Wednesday, May 7, 2008

We have crossed our Wake!




Tonight we are in Liberty Landing, Jersey City. If I look to our stern, I can see Lady Liberty and to our starboard is the Manhattan Skyline. This evening should be beautiful with all the lights and excitement. Ron, Gilligan and I would like to thank you for being a part of our journey and for all the support we've received along the way. It has been a trip of a lifetime and we are glad we did it and glad it's ended. Now to plant a flower and watch it grow! There was a ceramic plaque in our pilot house area. It reads: "Lord, keep your arm around my shouldner and your hand over my mouth." We give thanks and praise to our loving Father for his guidance and protection along the way. We look forward to where He will lead us next!

Dubhe III Crosses her wake!




THIS was a bonus believe us! At Cape May we met a wonderful couple from Ottowa, Canada aboard the Janbarre III. There were about five boats land locked due to inclement weather. We had gone out to dinner a few times together and we traveled to the next two marina's with Janbarre. As it worked out, we were both going to Liberty Landing Marina in Manhattan at the end of this days journey and we crossed our wake (completed the Loop) at the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. Because they were traveling along side, they were gracious enough to take these shots. We will treasure the gift!

WE'RE ALMOST THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




Monday, May 5, 2008

Morning Star

Another bed and breakfast. As you can see we are still in Cape May. This morning we were completely disconnected, lines singled back, and good to go when fog began to settle in. On the ocean, 1/4 mile visibility which wasn't the problem. The real problem is the wind took a turn and was now NE to become East this afternoon. That's over the water folks, and not a nice ride. We rode to the ocean on our bikes this afternoon and thankfully it was every bit as nasty as we all thought it would be. This way we weren't kicking ourselves for not going "anyway!" Tomorrow morning is supposed to be SW and all of the boats who have been stuck here for five days, plan on leaving around 6 and hopefully making it to the Manasquan Inlet tomorrow evening. Keep your fingers crossed! This is a very nice place, but we are tired of being here at this point and want to get on and done with the trip! It's time to go home folks!!!!

Angel of the Sea


Just had to go back and get a picture of this beautiful bed and breakfast. The second half was undergoing renovations as you can see, but it was such a pretty place, I had to get a picture.

Hummmmmmmer




Yes, they say it's a hummer and is used for brush fires. Not very effective we are told as the unit was not really designed to carry the amount of water they carry. I thought this would be great fun for our guys back home, but the people we spoke to said it's not at all what they would have chosen. I just thought it was a great looking apparatus and thought you firefighters back home would enjoy it too.

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Cape May, New Jersey




Yesterday we walked along the beach. We are still held by weather at Utsch Marina -- a great place if you have to be stuck anywhere. Three of the boats held here for the past three days left this morning and radioed back their impression of sea conditions. Four of us decided to give it another day to lay down and the sea conditions for tomorrow (Monday) are far more favorable. This was a little sand shark we saw one of the anglers bring in. It gave quite a nice fight and he showed it to his children and gentle released it back into the ocean. Gilligan's take on the sand shark -- don't ask!

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Cape May Canal


We were grateful to see this part of the journey today. The Delaware Bay had a 3-4 foot chop. It was unpleasant but not a bad transit. We hope to have two more days along the New Jersey ICW. Then out the Manasquan Inlet to the Verrazano Narrows Bridge where our loop officially closes! We had planned on going up the East River AGAIN and through Hell's Gate to head out to Connecticut but that has changed at this point due to our former marina not having any room at this point in the beginning of the boating season. Therefore, we plan to reverse course once we've closed the loop and head back home where a berth awaits us. We will then drive back to CT to gather all the "stuff" and bring it home! Our daughter and son-in-law are helping in the moving process. We are grateful for the helping hands. Neither of us can believe it is almost completed. Some days it felt like an eternity and other days it felt like we'd just begun. I'll be posting a few entries along the way and you can bet you'll see the Verrazano!!!!

Ship John Shoel Light and Frost Ledge Light




St. Georges East and West Bridges


We entered the Delaware Bay today and headed south to Cape May! South again?? Come on Ronald! Go North, Go North! We're so close now! But of course you must go south on the Delaware Bay where we pick up the intercoastal again in Cape May, NJ

Behold, a car carried Ron tells me.




Rock Hall Landing


We were in Rock Hall Landing for what we'd hoped would be a two day stay. We came in last Saturday and was to see our son and his family on Sunday, which we did. However, the weather picture did not look good for departure on Monday or Tuesday so we remained at Rock Hall and enjoyed every bit of the town, the friendly people and the great restaurants.

It's a visiting bird!


Ahh, no no no no no I'm not going to risk getting in trouble with you Audubon folks! It's a bird. What kind of bird? Well, you can tell us. It came "a visitin" and I took it's picture for you! Enjoy!

Monday, April 28, 2008

Grandeur of the Seas


This passenger ship was piloted by a very strong will woman. We particularly enjoyed her radio coms all the way out of the Chesapeake. Reminded me a little of Chief Smith in her approach and I had a great deal of respect for her and her abilities. Ron was impressed with the way in which she maneuvered among those fishing boats and a few times she had to request larger vessels to share a bit more of the channel.

Other interesting challenges




Sailboats in the area were too many to count! And the fisherman??? These little floats for trolling were on every boat. They might span 50 feet from the stern or span out 500 feet AND they will cut right across the bow and then remove their hats and begin a fisherman's dance as they wave you away from their precious lines! Well, ahh, why put them in front of us in the first place! And of course we were avoided all lines but not without a great deal of maneuverability! Is the world not big enough for all peoples to coexist? Hummm.

LNG Docks


This one is for Steve! Leaving Solomon Islands this morning we passed by the LNG docks (Liquid Natural Gas ) at Cove Point by Camp Conoy. Quite an interesting process Ron was telling me and Steve used to captain these vessels. Steve, we were thinking about you.

O yea, this was interesting!




Coming through Norfolk was an adventure! People must maintain a 500 yard security zone around any government vessel. Ahh, not Ron! He and a warship which was exiting its berth ran parallel into the same channel. Ron hailed the warship and stated he did not wish to breach the security limit. The warship said he saw us and all was well. The helicopter went into immediate action as we got closer to that ship and Jean did not think any of this was amusing. Ron? He laughed! Ahhh, we're on a small boat and this has been a long trip and neither of us has gone overboard YET -- we should write a book!

The Savanah


Ron tells me this is the first nuclear powered merchant ship. Notice the symbol on the starboard side of the ship?

We blended in with the snowbirders




This, we were told, was the beginning phases of the snow bird migration! We finally caught up to all the boats who do this coastal run twice a year and felt like a group of newborn chicks as we all negotiated around very large tankers, cargo ships, and warships. Together we were a small speck among these giants!

Exiting the Dismal Swamp into ... WHAT?




From miles and miles of quiet, peaceful wooded swamp areas, we came out into Norfolk. Entering the Elizabeth River, VA cut this is a 65 foot bascule bridge. Remember when you were a kid and saw a very large footprint along a wooded area and wondered: What must THAT footprint belong to and how big is it? Well, this is a 65 foot bascule bridge. And that opens for WHAT?

Interesting Information


Exiting the Dismal Swamp, this informational board we found amusing. Key West 1239 miles! Realizing we'd been there a few months back and that this was only a small part of the 5000 miles of the Loop. It has been a little less than a year and if all goes well, we hope to cross our wake next week at Hell's Gate, Manhattan. We not longer plan on returning to Milford however. Once we cross our wake, we'll head for home.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Our Chaperones


Believe it or not, these two geese stayed with us for about half of the Dismal Swamp. They would fly a short distance in front of the boat, land and wait for us to catch up. No sooner did we near their area and they would take to flight again, but never once did they swim to the side, or take off completely. It got to be funny actually. Especially when transiting this LONG LONG 22 Miles!!

Cleaning up the Swamp




We did see signs of caring along the way. This is some of the debris taken from the canal. We are grateful to the Army Corp of Engineers.

Do ya' wonder what THIS is?




The picture on the left is the prop wash while going through the Dismal Swamp and the picture to the right is foam that accumulates by the lock by-pass. We asked the lock master about these things expecting him to say it was so utterly polluted they would never have an opportunity to correct it. To the contrary, this is what he told us (and I haven't looked it up on the Internet to validate this information yet so we pass along just what he said). The water supply, he said, comes from Artisian wells which emanate from the Virginia Mts. and takes somewhere between 4 to 5 years before it gets to the Dismal Swamp. It's the cleanest water on earth, potable and almost made it to the moon by NASA. The foam is tanic acid from the peat moss bogs which are thousands of acres. It cannot grow bacteria and you could leave it in a barrel for years and what hadn't evaporated could still be usable for drinking. He'd been operating the lock for 14 years and is soon to begin a barge business where people can experience the Dismal Swamp without risk to their personal boats. Anyone want to venture a guess as to whether or not we attempted to grab a glass and test out his theory? I think NOT!

Two locks on the Dismal Swamp


Two locks stand sentry on the Dismal Swamp. First the South Mills Lock brings you up 8' and then the Deep Creek Lock brings you back down again. After, that long long trek of straight path!! Where you've chosen to risk your prop at every turn! And just as I was sure this was a crazy waste of time ... we spoke to the Deep Creek Lock Master. See the next picture.

More of the Dismal Swamp




This straigth path ran for apporx. 22 miles. Twenty Two LONG LONG Miles! I mean LONGGG Miles! At approximately 7 mph folks! (Their ruling, not ours) Long Miles :-)

The Dismal Swamp, NC




This is some of the places we went through in the Dismal Swamp. The "dead heads" were prevalent and we felt a hefty "thud" twice. Never a pleasant sound or feeling. Yes, we've decided to have a short haul when we return to the Boat Works about May 3.

Floating on the water




This beautiful creature was floating on the water and couldn't seem to fly out. So the boat hook helped a little, and he flew right back in! Again we got him out and placed him on the stairway leading to the docks. He sat for about 40 minutes and flew away:-))) Isn't it beautiful?

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Our exercise track


Lamb's marina is located on one of the major county highways. There are no sidewalks and these railroad tracks have become our main exercise track in between the cloudbursts. Still today, more thunderstorms and rain predicted. We are pretty well stuck in this location until the weather clears. We've found railroad spikes and s-hooks that attach the steel plate with each tie and I keep picking them up suggesting we send them to Tony but Ron says he has a ton of this stuff, he's sure.

Dr. Ron administers first aid




Never underestimate the way in which you can use a bungee cord! It worked great, until I couldn't feel my toes anymore! Back in February, we did a 4 1/2 mile bike trip to a local Lowes hardware store to check out various appliance manufacturers. We had a very strong wind with us on the way down. Coming back it was brutal and it literally stopped forward progress twice. We thought of calling some friends who had cars at the marina, but then decided we could push through. Well, the ole' Achilles Tendon hasn't been the same since. I saw our doctor when we were home for Easter and he recommended an MRI. The scheduling did not work out and when we come ashore, that may have to be a priority. In the meantime, after a walk, ice helps (when it isn't being constricted with a bungee cord, that is) :-)))

Tigers working for tigers




In a quiet little shopping area when we visited my cousin in Myrtle Beach, SC, we came across these playful little critters. I only had my cell phone with me, sorry about the pictures. They are on display to bring attention to the endangered species of tigers and they raise money by offering the pictures taken with the animal if one should desire to do so. My cousin made the mistake of telling me they were in the shopping area while we were waiting to get a table at one of the local restaurants. Ron tried to take it back ... quickly ... and how long do you think they sat at the acquired table before his wife returned?