Wednesday, June 20, 2007

What do we do all day?

The Winnie W had a smooth trip from Oswego to Sodus Bay, traveling about 30 miles west along the southern shore of Lake Ontario.

Here is a photo of us steaming past Chimney Bluffs near Sodus Bay. Thanks to Karin for this shot.




First of all, we've had a great time in Sodus Bay and Rochester. We met with Kathie's cousin Bob & his wife Sue. They cruise on their boat Tom-Kat and we're planning to do much of the Loop in company.

Photo: Barb, Jim, Rick (left to right)



We were treated to a picnic dinner by Tom & Sue's sailing friends in Sodus Bay. This was a very nice occasion, meant as a 'Bon Voyage' celebration for Bob and Sue. The food was great & the camaraderie better.

Photo: Karin, Liz, Sue, Bob (left to right);

It's a common question from friends and relatives, "When you go cruising, what do you *do* all day? Don't you get bored?" Often the implication is that we are lazily sipping funny-colored drinks with a little paper umbrella stuck in the glass and occasionally stir ourselves to rub on suntan lotion.

I wish I had the talent & grace to answer this question as folk singer Eileen Quinn (link) in her song of the same title.

Ho hum, another gorgeous sunset.



The truth is that it's a lot of work. With the welcome help of Tom & Sue, we spent almost two full days provisioning & hunting for needed parts; then of course we had to stow them. In fact it was a several hours job just to put away Hank's new supply of dog food. It had to be double bagged in plastic, then carefully placed under our partially depleted current supply of dog food in the V-berth (forward) which is packed with all kinds of other necessities.


Everything had to be moved, most of it several times, & re-organized along the way, with allowance for bumping elbows & stubbing toes in a small compartment. We also check everything for moisture, as boats have been known to leak once in a while.

Here is a photo of most (not all!) of the "stuff" that we moved & re-stowed during this process, stacked in the head (bathroom) temporarily. Doesn't this look like fun?

Currently we are watching the weather and planning to head to the Thousand Islands area at the eastern end of Lake Ontario.

Hope you all are well & happy!
Doug & Kathie

3 comments:

Unknown said...

You will really like the Thousand Islands area, it is quite unique in my experience. There are also some good places to stop off along the way - Henderson Harbor, Sackets Harbor and Chaumont Bay immediately come to mind. My family had a summer cottage on Henderson Bay near Sackets Harbor when I was a kid, and all of my early boating experiences were there.

We are cuurently underway with out own cruise, just south of the Florida Keys at the moment and turning north in the Gulf Stream later today.

Winnie W. said...

Hi Wayne: We're looking forward to the Thousand Islands! Fortunately Bob and Sue (my cousin & wife who we will be traveling with) know the area well; we have some great places lined up, and time to enjoy them.
We'll also be stopping to see a friend on Wolfe Island. Our friend asked Doug to make one of his famous sweet potato pies while we visit, so last night we had a 'dry run' of making a s.p. pie on the boat- we had all the ingredients (I remembered a *pie pan* at the last minute at the grocery store this week!) and it came out well.
We're looking forward to hearing about your trip from FL to New England! Kathie

Unknown said...

Hello Kathie,

Our trip is going well thanks. We are now in our 8th day since leaving Cape Coral, and running offshore at the moment. Just passed Charleston, SC about 30 minutes ago. The Sprint aircard is doing well from about 10 miles out. We would have stopped in Charleston but ended up spending a couple of days in the Savannah area so decided to keep on going. We should reach Southport early tomorrow morning and will probabably stop near Wrightsville Beach for some rest before pusing on to Beaufort and Oriental.