turns taking pictures of each other's boats. Here's the shot Eschaton took of Shingebiss ...

... and then this fire boat came by ...

... and then the fire boat drove in front of Lady Liberty and we thought "wow, what a show".

We had plans for a two night stay at Newport Marina and Yacht Club in Jersey City, right across the Hudson River from Manhattan. Jersey City is has its own share of skyscrapers, but you can see the marina here at the base of the tall buildings.

This is the view of Manhattan we have from the docks. The "wave barrier" in the picture is supposed to break the wakes from the many huge boats, but it's still one of the bounciest marinas we've ever been in. The waves do settle down at night; the view is worth it and it's spectacular at night.

Diane and Tom (Noah Genda) also came in, so the six of us made plans to take the PATH train, which goes under the Hudson River into Manhattan today. We took a double decker bus tour of "downtown". What a great way to get an overview of this incredible city. Steve and I have never been to NY before and we were amazed all day at the architecture, the people, and the history that was related to us by our tour guides. You can hop off and on the bus at any of the 23 stops, so we got off at the World Trade Center site and St. Paul's Chapel where the congregation coordinated a huge relief effort that lasted for months following the attack. The fence surrounding the church is where all the survivors brought mementos and photos to honor the victims. The chapel has preserved all these and has them on display. It's very moving.

We walked past Wall Street and the famous bull where tourists were all taking pictures. So we did too.

At the south end of Manhattan is Battery Park which has an old fort and the landings for the tour boats to Liberty and Ellis Islands.

We walked to the shore and saw that the harbor water was extremely rough. We were all glad to not be out there in our boats today.

We got back on the bus which took us by many other NY highlights: the UN building, Rockefeller Center, Times Square, Madison Square Garden and the neighborhoods: Chinatown, Greenwich Village, SoHo, Little Italy and the Theater District. Wow, we were overwhelmed, but very glad we had taken this tour. We found our way back to the PATH train and our marina in Jersey.

Tonight we continue to enjoy our awesome view and tomorrow we head up the Hudson River.

New Jersey Cruising

2010-06-04T14:28:00.007-04:00

It was a little foggy as we departed Cape May early in the morning. As we exited the Inlet, we passed this large dredge being towed in.

As soon as we got ~2-3 miles off shore, the fog thickened, and we were dependent on the radar to show us other boat traffic. With light winds, there were no "waves" or whitecaps to be seen, but there were giant, gentle swells that lifted the boat up. When we surfed down the other side, our speed increased by 1 knot. All in all, it was a comfortable ride with the swells on our starboard following quarter. It was 50 miles to Atlantic City and the fog began to lift a little as we approached.

We made our turn into the Absecon Inlet and got a better look at the city and the beach.

We turned into the New Jersey ICW and the scenery immediately changed. Of course, the places we visit never look like what I have pictured in my mind, and our anchorage at Fish Island was a great example that made us laugh. Here it is: Fish Island, about a city block in area and 8" above sea level. Not too scenic, but it was just enough to break the waves.

We woke up the next morning to dense fog and went back to bed. Traveling in the open ocean in fog is one thing, but on this ICW, where the markers in the water do not always match the markers on the charts (due to the constantly shifting shoals) and the necessity of "reading the water" make traveling in fog impossible. By 10 am it had cleared so we left the lovely Fish Island anchorage. In this piture you can see one of the many shoal areas as the lighter colored water about midway up the picture.

Although we didn't run aground, we did see spots of 3.5 feet of water in the channel. Traveling the NJ ICW is slow and tedious. Because of the need to travel on a rising tide (that way if you run aground, the rising tide will help lift you off) and our late start, we had a short travel day. With thunderstorms predicted, we opted to stay at Beach Haven Yacht Club Marina where we had gotten fuel for the great price of $2.50/gallon. Eschaton joined us there and we walked over to the beach. We were pleasantly surprised ... who knew that had such pretty beaches in NJ ??

Today, we continued our run on the NJ ICW and are now anchored just a few miles from where we have to exit again into the Atlantic for a 44 mile ocean run to NYC !!! We're watching the weather, tomorrow looks like the day, so again, stay tuned.

If you are reading the blog only once a week, you might be missing some previous entries. I've been blogging 2-3 times a week lately because so much is happening. Just FYI, 'cuz we know you don't want to miss a single exciting installment, ha ha. Please keep those comments and e-mails coming, we love them !!!

Cape May, NJ

2010-06-01T14:46:00.012-04:00

As we cruised eastward in the C & D Canal, we passed under several bridges; this RR bridge is normally left in the raised position, unless, of course, a train is coming through.

We came into the Delaware Bay at Reedy Point. There was a little turbulence as the two waters merged, but all in all seemed rather calm. We must have picked the right day to go. This is the first "supertanker" we saw.

Ship John Shoal Lighthouse is on the New Jersey side of Delaware Bay. Once past this landmark, we were able to leave the shipping channel and set a straight course to Cape May.

We were all relieved to have only 1-2 foot waves ... Eschaton soon chugged on past us, as their cruising speed is a bit faster than ours.

We had been told that the Bay gets rough at the mouth, especially in late afternoon, so we had gotten an early start. The rough water did not happen, however, and with a boost from the tide, we were soon entering the Cape May channel. It was Memorial Day weekend, so the channel was very busy.

The channel leads to the huge sheltered harbor, where several marinas line the shores. We had reservations at Utsch's Marina, three generations of family owned since 1951. As soon as we tied up at the dock, Russ and Cindy (Ladybug), who we had met back at Port St. Joe, FL, came over to welcome us and invite us to a potluck dinner at their beautiful Mainship 400. The next morning, Tom and Diane (Noah Genda ... home port on the upper Mississippi) offered to take us to the grocery store in their rental car. Their boat had a bent shaft, so they are "on the hard" waiting for repairs to be done.

Cape May is at the very southern tip of New Jersey and claims to be the oldest seaside resort town in the nation. We went out for a biking tour of the town with Nan and Jack and saw several of the town's Victorian homes, all meticulously restored.
These are all across the street from the Atlantic beach.

We wanted to walk on the beach, but after learning you have to pay $5 to get on it, we declined, just on principle. It was crowded with Memorial Day beachgoers.

We biked out to the Cape May Lighthouse, but it was closed for the day.

On the way back to the Marina, we saw these two beautiful homes. This one is a B & B ...

... and this is a museum of the Victorian style, but too late in the day, it was also closed.

We bought shrimp at the Lobster House, where they had a great seafood market, and grilled them up for dinner.

We've had good luck on the "big waters" lately, but still have a couple of challenges left before we get back into the fresh water. Heading north from here is the 114 mile New Jersey Intercoastal Waterway. The NJ ICW has a reputation for being shallow and twisty with many spots of shoaling, especially for the first 50 miles. The alternative is to go "outside" ... into the ocean ... for the first part or the whole thing. Eschaton went today, on the ICW, slowly and on a rising tide ... and they only ran aground once !!! Local fisherman pulled them off. We've studied, talked to others, watched the weather and even called the Cape May Coast Guard for their advice in making our decision. We're going outside to Atlantic City tomorrow ... stay tuned !!!

Chesapeake City

2010-05-29T15:41:00.009-04:00

We left Baltimore on another calm sea and as we headed north, the Chesapeake Bay narrowed and we saw high sand cliffs on the wooded shores.

Our destination was the Chesapeake and Delaware (C & D) Canal which connects the top of Chesapeake Bay to the top of Delaware Bay. As the Bay narrowed we passed close to this huge ship that had just come west through the canal. Ships from all over the world use the C&D Canal to save the journey around the Delmarva Peninsula in getting to Baltimore from the Atlantic.

Chesapeake City, the only city on the canal, is located a few miles from the western end of the canal. This tiny charming town emerged during the canals early days and is filled with historic homes, some converted to shops or B&B's, each with a plaque in front with its history. There is a small boat basin off the canal with a big restaurant, small marina, a few private docks, an anchorage and City Docks where the dockage is free, but the electric is $15. The free dock was full when we arrived, so we anchored the first night and got into the dock the next morning. This photo taken from the basin shows the Chesapeake City Bridge that spans the canal and a ship passing very close as it transits the narrow canal. About three of these a day go by.

We took a walk through the tiny town admiring the preservation and charm of the old buildings

When we returned to the dock our friends from Eschaton, the Gibson houseboat, were docked behind us. We had split up at the beginning of the Chesapeake so it was great to see them again. We all biked over to the C & D Canal Museum. The canal was first opened in 1829 with 4 locks and mules to pull the boats through. The locks have since been removed and the canal has been widened and deepened a few times to accomodate the larger ships. The museum is in the original pumphouse building. Steve and Nan are reading this large stone that commemorates the workers who dug the original canal.

Inside the museum in its original position is this huge steam engine pump that was used to lift water from a nearby creek into the canal in order to maintain the water levels.

Here are the two boats at the City Dock. Here is Eschaton's blog site if anyone wants to follow their adventure. http://eschatonloop.blogspot.com

Today is Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend and we are having a lazy day. We had no idea that there was so much recreational boating on the canal. Boats have been buzzing in and out of the basin all day, we've seen more big fast performance boats today than we've seen the entire trip. I guess summer is here !!! We'll be having burgers and Lorna's famous homemade potato salad tonight with Nan and Jack to celebrate.

Steve has been studying the next leg for a couple of days. We will be traveling to the east end of the canal and then 55 miles south on Delaware Bay to Cape May. D. Bay has a nasty reputation because there are currents, tides, winds and then the Atlantic Ocean at the end all working together to create waves. There's no way that all the factors can come together to create ideal conditions, but we've decided that tomorrow is our best day to go.

Annapolis AND Baltimore

2010-05-26T17:27:00.016-04:00

We woke up in the Annapolis Mooring Field to another cloudy day. While we like the relief from the sun, I much prefer the sun for taking pictures. Annapolis is one of our favorite cities so far and there's lots to see. We took the dinghy up Spa Creek, and saw many fine, but not too ostentatious homes. The homes in this corner of the creek were older and well maintained.
Annapolis loves boating and the city makes it nice for the boaters on mooring balls and anchors by making every dead end street that ends at the water a dinghy landing.

The streets downtown are narrow, lined with historic buildings and lead up hill from the harbor.

At the top of the hill are two circles, one with a church, and the other with the Maryland State Capitol Building at the top of the hill. It's a beautiful city.

Annapolis is the home of the US Naval Academy and this week is graduation week for the cadets. The famed Navy Blue Angels perform a show as part of the graduation festivities. Practice was scheduled for 1400 that day, so we made sure to get back to the boat in time .. and the sun came out in time too. We've seen lots of military planes on the Loop and I've been trying without much success to photograph them each time, so once again I made an effort, this time tried video too ... there's three very short videos at the end of this blog. We had never seen a Blue Angels show before, everyone said the practice is just as good as the show, and it was indeed spectacular. There were a total of 6 Blue Angel FA-18's performing. They were close to the ground and fast, fast, fast as they barrel rolled, flew upside down, corkscrewed, flew straight up then dropped straight down, individually and in formation. Everyone in the mooring field and on the shore was being amazed at these skilled pilots. The practice lasted for over an hour, finally I just threw down my camera and watched in awe.

Both afternoons about 6 of these Navy vessels came out and drove around the perimeter of the harbor. We felt very safe in Annapolis.

The City Docks and Mooring Field are very well run and boater friendly. Here's the marina with the State Capital dome in the distance.

The Naval Academy building are very impressive as well. All these buildings on the shore are part of their large campus.

As we departed Annapolis, there was one Navy War Ship (that is what they call themselves on the VHF radio) and several freighters waiting to enter the river. The War Ship is the one in the center of the picture.

Back in the Bay, we passed under the double span Chesapeake Bay Bridge ...

... and cruised north into the wide and industrial Patapsco River. We saw more impressive gun metal gray military vessels and plenty of container ships, but here's something different ... the US Navy Hospital Ship "Comfort".

We passed by Fort McHenry. Francis Scott Key penned the words to our national anthem as he looked for the flag to continue to fly above this fort while he was held prisoner by the British in the War of 1812.

Baltimore's Inner Harbor is 15 miles up the Patapsco River. The City has revitalized the harbor into a shopping, eating, and museum center. There are marinas, tourboats, water taxis and crazy little electric boats and dragon boats that are filled with families tooling around the harbor.

But there are no mooring balls. We'd read that anchoring was okay and that there was a dinghy dock, so we lowered the hook and the dinghy and off we went. Here's the humble Shingebiss at anchor in downtown Baltimore. If you want to see more of our view from the boat, the last video below was taken from the boat.

So we putted around the entire harbor and could not find any place to land the dinghy. We asked a guy in a boat who appeared to be overseeing the dragon boat activity and he said we could tie up on the city wall for $25 ... so we returned to the Shingebiss and watched the action from the fly bridge. No problem, we get to see the city lights tonight and tomorrow will reach another mile zero as we depart the 200 mile long Chesapeake Bay.

First three videos are Blue Angels and the last one is Baltimore Harbor.

Chesapeake Eastern Shore

2010-05-24T14:03:00.008-04:00

The eastern shore of Chesapeake Bay is called Delmarva because it encompasses the eastern parts of Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. From Norfolk the Chesapeake Bay Tunnel-Bridge takes cars under the mouth of Cheapeake Bay to the eastern shore, and at Anapolis, the Bay Bridge does the same. For the 120 miles between these two, you'd have to take one of only a couple of ferry boat options. For this reason the eastern shore is far less populated and more pristine that the western shore of the Bay. The Bay was again very good to us (small waves, little wind) when we crossed to the eastern shore. This red marker is typical of the markers used on the Bay. We were headed for a Mainship Raftout, sponsored by the Chesapeake Mainship Owners Group. Loopers Gerry and Linda had alerted us to the event, so we thought it would be fun to meet up with some other Mainship owners. We traveled 14 miles off the Bay to the anchorage ... up the Choptank River (about 6 miles wide at the mouth), then the Tred Avon River (only a mile wide at the mouth), and finally into Tripp Creek. We rafted up with only two other boats, Jerry and Barbara and Kevin and Kathryn. They were most hospitable and welcomed us to their party where we heard about their years of cruising the Bay. After we ate, we split up the raft and anchored for the night. The anchorage was beautiful and peaceful. The homes around the shores are spread out and separated by trees. The Chesapeake has about a million of these gorgeous anchorages to choose from.

With a cloudy sky and rains forcasted we drove only 13 miles to another lovely anchorage off the Choptank River in San Domingo Creek. We dinghy'd to the "backside" of St. Michaels and walked the few blocks to the downtown area to visit the Chespeake Bay Maritime Museum. The museum has nine buildings on 18 acres on the shore of the Miles River in this small fishing village turned tourist mecca. Steve is standing in front of a miniature reproduction of a SkipJack, the traditional sailing boats used to fish the Bay back in the day.

There is a working boatyard where dedicated volunteers work to restore the old boats to their former glory and teach the skills involved to others. Check out this one, a true handyman special.

It's hard to believe, but after restoration, it will look like this restored one.

New boats are also built in the shops, and visitors are encouraged to come right in and ask questions. Check out this little beauty.

This is the old Hooper Straight Lighthouse. As a working lighthouse, it was several miles offshore and held up by pilings.

At the exhibit about Bay oysters, there was this huge display of #10 cans of all the brands of oysters that have been marketed through the years of Bay oystering.

This is the Museum's tour boat, Mr. Jim. Gerry that we met at the Mainship Raftup is the lead Captain of this boat. Just like all the museums we've visited on the Loop, there is much more to this museum than these few pictures. There are displays of the natural history of the bay, hunting and boating on the bay and an entire building of intricate model boats with the craftsman of the guild working on the boats and answering visitors questions.

We were most impressed with the Chesapeake Maritime Museum and highly recommend it. The volunteer guides were among the friendliest and dedicated that we 've met. We completed our visit to St. Michaels with a visit to Big Al's Seafood where we bought crab cakes made from the famous Maryland Blue Crabs (now in season). We took them back to the boat and fried them up....yummy.

This morning we crossed back to the western shore and are currently on a mooring ball in Annapolis ... lots going on here, but that's for the next chapter.

Chesapeake Cruising

2010-05-21T18:03:00.003-04:00

Waiting the extra day in Portsmouth paid off as we left the dock with a sunny sky and light winds. Cruising through the Elizabeth River for a few miles to enter the mouth of Cheasapeake Bay brought us back by this aircraft carrrier and stealth vessel in dry dock again ... a better picture with the sun out. We had seen another one of these stealth vessels in Mobile, AL.

This cruise ship was docked in downtown Norfolk.

We continued to see many military ships.

and of course, container ships being unloaded.

But the grand finale was this group of over 25 huge military vessels all moored in a row. It took 3 photos to get them all (and I "stitched" them together with my photo program for a panorama) ... I had to shoot into the sun, so it's not the greatest picture, but we thought it was pretty impressive.

We've had two cruise days on the Chesapeake with blue skies, light winds and smooth water. We couldn't ask for better conditions, so decided to put on some miles. We cruise several miles off shore and the rivers and creeks that have the marinas and anchorages are over 6 miles off the channel, so it makes for long days. Today we passed the 5 mile wide mouth of the Potomac River ... Smith Lighthouse is 2.5 miles off the southern shore.

The Chesapeake is huge for all kinds of recreational boating, but it's so big that you can cruise all day and see few other boats. Last night we stayed at the marina where the "Waterway Guide" has its corporate headquarters (Deltaville, VA). There was nothing corporate about the lovely family owned marina that the Dozier Family runs along with publishing their great crusing guides. Tonight we are anchored at Solomans Island, MD off the Patuxent River, where there are 17 marinas on one creek off the river. The Navy's active testing ground for new military aircraft (Patuxent Naval Air Station) is just across the river. Several fighter jets along with other interesting looking planes flew over as we came up the river.

I've added a 30 second video to show you just how calm the Bay has been for us ... enjoy !!!

Norfolk VA - Mile 0

2010-05-19T20:27:00.010-04:00

It wasn't raining when we left the Visitors Center Dock in the Dismal Swamp, but rain started soon after and continued all the way to Norfolk, VA. This shipping and naval center is located at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. The giant harbor, shared with Portsmouth and Hampton is referred to as Hampton Roads. We are staying in Portsmouth, which is across the Elizabeth River from Norfolk, this is the view of Norfolk from the marina. Quite a change in scenery.

The following day also started rainy, but turned to just clouds in the afternoon, so we toured Naval Shipyard Museum in Portsmouth. This decommisioned Light Ship is part of the exhibit. Light Ships were employed by the Coast Guard as mobile lighthouses, sitting at anchor wherever a temporary light was needed.

This frenzel lens is displayed in the ship. A frenzel lens is facinating to look at, like a huge gem refracting the tiny light source into a brilliant sunburst.

Back on the Eschaton, we had a dinner to celebrate reaching Mile Zero of the Atlantic Intercoastal Waterway (ICW) after traveling 1220 miles from Cudjo Key in less than 8 weeks. We're also discussing our plans for crusing the almost 200 mile long Chesapeake Bay. At 20-30 miles wide, the Bay is "big water", so we are a little anxious about what to expect and have a close eye on the winds. There are almost a limitless number of anchorages and places to stop up the many rivers that flow into the bay. They say you can spend years cruising the Chesapeake and still not see it all.

We decided to wait one more day for the winds to settle down, so today we took the Portsmouth Ferry across the Elizabeth River to Norfolk to explore the Nautilus Naval Museum.

This exhibit includes the Battleship Wisconsin, which was put into this harbor for display in 2000. Here's the view of the bow from below.

Here's Liz on the teak decks with the "big guns" in the background.

These are the anchor chains, there is 1000 feet of chain in the anchor lockers below decks. Only the exterior of the ship was open, but plans are to make the interior of the ship available to the public in the future.

On the way back on the ferry, we got close to this aircraft carrier (on the right) and some other type of military vessel in drydock.

Finally, late this afternoon, the skies cleared up, our plans are to head up the Bay early tomorrow morning.

Dismal Swamp Canal

2010-05-16T20:09:00.007-04:00

Even though the docks at Elizabeth City were filled to capacity, the Rose Buddies weren't able to provide the wine and cheese party for the transient boaters because the city was setting up for the annual Potato Festival. We enjoyed some free french fries and looked at the booths and exhibit of classic cars.

We returned to the boat just in time for the Coast Guard demonstration. We had front row seats from the fly bridge as the helicopter hovered to drop divers into the water and retrieve them. It was very cool to watch.

Then this giant rubber ducky came along. This was the "duck race" that we had heard about. About a thousand rubber ducks were dumped into the water from the box behind the giant duck.

Two runabouts herded them together with this boom and dragged them around the harbor. It was the darndest thing, and we never did figure out what exactly was going on, but we did get a kick out of the big duck.

It was a great little town celebration in a wonderful setting, but after three nights we were ready for something new and we departed early this morning. Our destination was the Dismal Swamp Canal, the oldest operating man made waterway in the US. The canal was originally dug by hand in the late 1700's to connect the Albemarle Sound and Pasqoutank River with Chesapeake Bay. In the 1800's the canal was widened and locks were added. Although the canal is no longer used for commercial shipping, it remains part of the ICW, mainly used by sailboats and trawlers. As we entered the narrow and twisting Pasquotank River, the sky clouded over and the rain began. Pretty dismal, indeed.

The rain stopped as we entered Turners Cut, a very straight and very narrow land cut.

There are two locks, one at each end of the canal. A spring fed lake "feeds" water into the canal via a feeder cut. The locks only open at four scheduled times per day, so that the canal water doesn't get too low from running all the water out. The lockmaster told us that the last improvements to the locks were in 1930 and the canal has remained the same ever since. We locked through with 4 other boats (our first locks in many months), and then the lockmaster got into his car and drove down the road to operate this lift bridge.

The sun finally came out. The canal is very narrow and has a 6 mph speed limit, so there is no passing going on, everyone just idles along and enjoys the beautiful forest.

The Visitors Center has a free 150' long dock, so we tied up there for the night. We were joined by two sailboats, then Eschaton came and rafted off to us. We unloaded the bikes, and rode across the pedestrian bridge to the hiking trail on the other side. Here's the view of the boats rafted at the dock, taken from the bridge.

By the end of the afternoon, a total of nine boats were rafted along the dock in this beautiful setting. It's not quite as desolate as we had imagined, there's a 4 lane highway on the other side of the Visitors Center and we have good AT&T and TV coverage. Tomorrow we head for Norfolk, VA.

Elizabeth City, NC

2010-05-14T13:26:00.003-04:00

We've made it around Maw Point (the nasty stretch of the Neuse River that turned us back last week), but the fun was just beginning at that point. In this part of NC, the Rivers are 4 miles wide and the Creeks are a mile wide. All the waters get wicked with certain winds and some (Albemarle Sound) get wicked with any wind. Pemlico River, Pungo River, and Alligator River were all rough. Trying to avoid following seas and beam seas, we traversed them all. A rather desolate stretch, not much to see or photograph, especially when the shore is so far away. We spent one night at Alligator River Marina, where the highlight is this Hattaras Lighthouse replica. It rained heavy that night, the first good rain we've experienced since February. With north winds predicted, we knew we'd be heading right into the waves, best point of sail for Shingebiss, so we were off early the next morning to cross the dreaded 16 mile Albemarle Sound.

We had quite a ride and took spray all the way up to the flybridge. I took a video, thinking it could tell the story better than the photographs, but most of the time, just hung on with both hands. Going downstairs to the head was quite an adventure. Even the dashboard captain toppled in Albemarle. Lucy, however, terrified as she was, held down her breakfast, she must be getting her sea legs. We were quite proud of what the humble Shingebiss has handled thus far, relieved to land in Elizabeth City, and glad to have the big waters of NC behind us. Elizabeth City, the Harbor of Hospitality, has 14 free slips available to cruisers, right in the downtown area. We were met at the dock by the town ambassadors who help you tie up and fill you in on all their City has to offer. There is no electricity at the docks, but water is available to fill your tanks, and the price is right !!

The Rose Buddy program was started by Fred Fearing and his friend Joe, who decided in 1983 to host a gathering for the boaters at the town dock. Joe brought roses from his garden, Fred provided the refreshments and the Rose Buddy program was born. Joe died in 1986 and his rose gardens were transplanted to the park next to the docks. The Rose Buddy Program flourished under Fred's direction and became widely known up and down the ICW. Fred remained active into his 90's and when he died in 2002, the monument below was dedicated to his honor. Quite a guy !!! Whenever 5 or more boats are in the harbor, the Rose Buddies host a wine and cheese party ... looks like there will be one tonight. Tomorrow is the Potato Festival in Elizabeth City, right here on the water front of course, so we'll stay for that and head for the Dismal Swamp Canal on Sunday ... more about the Swamp to follow.

If you are following along with the adventures of Eschaton, the Gibson, they arrived today, and had a more pleasant journey across Albemarle than we did. While Shingebiss is more comfortable going directly into the waves, Eschaton prefers the waves to follow her, so they have been a day behind us, so we were glad to see them when they pulled in this morning.

Here is the video of the Albemarle Crossing, but again, doesn't match how it feels to be there.

River Dunes

2010-05-09T20:34:00.007-04:00

"The Neuse River vies with Albermarle Sound as some of the meanest water on the ICW" per Doziers Waterway Guide (our cruising "bible") and we got to experience this mean water first hand when we left our last anchorage. I tried hard to capture the biggest waves as our bow crashed through them, but it's like trying to catch dolphins jumping, even with the "burst" option.

After 10 miles of this action, Eschaton's crew informed us they were changing their plan and were going to duck into the next anchorage. We concurred. We had been taking the waves head on, but had to turn to port to head for the Broad Creek anchorage. With that turn, we took a huge wave on our beam and Shingebiss took a roll like we had never experienced before. We made it into the sheltered anchorage, set the anchor, and burst out laughing ....

... when we saw what that beam wave had done. This is not where we normally keep the loveseat. The captain's chair was down as well, but the Captain on the dashboard was still standing.

It was calm and hot in the anchorage, so we took a dinghy ride across the Creek to River Dunes Marina to check it out and see what the slips cost as the next day's winds were predicted to be worse. We were wow'd by this place and the price was only $1.50/foot/day (which we used to think was expensive, but after 4 months in Florida, we now think is a bargain). We made reservations for the next night so we could get over there early and take full advantage of the fabulous features of this marina. Note the tiki bar on the other side of the pool. It was hot and the saline pool was so delightful. There are also two hot tubs.

Three little private cabanas were available to shield us from the sun....we are soooo tan, despite all our efforts to sunscreen and shade ourselves.

This is the "clubhouse". Other buildings nearby house the showers that are super luxury with a luncheon plate sized shower head and jets that come out of the walls. Steam if you like too.

This is inside the clubhouse. The decorating is gorgeous.

We had a delicious Mothers Day Brunch in the second floor dining room.

River Dunes was designed as a "planned community" with 600+ home sites, but it seemed pretty deserted, especially for a weekend. We took a spin on the beach cruiser bikes available, and saw less than 25 houses that had been built. The sheltered man made harbor is huge and the docks are top notch. The people are friendly and the service is great, but we wonder how they are making it with so few customers and what will happen to it all in the future.

It was fun to live the high life for a couple of days, but we hope to get out and move north in the morning.

Next Day Addendum: We haven't left yet, a sailboat left the dock this am and came back, too rough .... so we're stuck right now. I spoke with a boater today today who owns both a lot and a slip here at RiverDunes and he assured me the place is solvent, although building has slowed due to the economy. He also says most weekends are very busy, but this past one was not due to Mothers Day. Just wanted to provide that update, in case I sounded too negative about it in the above writing :-)

North Carolina Cruising

2010-05-06T20:52:00.006-04:00

While we were fueling up at Osprey Marina, this turtle came to pay us a visit.
Since we left Osprey, we've traveled every day except one, when we sat out a "weather day" at a small marina in Swansboro, NC. The ICW continues to be interesting and we see new sites every day. Many of the old swing and bascule bridges have been replaced by high (65') bridges, but we still pass through a few each week that have to open for us, like this one.

Near Myrtle Beach, we passed under this gondola lift that brings golfers from the beach side of the ICW to the golf course on the other side.

Parts of the ICW are very narrow and we are still passing though some areas of wilderness.

How about this bridge? It's a "pontoon bridge", the opening part floats on pontoons and hinges off to the side to let the boats through. Obviously zero clearance on this one, all boats have to wait for it to open. Built in 1961, the locals resisted efforts for the past 20 years to have it replaced, but now there is a high rise bridge being built right next to it. During the last full moon, the tide fell so low that the pontoons were stuck in the mud and the bridge couldn't open until the tide came up.

The inlets and channels in the ICW are constantly being dredged to keep the depths passable. The dredges are huge, like this one in the channel.

This one is out in one of the inlets to the ocean.

Most of the shoreline we see is lined with houses of all varieties, but I thought this pink ensemble was quite unique. It even has its own pink lighthouse.

There are lots of marinas and lots of anchorages to choose from, but we had a really spectacular anchorage last night at Cape Lookout National Seashore. As we left the ICW, heading toward the Beaufort (this one is pronounced Bow-fort), NC Inlet, the fog decended upon us. We went on into the anchorage, but the fog remained, so these pictures don't really do it justice. The Seashore is 53 miles of unspoiled sand dune barrier islands, part of the famous North Carolina outer banks, accessible only by boat. We landed the dinghies and headed across the dunes, encountering some of the wild horses found on the island.

We hiked less than a mile to the Atlantic beach. Here's Jack and Nan on the foggy beach ...

... and here's me and Steve.

The interior of the island is really beautiful and peaceful.

When we left the next morning, the fog was gone and we had this view of the National Park Service dock.

Oriental, NC has a small free town dock, but it was full when we arrived today, so we headed on up Greens Creek to anchor for the night. We dinghy'd into town and walked around. We found loads of marinas, boats, and nautical businesses, which is pretty much the standard for all these towns on the ICW. We had a beautiful sunset tonight.

Lucy has become very comfortable around the boat. Loves to just sit out on the decks when we are anchored and watch the birds.

We have less than 200 miles to go to get to the Chesapeake Bay, so we'll continue to plug along and enjoy each day.

to Osprey Marina

2010-04-29T18:41:00.016-04:00

We spent one extra day in Charleston because of the winds and a morning of rain. Our slip at the Charleston Maritime Center Marina was open to Charleston Harbor so the winds, currents, and passing boats made for a rocky stay with much squeaking of dock lines and fenders. Although we loved Charleston, we were glad to untie from that dock. We anchored out for one night and then stopped for a night at Georgetown, SC. Lots of boats in the harbor as we came in.
This is the view down the main business street of this small historical town....

... and the backside of the buildings open up onto the boardwalk along the waterfront.

We picked up some shrimp at the local fish market and had a shrimp dinner on our boat with Jack and Nan. Although we've done much of the Loop by ourselves, we are enjoying traveling with them. We really enjoy their company and have lots of laughs together. We all like to do the same kinds of things on our shore excursions and we are working off similar budgets. The next morning, we enjoyed breakfast out, then took our bikes for a tour around the town which has its share of historical homes on beautiful tree lined streets.

We left about noon for a short cruise to our next anchorage and immediately noticed that more trees began to appear along the shore line. This was the entrance to Thoroughfare Creek.

After anchoring the boat we took the dinghy to explore a small "canal neighborhood" that was shown on the navigational charts. There was a central canal cut, here's the view looking into the central canal from the Creek.

... and then about 5 branches of canals off in both directions. The banks were mud and there were only one or two houses with docks in each canal.

The houses were quite rustic, we were beginning to wonder what this "development" was all about.

We took the dinghy over to the small sand hill directly across from our anchored boat. This was beginning to remind us alot of the Upper Mississippi River.

Nice sand, we climbed the hill and found this path among the trees. We hadn't had a favorite anchorage for a while, but Thoroughfare Creek is definitely in our top ten.

On the other side of the hill, we found ourselves overlooking the dead end of one of the canals we were just exploring.

Later in the day, Jack and Nan met some locals on the sand hill who told them that a developer had cut the canals without getting any permits, so the project was never finished. They also said the folks who built there were squatters. Interesting story.

The water was flat calm and perfectly quiet that night. Steve put out a stern anchor to keep us from swinging because we get more consistent TV reception when we don't move. With just rabbit ears and a digital TV we get an average of 10 channels even in the most remote anchorages. Today's cruise brought us through the most beautiful section of the ICW that we've seen. Thick trees right up to the bank. Lots of cypress trees with their cypress knees.

We arrived at Osprey Marina by noon, this time getting a push from the incoming tide. Osprey is well known on the ICW for its dockage rates (only $1/foot, we haven't seen that since we left the rivers) and fuel prices ($2.66/gal with BOATUS discount). When we got to the turn off, boats were waiting in the channel to get to the fuel docks. We found lots to like here including a welcome bag that included crackers and cheese among other goodies. Great homemade burgers and potato salad, friendly folks, and a great layout with everything close. It's tucked into the woods just off the ICW and the only drawback is that there's nothing nearby to see or do, so it was a great place to do a major boat cleaning (Steve) and a huge load of laundry (Liz). We had a couple of windy and cool days (upper 60's), but it's back to sunny, calm and warm so we'll be moving on up the coast tomorrow.

Charleston Update

2010-04-24T20:32:00.005-04:00

We had a lazy morning today for the first time since we left the Keys. In the afternoon we took our bikes to tour Charleston. Gotta say it again, what a great town, so much to see and do we can't possibly cover it all in this short visit and I can't possibly convey how fabulous it is with a few photos, but here's a bit of what we saw today. This is a fountain at the city park that is along the waterway.

The historical part of the city is the tip of a peninsula that was laid out as a city in the 1700's Many of the streets are quite narrow.

At the southern end of the peninsula is the "battery", so named because it was originally set up as a line of defense against the constantly invading French and Spanish. The homes built in the battery in the 1800's overlook the water and are among the finest in the city.

This is the sidewalk we rode on to see these lovely homes.

Each home is unique and beautifully restored. The flowers are all in bloom and the landscaping is meticulous. Many of the homes have elaborate formal gardens in the back, but they cannot be seen from the street. Notice the vines covering the archway. This is commonly seen with vines sometimes covering the entire foundation.

The wrought iron work on this one was spectacular.

There's been wedding receptions on the patio of the marina for the past two nights. We were relieved to know that the Chicken Dance and the Macareena are played at weddings in SC, just as they are in MN. There are also tour boats, schooners, party boats and the water taxi all running out of this marina. Just a few blocks away is Harris Teeters, a nice upscale grocery store, another reason to love this location. It was cloudy today and there is a bit of a storm front coming this way, so our departure tomorrow is tentative at this time. We've had calm and sunny days since we left the Keys and have become almost complacent about checking the weather, but will be keeping a close watch tonight and tomorrow.

Charleston, SC

2010-04-23T19:37:00.012-04:00

We are still in the land of 7 to 9 foot tides, twice daily. The heavy duty concrete floating docks at all the marinas move up and down on huge concrete spud poles that are covered with barnacles and become exposed when the tide goes down. The tides also make for some strong currents, sometimes pushing you along and sometimes slowing our boat to a snail's pace. We are used to anchoring in strong currents, but the currents here change direction while you sleep !!! Here's a spud pole covered with barnacles.

When we left the Isle of Hope Marina, we passed this mega yacht boatyard. These are just a couple of the huge boats we saw there.

As we entered the Savannah River (the ICW crosses pretty much straight across it), we saw this huge container ship coming up the river. Captain Steve decided (wisely) not to try to cross in front of him, so we turned to our starboard and opted for a port to port pass.

We were very close .... it was quite thrilling ...

... and then we turned to port, over his wake, and were on our merry way.

On the way to Charleston, we anchored out twice and had a "day stop" at Beaufort, SC. Pronounced BEW ford, there is a courtesy dock where you can stay all day, but not overnight. Here are Shingebiss and Eschaton at the dock. We unloaded the bikes and toured this charming and beautiful small historic town.

The road along the river is lined with southern style homes.

... and beautiful old live oaks drapped in Spanish moss.

We had a great gumbo and muffaletta lunch in the downtown, walked along the new riverwalk park, then returned to the boats to continue on to the next anchorage. We're seeing more homes along the waterway and they all have extrememly long piers leading out to their floating docks.

The scenery is beautiful as we wind our way through the rivers, inlets, and manmade cuts that connect them all to form the ICW. There's not nearly as much traffic on the ICW as we expected, especially this time of year as all the boating snowbirds and Loopers head north. Some days we hardly see another boat until we get to the anchorage or marina.

We arrived at Charleston and are at the Charleston Maritime Center Marina. Last evening we strolled through a historical residential area right near the marina and into the restaurant and market area. Very, very cool city. Today we took the water taxi across the harbor to Patriots Point where the aircraft carrier Yorktown and the submarine Clamadore are on display. The Yorktown served from WWII to the Vietnam War and has been at Charleston since 1975. Even though it's an older carrier, having never been on one before, we thought it was quite impressive.

We went up on the flight deck and saw the fighter jets on display.

Down in the engine room there were endless dials and controls.

The Yorktown is set up as a museum and as a tribute to those who have served our country, telling their stories with memorabilia and pictures.

This is the control room of the submarine.

This was the last diesel powered submarine, so again was an older model, but still very interesting. We spent the entire day at Patriots Point, there was so much to see. Tonight we are relaxing on the boat, listening to the Minnesota Twins beat the KC Royals on XM radio, our new entertainment option. Tomorrow we plan to bike around Charleston and see more of this great city.

Savannah, GA

2010-04-19T20:57:00.010-04:00

We had read that some cruisers don't care for the coastal landscape of Georgia, but we have found it to be quite enjoyable. Alot of small rivers and creeks flow into the ICW and many of them provide fine places to anchor for the night. Much of the scenery looks like this, with the salt marshes coming right down to the edge of the water and the trees in the background.

The marshes look like this up close.

We left Jekyll Island and met up with Jack and Nan on Eschaton. You might remember them from back on the Florida panhandle and yes, they are still cruising the Loop in their Gibson houseboat and doing fine. Here they are coming over to our boat for dinner at one of the two anchorages we shared on our cruise to Savannah.

As we move further north, the trees are starting to increase slightly, here's the view we had leaving our second anchorage.

We're getting into a bit of a rhythm of anchoring for a couple of days followed by a marina stay in order to tour the historic cities. When we got to Isle of Hope Marina, we took the bikes for a ride through this small peaceful town near Savannah. This is the road that runs right by the marina and we found every street looked like this with huge live oak trees and lush foliage. Spring has come to this part of the country.

We biked out to the historic site called Wormsloe, where we pedaled down a 1.5 mile "oak alley". At the end of the road is the ruins of a house within a small fort built by Georgia's first settlers.

The next day we took a city bus into Savannah. We hopped on the Old Town Trolley to get an overview of this remarkable city. The city is jam packed with beautifully preserved historic homes. I took pictures of some of them out the trolley window as the driver narrated stories of how their builders and originals owners fit into Georgia's history. No two are alike.

The historic district is up on a bluff high above the Savannah River a few miles off the ICW. It was laid out in squares with 24 of the squares made into parks. The parks are full of ancient live oaks draped in spanish moss and are absolutely beautiful. Every two blocks another park appears with the houses built all around them. On the trolley tour, you can get off to walk around, and then jump back on the next trolley as they come by every 15 minutes. We loved walking through these amazing landscapes.

Each park square has a historically significant monument or a fountain in its center. This one had a beautiful fountain.

Then back on the trolley for more house and more history.

We lunched at the Pirate House Restaurant, where I had to have a picture of this Jack Sparrow wannabe. He actually looked quite like him.

The final part of the Trolley Tour took us down the hill to River Street. This part of Savannah is the most recent part of town to be renovated. All the old warehouses, many of which had been abandoned for years, have been revitalized and turned into shoppes and eateries.

The weather continues to be warm and sunny, the seas have been smooth, and we've really enjoyed cruising and site seeing with Jack and Nan.

Jekyll Island

2010-04-15T18:21:00.009-04:00

After a couple of nights of anchoring, we arrived at beautiful Jekyll Island. This is the office at Jekyll Harbor Marina, but don't be fooled by the down home appearance. This is a friendly and well run marina with great WiFi and cable TV. The floating concrete docks are designed to accomodate the 7-9 foot twice daily tides.

This is the walkway up to the restaurant, the azaleas are in full bloom all over the island.

Jekyll Island is only 7 miles long and 1.5 miles wide. There are 22 miles of bike paths winding through the old forest, along the beaches, and to the historical village that makes this island so unique.

In the late 1800's a group of famous and wealthy families bought the island for their winter retreat. They built a clubhouse, put up individual "cottages" for their families, and outfitted the island with tennis courts, a golf course and a marina for their yachts. After a good run of about 50 years, the club disbanded and the island was purchased by the state of Georgia. The original clubhouse is now the Jekyll Island Club Hotel. The bike trail led us to the hotel.

The marina is right on the ICW and is a favorite stop for Loopers and ICW Snowbirds. This morning we returned to the hotel with Loopers Richard and Laura (boat: Laura Lee) for breakfast. This is the view down the hallway to the dining room.

Here are Steve, Laura, and Richard in the courtyard.

We biked to the beach on the Atlantic side. The water is brown tinged from the all the sand that is being stirred up from the north winds that have been blowing much of the winter.

We finally saw our first alligators (in the wild) in this pond on the bike path.

Jekyll Island is a wonderful stop and we really enjoyed our time here. Tonight we spent some time with Greg and Judy (boat: Majic II) who have a Mainship just one year newer than ours. It was fun to see their "sister ship", in excellent condition, but a completely different interior than ours. All the Loopers and Snowbirds, who were spread out all over Florida and the Bahamas for the winter, are now now heading north on the ICW. Next stop will be Savannah, GA.