New York to Montreal

Soon after passing under the Verrazano Suspension Bridge into New York harbor, the Statue of Liberty appears along the New Jersey shoreline. We have arrived in New York and are starting up the Hudson River.

Our first stop on our historic tour was at the Croton Dam, the third largest stone structure in the world, exceeded only by the Great Wall of China and the Great Pyramid of Giza.

Our next stop was at the Rockerfeller home, Kykuit. We finished the day at Washington Irving's cottage.

After spending two days in Tarrytown, viewing the historic sights in the area, we headed out on our treck up the Hudson River. One of the majestic sights is West Point along the west bank of the river.

As the river cuts through the eastern end of the Appalachian Mountains, it forms a beautiful valley, with river depths as much as 80'. What is quite amazing, is that the river is tidal all the way to Albany.

On Saturday we got to Kingston, located on the northern banks of Rondout Creek, the eastern terminus of a canal that ran from Pennsylvania to the Hudson River. Coal was hauled on small barges to Kingston, than reloaded onto larger barges for transport to New York City or other New England cities. Kingston was also the first Capital of New York and was burned to the ground in 1777 by the British.

After attending a Lutheran church service this morning, Sunday, June 15, we motored another 40 miles up the river towards Albany. We are anchored for the night behind Houghtaling Island.

Monday we continued up river, passing Albany and the capital building. Shortly north of Albany we entered the first lock of the upper Hudson River. the Troy lock. We spent the night at the town of Waterford dock, offered free with power and water to lure boaters to spend some money in their neat town.

We spent Tuesday and Wednesday working our way up the Champlain Canal into the south end of Lake champlain. Because of the significance of this natural water route in our early history, there are many historic sites along the way.

On Tuesday we went through 10 lockes, 8 up to the top of the system at 140', and 2 down to Whitehall, where our first navy ships were built. They have a great museum there where they have assembled memorbelia from those years, with great models assembled of the town in those early years.

On Wednesday we went through the last lock, down to the elevation of Lake Champlain of 96'. The south end of Champlain is basically a wide river for the first 30-40 miles. In this stretch Lake George drains into Champlain, and at that point Fort Ticondaoga was built on the high hill along the west shore. From that fort you can see up to the north a good 10 miles and to the south 5-6 miles. We anchored ODYSSEE and dingied in to visit the fort. There was significant weed growth in the shallow water, and we thought we had anchored outside of that weed growth. After a two hour tour of the fort, we came back to the shore to find that ODYSSEE had moved about 1/4 mile to the north, pushed by the south wind, well into the weed growth. The weeds wrapped around the rode and anchor were so heavy we couldn't pull the anchor up, so I would pull it up as much as I could, Claria would move the boat forward, forcing the weeds down the rode, and allowing me to pull up another foot of rode. When we got down to the last 10', the anchor was blocking any further stripping action of the water. At this point I took the boat hook, extended to it's maximum length, and used it to hook into the weeds and slowly stripped the weeds from the rode and anchor. Finally I could raise the anchor and we could move out into deeper water. Several cycles of reverse and forward and we had the weeds off the props and we were off again. Definitely another ODYSSEE odyssey! We spent a very pleasant night anchored in Bulwagga bay.

On Thursday, June 19, we finished our trip to Burlington, VT where we are spending a couple days. We have developed a leak at the shaft of our port engine fresh water pump. Have parts on the way and plan to change out that pump while we are in Burlington as well.

Waterpump replaced, we left Burlington on Saturday afternoon, June 21 and moved 30 miles up Lake champlain and anchored for the night.

On Sunday, we woke up to a drizzel and heavy clouds. We had 14 miles to go to get to the Canadian border, and then another 63 miles up the Richelieu River and Chambly Canal to Saint-Antoni sur Richelieu, our planned stop for the night at their town wall. The Chambly Canal has 9 locks, all small, 120' long by 22' wide, beginning at Saint-Jean-de-Richelieu, where several boats lined the town wall, including KAOS, our "Looper" friends 

from Texas. Locks 1 through 8 are manually operated. The canal itself is narrow with a                       

6 MPH speed limit. Actually we couldn't go any faster, with the canal only 50' wide and 8' deep in some places, our boat was pushing a lot of water. It takes 1 1/2 hours to travel the 9 miles of the canal and pass through the 9 locks.

Monday was again an overecast day with on and off showers. We arrived at Sorel and the St. Lawerance river about noon with many large ships waiting to greet us. We turned left to the SW for a 37 mile up river trek to Montreal.

As late afternoon arrived, so did the skyline of Montreal. We are planning on spending 3 nights here, leaving on Thursday, June 26 to start up the Ottawa River towards Ottawa.

Classic ODYSSEE among mostly new "bubble" boats at Yacht Club Montreal.

Up the Del-Mar coast to NYC

We left Norfolk on Thursday, June 5, went across the entrance to the Chesapeak, inside the Bay Bridge Tunnel to Cape Charles, a fine place! Entered the Virginia Inside Passage (VIP) at low water, -0.5' with a rising tide behind us. About 3 miles in ran into some 3.5' water, anchored the boat, relaxed for two hours waiting for water to rise, lifted anchor and proceeded to Anchorage for the night.

Yesterday, Friday June 6, continued up VIP through a rising tide. Found many DANGER signs indicating very skinny water. Locals also planted sticks in the bottom to help us strangers get through. Got near Wachapreague Inlet the water was falling and under +2', so we elected to go outside up to Chincoteaque where we have tied up to the town dock. On the way in to Chincoteaque passed this permanent day marker which had been distroyed and now marked with a temporary marker.








Chincoteaque has completed nice transient docks with power and water, available for 24 hours for $1.00 per foot. One of the local police officers comes down from the police station to collect your money and welcome you to town. After getting checked in, we took the Pony Express trolley for a ride around town for a fare of $.25 each. We went past the park they use to auction off the wild horses from Assateaque Island once each year. The proceeds from the sale go to the Chincoteaque police who actually own the horses.

On Saturday we went 34 miles through the shallow Chincoteaque Bay, leading a rising tide all the way through by 1 1/2 hours. Even so we passed through some skinny water of only 4 1/2'. Near the north end of the lake we crossed an abondoned crab trap and picked it up and wrapped around out starboard prop. After spending 3 hours under the boat with a wire cutter the crab trap now litters the bottom just south of the Ocean City inlet. We were anchored behind the north end of Assateaque Island where several wild horses were grazing.

Sunday June 8 we traveled another 44 miles to Lewes, Delaware, the first settlement in Delaware, where we were able to get off the boat to walk to the town Museum and down the main street.

Monday, June 9 took us accross the Delaware River to Cape May, NJ. Tomorrow my sister Mary and her husband Jack Wolfe arrive on their trawler BAOWOLFE, from St. Michael's, MD. We will travel together for the next few days up to New York City.

We left on Wednesday morning, heading north on the outside towards Manasasquan, a midway harbor between Cape May and New York City, a trip of 100 miles. Today, Thursday June 12, we motored through New York city and up the Hudson River to Tarrytown, where we will spend two nights, doing some historic sightseeing on Friday.

Up the ICW to Norfolk

We're off! The bad news is we left later than our planned departure on Tuesday, May 27; the good news is we got off! Goodby swing bridge to Lady's Island in Beaufort. The first night out we got about 30 miles up the ICW towards Charleston.

On Wednesday, forcast for early in the day was for 2' seas on the Atlantic building from the south in the afternoon, so we went out at Edisto Beach and ran at 16 + MPH up to Charleston, coming into Charleston Harbor, with the new Cooper River suspension bridge in the back ground, at about 11:00 AM. From there we had favorable tide current of better than 1 MPH until the last two hours of the day, so even on the ICW we were making better than 11 MPH SOG. Got all the way to Thoroughfare Creek north of Georgetown, a run of 131 miles. We were now back on schedule.

Today, Thursday, May 29, we motored 63 miles up to Shallotte Inlet, NC where we have anchored for the night. Along the way we were running with two sportfish boats, a 65' Viking and a 44' Oceans, both being delivered by captains. We chuckled at how little these captains knew about the published bridge opening schedules. After passing us we caught up with them again about 2 hours later as they waited for a bridge opening. Once that bridge was open, off they went again only to be held up by the next low bridge 20 miles up the ICW. We ran at a steady 9 MPH SOG and timed the openings perfectly. So, for 6 hours these boats hurried up to wait, producing a gigantic wake in their hurry to get nowhere. So much for having a captains license and not knowing what your doing!

On Friday we cruised up to MM264 on the ICW and went in behind Topsail Beach, NC, anchored the boat, lowered the dingy and went ashore to walk the beach.

Back on the water we proceeded to Morehead City, NC. We docked at Morehead City Yacht Harbor right in the middle of town. We deployed our two wheel ground transportation vehicles and biked around town to figure out what was in town. At 6:30 PM we happened on the city park and a statue dedicated to all the watermen who lost their lives working the local waters and a free concert. We also discovered a Methodist Church with an early Sunday morning service within walking distance of the marina, where we worshipped on Sunday moring.

On Sunday, June 1, we went 26 miles to Oriental, NC to join "Looper" friends for dinner.

From Oriental we stayed on the ICW, a different route than we had used the previous year, into the Alligator River where we anchor Monday Night.

From our anchorage in the Alligator River, we ran another 75 miles including a crossing of Albemarle Sound, where Captain Chuck worked very hard to keep the boat on course. He had to adjust the auto pilot at least 4 times. We finished the day at an anchorage 30 miles south of Norfolk, in Blackwater Creek.

We got to Norfolk on schedule, Wednesday June 4, and docked at Waterside Marina, right in the middle of their active waterfront. Claria's sister Alida arrived at the boat at about 11:30 PM from a late flight that was late!

Down East Loop

Note: Pictures have been added to the end of our last page, Homeward Bound. Check them out before you read this new page.

Plans are coming together to leave on our next adventure on May 27 to do the "Down East Loop". This trip is about 4,000 miles and takes about 5 months, essentially half the trip we just finished. The loop part of this trip starts and ends in New York City. We again go up the Hudson River, but this time go straight north to Lake Champlain and then up the Richelieu River to the St. Lawrence River. We're going to take a little side trip up river to Montreal, then up the Ottawa River to Ottawa, and then south down the Rideau Canal to Kingston, and then down the St. Lawrence River to the Maritime Provinces, around the tip of Nova Scotia, through Bras d' Or Lake, around the south tip of Nova Scotia, accross the Bay of Fundy, down the Maine coast, through the Cape Code Canal, back to New York, and then south back to Beaufort. We plan to be in New York City on our way north about June 13, Ottawa on about June 29, Kingston about July 6, Prince Edward Island about August 11, Halifax about September 5, New York City again about October 5, and back home by the end of October.

As I write this page, it is March 10. We're working on the boat to improve a few things. The old Detroits leak around the exhaust manifolds, most old Detroits do, but I'm replacing the manifold gaskets in hopes that I can stop that leaking. Then we're going to add some Plexiglas doors on either side of the back sun deck to improve that enclosure in rough weather. Then just forward of those doors we're going to cut in deck drains to try to keep water from coming back onto the sun deck floor. She'll be better then new at handling rough weather.

We'll start posting again as we head out. This looks like another exciting trip, an ODYSSEE for sure!

Homeward Bound

As we start the last chapter of this trip, we sit at Everglades City waiting for the wind to settle down and the waves to subside out on the Gulf. No more did the kids get in the limosene on New Years day, the sky clouded up, and a strong cold front came through with gale force winds. Since then the lows at night have been in the 30's, highs in the 50's, and winds 20 - 30 mph. Waves are reported to be 5 - 7' out in the Gulf, so we will wait for things to settle down. Maybe we can start south back towards the Keys on Saturday. Historic Rod and Gun Club in Everglades City. ODYSSEE tied up to the wall in front of Rod and Gun Club. Note old gasoline pump, price shown is 9 cents plus 4 cents tax per gallon. Remember those days?

So far we have logged 7343 miles and have about 750 left to go to get home.

Things did calm down as forcast, and we left Saturday, January 5, to head back south towards the Keys. Saturday night we anchored about 5 miles up the Little Shark River in Everglades National Park. Nothing around us except sea life, birds, and a mangrove forest. Shortly after anchoring we had a dalphin show. That night the current was so strong from the tideal flow, that our starboard propellar started to turn. Took me awhile to figure our what that funny noise was under the boat. Finally tied the shaft so it wouldn't turn and went back to bed.
Night approaches as we anchor in the Little Shark River in the Everglades.

Sunday we worked our way to the SE into the shallow waters of Florida Bay, ending the day at Lower Matecumbe Key and Caloosa Cove Marina. Monday we stopped at Lignumvitae Key State Park and then anchored for the night behind Islamorada. We dingyied into the World Wide Sportsman Store, oh my. Earnist Hemmingway's boat is inside, along with everything you need for fishing, water sports, and boating. This same store is Bass Pro Shops around the country. Tuesday we went to Travinier for lunch and anchored in Blackwater Sound.
Going through the mangroves on the ICW just before entering Biscayne Bay, south of Miami. The concrete of Miami ahead as we get to the north end of Biscayne Bay.

Wednesday we arrived in Miami at 2:30, and were invited to Roger and Jan Treece's home, former neighbors from Beaufort, for one of Jan's wonderful meals. Had a wonderful evening catching up. Thursday was spent reprovisioning and doing laundry.

Friday we started north up the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, getting to Boca Raton for the night. We anchored and started up the generator, and proceeded to fix dinner. About an hour later the generator stopped abrubtly. Tried to restart and it would stop immeadiatly. So down into the engine room I went to discover the generator had overheated. Found some debris in the raw water strainer, cleaned it out, and had Claria start it up again. It ran for a minute, but created so much suction from the strainer to the raw water pump that the hose collapsed. Obviously I had a blockage in the raw water intake some place. Took the intake hose apart, it was clean. Tried to blow air through the through hull fitting, could not. Removed the hose again and opened the through hull, only a trickle of water. No evidence of blockage on the inside of the through hull, must be something on the outside. It was getting late so went to bed. The next morning put on my dive gear to go under the boat and inspect the through hull. Found a shreaded plastic bag with blue tape wrapped around it that had somehow lined itself up with the inlet pipe and plugged the pipe. It was as if someone purposely put a plug in. Removed same, all is well.

Today, Saturday, January 12, we are anchored just south of Stuart, FL. Was a terrible day on the ICW, never saw so many rude boaters with big boats going way to fast making waves that wash over the concrete bulkheads. A bunch of IDIOTS!

Sunday was a better day on the ICW, the weather wasn't as nice so there weren't as many other boaters. We went 55 miles up the waterway to Sabastian, where we spent the night at Capt. Harim Marina. Monday we went north another 62 miles and anchored near Cape Canaveral. Today we are in Daytona Beach. We meet another couple who just purchased a 1973, 43' Hatteras, and are getting it ready to do the "Great Loop" trip in 2009. They were interested in seeing our boat and see some of the changes we had made.

After spending Wednesday morning riding our bicyles around Datona Beach, we motored 40 miles north up the ICW to Mantanzas Inlet where we anchored for the night. We anchored with two anchores, one up stream, the other down stream, in anticipation of strong tidal currents. We were correct in our assumption, and at 3:00 am our propellars started to turn in the strong current. This was only the second time this has happened on this trip, and takes at least 4 mph of current. It's an erry sound under the boat!

Thursday morning we toured Fort Mantanzas, which was built by the Spanish to protect the "back door" to St. Augustine. It is now a National Monument and well preserved. Following our visit, we went to St. Augustine and stayed at the Municipal Marina which is located in front of this historic town. We rode our bikes through town, toured the Spanish fort, and enjoyed dinner ashore.

Today, Friday January 18, the weather has turned very cold and tomorrow rain is expected most of the day. We are anchored above St. George Island, 5 miles north of St. Johns River and 10 miles NE of Jacksonville. Tomorrow we will leave Florida into Georgia.

During the night heavey rains came through. By morning there was a break in the rain and we took the opportunity to tie ODYSSEE up to the park dock on St. George Island and toured Kinsley Plantation, a National Park Historic Site. As we left and headed north the wind was still blowing strong from the south. As we reached Cumberland Sound and the St. Marys River, the Navy was escorting a sub out to sea from the Kings Bay Sub Base, and we were requested to wait near Fernandina Beach for the floatilla to pass. As we waited the wind shifted to the north, it became hazy, and it started to cool down. We were also traveling with another Hatteras, "Sapelo Girl", a 41' double cabin with a canvas enclosed fly bridge drive station over the salon. As we proceeded north, the north wind continued to increase and it got colder, with a prediction of freezing temperatures by morning. We decided to abandon our anchoring plans and called Jekyll Harbor Marina for a transient slip. "Sapelo Girl" had gotten about two miles ahead of us as they started across St. Andrew Sound. The wind was now blowing 25 - 30 and the waves on the sound were 3 - 4'. We had sped up to a plane and were taking every fourth or fifth wave over the bow, but otherwise the boat was handling the sea well. It was sure nice to have a hard top over us and a windshield and wipers in front of us. At this point, "Sapelo Girl" radioed back to us that it was very rough on the Sound, and they were turning around to look for an anchorage to the south of the Sound. They were having trouble seeing and were taking some water through their canvas helm enclosure, and at 45 degrees, they were not at all comfortable. We advised them we had reservation north of the Sound at Jekyll Island and that we were going to proceed across the Sound. A couple of minutes later they passed us going south as we blasted through the waves to the north side of the sound. As expected, "ODYSSEE" did a fine job in the rough water. So we are plugged in and the heaters are running, snug as two bugs!

Sunday morning we borrowed two of the marina bicycles and went to the Jekyll Island Club Hotel for breakfast. This is a very fine, histoic hotel that was used by the residents of the island to entertain family and friends. A couple of the residents were J. C. Morgan and Goodyear. Was a fine meal. We rode back through the historic district to view some of the other fine resored properties. The wind was still blowing when we cast off from Jekyll Island. More waves and salt spray as we crossed each opening to the Atlantic. We anchored for the night in the Cresent River, about 50 miles south of Savannah. Tonight we are anchored behind Daufuskie Island near the County dock, after another day of lots of wind, big waves, and cold temperatures. Our boat is becomming a block of salt!

We are pleased to announce, that our old 1971 Hatteras, ODYSSEE, safely delivered us to our home dock at 2:20 PM on Tuesday, January 22. The old "Hat" ran every day we wanted to go someplace, with the original 8V53 Detroit Diesels purring like two big tigers! There were some days we shouldn't have gone anyplace, but the boat handled the rough situations admirably, better than the crew. We crossed our wake at the entrance to Chowan (Cowan) Creek from the ICW at MM 544.5 at 1:56 PM. What a ride! 8117 miles of some of the most beautiful waters anyone would ever want to cruise on. On arrival we were flying our AGLCA burgee from the bow, our South Carolina State courtesy flag from the top of our signal mast, and 18 other state and country courtesy flags flying in the order we passed through those regions, strung from the bow pulped rail to the cross arm on the signal mast. The AGLCA burgee and South Carolina flags were pretty ragged, having flown every day since we left on April 16.
The flags fly as we start up Chowan Creek

ODYSSEE tied up, the journey is complete

Several things we had along which proved to be worth their weight in gold. (1) We just about wore out our fold up bikes, we used them everywhere. (2) My "Brownie" third lung diving system paid for itself several times over. I cleaned the bottom twice, changed two sets of props under water, cleaned off black poly crab trap line from propeller shafts four times, cleaned a plastic bag off a raw water intake once, freed up a dock line off a propeller shaft once, freed up a stern anchor line off a propeller shaft once, and cut off a tow line that stretched and broke from the port propeller shaft from a 50' racing sailboat in the Erie canal when he got stuck on the bottom and we tried to pull him off above lock 19. Would have needed a diver at least 10 times had I not had the ability to fix the problem myself, plus all the lost time getting the diver to the boat. Was able to help a few other boaters as well with underwater issues. (3) Double anchor system built into the bow pulpit ready to deploy at any moment. A must in tidal streams with reversing current. (4) Lead line, allowed us to assess depth all around the boat. Used when our bow was aground, wanted to confirm there was enough water around our props to attempt to back off without damaging any running gear, used three times. (5) Long 3/4" line, other than anchor line, for use when tying off to tree or rock on shore or to use as tow rope. We had a 125' line that we used several times in Canada and used three times as a tow rope.

The boat is not for sale yet, we are having so much fun, and the boat is working so well, we are leaving to do the "Down East Loop" in early June. So, check in again in June and join us our next journey.

To Key West for Christmas

After Thanksgiving, we left Mobile on Sunday for a short trip to Gulf Shores, AL. On the way we crossed our wake at bouy 125 of the Gulf Itracoastal Waterway, joining the course we used bringing ODYSSEE home from New Orleans. In Gulf Shores we had lunch at Lulu's with Al and Marilyn Smith aboard "Siris" who left Mobile with us and Dick and Mary Ellen Pugh from "Knot Home" who joined us by car. Lulu Buffet is Jimmy's sister. After lunch the Pugh's said their good bys, they were going home for two months in Idaho before the finish the "Loop" in Ft. Myers where they purchsed their boat.

Monday we moved further east to Ft. Walton Beach where we spent the night at their town dock. Tuesday we had Lunch at Destin and then anchored in Hogtown Bayou for the night. Wednesday we ended up anchored behind the gulf beach in St. Andrews sound, south of Panama City at 2:00. We launched the dingy and went ashore to walk the white sand beach. Today, Thursday 11/29, we stopped in Panama City to drop off the Willows at Jaci's cousins home, and then moved to the east to anchor in Laird Bayou. Tomorrow we will end up in Port St. Joe where Chuck will adjust the lines on an AirBerth boat lift on Saturday.

Actually got to Port St. Joe shortly after noon on Friday and was able to get most of the work done on the AirBerth Friday afternoon. Our next big task is to get accross the gulf in the short days of December. We really don't want to run at night. So at noon on Saturday we started looking for weather windows to cross to Crystal River, a 162 mile run from Apalachicola or a 150 mile run from Carrabelle. Low and behold their was going to be a promising day on Sunday, before the next cold front arrived. So we quickly got ready to leave for Apalachicola so we could leave at first light on Sunday. Well Sunday arrived with a forcast of 1 to 2' waves from the SE, so we left a 6:30 AM with "Siris" to do the crossing. When we got out to the gulf the waves were 3 to 5' and when the second one broke over our bow we turned around and headed for Carrabelle. By Sunday afternoon we had 16 "loopers" here. Tonight, Monday December 3 we got everybody together and roasted 60 pounds of oysters, boiled 10 pounds of scrimp, and baked 8 pounds of fresh fish. Everybody brought a dish to pass and the party was great. Tomorrow we are all planning to leave, four of us to Crystal River, and the rest to Steinhatchee. We'll see if the weather cooperates this time!

Well, we got up early on Tuesday, ready to cross the gulf. We looked at the flag at the marina and it was standing straight out, at 6:00 in the morning. Not a good sign. Next we looked at the data for a weather bouy out in the gulf, waves were 7.9 ft, not a good condition. Then we checked the marine forcast, and it indicated the wind would continue to blow 10-15 until mid afternoon. So, wait at least another day. The wind did die at about noon and the waves were decreasing and by mid afternoon were reported to be 3.9 ft. We reorganized for a Wednesday morning departure. The forcast was for the wind to pick up again on Wednesday afternoon.

We left at 4:30 this morning and made a 153 mile crossing to Crystal River. To bed early tonight!

Dolphins play in our wake as we cross the Gulf.

Crystal River was a delight, a community of residents who kayak through the manatees or fish the rivers. Absent were high rise condominiums typical of the west coast of Florida. We joined the locals visiting with the manatees at the protected preserve. Fasinating to watch some 50 manatees swim amongst our dingys.

Mother manatee with young calf.

From Crystal River we made a 71 mile run to Tarpon Springs. The marinas were all full of other "loopers" so we anchored just inside the entrance of the Anclote River. As it turned out this was actually better than being in town in the middle of their active waterfront. It was nice and quite at our anchorage. We dingied into town on Saturday, December 8, and saw everything we wanted to see.

We left again on Sunday for the Municipal Marina at Clearwater Beach. We got in before noon so were able to spend the afternoon on the beach.

Monday we proceed south through Tampa Bay and pulled into Weir's dock at about 2:00 PM. That evening we were treated to dinner at Pete and Nancy Weir's with Dick and Sally York joining us. A Minnetonka reunion!

Tuesday afternoon, at high tide, we moved the boat to the Fish Shack Marina, a short 8 miles away. Pete, Nancy, and Sally joined us for the short ride and Dick caught up with us at the Marina. Al and Marilyn Smith, "looper" friends from Canada joined us and the eight of us enjoyed dinner together.

Wednesday, "Siris", Smith's boat, and "Odyssee" left for a short 13 mile trip to Sarasota. We arrived just before lunch, anchored in their harbor, and rode the city bus to the Ringling Circus Musium. We returned to the boats as the sun was setting and spent a quiet evening aboard.

Thursday the two boats proceeded south on the Gulf ICW to Boca Grande, one of our favorite stops on the Florida west coast. We anchored behind the Gasperilli Inn Golf Course, anchoring the bow of the boat and tying the stern to the mangroves. Friday morning the four of us rented a golf cart and spent two hours touring the island. We topped off the morning with lunch at the Pink Elephant.

Today, Friday afternoon, December 14, we moved the boats to an anchorage at Cayo Costa with the hopes of going ashore at the State Park here and walking the beach, but the weather didn't cooperate, it rained all afternoon.

On Saturday, we moved to the Ft. Myers area, docking in Ft. Myers Beach at Fish Tale Marina. We reconnected with the Willows who have a condo close to the marina, and had dinner with two fraternity brothers and their wives. While here we have done our Christmas shopping and sent the gifts off to family in the north.

We had a weather window to move the boat to Naples, which we have to do out in the Gulf of Mexico, on, Thursday, December 20. Daughter Mary and family arrived from Michigan on Saturday. With all aboard, we headed south to Marco Island on Christmas Eve day. Found a Presbyterian Church accross the street from our marina on Marco and enjoyed their Christmas Eve service. In our endeavour to get to Key West, we left Marco on Christmas Day and went to Dismal Key Pass to anchor for the night. We were having very low tides every morning and we needed to find an anchorage that was deep enough to get out of at low tide, - 1.1 ft. Diusmal Key Pass worked and we were able to leave for Key West at 8:00 AM on Wednesday, December 26, on a calm Gulf, to make our 89 mile run. We arrived in Key West shortly after 3:00 PM. Two days on the beach, one day looking around town, daytime temperatures in the 80's, and we were ready to move on.

Here we are in "Yurtel the turtel" on our way home from the beach. In the back, Pete, Anya and Elisabeth. Mary is with me in the front seat.

On, Friday, December 28, we moved to an anchorage at Bahia Honda State Park, and spent the last hour of the day at the beach. Again on Saturday morning we were at the beach. After noon we moved to Marathon for fuel and food.

The weather had been summer like the entire time Mary's family was with us, and it was another nice day on Sunday. We used the nice day to motor up to Everglades City, where Mary and her family would leave from on News Year day for their trip back to Michigan. As we came off the Gulf into Indian Key Pass we picked up about 4 dalphins who were playing in our bow wave and wake, so much so that the National Park tour boat came up and traveled along side so all the passengers could see the show.

Dalphin jumping from our stern wake.

Once in the town, we tied up to the wall at the historic Rod and Gun Club, once owned by Collier, from whence Collier County got it's name. Over the years this lodge has hosted several presidents and their huntung and fishing buddies. Lots of history here. The lodge has a pool and community playground across the street so the kids had a great time.

On New Years day the airport limosene picked up Mary's family at about noon, their vacation over, time to go back to the snow and cold of Detroit.

South to the Gulf of Mexico

The Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway (Tenn-Tom) is fed from the water of Pickwick Lake on the Tennessee River. The first part that leaves the Tennessee is Yellow Creek, 450 miles from Mobile, AL. Yellow Creek empties into the Divide Cut section, which at it's widest point is 175' deep and 1300' feet wide. The waterway is flat for the first 38 miles. The first lock lowered us 85 feet, and then six more locks within the next 77 miles lower us from an elevation of 414 feet to 163 feet. At mile 366, 84 miles from the Tennessee River headwaters the canal joins the Tombigbee river and then basicall follows the riverbed toward the Gulf. Because the top part of the canal is fed by the waters of the Tennessee, the dams are fixed with only a lock through them. The rest of the Tennessee River water flows down through the TVA dam system where hydro power plants and flood control dams are used as the Tennessee flows to the Ohio, it's natural course.

Today, Friday November 9 was our first day on the Tenn-Tom. We are anchored just off the channel near Fulton, MS just above Fulton Lock. In the three locks we passed through today, we were lowered 144' closer to sea level.

Saturday we traveled to Columbus, MS and spent the next two nights at Weaverly Marina. What an experience that was! Upon arriving Clint, the owner suggested if we wanted to see Weaverly Manson we should go right now, it might not be open on Sunday. "Take the van and go." The van was an old Dodge Caravan with 192,000 miles on the odeometer. It got us there. Weaverly Manson has an interesting history and the second owner, now 82 still lives there. When the first owner died, none of the heires were interested in the house and property so it was left vacated for many years with little vandelism. Finally, an antique dealer bought the house for a song 40 years ago and put substantial money into restoring it. It was probably in pretty good shape 20 years ago but now is quite run down. We assume the state will buy the house when the present owned dies and restore it again. It is a beautiful site and antibellum home that needs lots of TLC. When we got back, the Saturday afternoon neighborhood party was well under way, with kareoke singing and the Mississippi football game going on the TV. Hamburgers and fries was the menu. A real experience in small town Mississippi social life! Sunday we used the van again to go to Columbus to look at their historic district and do some grocery shopping.

As the Tenn-Tom Waterway became more of the Tombigbee River and less of an excavated canal and we crossed the state line into Alabama, we started seeing "White Bluffs", high banks of lime rock. There are large deposites lime in this part of Alabama and a cement plant in Demopolis.

The "White Cliffs of Epes"

On Monday afternoon we arrived in Demopolis, AL. On Tuesday we deployed our bikes and spent the day visiting the historic sites and visit to the grocery store.

Wednesday morning we started our four day run to Mobile. We arrived at our selected anchorage at about 3:00 PM, and we weren't happy with exposure we had to the river so we traveled another 15 miles down the river to Bashi Creek. "Time Out" another looper was already here but we found a secure place in the creek itself. Thursday morning was cold and we had frost on the decks and the river was fogged in. By 8:00 AM the fog was lifting so we started down the river with "Time Out" for Coffeeville Lock. The lock was free when we got there so went went right through. For us it was our 129th and last lock, at the bottom of the drop we were back in tidal, salt water again. We spent the night anchored at mile 67 with "Time Out", about 30 miles further down the river than our original plan. Friday morning was again cool and the river again fogged in. Again by 8:00 AM the fog was lifting, so we proceeded down the river towards Mobile with a plan to get to an anchorage at mile 12. The tide here has one cycle every24 hours and it was low at 4:00 PM so we got a nice push all day. We arrived at mile 12 at 3:30 PM and found two other Loopers already anchored there. So four of us enjoyed the anchorge. Today, Sunday November 18, we pulled into Eastern Shore Marina in Fairhope, AL at about noon.

On Wednesday we are going back accross Mobile Bay to Grand Mariner Marina for our Thanksgiving cebration with other boaters. the Grand Mariner closes their restauraunt, prepairs the turkey, ham, and potatoes and the boaters bring all the other side dishes.