Today I started to get settled in here in Stuart - Lisa was here with me and she got a rental car for her trip to Orlando and ultimately to fly home. i am going to add some of Lisa's emails to her friends and co workers (this will give a perspective from another person like my sister did).

Lisa said about Saturday and Sunday 11/7,8:

Arrived yesterday ((sat) afternoon and spent a pleasant few hours with my former HR Manager from FL-M who has been in the court reporting management business for past 5 yrs. Had a marathon day today on the boat. Left Jax about 7:15 am this morning and just got into the dock for the evening. Lots of "no wake zones" for Manatees, so had to go about 8 mph. Gassing up before we're done for the day. Went about 135 miles and staying in Titusville tonite. Still have lots of "chores" to do, incl cleaning dishes and reading charts for tomorrow's voyage. Tomorrow we're going to try to go the full rest of the way, about 100 more miles. Trying to beat the bad weather coming with Tropical Storm Ida.Just no fun if it rains on you! Plus, winds make the ride a lot bumpier. So, as you're toiling away making sure justice is being done for all mankind, think of me navigating the boat down the ICW!

Lisa said about Monday 11/9:

We MADE it! Had to perform man overboard rescue mission just before we reached our destination.....Redskins baseball hat (sentimental value and just because) blew off my head when I was out getting ready for dockage....Dad insisted we take a pass at a rescue....and, with relatively minimal effort (ok, more than minimal effort.....the boat hook only reached slightly past the water line, so we had to be right on top of it), we found success!! It was quite a trip...no way we could have made it without running behind another boat literally the entire way today (110 miles)...would have had to go half the speed and would have had to stop somewhere. So, the luck held out despite the weather... Now, just need to find a way to get to Orlando tomorrow thru the more traditional means of transportation -- that is planes, trains, and automobiles!!

My comments - so with a lot of luck and good weather we made it 2 days earlier than planned - i had my first visitors today (tuesday) from Maryland Yacht Club - PC(twice) Rick Stevens and First Lady(twice) Sandy Stevens - what a wonderful surprise and pleasure to see them. Maybe, it is time to establish the florida east coast version of MYC - i will think about it - any comments!!!!???? (please I am not competing with the florida west coast version). I will now try to upload some pics including one of rick and sandy.

take care and have fun from me in florida - not sure when the next update will be--------

short note to say WE ARE HERE - beautiful stuart - 2days adhead of schedule and no hurricane IDA - so if has to rain okay - lisa was a big help from jacksonville to here - here are the names and titles of the people that help make the trip possible and many thanks to all of them

Helen Gebler - "Master - All Around Chief Crew"
Ira Gebler - "Master Driver" (no Ira - not bridge captain = lol)"
Lisa Rosenthal - "Master Navigator"

more later - maybe after clean up (today was a bit rough 3-4 footers so things flew around) and a good meal at WAHOO

It is saturday morning and here i am in bright sunny florida - jacksonville that is - palm cove marina. question - it used to be that when you traveled south on I95 and crossed into florida they had complimentary orange juice at the rest stop - not so on the water or did they cut it out (politically incorrect for an "oj") = (LOL). Again, the trip was beautifully calm except for about 1/2 hour after leaving jekyll island - got clobbered in the sound (4' plus from the ocean that i was taking on the bow quarter). Once i was able to take it as a following sea things were fine - you should have heard the vhf radio chatter about the 2nd mate having to put the inside of the boat back together. Got into the marina about 1 pm just in time to see the blue angels practice overhead for today's show - can't wait to see the real thing - they are supposed to fly right over the boat. I hope to leave early tomorrow and make new smyrna beach - if so, i will be one day ahead of schedule - it is possible that i could be in stuart by this tuesday - now i have to look at what IDA is doing and possibly some noreaster - this may affect my progress. I am going to try and download some pics for the recent 2 days - note the freighter coming up the savannah river over the marshland and the mega yacht thunderbolt marina - now those are yachts.

take care and have fun

OOOOPS - it is now about 10 pm and i forgot about my blog so here it is - sweet and short (well maybe more short than sweet). i left hilton head harbor marina at 7 am this morning and arrived at jekyll island marina about 2:30 pm - about 125 miles. when done i had to refuel etc (like pump-out). the trip was uneventful - i am passing the same boats - they must start earlier than me - i am a day ahead of schedule so i will spend an extra day in jacksonville (rest/post pictures/and clean this boat - a lot going on with me doing it all) - on today's trip and after seeing many different boats i spent a lot of time daydreaming of what is the ideal boat and have concluded = back to the drawing board or just continue daydreaming - their is no ideal but i have ideas!!!!!!!???? I hope to post some pics tomorrow that will include megayachts in thunderbolt marina and a cargo ship entering savannah river over the land???

that is it for now - sleep tight - take care and have fun

I don’t have a great internet connection here so I am first doing this in word and then will copy it to the blogsite (I hope). I am here at the Hilton head marina right on the icw (hope that the passer by boats will stop this evening – nice place but nothing here. Another great day on the icw – left Charleston at 8:30 am and arrived here at about 1:30 pm – refueled and I am done for today – well never done – cleanup/prepare for tomorrow and retied the dinghy (????) – if I can get an early start tomorrow I am going to try to make Jekyll – about 125 miles. If that works the rest of the trip should be easy – then again so far I have been real lucky with good weather. Okay – this is a request – the fish that I am seeing I believe are bullnose dolphins not porpoise (any comments) – in any case they are still not jumping my wake yet – maybe that is a Florida thing. Their were many man made cuts that connect one river to another or what ever. About noon today fighter jets were flying over – believe that they were from the marine corps air station at brickyard creek. I took a picture of a yacht/ship that I believe was from London – if I can upload it I will (it was pretty big)

Btw they should rename the “mega dock” at Charleston City marina to “thruster dock” – that was all that one hears when these yachts are pulling out.

That is it for now – take care and have fun

Here i am at the mega dock in charleston city marina - i am probably the smallest boat here. i was pleading with the marina to make sure their were sufficient dock hands (single handling the boat and strong currents). g-d and his buddies were shinning again - no problem - will see what happens tomorrow - i am wegded in between two biggies and i need to get turned around - the dock hands say no problem - this is one of those ray brunell dilemas - will see how it goes. got here about 1 pm after another uneventful trip (oh someone asked to follow me - now how is that for the blind leading the blind - but he new nothing) met a lot of folks and it is great - they are starting to remember me and as you would guess i don't remember them - they usually recognize the boat name because for the most part i am passing them, calling on the radio - so far no complaints. once in charleston i got a courtesy ride to the grocery for needed provisions (soda/cream and misc) - it was a harris teeter and was great. kurt - i got your comment and since you are the man, helping dave derby would be great (LOL). got a chance to wash the boat today and it needed it. the dinghy remains a problem - unless i am at plane or idle it fills with water from my stern wake -12 mph is terrible - it does drain but i do get a lot of comments about the bathtub on the platform - so if anyone has ideas i am listening (now i just opened the barn door). according to my itinerary, i am supposed to make hilton head tomorrow - that is about a 90 mile run with probably a lot of slow areas, so tonight i will do some homework and may get up early tomorrow (well let's say about 8 ish) - the gps is absolutely fantastic - don't know how we did it with paper charts - this is actually fun - i am using the maptech book and periodically i put a sticky near the marker that i am passing - all this has worked well - now that is my techie report for today (admittedly it is my low techie report).

take care and have fun

This was a short day (HA) - 60 miles seems to be good for me and is about what i originally planned on (maybe i will be able to do longer days - will see). At 8:45 left Myrtle Beach Yacht Club and luck would have it at the Little River Bridge SC, I got behind a boat to do the Rock Pile. This 5 mile stretch is full of submerged rock and snags along the way so it was nice to follow a 55 footer = uneventful but it is obvious that caution is the word . the next stretch is the waccamaw river, about 24 miles of a beautiful curving river - it was real neat when i could open the boat up to about 25 mph and watch the scenery melt by. Today was cold and dreary - in fact i don't think that it got to 60 degrees and that is cold up on the bridge doing 25 mph. During much of the trip, i was constantly looking for floating logs and debris - saw plenty but didn't hit any and that is good. I arrived in Georgetown sc about 1 pm, refueled and was docked by about 2 pm. I am now going to check out the mechanics, clean up, rest for today, and tomorrow i am on to charleston sc.

take care and have fun

Hi Folks - i am here in north myrtle beach at the mrytle beach yacht club - good facilities and pricing -for me this is becoming a lot of work - it is 8:30 p.m. and i am just starting this - then i have to plan tomorrow's run to charleston sc (i hope). I have been very lucky with the weather and have been able to make good time. I left harbor village marina (just below the surf city bridge nc) at 8:30 this morning (thanks for the extra daylight savings time hour). the day was uneventful and the transit was calm. the interesting part was timing your arrival at various bridges so you didn't have to wait an hour for the next opening. this time i made it to all in time w/o the delay. More porpoise but not many and they just dove under the boat - no wake jumping like i saw a few years ago - hopefully that will change as i get further south. just south of snows cut i had to run around the dredging ops but at least they are trying to do something - at holden nc their were many shrimp boats - i think that i could have pulled in and gotten some real buys (no room on the boat). the pics are in reverse order (the top being the end of the day entering myrtle beach yacht club = busy entrance) - i am done for tonight so take care and have fun - please will someone show dave derby how to get on my blogsite (LOL).

jim

Pictures Through Dismal Swamp

today's departure was at 8:30 a.m. from river dunes near oriental nc - what a beautiful place. traveled the neuse river and entered adams creek at 9:15 - the trip was absolutely flat - experienced a lot of passing situations where you ask permission to pass the slower boat (usually a trawler or sailboat) - the channels are narrow (usually 50-100 feet wide and in some places the land on both sides is not much more - at about 11:30 i started passing through Moorehead city - from then on, i periodically saw porpoise frolicking but they didn't follow the boat yet - again many boats to pass and now many folks out fishing in the channel - passed through 2 swing bidges that i had to wait to open - onlsow brigde was about 30 minute wait and surf city bridge was about 50 minute wait (just missed an opening) - so at about 4:30 i decided to call it a day (just below surf city bridge) and went into harbor village marina for fuel and an overnight stay. i have covered about 460 miles so far and thankful that it is very uneventful but interesting and beautiful - being on these waters traveling south is not like being in a car on 95 - for the most part the water is turning to a nice green (not chesapeake whatever) - tomorrow i hope to be somewhere in sc (not far now) - it is getting warmer - i will try to upload some pics from the last couple of days (none today - to busy)

10/30 Good morning world! It's a beautiful sunrise and we're off again at 7:15AM. It's a chilly morning and I have heat at my feet with a little space heater, all the comforts of home. We saw part of the Yankees game at a bar last night. There was no electrical hook-up at the dock and the generator was bothering another boat. We left at the bottom of the 7th - score was 3 to1 -man on first and second with one out. Phillies changed pitchers - to long to wait so we left. Hope the Yankees won.
Now, back to boating. We've left Elizabeth City through Pasquotank River and now we're in the Albamarle Sound. We've got some chop of 1 to 2 feet but the boat is doing well. Waves are escalating, but it's a gentle roll. We can see the Alligator River Bridge in the distance. We're dodging crab pots and sighting buoys easily. We radio the bridge for it to open. It's a swing bridge welcoming us to the Allegator River. The water depth is 13 to 14 feet so we need to be aware. There's a fleet of sailboats also heading south. Dolphin sighting across our bow! It surely perks us up! Wow!
Now, we have entered the Alligator Pungo River Canal. It's narrow, long and with lots of tree debris along the sides. As we pass other boats in this canal, there's a definite process. We slow down not to cause a wake and radio the boat we are overtaking for permission. After passing them, they acknowledge us and thank us for passing slowly and we resume speed.
We're out of the Canal and entering the Pungo River. Buoys are reversed, red on the port, green to starboard. The river is quite wide, but still has low depths 10 to 14 feet. I just catered a lovely lunch and as I made my way to up to the bridge, it tipped and spread lunch all over the cockpit. Now, lunch is whatever is left in the frig.
1:00 We're in another narrow area, where we are, who knows! But, it is lovely! The sun is shining, water is calm and all's right with the world. It has now opened up to the Pamlico Sound leading us to Neuse River. Last, we're heading into Broad Creek at the River Dunes Marina for the night. We have a complimentary car to food shop and have dinner in Oriental at the Silos. The marina is lovely, Meredith is so helpful and their steam showers are the best! Today, we traveled 130 miles. Tomorrow, will be another traveling day!

10/29 Rise and shine, but it's mostly overcast. We are being served coffee and danish at Robert, the lock-master's office while we wait for him to open and close the lock for the next set of boats to come through. Then he will open the Deep Creek Bridge for all the boats to continue on through the swamp. He's a gem in the swamp! At 9:30, we've become a caravan of 10 boats traveling one behind the other at about 5 to 6 mph.
It 's a no wake zone. We're paced just right to reach the next lock at 1:30PM. The swamp is beautiful and tranquil. We're approaching the lock at 1:20. It's time to go to work! I'm on the bow and I've lasoed the post at the first try and tied it off. Ira's at the stern and ties it off easily. In a half hour, we drop 8 feet, loosen our lines gradually, the gates open and we're ready to continue through the swamp. I'm perched on the bow as we go, the scenery is beautiful with many winding turns. We're watching for dead-heads which are huge tree roots resurfacing. Submerged tree trunks are also a hazard. The wind is kicking up and the temperature is dropping. Soon, it will widen so we may increase our speed to reach our destination. We are through the swamp.
At 4:30, the Elizabeth City Bridge opens, we go through and tie up at Mariner's Wharf for the night. The town welcomes boat travelers with wine and cheese for a meet and greet. We have a nice dinner at Groupers Waterfront with Jim and Peg Healy who have been cruising and living aboard for 5 years. It's been a day full of various sights and sounds.
Tune in tomorrow!

10/28
12:00-Ira joined our crew today.
1:00-We fueled up at the Ocean Marine. A nice young man at the dock is flying to Florida next week in hopes of becoming part of a crew. He's passed all his tests. Anyone out there in need!
We can see old Navy ships, W.W. II types as we go.
2:00-We're having trouble with the dinghy. It's on the swim platform and taking in water from the side. The plug is out for drainage but we're idling to the bridge and haven't been able t0 open it up yet. Poor Ira. He loves speed! The Gilmerton Bridge is opening as all the boats are lined up to go through from tugs to sleek yachts to sailboats to us. Now, we've entered the Dismal Swamp area. With a speed limit of 6 mph and Ira at the helm, he's quite disappointed with the speed. It is amazingly scenic and densely lined with lovely fall hues on either side of the 50 foot expanse of water. It's forever winding from side to side with small outboard boats fishing as we go. Now, we are surprised to see homes built beside the water with private boat docks. We need to stay in the middle of the channel with the green markers to the port. Ira just passed the green marker on the starboard by mistake. The water was low but we are fine.
From the Gilmerton Bridge, we travel 6miles to the first lock and arrive at 2:50. As a courtesy, Robert opens it at 3:10 rather than 3:30. We are tied up, waiting for another boat to come and our friends, Mary and Paul with their sailboat to catch the open lock. The process takes an hour. We've been invited to meet Robert for coffee and donuts at 8:30 before he opens the Deep Creek Bridge at 9:00 so we may continue our trip. Now, we are tied up to Elizabeth's dock in the Dismal Swamp for the night.

Evening Update

We are here at Waterside Marina in Norfolk VA. My former boss/his wife/and their daughter meet us for a lovely afternoon with some food at a local restaurant (HOOTERS). The Dolan family arrived this afternoon and things seem to be back on track for them. We plan to leave with them tomorrow and travel together at least through the Dismal Swamp. I have met a number of folks traveling south including a person going to the same place as me. Believe it or not, we met the folks from the sailing vessel Mirasol who are also going south - Kevin and Andrea, can you believe what a small world. All is well - we are having some on and off rain but such is life on the water.

Until next time - take care and have fun

First Two Days

More First Two Days

10/26/09

We've begun our second day at 7:45 AM. Beautiful sunrise! We see sail and power boats, some traveling south. It's rough and we're not out to the bay yet. We've cut our speed to 12 mph from 22. It's a comfortable speed for the conditions. Now our speed is 23 and we're on auto-pilot. It is rough and we're at 18. Jim's had 2 bathroom breaks and I've been at the wheel. Luckily, all has been fine.
At 9:50 AM, we passed where the Chesapeake Bay meets the mouth of the Potomic River. It's 8 to 10 miles wide. There is little out here now. We're passing Smith Point Light. It looked like a ship from a distance.
10:27 - I really just saw the Little Engine that Could. It was pushing a barge in the middle of the Bay.
11:00 - Another barge or 2 or 3 are being pushed by tugs. Those little engines really get around!
12:00 - We have 25 miles to go to Norfolk. Waves and wind are kicking up. Jimmy's taken over the wheel and I need the bathroom. He's done most of the piloting.
I stopped writing the rest of the trip so I could hang on to my seat. When we entered the Intracoastal waterway, it became calmer. We passed the Navy Base with many ships. We had to stay 100 yards from all ships and the base.
At about 1:45, we docked at Waterside in Norfolk. It was a 6 hour trip and we made very good time, especially with the conditions. Many of the shops are gone. There are a few restaurants. Tomorrow, with rain forcasted, we'll visit with Jimmy's friends the Zimmermanns and Ira will meet us here on Wednesday to continue the trip.

10/25/09

The first day is done and my sister will post much more detail later. Briefly we left Maryland Yacht Club at 10 a.m and arrived in Solomons Island (spring cove marina) at 1:20 p.m. The trip was a breeze and the weather was beautiful. Anybody want to comment on an item - a lot of water came into the dinghy and didn't drain out - i had the plug out the entire time - after we tied up, i fiddled with the drain on the inside of the dinghy and it appeared to drain out - maybe it was clogged - any other thoughts. Tomorrow we hope to leave early and head for deltalville va and if the weather is good maybe we will try for norfolk va. will see - take care and have fun.

HELEN's Report - It's the evening of the 25th as I recount the day. We're off! We formally left at 10:00 from the MYC, sun shining, few stratus clouds stretching across the horizon, temperature about 60 degrees, intense fall colors and ripples of water inviting us south.
As we proceed, we see sailboats leaning gracefully as they tack into the wind, ships traveling north or south toward their destinations, motor boats of various sizes fishing for the sport or their dinner. After we travel under the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, we align our boat with the shipping lane, racing and beating the huge ships. Our little engines really could. Remember, I'm the kindergarten teacher!
To our west is Annapolis where streamline sailboats cover the skyline. Jim brings attention to a sub traveling south with tugs pushing it. A group of about 25 sailboats are racing east of us. The sailboats surely outnumber the power boats in this area.
At 11:00, we pass Thomas Point Lighthouse that helps to keep ships away from the western shores. As we head south now, there are fewer boats. Our boat is on auto-pilot. Lunch was catered by me and I'm not seasick from being in the cabin!
At 12:00, we see Sharps Island Light to the east. Solomons Island is 20 miles away. We're in the middle of the bay and all of a sudden we see crab pots sneak up upon us. We do need to always be watching!
It's 12:20 and we spot Calvert's Nuclear Power Plant and later, the LNG drop off for ships to unload their liquified natural gas.
It's 1:00 and we've traveled 65 miles and we're turning west to Solomons Island. A few other boats have the same plans.
Lovely homes line the western side with a backdrop of crisp fall colors uniting the view. We docked at Spring Cove Marina at 2:00.
I did some walking, saw the Calvert Marine Museum and the Drum Point Light House. We had dinner at the Naughty Gull restaurant and it was okay. Back on the boat while i am doing this post jimmie has assumed the correct position for snoring and is happily carrying out that endeavour.

Jim is back - nap is done, now it is time to get ready for Mondays trip - see yah all next time - take care and have fun

INITIAL SETUP

Hello to all - this is my intial effort to set up a blog of my travels on my boat - i am not a computer person, so it maybe rough - anyhow it is 10/14/09 and i am 11 days from my departure (currently planned for 10/25/09, weather permitting) - so you might ask where am i going - the answer is: i am taking my boat to florida for the winter and will return next spring - i am hoping to keep some kind of log through this site but time will tell how good i really do this.

until next time TAKE CARE AND HAVE FUN