Cruising With Doug & Kathie

Great Loop Statistics, Numbers, Answers

2008-01-29T11:19:00.000-05:00

Hello all-
The first question most of our sailing friends ask "How much did you spend on fuel?" We have the answer to that and a few other questions.

Here are some statistics of interest:
Miles traveled 6,060
Engine hours 910.8
Locks transited 114
Time to "Loop" 245 days

Major Expenses on "Great Loop" Cruise, MV Winnie W. (rounded off)

Dockage...... $5100
Fuel............. $3800
Groceries.... $3300
Dining out... $3347
Charts......... $1200
Hank*......... $960
Insurance... $900

*Expenses accrued to Hank include inoculations & certifications needed for international travel, food, and monthly heartworm and flea & tick prevention.

Further Explanation of Expenses-
Fuel: we spent far less on fuel than most cruising powerboats; we attribute this to going slow! A 2nd factor is that our boat has good cruising range and this allowed us to buy fuel only at the less-expensive places. We arrived at our home dock with about the same amount of fuel as we left with.

Dockage: we anchored out about half the time... we could easily have saved money on dockage by anchoring out more. Part was due to cold weather at the end of the trip and avoiding ice-covered dinghy rides with Hank!

Charts: Doug bought a lot of brand-new chart kits & books, as well as a few traditional large paper charts (the kind that cover a whole table when rolled out, and you hold the corners in place by jabbing a pirate dagger thru the corners). We did not use any of the large traditional charts for actual navigation, so that was not cost-effective. The Corps of Engineers chart books for the inland rivers (Illinois, Mississippi, Tennessee, Cumberland, Tombigbee) have not been revised or updated since 1992, so it would have been more cost-effective to buy 2nd-hand ones from cruisers who finished the Loop last year. However we were very satisfied using paper charts and old-fashioned navigation methods instead of computerized chart plotters. We often heard from fellow Loopers that their chart plotter showed them someplace on the nearby land!

Insurance: we actually spent less on insurance than if we'd stayed home; the premium for the Great Lakes and inland rivers is about half what we pay for coverage in our home waters. Florida & the Gulf is more expensive, but we didn't spend a lot of time there.

Groceries: We stowed a lot of canned & frozen food on board when we left; and we arrived home with about 1/2 as much. Little of it was "original," we replenished several times along the way.

We dined out quite a lot, which adds to the expense but for us adds more to our enjoyment. It's a nice way to socialize with friends we've met along the way, and with fellow cruisers.

One of the bits of conventional wisdom that is no longer true- the Canadian/U.S. exchange rate has changed enough that groceries in Canada are slightly more expensive than in the States.

Gizmos & gadgets.... if we didn't have a chartplotter, what electronic toys *did* we have? An autopilot was the primary "toy;" ours steered the boat at least 90% of the time. It is very easy to use, very reliable, and keeps very steady course.

Would we do it again? YES! The main point of discussion is whether to do the Loop again, or to make a trip south and back and then north and back, or vice versa!

We apologize for the lack of photos today.

Best wishes- Doug and Kathie

Back to the barn (for now)....

2008-01-22T19:25:00.000-05:00

Hello all-
We made it home late Saturday, with rising winds and drizzle threatening to turn to sleet. There were several possible places to stop & dock or anchor, but the weather was predicted to be even worse for the next few days. So we decided to keep chugging on because we were in our home waters and know them well; we arrived at our home slip at about 10:30pm. Our diesel furnace had been running for 6 days straight!

North Carolina D.O.T. has a great ferry system. This one is headed down the ICW for some reason... maybe headed south to avoid cold weather?

Our last night was at Hampstead, a few miles north & east of Wrightsville Beach & Wilmington. A visit from newlyweds Guy & Jennifer was a nice occasion; Guy & Doug are old-time sailing buddies. We're looking forward to hearing about their adventures cruising together!

Here is a rare photo by Doug. Hank enjoys his last night of adventure, while Kathie prevents him from chasing animals or birds into the marsh.

The Winnie W.'s last passage on this Great Loop began early, so as to make a time slot for a low bridge that only opens on the hour. There was a 'winter weather warning' for the area although the forecasters also tempered this by saying the worst freeze & snow would be more likely inland; there was also a gale forecast for the coastal & offshore waters for the next day. What a nice combination! Driving all day and into the night was not a pleasant prospect, but being stopped by gales & frosts within a few hours of home would be far less pleasant.

Looking across the barrier islands at Topsail Beach, birds & marsh & beach front development... this is the standard mix along the Carolina coast.

The ICW crosses through one of the largest Marine Corps training grounds. There are signs warning of possible live artillery exercises ("listen to radio when lights flashing"). We think that this old troop carrier has been used as a target.

One of the nice things about cruising nowadays is that it's easy to keep in touch, and it's easy to gather data about your cruising area. For example, we heard about navigation difficulties & shoaling at several places along the ICW. Some spots have been known for trouble for years, such as Lockwood's Folly. However there is now a set of temporary marker buoys near Brown's Inlet (south & west of Swansboro), placed to guide cruisers around a new sandbar.

That's some sandbar- you can tell how shallow the water is by the land sticking up above it! This is marker 62, going thru this area is pretty straightforward although the buoys are well off to the side.

We kept going. Fortunately we made it thru the difficult parts, like the Newport River (above Morehead City) with its twisty channel & strong tidal currents, before dark.

Doug shows his confidence in navigating Adams Creek & the Neuse River at night by smiling for the camera... or is he grimacing at having to wear his glasses to read the chart?

The new camera takes great photos, it was much darker than this picture looks... the commercial vessel 'PAMLICO' is pushing a barge ahead of us into lower Adams Creek. Visibility was not good and the rain tended to blind the radar. From here it is about a 4 hour run until we docked.

So, now we have our feet up at home! It is comfy and Hank doesn't appear to miss his morning dinghy ride. The boat was still well stocked with canned food so we brought that up to the pantry. Now we're seeing friends & family face to face, in some cases for the first time in a year... there are a few changes to get used to.

Life moves on and we are already thinking about our next adventure! We'll post updates here about prep for future trips and trips in our local area at erratic intervals.

Here is a photo of Winnie W. leaving her slip for the Great Loop, back in May of 2007. Thanks to John J. for this shot!

Thanks so much for your attention to our travels! Best wishes to all- Doug & Kathie

Almost Home!

2008-01-18T18:14:00.000-05:00

Hello all: Yesterday we crossed the North Carolina border, and docked in Southport. This is a pleasant small town near the mouth of the Cape Fear River, south of Wilmington NC. We've been here before, on previous cruises south in the Winnie W. and also visiting for various sailing events including the Leukemia Cup Regatta (link).

Another encounter with fog... this time not as thick, but still not our favorite cruising conditions.

We were met in Southport by cruising friends John & Kathy who completed the Great Loop cruise themselves a couple of years ago in their DeFever 41 Rosetta, now up in the Chesapeake with her new owners who rechristened her.

A familiar sight on the southern IntraCoastal Waterway, a shrimp boat preparing for ... or coming home from... a day's hard work. You can see the trawling gear, including the "trawl doors" and nets, hanging from the booms.

Next we cruised up the Cape Fear River to Snow's Cut, another area of strong tidal current. Snow's Cut (link to Google Map) is a short canal which connects the river to Myrtle Grove Sound, the narrow bay behind the barrier islands of Wrightsville & Carolina Beach. From here, the ICW runs mostly east-west through narrow & shallow bays & sounds until it reaches the ports of Morehead City and Beaufort.

Here is the bridge to Figure Eight Island, undergoing maintenance work. It's a great idea, since we don't want bridges to corrode & collapse! But it's a serious hassle when one looks at traffic stoppage on both highway & waterway.

Only one lane of this bridge is open for road traffic, and that has people (and work & food trucks) backed up for hours. The bridge *only opens for boat traffic once a day* at noon, and only for a short time. We were told that earlier in the season during the usual fall heavy southbound traffic, over 80 boats were waiting to pass, and only 50 were allowed through before the bridge closed again.... the rest wait until tomorrow! We are very fortunate (or planned better than we knew) that the Winnie W. has only 12' of air draft, allowing us to pass under the bridge!

Here is one of the most unusual sights along the ICW, and a unique lawn ornament... a full-sized giraffe!

We're just a bit too far away to make our home port in one day, but we expect to park the Winnie W. at our home dock tomorrow. The weather is not very good, but we are in sheltered & familiar waters.
Best wishes! Doug and Kathie

Chilly days in South Carolina

2008-01-15T13:59:00.001-05:00

Hello all:

Last weekend, we were docked at Thunderbolt Marina in the little town of Thunderbolt GA, east of Savannah.

We continued heading north from there on a gloomy day. However, every day that marina treats visiting cruisers to fresh Krispy Kreme donuts and the Savannah paper, delivered to each boat, and this cheered us up!

Passing Daufuskie Island, and Calibogue Sound... I love the names of places along the Sea Isles, like Rockdedundy... we continued north past Hilton Head and into Port Royal Sound. Here we saw a yellow balloon drifting along. We both rescued the balloon and pre-emptively saved some sea creature from choking on it.

In some places of the world, this wouldn't be considered a large tide rise/fall. Here you can see the Winnie W. parked at a friend's dock near Beaufort SC; we could have fit under the dock at low tide! Our friend says there's an 8-9 foot change in water level with each tide.

We left Cowan Creek, near Port Royal SC, in morning fog. This was a mistake and Doug wished many times we'd stayed put; instead of dissipating, the fog grew thicker until we couldn't see anything! However, using the GPS, depthsounder, and radar, we picked our way up the Beaufort River and to another safe spot to anchor & wait it out. The tide was at full high so there was no current, a situation that was about to change.

This is one of the sea channel buoys; fortunately the river here is wide & deep & easy to navigate. Doug was adamant about stopping because further up, in the narrower channels above the Ladies Island bridge, strong currents would have made safe navigation impossible.

Just when we were about to drop anchor, the fog cleared!

When the fog cleared, it really cleared beautifully. You can see a hint of sunset colors in this artful photo (taken by Kathie) of scenery along the Ogeechee River. There are still natural palm trees at this latitude.

Just south of Charleston, along the Stono River, we saw this wrecked boat.

On this trip, we didn't stop in Charleston. It's a marvelous place to visit, with every attraction; there are several restaurants we love too. But we've been there before (in fact Doug lived there for a few years) and we are in a bit of a hurry. The day was cool & breezy, and we traveled down Charleston Harbor with the tide behind us.

Here is a view looking north past a sea channel buoy, at Patriots Point where the decommissioned aircraft carrier USS Yorktown is docked; you can see the new Ravenel Bridge across the Cooper River.

At the end of the day we stopped at Isle of Palms and met a friend & former student of Kathie's, who introduced us to yet another great restaurant (this one in Mt. Pleasant).

We're only a few days from home, but they promise to be cold... thank goodness for the Winnie W.'s diesel furnace! *We are able to run the diesel furnace along with the diesel engine while we are underway (cruisers reading this will know that this is a very big deal)!*

Best wishes- Doug & Kathie

Sea Isle cruising

2008-01-12T20:19:00.000-05:00

Hello all-
Here is a view of the north end of Cumberland Island, with a navigational buoy from the sea channel washed ashore next to the old lighthouse. Two lessons can be learned from this photo... never stake your vessel (or your life) on the location of a navigation aid... and never HIT one of those things because they are BIG and made of steel.

For the last few days, the Winnie W. has been getting closer to home, and cruising relatively familiar waters. This is a double joy because we love this area and we can appreciate it even more for having seen new strange places along the Great Loop. The Sea Islands of Georgia and South Carolina are famous for their wild beauty. Once the workaday world of the poorest and the playground of the richest, in the last twenty years, they have become increasingly developed and accessible to anybody.

Here is a view of the Brunswick bridge from St. Andrews Sound, actually looking over the southern tip of Jekyll Island.

The IntraCoastal Waterway follows the mostly natural channels winding through the river estuaries & swamps behind the ocean-front Sea Isles. The tides here run swiftly and the current often scours out the channels to depths of 30 or 40 feet, but it also piles up sand & mud in inconvenient places to block channels.

One answer to the problem of shifting channels it to put in rock jetties... this one is covered at high tide and the current sweeps over it, but the Corps of Engineers helpfully put a sign warning us of it. This is another view of the Brunswick bridge, this time from the north end of Jekyll Island, with a shrimp boat.

There are plentiful anchorages among the creeks & islets of this region, but there are fewer good places to walk a dog ashore. The Winnie W. is fairly bold in seeking out cozy places to anchor and Hank loves to explore. This spot is just behind St. Simon's Island. The shore is actually a bank of rough shells piled up along the edge of the marsh by the currents.

Doug rows Hank ashore, by this time a familiar routine to them both. Doug has been worried about Hank's reaction to dolphins, since they love to play near dinghies, but so far that hasn't been a problem.

The shell banks make quite a nice plot of solid land, which is a strong contrast to the marsh itself... totally unsuitable to walking the dog unless you either want to lose the dog or have him bring a ton of gluey black mud aboard.

Doug is careful to drag the dinghy ashore high enough that the rising tide will not carry it off. He enjoys a morning stroll with a cup of coffee while Hank runs on the crunchy shells... somewhat hard on his feet, we think, but he doesn't complain.

This is a pleasant way of life, which explains why we tend to get late morning starts and only make 40 or so miles per day. The channels themselves can be quite challenging. As mentioned, the depth can vary a LOT. Fortunately, unless you have hit a jetty, the bottom is soft sand or mud and running aground is not a disaster. The current not only pushes you forward or back, helping or hindering your speed, but can also push you sideways!

The answer to this latter problem is a special kind of navigation aid called a "range." The maze of creeks & rivers & islands make the tidal current go every direction imaginable (link to map of this location on the ICW). When the helms-person keeps the higher, rear range marker aligned with the lower, front range mark, the vessel is traveling right down the channel. Sometimes the bow is pointed 20 degrees askew to go straight!

The Winnie W. arrived safely at the next anchorage, this time at St. Catherines Island (link to map). This entails another romp ashore for the crew, and here's Hank doing just that!

There was another cold front coming, this one with warnings of squalls & thunderstorms, so we anchored in a place that should have been good shelter & good holding ground. We got one out of two; this anchorage was a bit rocky-rolly but the anchor didn't budge despite the strong currents pushing the boat first one way & then the other.

You can see the Winnie W. anchored over Doug's shoulder in this Hank's eye view of the St. Catherine dinghy ride. Kathie helped Hank work the camera! This was a long row, but Doug needs exercise too.

Here is the glorious sunset viewed from our St. Catherine's anchorage, the end of a perfect cruising day.

The next day we traveled to Thunderbolt, a small town just south of Savannah. But that's another story.

Hope you all are well & happy-
Doug & Kathie

Goodbye Florida, Hello Georgia

2008-01-08T20:43:00.000-05:00

Hello all!
We've had a great time cruising in Florida; now, continuing northward the Winnie W. has crossed into Georgia. The distance by water from Saint Augustine to our home in North Carolina is about 625 miles; we're now about 550 miles from home.

This is the view looking southward towards the town of St. Augustine, taken as we were leaving. At lower right you can see the Castillo San Marcos, above it the dome of the Memorial Church, and to the left the towers of Flagler College (formerly the Hotel Ponce de Leon).

Next we stopped near Jacksonville to meet our friend Anne. She is a Park Service curator and is in charge of an amazing collection of historic finds & artifacts. Everything from paleolithic tools, pottery from Native American and Colonial people, to parchment maps & architects' plans. We spent more time than we probably should have just looking at cool stuff which merits serious attention & study.

Northeast of Jacksonville is the Mayport Naval Station. The ICW crosses the St. Johns River at this point, with a strong tidal flow creating a maze of sandbars. Kathie took this photo of birds relaxing with the Navy ships in the background.

We also took a great hike around the park at Fort Caroline and the Timucuan Preserve (link to park). Much is made of the Spanish founding St. Augustine; if you pay attention to the story, you realize the French were here first. In fact one of the main reasons the Spanish came was to chase the French out of territory claimed by Spain (link to history).

The importance of shallow draft... here is a classic sailing ketch anchored in a tiny creek near Amelia Island. The tide is low and it looks like she's resting on the mud.

We support The Nature Conservancy, and this great park & preserve was helped by TNC and a remarkable man named Willie Browne (link) who donated a large tract of unspoiled land. Along our hike we stopped at the site of Willie Browne's cabin and read his words: "Soon there will be nothing but a concrete jungle from Jacksonville to New York" (1960).

Sailboat sunk in the popular anchorage at Fernandina. We've shown a few photos of derelict boats; it's a big problem. So if you're thinking of buying an old boat cheap ("just needs some TLC") and living on it in Florida where the weather is so nice... DON'T

Another day, another historic fort! Guarding the entrance to Cumberland Sound is Fort Clinch (link). Amelia Island has been claimed by 7 different nations, all of whom regarded this as a strategic point. Construction of Fort Clinch started by the U.S. Army in the 1840s and never really finished. Florida State militias occupied it for the Confederacy early in the Civil War, and it was vital in sheltering blockade runners. The fort was recaptured by Federal forces in 1862 and remained in Union hands. (link to Florida history)

Low tide at the dock in Saint Marys, Georgia... the next photo shows the same spot at high tide. Since the Winnie W. re-entered salt water in early December 2007, we have had to re-familiarize ourselves with tides. On the Gulf coast, tides are small & irregular. On the Atlantic coast, they rise & fall on approximately 12 1/2 hour cycles (low to high to low tide again), and range from a few inches in southern Florida and North Carolina to 9 feet in some spots in Georgia & South Carolina. We also have to cope with the strong currents, which can hinder our progress down to 5 knots or a bit less, or speed us along at over 9!

Not quite as much of an up hill climb at high tide. Our home waters have strong tidal currents but not quite as much rise & fall as this. It's odd to think that at high tide you can comfortably cruise over what is dry land at low. This has to be taken into account when anchoring, too.

A "blast from the past:" here is a photo from our Florida-to-North Carolina cruise five years ago. The previous owner of the Winnie W. placed a cute toy tugboat on top of the pilot house next to the spot light. It's gone now, but this little "style piece" should bring a smile, and remind us that we're having fun.

We hope that you are all enjoying your past and present ventures; best wishes, Doug and Kathie

Playing Tourist & Relaxing in St. Augustine

2008-01-06T13:16:00.000-05:00

Hello all:

The Winnie W. has been securely tied up in Saint Augustine, Florida, for the first week of this year 2008. This is partly due to freezing, blustery weather that would be poor for cruising.

This sign welcomes people arriving on Highway 1. Our dock is less than 2 blocks from this sign, and convenient walking distance to the "miracle mile" for shopping.

One of the items renewed/replaced here is our camera. After several years of arduous service, most of it on or around boats, our camera bit the dust. Fortunately there are a lot of "big-box" retailers within bicycling distance, so with some pedaling & hunting thru the shelves we found two replacements (the first one did not have a few key components so we took it back). Kathie has taken such great photos this whole trip, and has quickly gained mastery over this new equipment... bet you can't tell which of the photos in this blog entry were taken with the old and which with the new!

Hank likes his comfort, too; he's enjoyed taking long walks and evenings with the heater running.

Shrimp boats are tied up along the San Sebastian River, just across from where we are currently docked.

Here is one of the main buildings of Flagler College. Formerly the Ponce De Leon Hotel (link) built in 1887 by Henry Flagler (business partner of John D. Rockefeller of Standard Oil), it's just spectacular inside & out. It has the largest collection of Tiffany windows now "in use." Originally an exclusive winter resort for the Newport set, the guest list was by invitation only, and Mr. Flagler required three months deposit whether guests intended to stay the entire time or merely a few weeks. The building is now partly residential and partly for administration at Flagler College.

Great Blue Herons once were on the brink of extinction, now they are a common sight. Great comeback and a hopeful sign! Kathie caught this one meditating along the edge of Otter Creek, just off the San Sebastian River where we're docked.

Saint Augustine is a thriving modern city, and it thrives on its history. An outpost of the Spanish Empire in the days of treasure galleons & pirates, this is the old main gate built in 1739 as a portal thru the town's defensive walls.

We toured the Castillo de San Marcos, a late Spanish Empire Vauban-type fortification (link) that guarded Saint Augustine for Spain, Britain, the Confederacy, and the U.S. The town's forts (this one, and the earlier fort on this same site) were assaulted many times but the defenders were always successful.

Here's Doug with "El Milanese" (the one from Milan), one of Castillo San Marcos' original battery of 18-pounders. Eighteen pounds refers to the weight of the round iron cannonball which fit the bore; the gun itself weighs about 4 1/2 tons! The fort's battery numbered about 70 cannons, & included several large mortars as well.

The Castillo de San Marcos fort is a National Park and is undergoing restoration. There is a chapel, a guardhouse, barracks rooms, displays of maps modern & ancient, of course a large assortment of weapons, a collection of all the national flags which flew over the fort & uniforms worn by the armies that served here. There are a lot of interesting things to learn, such as how the brims of the familiar tricorn hats came to be turned up, and which contents of an 18th century surgeon's kit are still useful in 1st aid today.

The last photo is of a volunteer cannon crew, demonstrating the complex drill for firing a 6-pounder.

We're looking forward to continuing our cruise the "wrong way," north in winter. When we first made this trip to our home port, it took 8 days of hurrying along the ICW. We aren't in as much of a hurry this time, but are looking forward to getting back home.

Hope you all are well & happy- Doug & Kathie

Our Cruise from New Smyrna Beach to St Augustine

2008-01-01T16:26:00.001-05:00

Hello all-
Yesterday was an exciting day for everybody, ringing in a new year and completing our Great Loop. Hopefully it isn't bad luck to start a new year by looking back, but we have some great photos & stories from the last few days cruising.

Over the Christmas holidays, some boat work was accomplished. The Winnie W.'s engine was due for an oil change, so for good measure Doug also changed the transmission fluid. You can see the engine room is fairly roomy & well-lit but it's still a chore... for one thing, the engine is a big marine diesel that holds 14 qts (14 liters) of oil, and it's at the lowest point of the boat... no easy drain plug!

Starting from New Smyrna Beach, we cruised north past Ponce Inlet and entered the Halifax River. This is another slow-flowing marshy river, more of a sound or estuary bounded by a narrow sandy barrier island, not as big as the Indian River. But the area is well known by the name of the city, Daytona Beach.

The ICW channel is fairly easy to follow, although the tidal current shifts sandbars regularly. This marker is distinguished as being for the ICW channel by the reflective yellow square on the placard; red markers have a yellow triangle. It also has a metal radar reflector atop the post. These markers have a number sequence beginning at the next sea channel, going northward.

Ponce Inlet has a picturesque brick lighthouse, built in 1887 when the inlet was called Mosquito Inlet (it's at the north end of Mosquito Lagoon) and used by commercial shipping. Nowadays it is important for sport fishing from the New Smyrna Beach and Daytona areas.

We anchored in the Halifax River, basically surrounded by downtown Daytona Beach. It was quieter & nicer than one might think. Although there are a number of new high-rise bridges, there are still a number of lower bridges that open for boats on the waterway. The bridge keepers proved to be friendly and helpful with navigation & anchoring advice... it's possible that they liked the Winnie W. because we can lower our antennas & mast and don't need them to open their bridges for us.

Daytona spent some extra money to make their high-rise bridges prettier. We appreciated it and Kathie managed to get some photos. Here you can see the bridge piers, decorated with mosaics of colored tile encircling the lower part of the pillars.

Here is a close-up of the mosiacs (they are all alike). They show a porpoise and a manatee.

We appreciated the bridges and we appreciated the waterfront parks, too. We've had a long-running series of photos of Hank in his "sports car," the rowing dinghy that Doug designed and built. The spot that we anchored at Daytona was right in front of a very nice waterfront park which Hank enjoyed. (link to GoogleMap)

One of Kathie's artsier shots, partly due to the soft light of dusk. Looks like the boat is speeding along as Doug rows.

Next we found ourselves on the Matanzas River, which connects its inlet with Saint Augustine. It's unusual in that it is relatively deep and was navigable in historic times.

St. Augustine is the oldest town in the U.S., founded in 1565 (link to old map). As a port, it was somewhat unique because it could be reached by either of two inlets. In olden days, the lure of Spanish treasure from their mines in Central & South America brought pirates & privateers to the Florida coast (link to SA history). The Spanish soldiers at St. Augustine fought the French and the English both, and the city was sacked by Sir Francis Drake (whom the Spanish considered a pirate) and by real pirates. Both inlets were eventually protected by forts.

Here are two photos of Fort Matanzas , by which we anchored (link to Googlemap) and visited. Above you can see the sentry box at left, the cannons aimed over the wall, and the building which housed the soldiers & the magazine. One of the items on display is an old chart of the inlet & river. In the lower photo, you can see the cannoneer's view and imagine approaching enemy ships. The inlet is bridged by Highway A1A but in olden times it was wide & deep, with the main channel somewhat north of the modern inlet.
(link to Fort Matanzas history)

From this anchorage, we headed north along the winding Matanzas River to the town of Saint Augustine.

hurricane damage? carelessness? a sunken boat along the San Sebastian River

Yesterday in Saint Augustine we officially closed the Great Loop, since we bought & christened the Winnie W. here in 2002, and then cruised from here to our home in North Carolina. We have both sentimental & practical reasons for stopping here. It's a great cruising port, with good shelter (weather forecasts are grim), nearby stores, and interesting sights to see.

Among the first sights we saw in St. Augustine.

We're not serious birdwatchers, for example neither of us could tell you the difference between a Heron and an Egret. However we love to spot & observe wildlife & nature; Kathie has gotten pretty good at snapping quick photos.

So now we are restocking (bought a new camera; the old was dropped one too many times!) and waiting for a cold nor'easter to blow itself out. We're also meeting interesting people including fellow cruisers. It turns out to be a small world; the couple on the boat behind us at the dock are from a town very close to us in NC.

Best wishes to you all- Doug & Kathie

"Crossing our wake" (and Happy New Year!)

2007-12-31T11:18:00.000-05:00

Hello all:
Today is an auspicious day for us: we are "closing the Loop," or "crossing our wake," or in non-Loopers parlance, we have now completed the Great Loop around the eastern half of the United States in our beloved Winnie W.

Looking north on the Matanzas River, the town of St. Augustine and the Hwy 312 bridge is just coming into sight. Under the bridge & to the left is the San Sebastian River.

When we bought the Winnie W. in 2002, she was docked in a marina on the San Sebastian River in St. Augustine. We immediately brought her back to North Carolina; now, in 2007, we have proceeded counter-clockwise from our home port in North Carolina up the east coast, through New York state, across Canada, through the Great Lakes and inland rivers, and around Florida to where we started this journey in 2002.

Crossing our wake as we enter the San Sebastian River, passing Marker #1... Hooray!

So tonight we will toast the Winnie W, ourselves, and our family and friends as we bring in 2008 in St. Augustine, where the Winnie W became part of our family and we embarked on this great journey.
Best wishes for 2008! Kathie and Doug (and Hank)

A Few More Days Northward on the Florida ICW

2007-12-27T08:40:00.000-05:00

Hello all-
Despite going the "wrong way," we are making progress. A day's travel by cruising tugboat equals about an hour's drive by car, so by most standards our progress is slow.

Here is what we like... red markers on one side, green markers on the other, with a clear & easy channel in between. This is the IntraCoastal Waterway channel in the Indian River just north of Fort Pierce FL.

From the Okeechobee Waterway along the St. Lucie River, we entered the Indian River. This is really more of a sound or bay. It runs over 100 miles north to south, past Fort Pierce, Melbourne, and passes west of Cape Canaveral. North of Titusville there is a 1 mile canal connecting to the next inland bay or sound, romantically named Mosquito Lagoon.

Here is what we don't like... shallow water & sand bars! As always, never drive your boat where birds are standing.

We have seen a lot of dolphins (porpoises), but not been able to get any good pictures of them.

Rocket!
We thought this was the shuttle going up, but it wasn't. The U.S. space program is one of our most incredible national accomplishments, but nowadays a rocket launch is ho-hum to most people.

Either this cruiser wanted to scrub his hull, or he did not fare so well anchoring near the islands.

These island are all "spoil banks," which means they are piles of sand, mud, & rock dredged from the channel. Without dredging, the coastal sounds & estuaries would not be deep enough for practical navigation. And the islands are kind of cool! (link to GoogleMap)

Like much of the southern U.S. coast, Florida has a chain of sandy barrier islands between the open Atlantic and the mainland. These provide nice sheltered waters and a great aquatic environment... although the nation averages about 40% of the original wetlands remaining (link). Some states have lost more than 90% but Florida has kept about half.

Here's is Hank going ashore on his personal spoil bank island for an early morning walk. Some of the tree stumps are driftwood, while others grew there and have been undercut by erosion.

Florida's east coast is more developed than the west, and for most of the ICW we are within sight of waterfront houses, parks, & hi-rises. Boat traffic is pretty heavy, especially on the weekends.

This is the Haulover Canal, between the Indian River and Mosquito Lagoon. This photo was taken on a drizzly day with a chilly nor'easter blowing 20+ mph.

There have actually been two Haulover Canals, and the place was called "the haulover" long before there was a canal! (link to local history site)

The Winnie W. spent several days at the New Smyrna Beach City Marina, a great stop.... more details later!

Best wishes- Doug & Kathie

Hooray! North on the ICW (wrong way?)

2007-12-19T17:14:00.001-05:00

Hello all-
Well, we have not "closed the Loop" or "crossed our wake," as is said of people completing the Great Loop cruise. Technically, the Winnie W. will cross her wake at St. Augustine, Florida since we bought her there and brought her up the ICW to North Carolina ourselves; however we have to take her home anyway so we will obviously continue! Today we made it to (and past) Mile 0 (zero) of the Okeechobee Waterway; we're now on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, so we're celebrating.

Here is a crane waiting for breakfast on a chilly morning. He is all grumpy and huddled up, trying to keep warm. The waterways of southern Florida are great for bird-watching; you not only get to see a lot of different species but you get to see them act differently.

We're on the home stretch, more than 5/6ths done with the Great Loop. We've transited all the locks on our route. Not only that, but we are in relatively familiar waters for the first time since last May.

However the Winnie W is in the odd position of heading north for the winter. Everybody we meet tells us we're going the Wrong Way! Doug always replies, "Not really, straight down is the only Wrong Way."

Kathie's cousin Andy visited us along the shores of Lake Okeechobee. He lives in the port of Miami, which the Winnie W. will unfortunately skip on our route. It was too windy to cross the Lake but the weather was perfect for an afternoon visit!

Leaving Moore Haven, we exited the canal into Lake Okeechobee itself. This is the central component of a vast water system that once fed the Everglades, and now provides irrigation & drinking water for much of southern Florida. The lake is 30 miles across but very shallow (about 11' at it's deepest part), and after a long drought there have been serious questions about navigation.

This photo is looking down the channel from the lake towards Clewiston. The rock lining the edge of the channel is natural; much of the lake floor is rocky & very unfriendly to boat hulls & propellers. The Army Corps of Engineers makes water level info available so that boaters can judge whether it is safe to pass thru these channels; the Winnie W. made it with about 6 inches to spare (lowest depth4.5 feet). (link to Kathie's report)

After several hours, we reached the eastern shore of Lake Okeechobee and re-entered the canal system. The Port Mayaca lock was the 2nd to the last lock that we would encounter on our whole Loop, and the only one (of all) that opened both gates at once for us to drive right thru.

This photo shows the view right thru both sets of gates of the Port Mayaca lock as Winnie W. approaches from the west, coming in from the open lake. Unfortunately we did not get a picture of the large iguana that was sunning himself on the lock fendering.

During our Tuesday run, we saw one iguana and 3 alligators. We never doubted there are alligators present; for one thing, Doug lived in Florida for a few years and has seen many of them before. However it is difficult to pilot the boat safely, spot alligators, and also take pictures!

Here's the one alligator, medium sized, that Kathie was able to catch with the camera.

The folks who live here have told us that they see large alligators.... 10' (3.1m) +... all the time, swimming in the creeks & ponds... one lady said she had a 14' (4.3m) alligator sunning himself on her carport one day!

Here's an alligator tip- NEVER feed an alligator! It seems very obvious, but apparently it's a growing problem. These critters are basically leftovers from the dinosaur age, and they can be very dangerous. In the wild, they are timid of humans, but only one feeding can teach them people = food!

Here's another common problem in Florida- wrecked & derelict boats. They are expensive to dispose of and an environmental hazard.

Despite all the hazards & problems, Hank has a great time. We don't let him swim here, but we can still play fetch in the park.

Here's a photo of Hank protecting his toy from alligators, and Doug keeping Hank away from the canal. Dogs are great for sharing life's simple pleasures... Kathie says that Hank has such a good day, every day, that we can't really do much more to make birthdays & for Christmas more special.

Today we are in Fort Pierce, then heading north up the East Coast Intra-Coastal Waterway... it's warm enough that we've run the air conditioner a few afternoons... it'll get colder! Still, it feels like we are almost home!

Best wishes and Happy Holidays to you all- Doug & Kathie

Turning The Corner- South to East

2007-12-16T16:18:00.000-05:00

Hello all-
The Winnie W. has turned the southernmost corner on our Great Loop cruise. Traveling down the Gulf IntraCoastal Waterway on the west coast of Florida, we passed Sanibel Island and turned left (east) toward Cape Coral . As you can see on the map, this is not quite as simple as negotiating a cloverleaf on the highway. For one thing, there are strong tidal currents in San Carlos Bay and across the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River. Many boaters are swept by the current out of the channel & have some trouble in the shallows.

Birds of a feather do in fact flock together. Pelicans calmly sitting along bridge fendering... probably waiting for the next fishing boat.

The Caloosahatchee River forms part of the waterway across southern Florida via Lake Okeechobee. There are several sets of locks, although the overall rise & fall is not large. Franklin Lock was our first on this waterway, and its total lift was only a foot or two. However it keeps the tidal & salty estuary waters out of the fresh water system. The Lake Okeechobee basin provides irrigation & drinking water for most of southern Florida. This is why the Everglades is drying up, although the record drought hasn't helped.

Shortly after we 'rounded the corner at Cape Coral, we met up with our friends Wayne & Diane. To save trouble of explaining how to navigate in his neighborhood, Wayne simply drove out in their runabout to meet us... this is the first time the Winnie W. has had an escort!

Shortly after this photo was taken, we had the heaviest rainfall this area has had in a year. It was badly needed so we didn't mind.

After a great visit, we headed further up the river. Passing the city of Fort Myers, we couldn't help but comment on this classic bit of Florida architecture. To be fair, it should be noted that the buildings on the left aren't finished yet.

Continuing up the Caloosahatchee River, we visited with Jerry & Rosalie, who own an orange grove. They cruised the Great Loop earlier this year, completing the trip last month in time to begin harvesting. They were also very glad for the rain!

Jerry, Garrett, Doug, & Hank in the orange grove. We picked a few bushels of oranges, although Hank didn't really help much. This picture does not do justice to the bright color of the oranges or how thickly they grow... some trees seemed to have just as many oranges as leaves!

Here is a cute cruising boat. It could be the Winnie W.'s little sister.

Locks on the Okeechobee Waterway are a little different. Instead of a system of valves & conduits, they just open the lock doors a little and let the water pour through. The rise & fall of the water level is always 6' or less. Part of the reason for these locks & dams is to protect the drainage & irrigation canals from hurricanes.

After traversing our third set of locks & dams on the Caloosahatchee River & Canal, which forms the western part of the Okeechobee Waterway, we arrived in the "mountain region" of central south Florida.

This system of canals was begun in the 1850s, chiefly for drainage of the marsh for use as farmland.

Here is Kathie's cousin Andy trying out the famous dinghy. It was a chilly & windy day but we rowed most of the way to the next lock, along the waterfront of Moore Haven. Hank watched anxiously, as he considers the dinghy to be *his* sports car.

Tomorrow we plan to continue across Lake Okeechobee itself, maybe through a couple more locks. We are about 900 waterway miles from home and starting to get the itch to finish the Loop!
Our best to you all, Doug and Kathie

Tampa Bay Skyway and Southward Bound

2007-12-11T12:57:00.000-05:00

Hello all-
OK here we go traveling further down the Gulf coast of Florida! We've had a more relaxed schedule, hanging around Clearwater for a few days. Loopers from various boats and hailing ports were there with us.

Here are fellow Loop cruisers Claire & Chuck
(Odyssee), and Al & Marilyn (Siris). They
left in company the morning before we did.

The Winnie W. left Clearwater and headed into the open Gulf rather than down the GICW. We reasoned that it was a calm day (and it remained calm) and we could make better time, plus we had already seen the sights. This route brought us back in at the entrance to Tampa Bay with the tidal current helping us along. The route was slightly longer but we did not have to wait for bridges, slow for manatee/no wake zones, and we probably gained about an hour.

You can see the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in distance, behind the island. The freighter MOBILE heads out to sea as the Winnie W. enters Tampa Bay via Egmont Pass.

From here, we turned right (south) behind Egmont Key and into the GICW to Longboat Key.

Bob & Sue on Tom-Kat also left Clearwater and reached their wintering-over destination on the Manatee River, near Bradenton. This is their winter home because Sue's sister has wintered here for years! They all drove (by car) over to Longboat Key and treated us to a great seafood dinner. We have had a great time cruising in company with Tom-Kat and it is sad to say farewell (for now) to them.

Here is where we stayed (link to Google Map).

Bob & Sue, Doris Jean & Bill; in the background you can see Moore's Stone Crab Restaurant where we all feasted.

The west coast of Florida is low & sandy; before it was developed it was all marsh & mangrove. The GICW channels are artificially dredged, although the churning propellors of constant traffic also help keep them open. Cruisers have to navigate carefully to avoid the shallows.

This photo is looking back at a sandbar along the north edge of Sarasota Bay, with mangroves down to the water's edge. At right you can see the heavily built-up mainland.

There are lots & lots & lots of boats here in Florida. Everyone says "Don't try to make any miles on the week-end" but we saw plenty of traffic on a sunny Wednesday... kayaks, jetskis, pontoon boats, center-consoles... lots of people fishing. The traffic, combined with the narrow channels, tidal current, and bridges, makes for a challenging day for the cruising skipper.

Sunset over the beach-front skyscrapers, with
a pelican seeming to muse on another day... or
perhaps planning ahead for tomorrow.

Hope you all are well & happy-
Doug & Kathie

Crossing The "Big Bend" + Answering Some Questions

2007-12-10T15:35:00.000-05:00

Hello all-
First, let's talk about crossing 140+ (nautical) miles of the Gulf of Mexico... mostly at night. There are several problems, foremost of which is deciding when the weather forecast is suitable to go ahead. Then there is the chance of hitting something along the way, especially when your boat's cruising speed necessitates a night crossing. There is commercial traffic, and yes, there are crab pots and fishing nets for much of the way across.

This past Saturday (12-7), as we traveled down the Gulf IntraCoastal Waterway with our friends Bob & Sue on Tom-Kat (link to Tom-Kat's blog entry for that day), we listened intently to weather reports around the Gulf region. We also checked several internet web sites including two with live data from NOAA buoys (link) and a Navy wave height model (link) and another NOAA wave height & direction prediction model (link) (note: for some reason, these maps are upside-down).

Here's Sue & Bob waving good-bye as we depart the Moorings dock at Carrabelle.

The day was rather calm, with a building high pressure system and light winds around the north-eastern perimeter of the Gulf. It looked like a great "weather window" but the forecasts were that it would not be as good for at least a week... winds were predicted to build within 36 hours, a cold front was coming (which usually bring rough weather), etc etc.

Photo at right shows the mast of a vessel sunk in the West Pass between Dog & St. George Islands.

So the Winnie W. made just a brief touch-and-go at the Moorings Marina in Carrabelle, which we regret because it's such a great place.... and the weather was relatively kind to Kathie & I as we took turns napping & driving the boat for 22 hours straight. We had to dodge some other boats, judging by radar & visible light, we also dodged one unlit obstacle that looked very big & solid on radar, and we had a few narrow scrapes with crab pots (this doesn't sound like much, but the lines can get tangled in the propeller... BIG problem). No rough waves, either! In fact the weather was so kind to us that it was flat calm for the last 1/3 of the trip.

This photo shows dawn on the open Gulf, a cheerful sight after many hours of tense darkness!

Winnie W. arrived in Clearwater Beach at about 3:30 on Sunday (12-8) afternoon. We were ready for a shower, a pizza, and a good nights sleep. We didn't get the pizza, instead we took another nap and went out to dinner at Frenchy's with fellow Great Loop cruisers Chuck & Claire from Odyssee (link to their blogspot).

Finally, here's Clearwater Pass. We go under the bridge and take a left to the Municipal Marina!

We've had a number of questions from people, by comment on this blog or by e-mail. The first answer is "thank you all so much for letting us know you're watching;" it really means a lot to the crew of the Winnie W. to know that you care!

Answers to questions:
Among the bigger jobs we did to get ready for "serious cruising" was to install a bow thruster. (link to Webshots photo series) This was a pain in the neck, more ways than one. It really gave Doug a nervous attack to saw a pizza-sized hole in the bow of our boat! Then it was also troublesome to get the components aligned properly and to stay that way while the fiberglass resin hardened. Finally, the wiring components (300-amp DC breaker, plus key parts of the controls) are not available off the shelf. The breaker was first installed using a much lower rated breaker than needed, which tripped instantly and kept us from using the bow thruster for a month or so, until the real breaker arrived. Next, the control circuitry seemed erratic and the indicator light kept burning out after a very short use. With some diagnostic help from friend and electrical expert Ron M, and a real he-man indicator light supplied by friend Jeff D, the bow thruster has worked perfectly ever since. It is not necessary, but it's quite a nice helper to make smooth dockings and to maneuver into locks.

We have had to fix a few things along the way, like replacing the raw water impeller which is really minor and needs to be done every so often anyway, rebuilding/replacing the alternator (link to blog entry), and the genset coolant pump (link to blog entry); but the Winnie W. has had only two real problems: batteries & engine cooling.

The engine is not boiling over, just running about 5~10 degrees warmer than it should. This is actually better, for a diesel, than running 5 degrees too cool; however Doug is futzing with the cooling system every time we take a lay day. He replaced the thermostat, which is a 3600 hour maintenance item anyway, in Dog River near Mobile. He has also flushed both raw water & coolant circuits, thoroughly cleaned the heat exchanger, and a few other things which should definitely have fixed the problem.

Here is the Winnie W's genset. It has been
moved off it's normal mount in order to
work on otherwise-inaccessible plumbing.

Batteries are a big concern for any cruiser. They are the power source for all times when not tied up at the dock... i.e., all the time when *really* cruising! The batteries get charged by either the engine alternator, or by a separate generator... if the boat has one, which Winnie W. does. We installed 3 new Interstate SHM-29 batteries for the "house bank" which should provide more than twice as much power as we consume for lights, refrigerator, etc, in a 12-hour period. We've replaced these batteries under warranty 3 times along the way, which is time-consuming & troublesome. Doug is not satisfied that they are performing up to spec, but they are doing well enough that we can continue to anchor out.

Common Problems we have NOT had- fuel filters clogging, engine boiling over, transmission blowing up, banging propellor into rocks/logs/etc; electric fires or wiring snafus, pirates, scurvy, mutiny. Just lucky!

Here is the Winnie W's beautiful propeller; looks like a piece of jewelry, doesn't it?

One more question we are often asked: "What has been your favorite part of the trip?" This is a toughie. About 90% of the places we've seen have been our 'favorite' and they are so different it's impossible to really compare them. We loved visiting Wolfe Island in Lake Ontario, and that's probably Hank's favorite stop so far. The North Channel of Lake Huron lived up to it's reputation for beauty. Joliet Illinois was a pleasant surprise; previously I connected that name with the Federal prison (long since closed) but the town is very friendly and a fun stop. The Tennessee River had much to offer and a kinder, gentler cruising atmosphere. The Gulf is rather similar to our familiar Southeast coastal waters, but with deeper channels and more big-city places to stop (hello, seafood restaurants!). How could we pick a favorite?!?

Best wishes to all- Doug & Kathie

Cruising Thru the Florida Panhandle

2007-12-10T13:45:00.000-05:00

Hello all-
We have loved the Gulf Intra Coastal Waterway, with its mellow tides, deeper channels, and mix of sheltered waters & wide-open bays. This map shows our route thru the panhandle to Carrabelle, where we jumped off to cross the open Gulf of Mexico to the western Florida coast (more on this later). From Dog River on the western side of Mobile Bay, we went to the Fort McRae anchorage just west of Pensacola, then the eastern side of Choctawatchee Bay, and from there to an anchorage in a little creek just east of St. Andrews Sound at Panama City, and from Upper Wetappo Creek we made it to Carrabelle just before dusk on Saturday (12-7) night.

If this doesn't seem like fast progress to you, then let us assure you that averaging 70 miles on short winter days in a 7-knot boat is a full day's work!

This first photo is Hank enjoying a morning ashore on the island just north of the Fort McRae anchorage (link to Google Map). This is a beautiful spot, with two islands to explore, and is both perfectly sheltered and has good holding ground... firm sand, our anchor loved it... and the channel is deep & easy to find one's way in from the west. This is a totally five-star stop and the only reason we're not trying to keep it a secret is that it's already in all the cruising guides!

This next bit of scenery comes from the channel passing Fort Walton Beach. This wrecked sailboat is on a sandbar just outside the marked GICW channel; we don't know if it's a remnant from a hurricane or a derelict that was abandoned for somebody else to clean up (this is a common problem in Florida).

This photo is of our next anchorage in Choctawhatchee Bay (link to Google Map), just west of the causeway supporting the Hwy 331 bridge. This was not a choice cruising anchorage, but it did provide shelter from the predicted easterly wind (which did arrive about midnight; so the weather forecasters have our sincere thanks), and we took Hank for a walk on the causeway. There is constant commercial traffic, this tow passed our companions on Tom-Kat (link to Tom-Kat's web site) at dusk and several more went by in the night with bright, bright searchlights glaring.

The next part of this voyage took us thru a long, steep-sided canal far inland. This is commonly referred to as "The Canyon" by towboat captains; it's narrow enough that communications by VHF radio with any nearby vessels are needed to arrange safe meeting or passing. It is also tidal and we had an unfavorable current much of the way.

As we passed thru St. Andrews Sound near Panama City, the excitement for today was the arrival of a brand-new Navy ship, the USS Mesa Verde (link). As you can see, we kept well clear of the security zone around the vessel. She is an impressive addition to our U.S. fleet, and we hope that all her future voyages are successful & safe.

Our last two photos show what the scenery is like along this stretch of the Great Loop. Florida has a lot of swampy places and lowland forest, laced with creeks & marshes. We have not seen any alligators yet, but when we take Hank ashore in places like this, we do NOT want to see any!

Our last Panhandle anchorage (link to Google Map) was in a place that looked very much like this last photo, with a fringe of tidal marsh. We were very careful to scout the area and to make lots of loud noise as we went ashore; however Hank was uncharacteristically hesitant to go. In fact he seemed timid, and we wondered if his canine senses told him it was a hostile environment.

From here it was a day's run past Apalachicola to the small town of Carrabelle, where many cruisers get ready to cross the upper-eastern (140+ miles) part of the Gulf of Mexico. This is often called the "Big Bend" of Florida and there is no sheltered waterway. Weather is critically important here!

We don't want to keep anybody in suspense; we made our crossing in relatively calm conditions, arriving safely in Clearwater on Sunday (12-8).

Hope you all are well & happy-
Doug & Kathie

East bound on the Gulf Intra Coastal Water Way

2007-12-05T20:41:00.000-05:00

Hello all-
Today we made good progress on this part of the Great Loop. We left Dog River early in the morning. The first leg of today's journey went 35 miles from Dog River, on the middle left (west) shore of Mobile Bay to the bottom right (south and east) corner of Mobile Bay, where we officially joined the Gulf Intra Coastal Waterway. The Winnie W. steamed another 30 miles before anchoring just short of Pensacola.

This photo shows the Pensacola lighthouse, looking from the eastern most end of Perdido Key. You can see the intracoastal waterway in between; the sign at right is a warning against making excessive wake.

The second photo is Winnie W. in tonight's secure anchorage, sheltered behind high dunes in a little tidal pocket. We have had the Blue Angels (link) flying over, and also a few trainers plus other aircraft that may be military. Since nightfall it has been quiet.

The Gulf Intra Coastal Waterway zig-zags thru a series of lagoons & bayous that are separated from the open water by a thin line of sand dunes... often heavily developed, high-rise condos & resorts flourish... but it's a pleasant route. Tides are irregular but slight; today had a single tide rise & fall (some days have three) of 1 1/2 feet (about 0.4 meters). There are plenty of anchorages and the sand is both good holding ground and makes nice beaches to walk.

Speaking of which, here is the crew enjoying a fine evening walk. The Winnie W. is in the upper background, a little hard to see in this light (believe it or not, the sun was setting as this photo was taken). Thanks to Sue H for this keeper of a shot! The crew also found our first sea shells of this voyage, but decided that with limited storage aboard, we'd leave them for another discoverer.

Hope you all are well & happy- Doug & Kathie (and Hank)

Another Major Milestone: Reaching the Gulf Coast!

2007-12-03T21:31:00.000-05:00

Hello All-
Yesterday we arrived in Mobile Alabama (link to GoogleMap)! We have just completed the whole Inland River part of the Great Loop; this part began 'way back in late August when the Winnie W. passed thru Chicago. In our time on the Illinois, Mississippi, Ohio, Cumberland, Tennessee, and Tombigbee Rivers we have gone from flood to low water, scorching summer afternoons to frosty mornings, mountains (well, at least some big rocky hills) to swamp. It's been a wonderful time offering beautiful sights, new friends, and cruising challenges entirely different from those of coastal waters.

This photo shows the waterfalls below Demopolis Lock & Dam, which we passed early in the morning while the (relatively) warm river water was sending fog into the chilly morning air. The dam is visible in the right background.

This photo is one of Doug's rare shots, taken from the dinghy. It shows one of the last anchorages we stopped in while traveling the Tenn-Tom Waterway, a little place called Bashi Creek (link to Google Map). This creek is nice & deep. Fishermen seem to like it. However it is a bit narrow! We rafted up to Bob & Sue on Tom-Kat, using each boat's bow anchor in opposite directions so they could hold the boats in position.

If a cruising boat swings around a single anchor here, it could hit the sides.... not a disaster since there is only slight current and it's well sheltered from wind... but branches knocking against the window would be a rude awakening and bugs & snakes could crawl onto the boat!

Here is Tom-Kat leaving Bashi Creek on another chilly & foggy morning. There is barely room to squeeze by the other cruisers who decided to "stay home" a bit later.

Here's another in our long long series of "More Beautiful Scenery" pictures. A white crane is reflected in the totally still water as he hunts along the riverbank. The lovely creek in the background is too shallow to make a good anchorage.

Now here is another wildlife shot, only the "wildlife" involved is a mixed herd of cows. Were they thirsty? Were they just enjoying the feel of river mud squishing between their toes?

Heading south down the last few miles of river, the city of Mobile looms up head!

Now we are back in salt water, and we have to pay close attention to the weather... in fact, it's been a long time since a 'Marine Forecast' applied to us. Case in point, the arrival of a cold front.... accompanied by headlines about snow storms up North... brought 25 knot winds to Mobile Bay and we stayed sheltered in port. This was a good time to catch up on some maintenance chores on the boat, so Doug spent most of the day in the engine room.

Tomorrow, we plan to cruise the Winnie W. eastward along the Gulf IntraCoastal Waterway towards Florida! Best wishes- Doug & Kathie

Further Down The Tenn-Tom

2007-11-28T21:50:00.000-05:00

Hello All-
The Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway is a little-known connection between the Gulf and the Tennessee River. It's 450 miles long, so it's handy to consider it in three different sections. The northernmost sections are in northeastern Mississippi; they are the "Divide Cut" and "Canal" sections, which was a bigger engineering project than the Panama Canal. The middle is the Tombigbee River section, which crosses into Alabama, and this part along with the upper section has 11 locks. The southern section (which is about half the overall length) is also the Tombigbee River but below it's junction with the Blackwarrior River, and it only has 2 locks. The locks on the Tenn-Tom Waterway have a total drop (or raise, depending on which way you're going) of 340+ feet from the Tennessee River valley to the Gulf of Mexico. We've been traveling in this area for the past couple of weeks.

Here is a very well marked (but curvy, shallow, with lots of weeds and waterlilies) side channel leading into the small marina basin at Aberdeen, MS. We stopped here overnight with Jerry & Betty in their boat 'POGO.'

We toured Aberdeen in a borrowed Lincoln! We saw a few of the grand antebellum homes and the still-vital downtown. The Tombigbee River has carried commercial traffic since the area was first settled, and most of the small towns along the river have a long history as river ports.

Here is another photo of lovely scenery from the marina near Fulton MS. No boats have been by since the evening before, and there's not a breath of wind to make any ripples, so the water is like perfect mirror. The Tenn-Tom Waterway with its lockage and the wandering Tombigbee River results in many flooded areas, with flowers sprouting around trees and stumps.

This shot, like all the others on this blog entry, were taken by Kathie.

This is an afternoon view of the White Cliffs of Epes, a few miles north of Demopolis, Alabama. Check the scale by the size of the pickup truck on the bridge... there is also a rope swing hanging from the left-hand end of the bridge!

Here is our Hank, getting some exercise to work off his Thanksgiving turkey. His friend is a Portuguese Water Dog named Yogi. It makes us tired just to watch them!
As you could probably tell from our "blog silence" over the past week or so, we've been visiting family and friends over the recent holiday. We're back 'on the road' again, so more adventures; however, internet coverage is sparse, so we'll update when we can.

Best wishes to you all
Doug & Kathie

Chasing the Season (Tenn-Tom)

2007-11-16T14:17:00.000-05:00

Hello All-

We apologize for not updating our blog recently. Our computer's "air card" has not been able to access the internet very well in this area. Cell phone service has also been spotty.

Lovely autumn day for sailing near Guntersville. The Tennessee River forms a wide (2 miles+) lake with plenty of open water. We haven't seen as much sailing up here as there should be!

Did somebody say "autumn"? This has been a very dry year... record-setting drought in some areas... so the trees are not producing their best fall colors. However we are definitely seeing the change of seasons here. This photo was taken by Doug, the Winnie W. is tucked into a lovely quiet anchorage near the northern end of the Tenn-Tom waterway.

Here is a nav marker near the anchorage pictured above. Very easy to tell which side to take this marker!

The upper part of the Tenn-Tom waterway was hacked & blasted out of very rocky hills. This part is called the 'Divide Cut' and required more earthmoving than the entire Panama Canal.

This red marker looks like it's been bumped into, although it's hard to see how a boat could reach it. Or maybe the Corps of Engineers piled up the rocks after it got bumped, to protect it? Anyway there is no doubt autumn is upon us... in fact we've had a frost on the boat the last few mornings... thank goodness we're headed south!

Sincere best wishes-
Doug & Kathie

Cooking with Gas! (We're in High Cotton)

2007-11-11T09:28:00.001-05:00

Hello all:
The title of this post reflects not our cooking capabilities, but our heat! As you probably know, "cooking with gas" refers to the 1920s-era when gas started being piped into homes for cooking (rather than using a wood stove); "high cotton" is a southern expression referring to the best part of the crop! Alongside this text will be photos of the furnace (all except the heat shield in the aft cabin that Doug just tied around the insulation-wrapped exhaust with Monel wire).

As you know, Doug not only maintains the Winnie W, he *improves* it! Several years ago, knowing my (KK) intolerance of cold weather, he installed a diesel furnace that pipes heat to all sections of the boat, so the boat warms up *everywhere*, all at once! This is a big deal; our reverse cycle heater (or air conditioning, depending on the season) has two sections that leaves most corners of the cabin cold. Using water for our heat exchange helps somewhat but the same principles as with air apply here.

The toughest part was the furnace exhaust; it required a long pipe to be bent & welded so as to run from the engine room to the aft cabin roof. The whole system worked well until the heat shield for the exhaust shook loose, probably during those rough days on Lake Michigan. Doug has been mulling over this repair for several weeks, and last night, arrived at a solution (the Monel wire), and we had *heat* last night and this morning! This is important because it has been in the high 30s and low 40s at night, and will remain so until we get further south.

These photos show the furnace itself, in the engine room; the installation of one of the heaters (small radiators with 12V fans) which provide about 7500 BTUs of real heat; and the installed heater in our head (bathroom) which makes showering on a cold night just as comfortable as you'd be at home.

And here is where we spent last night (Nov 10), anchored near Goat Island on Guntersville Lake (link to GoogleMap). You can see the dam and lock chambers at the lower left.

Hope you all are well & happy, Kathie & Doug

On the Road (River) Again

2007-11-10T12:31:00.000-05:00

Hello again all!
We're underway again, heading back down the Tennessee River towards the Tenn-Tom Waterway. We departed from the dock at Chattanooga about lunchtime on Friday (11-9) and immediately began hustling. The weather has turned colder than we'd like, and although the boat has heaters, we are definitely interested in getting south to warmer climates!
This first photo is from Chattanooga, taken on Doug's cell phone! There is a wonderful aquarium there, which has a Butterfly Room among its nature exhibits. It's got the best flora and butterflies of anywhere that we've been.

Among the "boat jobs" done at the dock in Chattanooga is replacing a fuel filter element. We prefer to do this before they clog and cause trouble! The filter on the left has been in use for about 3 1/2 months, and was not yet gunked up enough to restrict fuel flow. The fuel we get is usually bright & clean (marine diesel is dyed red) but still contains trace amounts of tar & other contaminants in it. Another factor is that the Winnie W's tanks are 23 years old and sat mostly idle for that time, collecting more gunk.

Here is a view of the edge of the Cumberland Plateau, abouot 20 miles or so downstream (southwesterly) from Chattanooga. This escarpment rises over 1,000 feet above the river. This area is sometimes called the 'Grand Canyon of Tennessee' and it's only a slight exaggeration. This is one of Doug's rare photos.

We've spent a long time on the Tennessee River and its tributaries, almost two months. The river itself is over 650 miles long and has so many beautiful places to stop; we could spend longer if we weren't being pushed by the advancing season. We've covered approximately 600 miles along this river system and wish we could see more of it. We have about 240 miles to go before we turn left onto the Tenn-Tom waterway, which is another 450 miles long and leads to Mobile.

We saw this along the way; not everybody takes such good care of their boat!

This is more of the Cumberland Escarpment, from a vantage point just downstream of Nickajack Lock & Dam. The fall colors are lovely. You can also see the channel markers, red on the left ("red right returning;" we are headed the opposite way) and green on the right.

Hope you all are doing well-
Doug & Kathie

A Brief, But Very Nice, Photo Retrospective

2007-11-05T09:34:00.000-05:00

Hello all: We're pausing briefly in Chattanooga to sightsee and do boat projects; Doug says it's so Hank can get his four walks each day!
Here are three more of the photos that Kathie took on the Hiwassee River.

We are lucky to have been able to make this side trip off the Great Loop; it is a beautiful place.

It may be a big yawn for others, but we are fascinated to be on the water, and the sunset light on the rocks & trees with their reflections are among the loveliest we've seen anywhere. The photos truly don't do it justice, but these come closer than most.

Another reflective shot: the water is so still that you almost can't tell which way the photo is rightside up. I know; I tried inverting the picture and showing it to people who either didn't catch it at all, or took a long look before catching it.

In contrast to the shining clarity of the last few photos, here's one that is rather foggy. It's also the latest entry in our long-running "Hank In The Dinghy" series.

In the creek leading to one of our recent anchorages, we saw a popular turtle hang-out. The guy on the far right has climbed a 45-degree angle to the tip of the exposed branch. An athlete and daredevil among turtles!

We'll keep you posted on our latest exploits! Doug and Kathie

More Beautiful Scenery, and Fog

2007-10-29T12:38:00.001-04:00

Hello all:
We started a couple days ago anchored on Chickamauga Lake, just upstream from Chattanooga on the Tennessee River. The day's run took Winnie W. and Tom-Kat farther upstream to the Hiwassee River.

The first photo shows the mouth of the Hiwassee River, once the site of a major Cherokee town. Now it is a nature preserve and we like to think the original citizens would still recognize it.

The 2nd photo shows one of the navigation markers at the mouth of the river. The old saying "Red Right Returning" is easy to remember, and when going upstream it's easy to figure out which side is which. But this red-green-red could be a puzzler if you didn't study the chart & recognize the junction of two navigation channels. This buoy is behind an island that has an "oxbow" (channel parallel to the main river) around it; we want to enter the Hiwassee River which goes upstream from the middle of the oxbow. Because we are headed into the Hiwassee River, this buoy is "green" for us on the right part of the "Y" which means we keep it on our *left* as we head into the Hiwassee; if we were to continue around the oxbow (bend) back towards the TN River (taking the left part of the "Y"), we'd consider it "red" and keep it on our *right*. This is important because the colors indicate shallow places for both the Hiwassee and the oxbow!

The Hiwassee River flows westward out of the mountains of North Carolina. We cruised upstream, kidding about 'going home,' and found a beautiful anchorage about 15 miles from the N.C. border. We could have gone a little closer, but the lower Hiwassee is formed by the joining of the Ocoee River to the upper Hiwassee, and both of these are tough places to travel by canoe, much less a 36' tugboat.

We've also been kidded about how every other picture seems to be of Hank... usually riding in the dinghy with Doug. Well, it's all about Hank (link), for sure. But here is a slightly different picture: Kathie riding in the dinghy with Hank.

This is probably not one of our best photos, partly because Doug took it. You can see that he did not take care to keep his shadow from partly blocking the picture, although he did try to get the scenic cliffs in the background. What this picture doesn't show is how crazy they all three are, two adults taking a 70-pound dog in a 9' rowing dinghy.

The Hiwassee River is part of the pool formed by the Chickamauga Lock and Dam on the Tennessee River. It's mouth is about 55 miles upstream from Chattanooga. The channel is fairly deep, 12'+, and it's well marked. There is some commercial traffic to & from the industrial plants near Charleston TN. Above that, the river is unmarked but still has 6'+ depths for at least another seven miles or so.

Here is a view looking upstream from our anchorage. These rocks have fallen into the river fairly recently, and there is still dirt clinging to the tops of the rocks.

Now here is a photo that was definitely taken by Kathie. This is a closer look at the tumbled rocks & cliff in the above picture, with stunning reflections.

What you can't see in this photo is that although the water is plenty deep for a cruiser to pass, there are LARGE rocks lurking under the surface, companions of these fallen boulders that are visible above. Just like navigating the Georgian Bay and the North Channel!

Currently we are anchored in Richlands Creek, near Dayton TN (link to Google Map). As we were getting anchored and settled in for the evening, a fisherman stopped by to talk a while. Hank and Doug are discussing local history with Steve, a new friend of us all.
Among other things, we learned that the University of Tennessee (UT) "Volunteer Navy" is the twelfth largest in the world, as judged by gross tonnage of vessels. They fly an orange flag with a white anchor on their boats! UT is one of only two schools that have stadiums on the water and fans can go to games by boat. A large proportion of the Volunteer Navy attends home games, with so many boats rafted together that participants in the festivities can walk across the Tennessee River as they go from boat to boat!

A view of the creek yesterday (Monday 10-29) evening

The same view this morning! As of this writing, we have waited 4 hours for the fog to clear enough so that we can safely proceed on.

Best wishes to all for safe trips in your journeys today! Doug and Kathie

Cruising: not really sure why it's fun, but it sure is!

2007-10-28T18:48:00.002-04:00

Hello All-
OK, we've been cruising the Tennessee River Valley for over a month. Tonight, Sunday Oct 28, we are anchored on the Hiwassee River (link to map). We've been cruising new (to us) territory for six months now. Are we crazy?

Well... yes.
Isn't everybody?

Cruising isn't a cutting edge, ka-zing ka-zow, kind of sport... although it can be, if you choose a different boat and/or different venues. It can also be much more relaxing & placid. There are as many different ways to cruise as there are people out cruising, and that includes the 200 or so currently "doing the Loop" along with us.

One of the great things about the Great Loop voyage is that it encompasses so much of North America, geographically & sociologically. It only includes one foreign country, Canada; although our Canadian Looper friends (see Beardstown entry) say that the U.S. is LOT more foreign. However it covers the swampy Southeast, so familiar & dear to us; the Chesapeake, the Hudson River & Erie Canal, the Great Lakes each having it's own individual character & beauty, the inland rivers, the Gulf Coast, and the long & varied Florida coast. There are big cities, small quaint towns, and wilderness, in every area and with every shade of local color. So the Great Loop is all charted & mapped, but there is something to discover almost every day.

This first photo shows Winnie W. and Tom-Kat at the dock in downtown Chattanooga. The third boat beside (to the right) Tom-Cat is another Looper, the Carol Anne.

A true saying: "Cruising consists of fixing your boat in exotic, romantic, and incredibly inconvenient locations." The Winnie W. had a brief unplanned stop in Chattanooga, beset by two problems. Neither were serious, but the combination meant that further cruising without repairs would entail hardship & difficulty. Electricity is vital to modern life, and that's where the problem(s) lay. The alternator and the generator both felt neglected and decided they wanted attention and cuddling.

Here's some real electricity- a nuclear power plant along the Tennessee River.

The alternator, attached to the main engine so that it provides 12 volt DC power to the boat and charges the batteries while we are underway, had not been acting right for some time. It's a new alternator of larger capacity (90 amps) than Winnie W's original, and so the first step was to seek further technical information about it. The problem is that it only provides a maximum of 13.8 volts which is not enough to fully charge the boat's battery bank, compounded by erratic operation. The manufacturer told us the output peak voltage is factory-set and when it senses peak voltage for a certain period of time, it shuts off so as not to overcharge the batteries and boil off electrolyte (a common problem with car batteries). Both these characteristics are built into the alternator as features, and not fixable.

Fortunately, we had had the Winnie W's original alternator rebuilt and kept on board as a spare. So Doug simply swapped alternators, a relatively simple job.

Here's another in the long series of 'Hank Acting Cute In The Dinghy' series, with a slight difference... Kathie took this shot from the stern seat of the dinghy. The rocky bluff is near our anchorage on the Hiwassee River.

Solving our other electricity problem was more complex & time-consuming. Our diesel-powered generator, which supplies 120V AC power to our floating household and also charges the 12V batteries, began making horrible screeching noises and filled the engine room with acrid smoke Thursday (10-24) night. It sounded like a dragging belt, only louder. So Doug let the smoke clear and then began diagnosing the problem... yes it was a dragging belt, and the reason was that the coolant pump driven by the belt had locked up.

This was a more complex problem and required teamwork. First, Kathie got us a short-notice reservation at a Chattanooga marina, no small feat on one of the last weekends of the season. Friday we tied up to the dock. Then, Bob on our companion vessel Tom-Kat dug through the Internet to find a wide range of possible part #s and local suppliers for a replacement coolant pump. Doug sweated and banged his knuckles getting the old pump out (while conserving it in recognizable pieces), then fetched the new pump by bicycle. We all had lunch on Saturday after embarking once again on the cruise, and no shortage of electricity!

Here are Winnie W. and Tom-Kat in a lovely peaceful anchorage far up the Hiwassee River.

So, cruising is witnessing the world's incredible beauty, meeting new people in new places, and it's also self-reliance. It's working with others. Cruising is keeping track of the boat's electricity, and also fuel, food stocks, and water tankage. It is living with a smaller ecological footprint but also taking charge of that footprint. While cruising, we are subject to Nature's whims in a way that cannot be experienced by any other means, but it is also taking control of one's own destiny in a way that is totally opposite to the modern life.

We think it's fun! Best wishes to all, Doug and Kathie

Upstream toward Chattanooga

2007-10-25T21:43:00.000-04:00

Hello all-

We set out from Ditto Landing Marina, just south of Huntsville. We anchored at a very nice island (link to map) about 50 miles upriver, traveling once again with our friends Bob & Sue on their trawler Tom-Kat. Tonight we are anchored at another island between Nickajack Lock & Dam and the city of Chattanooga.

This map is adapted from the excellent Tennessee River Cruise Guide written by Fred Myers; it should give you an idea of our Tennessee River travels and the scope of this cruising area. The markers are in statute miles from the mouth of the river.

The next photo shows the entrance to the marina basin at Ditto Landing. A settler named James Ditto established a ferry here in 1807 and this spot on the river has been named for him ever since. Once this was a thriving port, sending tons of cotton down the rivers to New Orleans and thence to the world. But times change; the final blow to this river port was the boll weevil in the early 1900s, and the post office of the town here closed in 1905.

The marina basin entrance channel is rather narrow. This photo was taken standing on one bank and looking slant-ways out toward the main river (on right). That's an early morning fog in the hills.

Here are the bluffs upriver a few miles from Huntsville; at the bottom right you can see the perfect reflection slightly distorted by the Winnie W's wake as we go by. Kathie takes marvelous photos!

Next, on this overcast & occasionally drizzly day, we met the Coast Guard cutter Ouichita with a work barge.

This crew is at work maintaining the river channel; you can see the red & green buoys they have prepared to put in place. Without these "road signs" on the water, it would be far more difficult & dangerous for cruisers... and more importantly, for commercial shipping!

This is our companion vessel Tom-Kat passing Painted Bluff, a few miles below Nickajack Lock & Dam. Although this area has much fertile soil and is great farm country, it sits atop a rocky plateau that the river has cut through over the eons.

You can see that as we travel further east, closer to the Appalachians, the terrain is getting higher.

This is just across the border of Alabama & Tennessee, heading north this time. The bridge you see connects the town of South Pittsburg with points east & south. It is one of the few suspension bridges across the Tennessee River. It is not a small bridge, and behind it you can see the towering southern rim of the Cumberland Plateau. The rocky ridge peaks are 1,100 feet above the river level.

Here (link to Goggle Map) is the spot this photo was taken from; the navigation channel actually goes on the right (very narrow) side of Long Island, then the river bends around to the right (east) as we go upstream.

Okay; now we are up into the Cumberland Plateau region, above Nickajack Dam and approaching Chattanooga from down-stream. This area is called the Grand Canyon of Tennessee, and Doug apologizes that this photo (one of the few taken by Doug) cannot do the sight justice.

Hope you all are well & happy-
Doug & Kathie

Visiting Rocket City by Water

2007-10-22T18:43:00.000-04:00

Hello all!
"Rocket City" refers to Huntsville AL, and we've been in its environs for a few days.
We explored the Elk River which flows southward from central Tennessee into Alabama and joins the Tennessee River on Wheeler Lake. This first photo is pretty enough, but also demonstrates the old navigator's saying "Don't ever drive your boat towards a spot where birds are standing." The Great Blue Heron is standing on a log which is grounded in very shallow water, or perhaps snagged on a rock or stump.

Moonrise over autumn colors along the Elk River in northern Alabama (faintly seen at upper left). This year, the fall colors are not as vivid because of prolonged dry weather... or so they say... but it's still wonderful to watch the change of seasons.

One last Elk River scene: this is Buzzard Roost Bluffs.... catchy name, eh?

We've seen larger cliffs & rocks along the way, and will see more, but this is one of Kathie's nicer photos, and it is a pretty place regardless of what sights may lie further up or down the main rivers.

We anchored out two nights in a row in the same spot (link to map); it was such a pretty & secure place that we felt no need to hurry on.

Another Great Blue Heron staked out his spot at sunset, ignoring the smokestacks in the background. He returned to this same spot the next evening, too.

Doug & Hank had two days to explore this beautiful cove in Hank's dinghy. This shot is looking northward across Wheeler Lake on the Tennessee River; you can see a small island at the mouth of the Elk River.

You can also see that Hank is pretty casual about taking rides in the dinghy. He's been doing it for a few months now, and is far too confident in his "sea paws."

But Hank has good reason to be confident, he's very agile & athletic. We try to give him enough exercise when we're cruising. Here are two action shots of Hank playing on the beach. This first photo shows him eyeing a tennis ball and taking off like the proverbial rocket.

In the second photo (these were taken on the multiple-exposure setting), a split-second after the first, Hank still has his eye on the tennis ball while he leaps over a big fallen tree.

It's true that this involves a different skill set than leaping into a small tippy dinghy, but Hank doesn't know that!

This is what makes Huntsville "Rocket City." The Loopers toured the city including the US Space and Rocket Center at Redstone Arsenal, which is where the U.S. space program first took off!

Those old enough to remember Project Apollo (or techno-geeks who have followed the space program) will recognize this as the Saturn V, the largest rocket ever built and the work-horse of the United States' moon landings.

NASA is now working on a new heavy-lift booster (link) which will utilize similar engines, along with the re-usable boosters such as those on the Space Shuttle. This will make it possible to continue progress in orbit and beyond; the International Space Station and a Moon base.... maybe even sending people to Mars.

Here's the L.E.M. or Lunar Excursion Module.
Projected manned missions to the Moon or to Mars include landing vehicles that look remarkably like this one... hey, it worked, why mess with success! Seriously, it would be difficult to include all necessary functions in a lander that looked much different.

This is like the dinghy for future space cruisers!

Best wishes to all-
Doug & Kathie

Close Encounters with Wildlife

2007-10-19T17:43:00.001-04:00

Hello All-
Snakes, armadillos, a skunk, countless deer... we can't imagine what we'd do if Hank broke free and ran down the skunk which seems to rummage around the Joe Wheeler Park lodge every night. Hank did get loose and chased an armadillo one evening, with results that were unsatisfactory to both parties.

Here is a photo of Doug & Hank on a sunny afternoon, overlooking Wheeler Lake on the Tennessee River. We had just seen a lot of deer when this was snapped, and Hank is still keeping an eye for them.

Let's play "Count The Deer." There are at least six within the frame of this photo... one second after Kathie clicked the camera, we saw that many waving white tails bounding away through the woods.

Deer are not fearful of people, but they are wary of rowdy dogs. They are difficult to see when they freeze, utterly motionless, and watch you walk by. Even Hank seems to miss them much of the time, until one of the herd will snort a warning signal and they all bolt.

A few days back when we first arrived here, we gave a mis-count on the number of Great Loop cruising boats attending this rally... there were 78 here at the Joe Wheeler State Park marina. Around 250 people attended, many arriving by cars since their boats were elsewhere. It was a lot of fun getting together with friends that we've made along the way, meeting some new folks, learning a little about the navigational challenges ahead along with the anchorages and ports waiting to welcome us.

Sincere best wishes to all-
Doug & Kathie

A short trip on the river, beginning the AGLCA meeting

2007-10-14T22:27:00.000-04:00

Hello all: This morning (Sunday, Oct 14th) as the sun was peeking over the edge of the world, we got underway from the Florence Harbor Marina to head further up the Tennessee River. It was not a long days run, but we had in mind to get thru the Wilson Lock (link) before it was tied up with commercial traffic. This plan succeeded and we are now docked with about 50-60 boats full of other Great Loop cruisers, plus some folks who came by land who have recently finished the Loop or are contemplating the trip.
Our boat is usually the slowest whenever we travel with others, and this photo shows our Looper friends ahead of us who *held* the second lock (Wheeler Lock) until we could get there; this was really kind of them, because there was a 3x4 barge that would have had to be locked through in pieces and we would have waited 3 hours for the next upbound lockage.

On a chilly morning, the water steams. On Saturday, we were awakened to strains of a patriotic song in country-western style. Kathie jumped out of bed to get this photo which shows a bass tournament about to get underway, in fact these 10 guys are the final round competitors; amazingly, the weights of their total catch ranged from 38 to 41+ pounds, with the top two pros only 13 ounces apart! The prize is $100,000!

The restaurant at the marina had a unique pool where you can look down at the fish in the harbor. At the upper right you can see a huge needle-nose gar... looks like an alligator without the legs...
Over the past week, we drove a rental car from northern Alabama to North Carolina and back. We attended a wedding, had appointments with doctors & dentists, met with a few old friends. The car ride was about 150 miles less than the Winnie W. has traveled so far; and totaled about 4+ days highway driving versus 5 months cruising by water, about 2 miles less than 3,000 in the rental car!

Wilson Lock is worth some mention- it is the highest lock on the Great Loop with a lift of 93.5 feet at normal water levels; it is the sixth tallest lift in the US, behind 5 locks on the Columbia and Snake Rivers in the Pacific NW. It is named after President Woodrow Wilson, and was originally intended to provide both power & transportation for a munitions plant in World War 1 (link). Now it has the largest generating capacity of any TVA dam. The lower gates swing open but the upper gate opens vertically. This lock chamber was so tall that it cut off GPS and radio signals!

Here is the view from Wilson Lake, just above (upriver, heading east) the lock & dam. You can see the arches across the top of the dam, an old-fashioned architectural flourish; also the Renaissance Tower in Florence AL overlooking the lake & the dam... awesome view and a popular restaurant.

A happy reunion with Bob & Sue from Tom-Kat, who met us at the dock along with our friends Bob & Lyn from Legrace. One of the biggest joys of cruising is the camaraderie & friendships. It is also nice to have extra help so as to not ram the dock!

We rounded The Silver Foxes (boat on the right of the photo) and saw there was a whole gang to greet us and help us! It really felt good that all these Loopers would turn out to say hello when we arrived.

Best wishes to all
Doug & Kathie

Small Update

2007-10-12T09:26:00.000-04:00

Good morning/evening/night, wherever you all are: It's been a 5 month boat ride and now the end of a week-long whirlwind tour of 5 states by car. We've seen some of you and it was great to touch base. More updates to follow!
Best wishes, Kathie and Doug

Are we having fun yet?

2007-09-30T14:04:00.000-04:00

Hello All-
One of the disadvantages of a long cruise is that it takes you away from a lot of things you can't bring along; like friends, neighbors, and extended family. keeping in touch via cell phones and the Internet is relatively easy. However there is no substitute for being there, so this week Kathie is visiting her sister in California.

This photo shows the upper end of Pickwick Lake; the Tennessee River approaching the town of Florence Alabama. The farther bridge was built in 1834 and at one time carried trains.

Like many places we've vistied, this area has quite an interesting past. Here's a little info on the Tennessee River canal which bypassed Muscle Shoals (link). We showed a picture of some it's remnants the other day; this canal had a rather short working life since it was itself bypassed by a railroad and spent much of it's time as a diversion for floods.

Here is a scene from our last anchorage just a few miles downstream of Florence. At left you can see a small perfect beach. Hank liked this island and spent a lot of time chasing geese here. You can see here that all the study & hard work by Doug on this custom-built dinghy is paying off... an off-the-shelf rowing dinghy would have capsized a dozen times by now with Hank leaping around the way he does.

It is now five years since we bought the Winnie W. In that time we have done some work, done some cruising, sold a long time home and moved 150 miles to a new city. Now we are taking a pause in this major undertaking, the Great Loop cruise. Next week we will be traveling by car, and preparing to attend the America's Great Loop Cruisers Association rendezvous at Joe Wheeler Park along the river.

This photo shows a glorious sunset from an earlier anchorage.

We hope you all are well & happy-
Doug + Kathie

A 3-State Day

2007-09-26T13:10:00.000-04:00

Hello all:
Yesterday we went from Tennessee into Mississippi and then into Alabama in the space of a few miles. Not a surprise when we started out at a place called "State Line Island." This first photo is looking between the islands, almost directly west, out into the main body of lower Pickwick Lake.

As we headed up the river, the crew of the Winnie W. relaxed because we did not have a tight schedule. This meant that when we saw a little cove to explore, we pulled back the throttle and turned in.

And when we did, we saw a wonderful spot. Here is a photo of an anchorage like many cruisers dream about. Totally sheltered, easy entrance, deep, a beautiful waterfall pouring over the scenic rocks, a beach just as close... the only problem is that for us, it was a little tight for swinging room.

We mentioned that the Tennessee River has long been an important commercial route; in the 1840s and 1850s hundreds of steam boats carried cargo & passengers along here.

This photo shows the remains of an early canal; this is the old Riverton lock. Most of the old canal works are flooded by the lake, but here you can see the ruined lock houses and in the background, the tops of the dikes dividing the old canal from the former path of the unimproved river channel.

In the foreground you can see a red nun bouy marking the modern channel, which is quite deep & safe; the buoy steers traffic away from the unsafe area.

Back then, the river had many shallow spots & rapids that could be dangerous. One stretch of shallow water, swift rapids, and rocky islands, was named Muscle Shoals... there's a theory that it was originally named Mussel Shoals after the plentiful shellfish.

This photo shows the lower end of Seven-Mile Island, the beginning of the Muscle Shoals area. The channel narrows here, and there are still rocks & shallows awaiting the careless skipper.

Our anchorage last night was (link to Google Map) at Buck Island in the Muscle Shoals area. Here is a photo of the moon rising over the river bank.

We had a little bit of trouble getting the anchor to set solidly, but after 3 tries we got it to dig in. Spent a peaceful night under a lovely full moon.... wish we could have had the waterfall too.... nah, it really doesn't get any better than this!

Hope you all are well & happy-
Doug & Kathie

Next step up... Diamond Island to Pickwick Lake

2007-09-24T21:44:00.000-04:00

Hello all: we are continuing to cruise upstream on the Tennessee River. We made the next step up, locking through Pickwick Lock & Dam this afternoon.

Here is a photo from yesterday's anchorage: Doug giving the signal to put on some power in reverse to set the anchor. In the other hand, he's holding the anchor rode (nautical term for anchor rope) with one wrap on the sampson post. The wrap takes most of the strain but allows Doug to judge the tension, while watching abeam to see if the boat is moving backwards.... if yes, the anchor is dragging which is not good.

Eileen Quinn (link) has a song about this whole procedure : "The anchor dance." (she also has one called "I'm going to kill the captain..." ... just joking!!!)

Yes, it's still summer here in western Tennessee!

During the day's run we saw a crowd of young people having some good old-fashioned fun with a rope swing over the river. Here you see a very attractive young lady in a bikini going off the rope....

(we apologize that she is slightly out of focus due to hurtling thru the air)

And then the splash!

(Kathie took these photos; giving credit where credit is due, Doug advised to use the 'multiple exposure' setting... you are seeing #2 and #4 of 4 shots)

At Savannah, Tennessee, you can see the Cherry Mansion. This historic house was used by General Grant as headquarters before the battle of Shiloh, and was used as a hospital after the battle.

The house was built on an Indian mound similar to, but much smaller, than the one at Cahokia.

This morning we saw these mahogany beauties running downriver after a classic boat show at Pickwick Lake.

Right now we are anchored near State Line Island (catchy name) watching thunderstorms flash across the upper clouds in the distance. The island is half in Tennessee and half in Alabama; tomorrow, a bit down the river, we will cross into and out of Mississippi within about a 5 mile span.

Here is a link to a GoogleMap of our location- Doug & Hank explored the island, as usual, and report that this one is loaded with sticker vines & old broken bottles.

Best wishes to all
Doug & Kathie

More cruising the Tennessee River

2007-09-23T14:27:00.000-04:00

Hello all:
Let's start with some more lovely scenery. It is amazing how beautiful this country is, and we never get tired of looking. This is Pilot Knob, the tallest hill along the immediate riverbank for many miles, and a landmark for Tennessee riverboat pilots since the 1840s.

You often hear people use the phrase "sharp dividing line." Cruising gives you a keen appreciation for just how sharp dividing lines can be, for example, the line between water that is deep enough for your boat, and water that is not.

On the Tennessee River there are several sharp dividing lines. Some are both geographical and philosophical, for example, the line between places with cell phone coverage and those without. Our first picture showed high banks of shale and limestone, while here the shoreline is clay and sand with farmland nearby.

Along with the scenery, we often get a look at wildlife. Here a family of raccoons are rummaging along the beach, probably getting mussels.

We've seen deer swimming in the waterways several times along this trip, seen turtles, and huge needlenose gar jumped in front of the Winnie W. ....wish we'd got a photo of that!

The Great Loop is a great trip for birdwatching. Here is a huge flock of birds that Doug swears looked & flew like pelicans.

There are also eagles along the Tennessee River, although we haven't seen any. Osprey are common along North Carolina coast, so we haven't found them remarkable here... but this species (also called fish hawks) were extinct in the region and re-introduced.

There are a lot of small marinas along Kentucky Lake and the Tennessee River; boating is very popular.

This marina gets the prize for most interesting sign. It is mentioned in the cruising guides as an "interesting sign" but not what it looks like, so we thought we'd show you a picture.

A little further upriver (actually south, a bit hard to get used to) there is Lady Finger Bluff (link to topo map). Our Looper burgee has flown proudly with landmarks all along the way, some more famous... here you can see it in the breeze as we approach the bluff.

The legend is that in olden times, a pioneer cabin near this cliff was attacked by Indians. The woman of the pioneer family chose to leap from the bluff rather than surrender to the Indians.

Here is a better view of the same bluff. As the glaciers retreated, the area of central Tennessee rose in a sort of dome. This is the western edge of the "Highland Rim" around Nashville which was formed rising land & cut by the river during the Cenozoic era.

Kelley's Island (link to GoogleMap) is a cozy anchorage with very few mosquitos. The cruising guides recommended it. When we can, I like to anchor near islands and walk Hank on them, because that way we are less likely to trespass and Hank is less likely to disappear into the hills chasing a deer or something. When this photo was taken, Winnie W. had been underway for about 8 hours... a full day for a young dog... and he was eager to check out his new temporary territory.

This morning (Sunday) the Winnie W. continues to wend our way through the rocky hills of west Tennessee. A little bit of fog adds romance to the scene; you might have to click on the photo to see the big version but the river channel goes first to the right, then to the left.

The next set of bends in the channel present some cliffs, exposing more of the Highland Rim. This is another of those sharp dividing lines. At places along the lower Tennessee River, we see high cliffs of limestone on ones side, or the other. At other places, somewhat lower bluffs of clay & chalk. At no place along the lower river are there bluffs on both sides; so the river cut along the edge of two geologic formations.... no doubt this partially accounts for it's winding path.

Tonight the Winnie W. is anchored at Diamond Island (link to GoogleMap), just downstream from the 2nd lock & dam on the Tennessee River and not far from yet another dividing line, the border with Mississippi. We are also very close to the Shiloh battlefield.

Carrying the "dividing line" theme yet further, tomorrow morning we will (if all goes well) cross the latitude of our starting point at New Bern NC and will be on the southernmost part of our Great Loop cruise.

We hope that you are well and happy-
Doug and Kathie

Cruising the Tennessee River valley

2007-09-20T18:46:00.000-04:00

Hello all:
Here's our Thursday anchorage (link to GoogleMap) in Kentucky Lake, the first stage or pool of the Tennessee River. It's a beautiful area with a hint of autumn color appearing although the afternoons are still quite warm. In fact, it is very warm today and hard to believe it's been cool enough at night to start the colors turning!

One of the cruising activities that fills our day: when we anchor out, we take Hank ashore for a little exercise and to do his business. Here are Doug & Hank returning from a morning jaunt. In the pic below, you can see that Hank is pleased with the cruising lifestyle.

Along the way, we have been very interested in the history of areas that we cruise. The Winnie W. is now cruising along a corridor of Civil War history.

A brief overview: the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers were important commercial highways in the 1850s; each had hundreds of steamboats carrying passengers & freight. Since the South had few railroads, this made the rivers strategically vital. General U.S. Grant, commanding a portion of the Union's western armies early in the war, saw the Tennessee River as an effective route of transporting his soldiers deep into the Confederacy.

The Southerners built forts to protect the waterways. Fort Henry was built on the Tennessee River, on a low bank next to the border with Kentucky. About 12 miles to the east, they built Fort Donelson to guard the Cumberland channel.

Grant launched a campaign into the South, using naval gunboats for support. This was part of the Union's overall strategic plan to split the Confederacy apart along the Mississippi. The gunboats took Fort Henry at a time when it was partly flooded (WikiPedia link), and then the army marched a short distance eastward overland to Fort Donelson (link). After three days of hard battle between the Confederate defenders with their cannon, and the Union soldiers supported by Navy gunboats, Fort Donelson surrendered. This was one of the few Union successes early in the war.

General Grant took his armies further into Confederate territory, turning a near defeat after a suprise attack at Shiloh (link) into a very bloody victory. Then he advanced to Memphis, and later to Vicksburg. This nearly impregnable walled town controlling the Mississippi River was the key to the whole Western campaign. After the fall of Vicksburg, President Lincoln summoned Grant to take command of the Army of the Potomac.

Back to the present- the Winnie W covered about 50 miles today, heading south (which is upstream) past the farms, resorts, and wilderness. Among other interesting sights, here is an out-of-use railroad bridge that has had the center spans removed.

Here is our anchorage (link to GoogleMap) among the islands of Harmon Creek. There is a twist side channel which pretty easy to follow, with red & green markers.

You can see the moon is well on the rise.

Just like this morning, Hank got another dinghy ride to another little island. This is a beautiful spot, isolated from both the mainland and the traffic on the main river channel.

A few fishermen have come by, they seem to appreciate the peace & quiet too.

Hank really enjoyed his evening romp on the island. He would have enjoyed it a lot more if there had been squirrels to chase, but the chance to simply run around was fun.

This photo is almost like a hi-tech Monet painting, with the water reflections of nature & motion.

Along the shore, Doug found lots of shells. Mussels abound in the Tennessee River & it's tributaries. The bivalve shells (top two) don't have the oblong shape of most mussels, but they grow to about 2 1/2 inches or 10cm across. The little spiral shells may be snails. Both are so plentiful that the beach of this little island is composed entirely of shells.

Hope you all are doing great!
Doug & Kathie

Upstream on the Ohio, now on the Cumberland

2007-09-19T09:58:00.000-04:00

Yesterday we saw some people who were having a real adventure traveling down the Mississippi... in kayaks! I wanted to ask them if they'd seen Huck & Jim, but we were being swept past at 11 knots. Plus, it would have been rude to interrupt the guy's cell phone conversation!

This photo was taken just below Grand Chain, downstream from Cape Girardeau, Missouri (link to GoogleMap). You can see the rocks on the west shore of the river.

The Ohio River is quite different from the Mississippi. It is wider and shallower, with much more development along the banks. The Ohio has less current right now, which is lucky for us, and can change dramatically at higher water levels or stages.

This photo shows the confluence of the Ohio & the Mississippi, looking north-west from the mouth of the Ohio... in other words, the southernmost tip of Illinois! If you look, you can see a nav beacon displaying both red & greed for the two diverging channels.

There are two locks on the lower Ohio River, imaginatively named Lock & Dam #53 and Lock & Dam #52. We locked through the first one (#53 about 18 miles upstream from the Mississippi confluence) with only slight delay.

This photo shows the wide Ohio, crossed by powerlines and lined with smokestacks. At left are fellow Great Loop cruisers Sea Estate.

Wednesday afternoon we arrived at Lock & Dam #52 (link to GoogleMap) just east of Metropolis, Ohio, at about 4:30 pm. There was a lot of commercial traffic waiting to lock through. Sometimes the tow captains will agree to let recreational vessels share the lock chamber, if there's room. We were not offered that option by the lockmaster and it grew dark while we waited. Since it would be dangerous for us to run the river at night, and there was no place upstream to stop for many miles, we waited until this morning.

This photo is looking upstream on the Ohio River, about due north along this bend; you can see our traveling companion vessel Sea Estate and two islands at the mouth of the Cumberland River. Here we turn right to go up the Cumberland, through the hills of Kentucky.

Here is the view of the downstream side of Barkely Lock & Dam on the Cumberland River. This is one of two dams that hold back the Tennessee & Cumberland Rivers to form a huge lake in western Kentucky & Tennessee.

So for tonight, we are back in civilization (link to GoogleMap)*. We are on the TVA lake system which is a lovely and safe cruising area. We are really looking forward to the next week of our Great Loop cruise!
*addendum: if you "zoom out" on the map, you can see the Ohio River flowing northeast, and first the Tennessee River (left) then the Cumberland River (right) taking off from the Ohio; you can see we followed almost a clockwise route to get to the marina at Grand Rivers KY

Best wishes to all-
Doug & Kathie

Traveling Again

2007-09-18T12:43:00.000-04:00

Hello all: For the past week, we've been playing tourist and visiting with family & friends.
Yesterday morning we started traveling again. On Monday, from Hoppie's Marina (link to Google Map) which is about 30 miles south of St. Louis, we traveled south (or down-bound) on the Mississippi River for about 110 miles. This is a long day for us even with a favorable current pushing the Winnie W's speed up to 10 knots.
Monday night we anchored in the Little Diversion Channel (link to GoogleMap) just south of Cape Girardeau.
At this writing, we are waiting to be locked up the Ohio River at Lock #52. Ohio River levels have been low plus there is much traffic, which means delays. We were hoping to make progress towards the Cumberland River and tonight anchor somewhere past this lock; at 7:30pm with darkness falling, we are now just below the lock and will get the first available morning lockage per this evening's lockmaster (keep your fingers crossed!).

Today (Tuesday) has been another long day; we weighed anchor at 6:20 am and started down the river in company with fellow Loopers Sea Estate and Xplorer. Here's the scene at O'Dark Hundred as we were leaving Little Diversion Channel. The channel (which is a drainage conduit to control Cape Girardeau's rainwater) had little current, and the Mississippi really grabbed our stern as we exited the channel! Another challenging day...

Although the Mississippi River is not friendly to cruisers, there are interesting things to see.Here is a photo that combines beautiful scenery, a wing dam seen extending into the left side of the channel (more about wing dams later), and a northbound barge on the right.
There is "radio etiquette" in discussions with commercial traffic. First, they're "tows" not barges. Calling them as they are approaching your pleasure vessel is crucial, with plenty of time to adjust your position relative to them, the current, and any potential obstructions.

Here's a photo of a 5x5 tow. It was taken after we passed it because we were busy being careful to avoid it. The biggest we've seen was 6 barges wide and 6 barges long! It's especially tricky around bends in the river. And look at his wake...
Tows prefer to have smaller vessels on the inside of a curve because they swing to the outside as they go around it; this is great because the tows have a huge prop wash plus the inside route is usually a bit shorter. However, there are occasions when it is necessary to go on the outside of the curve.

The system for managing river traffic is for pleasure vessels to call the approaching tow captain, stating the tow's position (looking at the chart and estimating where they are) so they know who you are calling; and then to state your position and respectfully request "instructions for passing."
The tow captain will ask you to pass "on the 1 whistle" ( or simply "on the 1"), or "on the 2 whistle" (or simply "on the 2"). The regional accents can make replies difficult to understand; most pleasure vessels listen carefully for the key "1" or "2." The guys claim that ladies get a more understandable answer.
At first the system seems complicated with the various permutations of approaching versus overtaking vessels, and who is where. After careful analysis, it can be boiled down to the system pictured: if they say "pass me on the 1" you move towards the right, and "pass me on the 2" you move past them on their left, whether you are approaching or overtaking. The whistles hanging from our radar screen serve as a reminder of which way to steer during these sometimes stressful encounters.

Here's a photo of Doug coping with traffic. We are going downstream, which means that we have both the "boost" (positive effect) of the 5 mph of Mississippi River current helping us reach our destination, but also the down side of being pushed into things, such as this upcoming traffic heading north on the Mississippi. You will notice that we are also next to a downgoing barge, who is trying to avoid the upgoing barge as well as us, and we have a buoy ahead of us that we want to avoid!

At 10:45am we reached the confluence of the Mississippi & Ohio Rivers. As the Winnie W. turned the corner, our speed dropped from 11 knots to 6.7 knots, because we are now going upstream on the Ohio River. Here's what it looked like. Notice the traffic!

We'll keep you posted of our progress, and appreciate your interest.
Our best to you, Kathie and Doug

Small steps, big steps, good friends

2007-09-16T18:02:00.000-04:00

Hello again, all: We haven't traveled very far along the Mississippi River. For the last week or so, the Winnie W. has been docked in the St. Louis area while we visited & played tourist. First we stayed in Alton, Illinois, a few miles north of St. Louis, and then we traveled down the river about 40 miles to Kimmswick, where have been tied up over the weekend. Here are some photos of friends and family.

The first photo is cousin Pam with Kathie in front of the Monk's Mound at the Cahokia historic site on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River.

Kathie and sailing friend Jane, whom we met in North Carolina and who now lives in the St. Louis area, under the Gateway Arch.

There are many interesting things to do & see in the St. Louis area. Friends Russ and Deb from North Carolina flew in to visit us; Russ is from Sainte Genevieve, a beautiful historic French town south of the city. We were glad to see Russ and Deb, and meet his friends and family. The first stop was his home town, Sainte Genevieve. Here's a photo of us with Russ and Deb.

Here is a photo of the whole gang (L to R): Doug, Sherry, Deb, Joan, Russ, Kathy, and Kathie. Front and center (of course) is Hank.

Russ and Sherry's grandmother had a restaurant in Sainte Genvieve, and Russ had many interesting stories about his family and growing up in this wonderful town. He and his family have many friends and connections in the area.

Later,we visited the Chaumette winery about 40 miles south of the city; the next day, a Farmer's Market and the St. Louis Zoo (which was great); and today, the botanical garden (pictured).
St. Louis is organized around neighborhoods and we toured many; the architecture is spectacular and many areas are restored or in the process of restoration. Russ and Sherry know many recent and remote historical details about the neighborhoods and the people who built St. Louis. We would come back in a minute!

Here is a photo of us enjoying a superb meal in one of the many excellent local restaurants.

We went to the Piper Palm House for brunch this morning, which was elegant!

Recently we have taken small steps in traveling along the Great Loop, but large steps in meeting new friends and renewing old friendships & in learning about people & places along the way. We are grateful for Russ and Deb's visit and the kindness of Sherry, Joan, and Kathy in hosting us in St. Louis.

Our best to you all, Doug and Kathie

Not "just another day"

2007-09-11T10:49:00.001-04:00

Hello All-
First we'd like to observe and honor the remembrance of September 11th.

Let us all give a moment of quiet thought, thanks, sympathy for the victims & their families.

Let us also think about the true principles & values of freedom, democracy, honor, & duty. These things never change and while they are often co-opted into cheap slogans, they are the greatest wealth that we, as a people, have. Let us also remember that this richness of spirit can be found in any person whatever their status, education, skin color, religion, or credit rating.

Over the past couple of days, we've taken a break from cruising.... well not really. We've been visiting family & friends, playing tourist, and working on the boat. We have learned a lot and really enjoyed the St. Louis area.

We visited the site of Cahokia, an ancient city (link) along the Mississippi. This city was built in the period 800 A.D. to 1250 A.D. supported by the farming of corn in the rich valley soil. These Native Americans created a civilization spreading their influence over the Mississippi and Missouri and Ohio River watersheds, with trade from the oceans up into the Lake Superior region. The most impressive remains of their city is called the Monks Mound (link ), named after a group of French religious brethren who lived at the site during the early colonial period, after the Native American builders had been long gone.

Another legacy from the ancient inhabitants of this region: the Piasa bird (link). Although at first glance, it looks like a bit of childish grafitti, but it is really an ancient petroglyph that has been "touched up" in modern times.

An interesting coincidence is that we arrived at almost the same time as "the hippie boat," an ambitious project of free spirits who call themselves the Miss Rockaway Armada (link). Assembling their rafts from mostly free materials, intending to drift down the Mississippi, they have no money or licenses or permits, but they do have at least one motor and enough savvy to keep out of the way of commercial traffic.

An altogether different type of vessel, although also one that expresses freedom, is here in Alton now. The LST-325 (link to HazeGray naval history site) is one of the last surviving WW2 landing ships, a veteran of the Sicily campaign and D-Day. This ship was saved from the scrapyard by group of tough old salts who raised the money, made her seaworthy to cross the Atlantic again, and sailed her themselves from Greece to Mobile, Alabama (link to 1st Memorial LST-325 website).

Here is a photo of the Clark Bridge over the Mississippi River, almost right overhead of our slip in the marina. It's named after William Clark the explorer. His name is almost always given second billing in "Lewis & Clark" (link to L&C journals). The same highway crosses the Missouri River on the Lewis Bridge. These men deserve to remembered for the key part they played in the early expansion of the United States.

So we're here in Alton (link to GoogleMap), planning to stay for a few more days, with plenty to do. Is this "cruising"? We think so....

Best regards to all
Doug & Kathie

On the Mississippi

2007-09-08T09:36:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone:
We apologize for the delay updating the blog. We are docked in Alton, Illinois (GoogleMap link), and have been in the center of a whirlwind of boat work and visits by family & friends.

The first photo shows the view of our last anchorage prior to arriving at Alton; it is behind Diamond Island near Hardin.

Part of cruising with Hank: taking him ashore. It's drizzly this morning and Doug looks a little downcast, Hank is his usual waggy self.

Here is our first view of the Mississippi... the rocky bluffs of the Illinois side overlooking Old Man River. The river junction is a maze of islands & marshes, we noticed the current flowing in from the Mississippi before we could actually see it. This point is a major milestone for the Great Loop!

The view looking back at the junction of the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers; the Illinois River is on the right and the town of Grafton at far right; the Mississippi River is on the left. It was a drizzly & misty day. Although one pictures the Mississippi flowing north to south, it bends & twists quite a lot along the way. At this point the river is flowing north-east so this photo is looking toward the south west.

A closer look at the bluffs along the Illinois side. This is near the historic town of Elsah. Last night we were treated to a tour of Principia College on these bluffs by our friend Jane who is an alum.

Our best to you! Doug and Kathie

Staying & Going on the Illinois River

2007-09-05T14:21:00.000-04:00

Hello all: Yesterday we were treated to a nice visit with some of the folks who have been cruising on parallel courses for the past 4 months. We all tied up to the town dock at Beardstown, Illinois (link to GoogleMap). Five boats on the Great Loop cruise stopped here yesterday afternoon & stayed the night.
We remained for most of this morning so we could learn more about the town.
Clockwise from left: Karma, the Winnie W, Second Wind (behind the white structure), Our Time, and Happy Destiny.

Beardstown, like many places we've stopped, has a very interesting history. Illinois is the "Land of Lincoln" (link to excellent short bio) and the park in the center of town commemorates Abraham Lincoln giving a speech here as a candidate for the US Senate. His opponent, Stephen Douglas, is also commemorated here; they have separate memorials because Lincoln refused to speak in the same spot that Douglas had spoken three days before!

Before he became a political candidate, Lincoln defended a man accused of murder here in Beardstown. The courtroom where this "Almanac Trial" (link) was heard is still used as a court, the only courtroom still existing where President Lincoln practiced law.

Here is a photo of Doug in the lock-up where Duff Armstrong was kept. This was used as the city jail until the 1960s!

Shown standing in front of a huge collection of stone tools & arrowheads, Susie was our guide to the old City Hall and Museum in Beardstown. She is very knowledgeable and generous with her time. Thank you!

Here is a navigation problem- what does it mean when you see a red nun buoy tied up to a green can buoy? Which way is the safe channel? What about the debris attached to both markers? The answer is that one or perhaps both of the marks have been dragged out of place by the flood.
We have seen many misplaced markers along the sides of the rivers and out of place in the navigation channels.

Usually we have enough clearance to go right under bridges, but the 20.1 ft Gateway Western Railway near Pearl, Illinois, has enough flood water under it that we asked them to lift it for us.
(For 2 prior bridges, Kathie got on the roof of the pilothouse and determined whether we'd make it under! Our "air draft" is 12 ft with our mast and antennas down; ex., one bridge was supposed to be 26 ft but the flood water is 10 ft above normal; we went under with 2 ft to spare!)

In the sky to the left you can see the beginning of a weather front that stormed on us a short time later; we had gusty winds (approx 35mph) and hard rain... not really a problem on these sheltered waters but we were hoping to not meet an up-bound tow in limited visibility... luck was with us and we didn't see any traffic.

We reached an anchorage behind Diamond Island (link to GoogleMap); the rain has tapered off and we are snug & secure.... chasing a couple of mosquitos that got in before we closed up the screens. As you can see, we don't have far to go to reach the Mississippi River!

Best wishes to you all
Doug & Kathie

Going with the flow on the Illinois River

2007-09-04T21:36:00.001-04:00

Hello all: We stopped briefly in Chillicothe, Illinois, in order to meet an old college friend & his family. The Winnie W was briefly parked in a small friendly marina which barely had room for us; you can see the pontoon boats and runabouts that are its usual clientele. This marina was tucked into a well sheltered basin but the water was still probably 5 feet above normal, from the flooding last week. The owner had taken extra measures to secure the docks; you can see the long ropes tying them off, and the "gangplank" at the right from the steps to the docks, over the usual planking to the docks.

Traveling thru Peoria we saw a World War 2 landing ship. This ship has an amazing story, having been part of the Normandy D-Day landings and eventually ending her career in the Turkish Navy. She was scheduled to be scrapped but some WW2 vets organized an effort to save her and they steamed her back across the Atlantic and up the Mississippi & Illinois Rivers. Not sure where she will end up, but we hope that many young people will learn from this ship!

The water is still above flood stage. There is a lot of current and a lot of debris in the water. Quite a few people are still suffering from property damage and many farm fields along the river have been flooded. Here is a Great Blue Heron working on grabbing some lunch, standing on a log floating down the river. We carefully steered the Winnie W around the log because we didn't want to disturb him ;)

Here is a photo showing more of the flooded banks. This is just below Havana, Illinois; the crest is several days past but the water is still a couple of feet above flood stage.

And here's Hank! He knows how to relax during long days of travel.

Tonight we are safely tied up at the Beardstown dock, which is actually a retired barge secured to the waterfront. We would like to see some of the history exhibits;for example, this is a town where Abraham Lincoln came to the courtroom to defend a law case.

Best wishes to all,
Doug & Kathie

Rollin' down the Illinois River

2007-09-02T11:11:00.001-04:00

Yesterday morning we departed Joliet, Illinois, down-bound in company with 5 other boats. The current has slacked noticably over the past couple days, but it is still runing fast enough to make maneuvering tricky. At one point, we going 9 knots while barely revving the engine above a slow cruise... probably 3 knots of current.

Here is a photo of one of our cruising companions, the 'Jeanne Marie,' squeezing thru a tight gap behind a tow into a lock. The tow captains were very considerate but they assume that you can maneuver your boat as skillfully as they do!

Here is a view of Labor Day Saturday on the river near the town of Morris, Illinois. This waterway is busy with commercial traffic (translation- big heavy barges that would squish any pleasure boat like a bug). The water is calm but there is at least 2 knots of current. The two speedboats in front of us had stopped in the channel to talk about what a beautiful day it was, and made it rather difficult for us & the tow to get by safely.

Ah this modern world... at the Marseille Lock, we struck up a conversation with a passerby. He has done some ocean sailing on tall ships and is planning a trip across Africa, we were flattered that he was interested in our boat & cruising. While we chatted, he took this picture with his Blackberry and emailed it to us!

Last night we anchored at Buffalo Rock, a beautiful state park along the Illinois River with a sheltered channel behind an island. This photo shows only the north-east quarter of the rocky bluff overlooking the anchorage. Here is a link to a MapQuest Map of this location... unfortunately the map does not show the island, but the aerial image does.

Hope you are all well & happy
Doug & Kathie

Philosophy, canals, economics... warning, you may want to skip this one

2007-08-31T21:58:00.000-04:00

When the Winnie W passed thru the C&D canal, I (Doug) wrote a short blog entry on the history of this canal. We were hurrying then, but if you’ve got a few minutes now, let’s consider some more history along with economics, philosophy, and some Big Thinks.

In fact let’s start with the Big Thinks- consider the rise of civilization. There we were, naked in the woods, eating grubs & berries… then all of a sudden we have video games & hybrid cars. Life has changed very dramatically! Well okay, it wasn’t all of a sudden. In fact it happened in a long series of stages that are easy to identify. Along the way, somebody had to domesticate animals, discover how to control & use fire, invent the wheel, and all that.

The development of canals for large scale freight was a key stage in mankind's transition from huddling in caves to using cell phones. Canals were the single biggest factor in changing the way most people live, a far bigger factor than the wheel. This may sound like a stretch, but it’s true: prior to the development of railroads (not to mention inflatable tires and Macadam roads), the tonnage carried by wheeled transport was insignificant compared to the tonnage carried by water…. including canals.

This photo shows a perfectly straight stretch of the canal west of Chicago linking Lake Michigan with the Illinois and ultimately the Mississippi Rivers. I apologize for the non-photogenic nature of this post.

History blah blah blah- canals go way back. They were built by the ancient Egyptians & Mesopotamians for irrigation. But that fits into the “Rise of Civilization: Agriculture” Big Think more than the transportation/canals Big Think. Canals for freight transport were built by the Romans and Chinese, which is still pretty far back. The Romans used barges & flatboats to carry construction stone, which made reduced the time & labor required to build bridges & roads…. sort of bootstrapping their transport network…. more on this later.

But if the river & canal transportation was so good, why did they bother to build roads & bridges in the first place? That’s obvious, it’s difficult to make water go up & over hills. As time went along however, man’s technology progressed to the point of being able to construct a waterway that went up hills! Several ancient & medieval canals had dams & single gates to allow boats to pass. But this was not such a good solution, since the change in water level meant that the boat had to go up or down a small waterfall… better than going up or down a large waterfall, it’s true. Around 1400AD Dutch built some canals which used double gates at changes in water level, but the gates were difficult to control, they leaked, and they built large pools between the gates that flushed excessive amounts of water out of the system with each level change.

Leonardo Da Vinci considered the problem and designed what is basically a modern lock gate.
(link to Leonardo, Languedoc, and the Lock Gate)

“How A Modern Canal Lock Works” (link)

As a couple hundred years went by… medieval times gave way to the Renaissance, and new ideas with new technology are flourishing. More than that, trade & commerce are growing fast. People are using paper money and the world of finance is growing increasingly sophisticated.

One of the new ideas which is being applied is ‘economy of scale.’ This is a basic economic concept, familiar to most of us, that says it is more efficient to do large amounts of the same type of work…. and it was beginning to occur to people that this applies to transportation as well. Port cities were spending lots of money improving their harbors & docks, and King Louis XIV built the first modern canal across southern France, connecting the Atlantic coast with the Mediterranean.

Canal du Midi link

This bring us forward from the Renaissance into the times of the Industrial Revolution. Many new ideas had been born and caught on widely. The ideas of using machines to do work that men & horses could not do, of large factories to crank out mass quantities of consumer goods, of applying new scientific principles to build things, and most importantly, the idea that man can change the world around him, are pretty much accepted now.

Sometimes the grand irresistible forces that move the broad sweep of history are focused on single incidents that occur to individual people. For example, when an apple dropped from a tree onto Isaac Newton’s head… or when Francis Egerton was jilted by his Irish girlfriend…

Canals of the Industrial Revolution (link)

Francis Egerton, better known as the Duke of Bridgewater, when he lost out in a love affair, decided he would apply himself to his career. Since he was a wealthy nobleman who owned several coal mines, this led to his building a remarkable canal to get his coal to market faster & cheaper. The Bridgewater Canal really did bridge water… the sort of engineering that people said was impossible before it was actually done. And the Duke did increase his profits. Not only could he deliver more coal, and do it faster with less labor, but he could also sell cheaper while making a larger profit. This lesson was taken to heart throughout Europe and the British colonies in America.

So now we are well into the Industrial Revolution, with large factories making consumer goods in mass quantities; and a wide spread interest in making & delivering yet more mass quantities... especially delivering, because it doesn't do much good to make them if you can't take them somewhere to sell. Somewhere in this stretch, the American colonies became the United States. And along with industrial development in the U.S., of course there were canals.

By the 1790s there were several canals operating or being built in the U.S. The Middlesex Canal served to connect the busy port of Boston to the Merrimack River, and the farms & small manufacturers springing up in central Massachusetts & northeastern Connecticut. There was work under way to cut a canal from the rivers & bays of North Carolina to the Chesapeake through the Dismal Swamp. There was a canal connecting the Mohawk River to other waterways in north central New York (link), along the same corridor that soon hosted the Erie Canal. There was a canal bypassing the rapids on the St. Mary's River which isolated the rich fur territory of Lake Superior.

But soon, another funny thing happened. Iron was extremely important, a crucial strategic material (actually, it still is, but we tend to take it for granted in this era of titanium & carbon fiber… plus we already have a lot of it just laying around in scrap form). Iron is also very heavy, and it takes a lot of heavy fuel brought to the mill or furnace. This makes the Duke of Bridgewater’s coal-carrying canal not only a very profitable innovation, but a key to increasing iron production. English iron became more plentiful and at the same time cheaper; and this made all varieties of iron tools cheaper & more readily available. By the 1830s, iron was being used to build entire structures like bridges, towers, and ships which would have been unthinkable a few decades earlier.

Here's a second funny thing that increases the importance of canals to bootstrapping an economy into the Industrial Age; however it's a bit beyond the scope of this simple blog post. The main method of iron production prior to the mid-1700s was a method called the "bloom furnace." Trying to be brief, we can describe this as putting a couple of shovel-loads of iron ore (chips of iron-bearing rock) into a closed furnace. This is the earliest form of obtaining metal from ore, going back to prehistoric times. The impurities have a lower melting point and tend to rise as the whole mass melts into a puddle, and the slag form a glassy bloom which is then hammered free of the iron. This is labor intensive and slow.

Another early method of iron production is the blast furnace, in which a continuous stream of iron ore, fuel (coal or charcoal), and limestone, is tipped into the chimney of an already-hot furnace. This dates back to the 1500s at least. With a good supply of fuel and strong combustion air (such as a water-mill powered bellows), this method could produce far more iron in a shorter time. Not only that, the iron was much more likely to be of consistantly higher quality... fewer impurities, more consistant carbon content.

However, when the iron-master's coal supply is a few wagon loads now & then, it is obviously not a paying proposition to begin firing a blast furnace. OTOH if you can count on several barge loads of coal a day, the balance tips heavily towards blast-furnace production.

So this combination of coal & iron mines, with the inspiration to link them with canals, literally handed England the tools to build the Industrial Revolution.

The same thing happened in the United States a few decades later, on a larger scale. The coal and iron mines of Pennsylvania (link) were connected by canal. The James & Kanawha Canal served the rich farms & mills of Virginia and also helped the growth of the Tredegar Iron Works of Civil War fame. The fledgling U.S. became an industrial giant, in part ecause of the good luck of having tremendous raw material resources and the good planning to bring those resources into production effectively. Canal building spread through every state that wanted economic development, and almost every state east of the Rockies has at least one historic canal.

Unfortunately for the canal business, this made possible the building of a tremendous railroad network…. And railroads can carry loads faster, more easily up hill, and during periods of flood or drought or ice… thus the canals of America and England basically put themselves out of business. Although a few canals were still being dug into the 1920s, the economic heyday of canals was in the 1870s and earlier.

Back to the "Big Think." Man is a tool user. To use tools, he has to make tools. We started with rocks and sticks, and very slowly learned to use metals. But metals were expensive and difficult to obtain, enough so that the use of stone & wood tools did not disappear until well after the dawn of the industrial age. ... still used in some places, in fact. But with advent of the canal, man acquired the ability to mass-produce not only goods but the tools to make them; and to distribute them nation wide... and beyond that, since most canal networks eventually led to ocean-front harbors, to facilitate shipping world-wide.

On the Winnie W. we have travelled many canals and will travel many more... some famous, like the Erie Canal, and some almost unknown. In New York City harbor, we moored in the Morris Canal Basin) although the Morris Canal itself is long gone). We've had a first hand look... and had a lot of fun... on the historic remnants of a crucial stage of mankind's development. Without canals, we would never have gotten past a low level of industrial & technological development... we would never have the Internet!

For those few serious history and/or economics buffs... or those who are simply suffering from extreme insomnia.... here are web links to go a little further exploring the topic.

And thank you for listening to what I've been thinking about-

Doug

A General Canal Chronology
http://home.eznet.net/~dminor/Canals.html

New Jersey Canals-Morris
http://www.rootsweb.com/~njwarren/morriscn.html

http://www.njskylands.com/hsmorriscanal.htm

http://www.canalsocietynj.org/mcdata.htm

http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Rapids/4854/walk.htm

http://www.cliftonhistory.org/mocanal.html

New Jersey Canals- Delaware & Raritan
http://www.woodrow.org/teachers/esi/1997/43/Hist.htm

http://www.dandrcanal.com/history.html

http://www.th

elhs.org/delaware_and_raritan_canal.htm

Massachusetts
http://www.bio.umass.edu/biology/conn.river/canal.html

Massachusetts- Middlesex canal
http://www.winchestermass.org/images/canalloc.gif

http://www.middlesexcanal.org/

http://www.medfordhistorical.org/middlesexcanal.php

http://www.roadstohistory.org/transportation/canal.html

Ohio Canals maps & brief history
http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=674

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Prairie/6687/list.htm

Virginia- C&O
http://www.hq.usace.army.mil/history/Vignettes/Vignette_70.htm

http://www.fred.net/kathy/timeline.html

http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/10c&o/10c&o.htm

James & Kanahwa (link)

Tenn-Tom Waterway (a modern canal)
http://www.lynnseldon.com/article557.html

http://tenntom.sam.usace.army.mil/

http://www.tenntom.org/about/ttwhistory3.htm

Wisconsin
http://www.portagecanalsociety.com/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=167

http://www.mainstreetportage.org/History.htm

Illinois & Michigan Canal- a predecessor of the Chicago S&S Canal
http://www.canalcor.org/pdf/I&M_Shapes_History.pdf

Connecticut
http://www.bio.umass.edu/biology/conn.river/canal.html

Nova Scotia
http://www.canals.com/shuben.htm

American Canal Society
http://www.americancanals.org/index.html

National Canal Museum
http://www.canals.org/

General canal link, lots & lots of short articles on many many canals
http://www.icivilengineer.com/Landmarks/Canals/

http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/canal/index.html

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Prairie/6687/list.htm

Headed west, waiting out the water in Joliet

2007-08-29T22:14:00.000-04:00

Hello all: Now we're traveling on the rivers.... the Chicago River, the Des Plaines River, and soon the Illinois River... but we have only made it as far as Joliet (link to GoogleMap) where we've stayed the last two days (and probably one more), waiting for the crest of flooding to pass beyond where we'll be after a day's journey further west.
Downtown Chicago has a lot of tall buildings & bridges; heading west from the city we saw a lot more bridges... including a lot of railroad trestles... and an increasing amount of industry & support businesses that rely on water transport. This view shows four bridges ahead of us!

Here is a photo of the Sears Tower from the south west side of the city; we were headed down (you are looking up) the river. We don't know what the brick building on the left is, but it looks like some care & thought went into its architecture.

This landmark... OK maybe a watermark... is the junction of the two canals from Lake Michigan heading west to the Des Plaines River. This view is looking north-east toward the lake; on the right (south) is the "Cal-Sag" waterway (the Calumet and Little Calumet Rivers and Calumat-Sag Channel) which starts at Calumet Harbor on Lake Michigan . On the left is the Chicago Sanitary & Ship Canal which starts near the Navy Pier in Chicago. The Chicago route has a limited vertical clearance (about 17.5'), so larger/taller boats take the Cal-Sag.

Ever look at a feature on the map, like an island or the spot where two rivers come together, and wonder what it looks like? This is the junction of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal with the Des Plaines River. The Des Plaines has been flooding but is not at a high stage, but you can still see the powerful current.

Along the left, you can see a railroad bridge carrying a freight train with shipping containers stacked double.

Here is some scenery in downtown Joliet: a mural celebrating the towns history, including a depiction of the limestone bluffs that gave the town its start in the quarrying business... at left, you can see a real bluff (I don't know if the photo is clear enough that you can zoom in and see the chisel marks).

Another sight to see in Joliet- the oldest remaining construction in town. This vault was built in 1837 to store bottles. Joliet was where the carbonated drink... soda pop... was invented, and this was the storage vault below the buildings on Bluff Street, the main business street in the 1830s.

And here we are! These boats are cruising the Great Loop, waiting for navigation conditions to improve downstream. Of course we do a fair amount of socializing, and any who need help get ample assistance; for example, someone who rented a car took reps from every boat to the grocery store today (a big highlight for Kathie). Gatherings like this are one of the attractions of cruising.
Doug spent the day repairing the air conditioner (92 degrees here today); after much detective work, he found that debris had clogged the seacock for cooling water, causing overheating and tripping the breaker.

Our best regards to you all,
Doug & Kathie

End of an era...past the Great Lakes

2007-08-27T21:29:00.001-04:00

Hello all: It's true, we are in Chicago (that toddlin' town) and finished with the Great Lakes for this cruise. Lake Michigan has been unpleasant to us, often rolling the boat badly enough to throw things around the cabin and occasionally dunking the bow under. The places we've visiting along both sides of the lake have been great but we are relieved to get off the lake itself.

On Friday, August 24th, we docked in Milwaukee. We had a great time meeting friends and sightseeing. We went to an Impressionist exhibit at the Milwaukee Art Museum which is right on the harbor front. There was an antique car show at the park next to the marina. In all, a great time.
David and Darcy have lived in Milwaukee for several years and it was great to see them. Both are musicians (link to Darcy's website) ; in fact she plays the horn for the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. David is a journalist who has written about, among other things, boating.

The art museum is a very striking building, perhaps a work of art all in itself. The current main feature is an exhibit of the Impressionist master Pisarro (link). We got a chance to see many of his works from all stages of his career, including some of his entries into the Salon and other paintings exhibited with the rebellious Impressionists.

From Milwaukee, we went to Waukegan, and from Waukegan, we went to Chicago.

The photo at right shows how the Chicago skyline loomed up out of the mist... the photo does not convey our relief at nearing the end of another rocky-rolly day on Lake Michigan... not much wind today but there was a swell left over from the night & early morning when there were 20 knot winds. Not that we're complaining, as many people in the area have been hard-hit by storms and flooding.

Here is a schooner taking tourists for rides. This tall ship came in from out on the lake, thru the breakwater wall into the harbor, at about the same time the Winnie W did.

There were also many tour boats running around the harbor.

Here is a view of the Chicago Lock gate just beginning to open. This is the entry into the Illinois Waterway system which we'll follow down to the mighty Mississippi.

This lock was put in place in the 1890s at the mouth of the Chicago River, in order to reverse the river's flow; this results in river water that ran thru the city into the Mississippi basin instead of the open waters of Lake Michigan... which also serves as the city's drinking water source.... thus, the official name is the Chicago Sanitary & Ship Canal.

There is nothing left of the original shoreline; this is the inner harbor basin with the city's police & rescue boats, and work barges. In fact, if you look closely, you can see a barge under the Shoreline Drive bridge here, supporting maintenance crew hard at work on the underside of the bridge.

Glamorous classic yacht or tourist excursion boat? This is the El Presidente (link) which takes skyline-viewing trips around the Chicago River and harbor, but she was built as a private yacht 1939 and served as a naval auxiliary in World War 2. Doug said she is one of the most beautiful yachts he's seen.

This is one of the bridge keeper's houses. Just another bit of classic architecture lost in the big city.

Driving thru the middle of the city was like being in a watery canyon. The GPS reciever complained that it could not hear or see it's satellites...

This is the view aft, showing the Winnie W's mast & antennas folded down, just after going under a bridge. It was very convenient that we did not have to wait for any openings (except one railroad bridge with less than 10' clearance) and the Chicago commuters should appreciate it, too.

So here we are (link to GoogleMap). Tied safely to a wall, checking with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for lock operations & flood stages, hoping to continue tomorrow at least as far as Joliet.

Best wishes to all
Doug & Kathie

Crossing a Big Lake

2007-08-24T17:41:00.001-04:00

Hello all: Here is a map to show our route the last week, since we left Beaver Island. Weather has not been favorable, and the zig-zag course we have taken was necessary to keep the bow toward the seas; when waves hit us broadside, we roll! While our boat is comfortable to live on, the engine room is not big enough to install stabilizers.

Here is where we stayed in Manitowoc (link to GoogleMap). You may have noticed that we used
MapQuest previously, but they have just changed the way their website works... or doesn't work, more accurately... so now I am going to revise the links.

Pulling into Manitowoc, we saw the car ferry 'Badger' pulling out. This ship crosses over from Manitowoc to Ludington, Michigan on a schedule during the season.

During World War II, 28 submarines were built in Manitowoc. They reached the Pacific war zone by following part of the Great Loop, through Chicago and down the Illinois & Mississippi Rivers. Then they went thru the Panama Canal and west across the ocean to join the fight. Four never returned and are on 'Eternal Patrol' with their brave crews.

The 'Gato' class submarine USS Cobia was not actually built in Manitowoc, but she is practically identical to those built here. The USS Cobia SS-245 carried out six wartime patrols, was on duty for the Korean War, and then was used as a training vessel for the U.S. Naval Reserve. Now she is a major star of the Wisconsin Maritime Museum, which we really enjoyed visiting.

Nothing top secret here, this is the forward torpedo room of the USS Cobia. One can imagine that the crew was eager to shoot all the torpedoes, then they have much more room for their bunks!
Bunks are throughout the ship, and equipment and wiring are throughout living compartments such as the designated bunkroom and eating areas. Incidentally, the submarine service is all volunteer, and some joined because the food was the best in the Navy! The men in the sub force needed to pass various qualifying tests, such as being able to use the Momsen lung (see link) in case of emergency exit from the sub.

Current location, Port Washington Wisconsin.... that's about 25 miles north of Milwaukee, which we're on our way to this morning. If you click on "satellite" or "hybrid" at the upper right of the map, you can see the marina.

(link to GoogleMaps)

Here is a view of Port Washington as we approached the harbor. It's a great port stop, we'd recommend it for cruisers. They had a farmer's market this morning (Saturday) and Hank loved the bike trail.

No kidding, Hank & Doug both loved the bike trail with its creek. Even after four months of cruising they feel compelled to play in the water.

Here is a view looking north-east from the harbor breakwater wall at Port Washington.

Today Saturday we are making a short hop along the Wisconsin shore to Milwaukee, where we will meet a friend's nephew and wife.

We send you all our best wishes
Doug & Kathie

Manistee MI, then Crossing Lake Michigan

2007-08-22T17:56:00.000-04:00

Hello all: We know it's confusing to have two posts on the same day; we've been to Beaver Island, then Leland, and finally Manistee MI over the last 4-5 days, and there's too much info and and too many photos for one post.

We spent two nights in Manistee, hoping for a weather window to cross Lake Michigan to the western shore and Wisconsin. Today we crossed Lake Michigan to Manitowoc WI. It was as bumpy but not as wet as our crossing from Beaver Island, but twice as long!

On the way to Manistee from Leland, we passed the Point Betsy Light. “Sleeping Bear Point” is in the background behind the lighthouse.

Manistee is a small town on a river. You saw a photo of the enormous freighters in the Beaver Island post; believe it or not, a huge freighter came through this river (and opened the bridge where this picture was taken), assisted by a tug on this turn!

When we got to Manistee, Hank was delighted to meet another friend, Danny, who is also a “pound puppy.” Danny is really a puppy, and his owners are helping him to adapt to a “club paw,” largely by carefully supervising his activity as a callous develops to protect the “thumb” without a pad.

The marina has an area especially for dogs.

As you can see, the "club paw" doesn’t slow Danny down a bit! We enjoyed meeting Debbie and John, Danny’s family.

We went to the Manistee County Historical Museum, which is a terrific collection of items reflecting past times in Manistee, including several rooms with dioramas.

Here are some hair curlers! They are the contraption in the middle, with metal curlers suspended from the hat-like top. You can also see a variety of other household items.

The museum is in the building that formerly housed the AH Hyman Pharmacy, and a section is arranged like the old pharmacy, with remedies and potions from the 19th and early 20th century. The building was one of two in town that didn't burn in 1871, coincidentally on the same day as the famous Chicago fire caused by Mrs. O'Leary's cow. The building has interesting features such as a "speaking tube" intercom system, and coal boilers (now natural gas) that supplied heat to adjacent buildings to fund their own utility costs.

Tom, the associate director, was well-informed about items and local history, and showed us a 1930s Lionel train display that he made.

Tom also played the Edison cylindrical phonograph for us!

We went on a trolley tour of the area. The downtown and homes are mostly Victorian buildings with ornamentation and colors typical of that period. There were many prosperous citizens, making fortunes from lumber, transportation, and salt.

One benefactor, Thomas Jefferson Ramsdell, built a theater which has outstanding acoustics even today and has an active schedule.
This was a controversial project, with objection from the town’s ladies about the types of people who would perform in the theater and thus expose citizens to their lifestyles, etc.

The outside of the building is unassuming, but there is a mural on the ceiling inside the theater (painted by Mr. Ramsdell's son, who knew how these civic-minded ladies had harassed his father), that has nude ladies whose faces are those of the ladies who objected to the building of the theater!

Michigan has excellent state marinas every 30 miles along the eastern shore of Lake Michigan. However, they all have high docks, which makes boarding tough for unathletic people like me (KK), and even scarier to watch Hank get on and off the boat. Doug made a ramp for Hank before the trip. Here Doug makes the ramp stable, setting the ramp so it goes across the lifelines and stanchions to the dock.

Here’s Hank starting to cross…

And he’s across!

And here he gets off the boat. Fortunately, he’s agile and has no fear (or maybe no judgment!). We hope that he doesn’t fall in, and then decide that is fun!

I (KK) usually board or disembark with one hand on the handrail on the roof, another on the post, and step from the lifeline railing to the dock; Doug bounds on and off!

We are all doing well. Our best to you, Kathie and Doug.

Beaver Island and Leland, MI

2007-08-22T16:31:00.000-04:00

Hello all: We left St Ignace two days ago, passing under the famous Mackinac Bridge. You can see the counterweight for the bridge’s suspension cable on the right in this photo.

We’ve seen lots of freighters on the Great Lakes; to give you an idea of their size, here is a photo with our buddy boat Tom Kat beside the freighter just west of Mackinaw City. From the French, "Mackinac" Island is pronounced with an "aw" ending, which Mackinaw City has formally anglicized in its spelling.

We went to Beaver Island, the largest island in fresh water in the US. This is the Beaver Island light (photo taken from the town of St. James, opposite the entrance to the harbor, with pretty statuary of otters in the foreground). The buildings around the light are used for community activities. The light keeper’s house has been moved to another part of the island and is now a private residence.

Beaver Island is also the only place in the US that has been a kingdom; Jesse Strang, an early Mormon leader, brought his followers to Beaver island (the “Strangite” Mormons), declared himself King, and later was assassinated by these same followers. There has always been a large Irish population and several restaurants have this Irish flavor. Other interesting people have been part of the island’s history; the information booklet tells about “a priest who became a sinner, and an Estonian actor who became a saint.” We’ll definitely visit again.

Here’s a photo of downtown St. James, the major area of settlement on the island. There is a maritime museum and a another museum in the former Mormon printshop, which has general history of the island. We rode bikes all over downtown and closer outlying areas.

While biking, we saw a cool house, with a facade of natural stone.

Hank also got some time off the boat, including swimming.

Here’s a photo of the shoreline, looking towards St. James.

One of the thrills was meeting another Sundowner, Lil Toot and her owners, Don and Lori. We went to dinner and had a great visit. There were only ~50 Sundowners made between 1983 and 1989.

The trip back to the Lower Peninsula of Michigan was bumpy, with lots of spray heading into the waves. Here’s a photo of the shoreline through the front window (the pilothouse was dark because it was overcast and early morning to boot; we left at 7am). You can see the flagpole on our bowsprit and the distant shoreline in this photo.

Here’s a picture of what it looks like when we were smashing through the waves.

Here’s a closeup of the spray.

Here’s what smart puppies do when the going gets rough- they nap in a low-lying part of the boat!

We were hoping to go to Petoskey from Beaver Island, but it’s been so windy and conditions on the lake so if-fy for travel, that we aimed further south to Leland.

Leland is a “port of refuge” in Michigan, which means they don’t refuse anyone. In Leland, we were rafted at the end of another boat’s slip, and had a T-dock alongside the forward part of our boat because I begged for a short area of dock so we could get Hank off the boat! As you can see, Hank immediately made friends.

Leland is a charming fishing village with an older section commemorating its history, now various shops in “Fishtown.”

Best to you all, Kathie and Doug.

Canadian Lake Superior, and now back in the USA

2007-08-17T09:21:00.000-04:00

Hello all: After a couple of months in Canada, now we're back in the U.S. This map shows our approximate route from John's Harbor, forever known to us as "the Bear Anchorage," to Bruce Mines, and then up the St. Joseph River towards Sault Ste. Marie (Canadian side) and Lake Superior.
The lower part of the map is our route from Lake Superior's Batchawana Bay (we were actually in Harmony Bay north of Batchwana Island) in Lake Superior, thru "the Soo" down the St Mary's River, to our present location in St. Ignace, Michigan.

Here's a photo of our buddy boat Tom-Kat going up the St. Joseph River, near the little town of Richardson's Landing (Ontario, Canada).

This is Sault (pro: "soo") Sainte Marie, Ontario as we turned into the shipping harbor. Back in the old days of the fur traders, this was the site of rapids as the waters of Lake Superior tumbled down towards the sea. The "Sault" in the name comes from the French verb "to leap." In 1797 a small canal was built to improve trade; now there are 4 parallel locks (3 US, 1 unused; 1 Canadian) to handle traffic.

Speaking of traffic... this is not a skyline pic. If you look closely, you can see a huge ore freighter coming thru the U.S. locks at "the Soo."

Sault Sainte Marie is a pretty town; this is a public building from 1906, formerly the Post Office, now an excellent museum about local history.

Just to the north & west of the town of Sault Ste. Marie, the shore becomes very rocky & steep, and the hills are topped with wind generators... must be over a hundred of them.

We headed up the eastern side of Lake Superior, passing close to Ile Parisienne to take a look at the great beaches there. More nice beaches are to be found at Batchawana Bay, much more easily accessible than Ile Parisienne, and a few cottages to take advantage of this access.

Batchawana Bay is a very scenic anchorage on the Canadian side of Lake Superior

(link to GoogleMaps)

The bay is quite large but there is good holding ground in many places, allowing boats to get behind shelter of a windward shore. This photo shows fog spilling between the hilltops in the early morning.

Returning from Lake Superior, we again locked thru the Soo and headed down the Saint Mary's River. We found a great anchorage just south of the West Neebish Channel (GoogleMap), between Neebish Island and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Hank is getting to be an old pro at dinghy trips by this point.

The Saint Mary and Saint Joseph are two rivers that run nearly parallel, taking water from Lake Superior down to Lake Huron. Both have navigable channels but the St. Mary's goes towards where Lake Huron meets Lake Michigan and is for the big ships, whereas the St. Joseph's River spills into the North Channel of Lake Huron.

Along the DeTour Passage is an unusual building project: the forward part of a ship set up on land. If you zoom in, this photo shows a man working on putting a conventional foundation wall around the base of it. Is this going to be his home? A museum? We don't know, but it sure looks interesting!

Monday night we anchored among the Cheneaux Islands of upper Michigan, which were much more populated than we expected.
(link to GoogleMap)

And of course, any visit to this area has to include Mackinac Island. As we passed by the Mackinac Harbor heading west towards St. Ignace, Kathie took this photo of the town and the fort up on the hill.

We took a catamaran ferry to the island and did some tourist-y stuff on Mackinac (pronounced "Mackinaw"); here is another view of the fort and a sign that tells about it.

What a beautiful place! The hills are a bit steep for our boat bikes, but we sure got exercise. Good thing, too, because it seems like 50% of shops on Mackinac Island are fudge shops! (Of course, we did our best to boost the local economy...)

Another tourist attraction... Skull Cave! Now those of us who remember "The Phantom"... the adventure comic-strip hero, not the lame movie... would perk up at this. Unfortunately most of the cave was bulldozed by the gov't because too many people got hurt inside. What remains is, well, bigger than a breadbox.

We are in St. Ignace, Michigan, a very nice small town on the north side of the Straits of Mackinac. We have been holed up here waiting for high winds (producing high waves) to abate; Lake Michigan can be very unforgiving in storms. There are worse places to be "stuck," and we have plenty of boat and household chores to catch up (remember the Eileen Quinn song about the non-boaters query: "what do you do all day?").
(link to GoogleMap showing our location)

We hope that you all are well & happy
Doug & Kathie

Lions and Tigers and Bears- Oh, My!

2007-08-10T16:40:00.000-04:00

Hello all: We are now in Sault St. Marie, Canadian side, about to venture into Lake Superior.

In Little Current, we saw and participated in the Hawberry (or Haweaters') Festival, including watching a juggler juggle a chainsaw! We also toured Manitoulin Island and saw Bridal Veil Falls (photo at right). After the island tour, Bob and Sue on Tom-Kat, Mike and Jeanne on Jeanne Marie, and we on the faithful Winnie W took off from Little Current a few days ago.

Then we were part of a small flotilla (3 boats) in the North Channel, and that's what this post is about, including Doug and Hank's near-close encounter with a bear! Thanks to Jeanne on Jeanne Marie for the bear and other photos of folks in our "small flotilla."

Here is the small channel leading into the western part of Oak Harbor, where we'd intended to "anchor out," but decided not to go into- too narrow.

So, instead, our first night in the North Channel, we were in a lovely anchorage on the northeast side of Hotham Island. We had a smooth trip over and after swimming in beautiful clear (and cold!) water, then a relaxing gathering on Tom-Kat for snacks and conversation before supper.

Heavy traffic- here is a line of boats ahead of our small flotilla, going for a narrow spot just north of Aird Island.

The second night in the North Channel, we were in John's Harbor, south of John's Island.

The channel into John's Harbor has several rocks, this photo shows a few.... these were easy to spot. An ancient rule of navigating: 'Don't ever try to steer your boat where the birds are standing.'

The late afternoon weather was looking threatening and it was cool, so few swam and mostly we were relaxing- until Tom-Kat was approached by dinghy, asking if they would render assistance to a fellow boater who had overlooked a charted rock in the harbor; the boater had parked his 34,000 pound sailboat on the rock, complicated by the wing keel which really hooked the keel onto the rocks. Bob and Mike used their dinghies (we only have oars- unfortunately for this circumstance, no horsepower on our dinghy) to help pull the boat off the rocks; the fellow was grateful (see champagne delivered to Bob and Tom in photo) and was having his boat pulled (out of the water) in the next few days to check the keel bolts and other underwater structures.

That evening, we enjoyed snacks on Winnie W and then had "white chili" (chicken and various white beans and spices) for supper on Jeanne Marie.

The excitement on the Winnie W was the next morning: when Doug took Hank ashore in the dinghy, Kathie saw a bear about 1/4 mile away from them on a neighboring beach of rocks! Kathie was inside on the boat, and only went out on the aft deck to see if they were ready for help getting Hank from the dinghy to the boat (help means encouraging him to jump up: he's a real athlete!).

Looking to shore to figure out their progress in Hank's exercise, I (K) saw a bear! First, I thought "don't be nuts, you're imagining things" and tried to think what else could have this bear-like shape. I looked again, and yelled "Doug-- bear--come back!!" Then, because the prior evening, our small flotilla discussed that none of us had seen a bear yet in these wilds of Georgian Bay and the North Channel, I got on the VHF radio and told the other boats that if they'd look where I was pointing, I could show them a bear on shore!

Doug had our camera on shore; these photos are courtesy of Jeanne Marie. For a size comparison, you can see part of the back-end of Hank in the dinghy, about halfway between the shore with the bear.
The bear was ~1/4 mile from Doug and was "moderate" size (size discussion with Mike and Jeanne); with the bear walking on all fours, comparing to Doug's height, the bear's forequarter would have been about elbow height on Doug. Doug said he couldn't hear what I was saying, but got the drift that I wanted him to come back to the boat!

Winnie W peacefully settled in John's Harbor, which will now be forever remembered by us as "the bear anchorage." This shot of boat & cliff (at right) was photographed earlier that morning by Doug, as the bear was ambling along the shore just below.

We then went to the small town of Bruce Mines, which has an unused mine that we toured and heard about the copper mining industry in the 1800s. Here is our guide showing how one spots veins of minerals in the rock.

Here's a view of the St Joseph River, which is part of the estuary connecting Lake Superior with Lake Huron. Thee photo doesn't do the water justice; it was a beautiful shimmering green, and made us understand why some call the North Channel the "Caribbean of the North."

Soon we will be heading through the Canadian side of the locks into Lake Superior, to an anchorage.

We wish you all the best!
Kathie and Doug

Beginning the North Channel at Little Current, Manitoulin Island

2007-08-03T16:58:00.000-04:00

Hello family and friends: We're in Little Current, on Manitoulin Island, where North Channel of Lake Huron begins. Here's a map of our route starting at Killbear, just west of Parry Sound.

(link to GoogleMap, location of Killbear Marina)

Before Killbear, we were in Parry Sound; one of the attractions of Parry Sound is the observation tower, located in a park (next to the museum) high up on a hill overlooking the harbor. Unfortunately, the 'Winnie W' is hidden behind the silver roof of the marina building. However, you can see the small cruise liner at the town dock, most of the harbor, and the 200+ foot high railroad trestle (lower right) that spans the Seguin River gorge.

Shortly after leaving Parry Sound, we had a choice of two routes... the 'outside' way, leading west around a Squaw & Telos Islands; or the 'inside' route thru a place called Canoe Channel. Some of the boats in the Looper Flotilla did not have this choice, but 'Winnie W' is small enough to fit thru.

Hmm.... these are the last two marks leading us to Canoe Channel... the channel itself looks like a canoe might be too big.

Looks big enough for several canoes! The 'Winnie W' proudly flies the Looper flag thru Canoe Channel. You can see the rock ledges sheltering the Georgian Bay shore past the far end of this little cut.

After leaving Canoe Channel, we rambled along thru a maze of rocky ledges & small islands. This photo is looking toward the mainland side. The Georgian Bay "Small Craft Route" was used by Indians and fur traders in canoes; it is sheltered from the open lake but it is still not a place for careless navigation.

Here is a good luck statue of loose stones, known as an inukshuk, for safe passage. Do they really bring good luck? Hard to say, but there's no way to build any sandcastles anywhere around here. They are in many locations along the small craft route.

This is the last stretch of the Point Au Baril channel, leading past the lighthouse and out into the open Georgian Bay. You can see on the map that this area is difficult to reach, and certainly not densely settled... but there certainly are vacation cottages!

Now, everybody who took French in high school, raise your hand.... good! What does "Point Au Baril" mean?

No fair clicking on the photo and reading the sign.

Every once in a while, we are tempted to complain about the skimpy & undersized navigation aids & markers.... then we think how lucky we are to not be depending on a barrel of burning straw....

After Killbear, we stopped in Byng Inlet. A very pretty spot and certainly not crowded. A few cottages and a few small marinas catering to summer cruisers & fishermen.... this is supposed to be a great spot for fishing.... and there is a fuel oil terminal for the railroad. A 500' tanker brings in fuel oil 4 times a year, we were told. The captain of that tanker is very skilled to bring such a large vessel in here without accident; in addition to its huge length for a small channel, the boat's draft is 20 feet with 24 feet of water in the channel.

This photo captures the still morning & lovely reflection along Byng Inlet.
(link to Mapquest)
(link to GoogleMap)

From Bying Inlet we took the "outside route"... straight across the northern corner of Georgian Bay, bypassing the Bustard Islands, and making landfall at Grondine Rock. This was a run of about 22 miles; a light chop made the crossing a little bouncy but not bad considering the fetch of over 100 miles.

Kathie took this photo from about 3/4 of a mile away.

Our destination for the afternoon was Killarney, with a sharp right turn into Beaverstone Bay, which is another channel into waters sheltered by rock ledges and small islands. The bay also leads to Collins Inlet, which may be the prettiest route we've been through; together these two separate Philip Edward Island (a big one) from the mainland.

Collins Inlet was beautiful. The photo above really doesn't do it justice. This one shows Doug & Hank contemplating this beautiful fjord-like scenery from the foredeck of the 'Winnie W.'

Is there a geologist in the house? The Earth is showing some pretty dramatic stuff here. First, along Collins Inlet we saw granite cliffs veined with rich colors, then pure white mountains reared up in the background.

This photo is looking north from the western end of Collins Inlet; in the distance you see the La Cloche mountain range and in the foreground, you see the red granite ledges. And a navigation marker, reassuring us that we are in the safe channel!

This is the lighthouse at the entrance to Killarney. After docking safely, we rode our bikes out there.... this photo was *not* taken from the boat!
(link to Mapquest)
(link to GoogleMap)

So, one more short day's travel bring us to Little Current, on Manitoulin Island.

This weekend is the Hawberry Festival so there are big doings up here. A flyer refers to "Haweaters Weekend," and one of the teens who checked us in at the marina said Manitoulin Islanders refer to themselves as "Haweaters."

To get to Little Current from Georgian Bay, we went under the single lane bridge that is the only land access to Manitoulin Island. By Doug's map you can see it is a HUGE island. Traffic backs up as the bridgekeeper varies access from the mainland and the island sides. As you can imagine, opening the bridge for boats makes the traffic situation worse.
We missed the "on the hour" bridge opening at 12:00, and at 12:10 we lowered our antennas and mast, which brings our "air draft" to 12 feet and snuck under at about 12:30. We had both current and wind against us, so Doug could bring the boat right up to the bridge to gauge whether we'd fit under the bridge (if we couldn't make it, the wind and current would push us away from the bridge); Kathie stood on the pilothouse roof and judged whether we would make it under. Kathie could not touch the bridge, standing up, so we probably had at least 6 feet to spare!

After this weekend, we'll go from being part of a 22 boat flotilla to our original flotilla of 2 boats, Tom-Kat with Bob and Sue, and the Winnie W with us.

We hope that you are all well and happy! Thanks for following our progress, Doug and Kathie

More islands, anchorages, rocks.... lots & lots of pictures

2007-07-31T09:06:00.000-04:00

We're now on a flotilla in Georgian Bay; these pictures are from Penetang and the first section of the flotilla. Here are Doug & Kathie in the afternoon sun . We took an evening cruise on the 'Georgian Queen' out of Penetanguishene Harbor- that's wind, not a punk hairdo!

(link to GoogleMap of this location)

This is a view of the park & town dock at Penetanguishene. The statue represents an Indian... Native American.... First Nation... legend and honors their memory.

Here is a placard on the statue pictured above

Here is the long line of boats winding along the channel as we began the flotilla; at the left you can see the Champlain memorial. The Looper Flotilla had 22 boats between 30 and 50 feet in length, and the line was three miles long, due to spacing and speed. Plus there were numerous narrow places with multiple buoys, traffic from both directions (sometimes boats from the other direction had to wait), and *everyone* had to slow down, so the slower boats (we are one) had a chance to catch up with the convoy.

This is the memorial marker for Samuel de Champlain, the first European to explore this area. We did not get quite as close as this photo makes it seem.

A funny-looking navigation marker? Actually, this is two "range markers," one behind the other. When the two are aligned (like in this photo), then your boat is traveling exactly down the safe channel between the rocks.

The Looper Flotilla assembles in Port Rawson Bay. The first boat to anchor was the leader, Bob & Karen in their beautifully restored Hatteras 'My Bonus'.... all the other boats tied up to one side or the other until all were rafted up.

Here is a view of the Looper Flotilla anchored in Port Rawson Bay. The fleet of 22 boats tied up nearly filled up the northwestern cove of the bay. The line-up was anchored in front & back at several points.

(link to GoogleMap)

This is what we look like; Doug & Kathie & Hank on the aft deck of 'Winnie W' ... our next-door neighbors Jerry & Rosalie on 'Sunrise'

This is what the beautiful scenery of the anchorage looks like. There are at least a million places just as nice in this region. This is bedrock, part of the Canadian shield, formed by glaciers. The rocks have moss and lichen on them, which may decompose and form a soil so that plants and eventually trees can grow on the rocks. Dwarf cypress (two are just to the left of teh marker) grow without soil and are hundreds of years old by the time they attain more than 5 feet of height.

Beautiful scenery of the Port Rawson Bay anchorage. On the left was the shore where Hank walked and played several times a day, often with dogs from other boats. One owner was kind enough to tell us she thought Hank was "sweet" and played well with her dominant lady dog!

Hanks is not really a water dog, when compared to a Chesapeake Bay Retriever (which we know well), but he needs exercise and he likes joining in the fun.

This is the waterfall at Moon River, more of a steep rapids than waterfall perhaps, but it is a beautiful spot. The Looper Flotilla took a long dinghy ride (some made it into a race) from the anchorage. Kathie rode with Jerry and Rosalie while Doug and Hank stayed to work (Doug), play (Hank), and relax (both).

Another excursion ashore for Hank. This is getting to be "business as usual" for him. You can see that he is not afraid of getting in the dinghy.

Party time and home-made music: the Looper Flotilla is entertained (in more ways than one) by musicians Doug & Jerry aboard 'Sunrise.'

We're having a great time, continuing onward with the flotilla this week We hope that you all are well & happy-
Doug & Kathie

(link to GoogleMap of current location)