Hi,
I'm the (step) son-in-law, Ben. This is the story of the journey home - The Guy's Trip:
When “The Dudes" and I met Uncorked in Toronto she was happy to learn that all of her female passengers had departed. This was the last leg of her voyage and she knew that only the bravest of brave would steer her home across the wilds of the North American Great Lakes. At her helm was Captain Vertin (as usual) with the tiller in one hand and a bottle of Grand Marnier in the other. On her bow was Tommy, a mildly overweight yet capable first mate (note: by birthright). On her stern was Dickey, prematurely balding, but no less knowledgeable by second mate standards. In the galley was the cook/ (step) son-in-law; a bit short in stature but mildly good looking and a whiz with freezer-burned shrimp and granulated garlic.
Day/Night 1: As I noted, the adventure began in Toronto. Labatt 50 was the beer of taste that evening as the crew eagerly devoured their steaks seasoned with only the finest green-colored salts mined from wild Canadian volcanoes (seriously). Bored with taunting waitresses, crashing weddings (don’t ask), and unsuccessful duck hunting from Uncorked’s swim platform (with breadcrumbs and a fish gaff), they decided to hit the rack early. A big day was to follow: Two countries and 320 vertical feet of Wellington Canal Locks were ahead.
Day 2/Night 2: Day two started early, the crew was startled by the rumbling of Uncorked’s diesels at O-seven-hundred. They all knew Captain Vertin was awake……and hung-over. A brisk run across Lake Ontario brought them to the foot of the day’s endeavor. Curiously, myth and legend told that the Wellington Locks could be traversed in no less than 8 to 10 hours. After a warm up bloody mary, Uncorked made quick work of those ramparts in less than 6 hours without a scuff on her rub rail (ok, a little one - stern lines should not be manned by a cook). Erie, PA was the port of call. “Yard Bird” and euchre were on the menu.
Day 3/Night 3: Uncorked was spared overnight as tornadoes tossed the great lakes states, but she sustained 30 knot winds while heavy rains strained her lines. The crew slept somewhat soundly only to wake and realize that the daytime goal of reaching Mecca (Put-In-Bay, OH) was looking unlikely. After a hot breakfast served by twin waitresses and jell-coat scuff by a couple of drunk teens on a wind-strewn 84 Wellcraft, Captain Vertin elected to try his luck on the 6-10 foot seas. Uncorked is a large vessel, no doubt, but she was built for the warm water of the inland FL Keys, not the tempestuous chill of eastern Lake Erie after twelve hours of NW 30 knot winds. The freefalls sheered bolts, split refrigerator racks, and after only 40 minutes the Uncorked crew was disheveled by their predicament…………and then there was vomit…………lots of vomit.
Pulling the rip cord, Captain Vertin plotted a course. Ashtabula, OH was the savior……three hours and forty miles after leaving Erie, PA. Affectionately called “The Armpit of Lake Erie,” ancient, rusted and mostly vacant, Ashtabula proved to be nothing less.
Day 4: The crew awoke again to the rumbling of the Uncorked diesels. Captain Vertin was pumped for the journey home. A brisk 20 knot pace and 2-3 foot seas brought Uncorked to Put-In-Bay by 11:00am where rum runners and pizza entertained their weary souls. After a few cocktails, topless sunbathing, some fuel and a much needed pump-out, the voyagers were on their way. As they passed by Middle Sister Island and up the shoots of the southern Detroit river, the sulfur of the foundries caressed their nostrils (the holding tank was now clean, so by process of elimination……). The home waters of Lake Saint Clair were sweet and a welcomed reward after traversing Lake Ontario, The Wellington Canal and Lake Erie (lengthwise) without a functioning GPS.
The Old Club, Harsens Island, MI – Home Port: The boat well was shallow and the crew half-drunk (mostly drunk), but Uncorked managed to find her way home. As the journey came to and end the captain adopted the second mate into his family as “his new son”, the first mate drove home as he was the closest to sober, and the cook, overjoyed, relished in the fact that for a fleeting five minutes he was allowed to drive (chaperoned) the 50 ft private yacht…Uncorked.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Locked and Loaded
31 locks in 4 days! We are celebrating our accomplishment with Veuve Cliquot that we put on ice the day we left and we may have had just a little too much of the bubbly.
We got back to the boat late Friday (28th) with our friends Dave and Lynn Lozon. Saturday we ran around stocking the boat with all the necessary items like old fenders and lines, boat hooks, work gloves, food, and vodka and although it was mid afternoon when we finished, we still set out for the Troy Lock,the first on the NY Canal System. We headed into the lock with a plan that quickly came unraveled; it really just became "somebody get a line around a cable and hold on" Of course we did all manage to hold the boat steady against the lock wall but we made it much harder on ourselves than we needed to. We decided that 1 lock was enough for today and put in for the night.
Sunday we were blessed with fabulous, sunny weather and knocked off a dozen more locks. After the 4th one we got a little cocky and thought we had a great process but then lock 6 threw us for a loop when nothing was set up as in the previous 5. All hands on deck! New Process! We learned to be flexible any way. It was one really long day but we managed to find an empty spot on a concrete wall in Canajoharie at about 7 p.m.(no shore power) so we tied up, ate shrimp cocktail for dinner and called it a night.
Monday was another beautiful day so we decided to try for Lake Oneida. All of the guidebooks warned that a 10 mph speed limit is strictly enforced through the canals but we met a local who said this was bunk so...techie Lynn said "Google it" We did and found that the local guy was right. The speed limit was 30mph through the part we ran yesterday - today's run is where it drops to 10. CRAP. Unfortunately the locks were father apart and seemed to take a lot longer to get through today even though we had perfected our technique: ) Dave was feeling the work of the previous day in his lower back so he asked Lynn to get him a couple of Aleves. Evidently he combined all of his pills into one bottle and Aleve and his sleeping pills look extremely similar. Our "Ship's Nurse" delivered the wrong meds and it took us the better part of the day to figure out why Dave was so groggy and quiet. We demoted him from "bow line tend-er" to the stern, figuring it was less distance to fall should he doze off midway through a lock.
We did finally make it to Lake Oneida and pulled up to the port just as a downpour broke the heat spell. We got soaked but had shore power, which translates to air conditioning at night without the sound of a generator to keep you awake.
Tuesday we treated ourselves to breakfast at a dive and got a late start on the water. We still managed to get through the rest of the locks and put in by 6 for our celebration. We laughed over the fact that Lynn warned us before agreeing to come, "I'll go but I'm not good crew - I'll watch Scrappy but I don't want to do lines or anything". Lynn ended up having the role of picking up the slack and trust me, there was always slack. Waiting on the Captain, grabbing the center line on the lock wall when the aft or bow line was missed by Dave or I, running up to the bridge to get a line that was too short to reach from the transom, running boat hooks to Dave and I, communicating Captain's commands out the side door to us (and often times softening the message to keep our morale up). The only thing she didn't have to do was watch Scrappy because he basically laid in the sun and wanted no part of our folly.
Tomorrow we head West on Lake Ontario to Rochester then Thursday it's off to Toronto for some culture!!!
We got back to the boat late Friday (28th) with our friends Dave and Lynn Lozon. Saturday we ran around stocking the boat with all the necessary items like old fenders and lines, boat hooks, work gloves, food, and vodka and although it was mid afternoon when we finished, we still set out for the Troy Lock,the first on the NY Canal System. We headed into the lock with a plan that quickly came unraveled; it really just became "somebody get a line around a cable and hold on" Of course we did all manage to hold the boat steady against the lock wall but we made it much harder on ourselves than we needed to. We decided that 1 lock was enough for today and put in for the night.
Sunday we were blessed with fabulous, sunny weather and knocked off a dozen more locks. After the 4th one we got a little cocky and thought we had a great process but then lock 6 threw us for a loop when nothing was set up as in the previous 5. All hands on deck! New Process! We learned to be flexible any way. It was one really long day but we managed to find an empty spot on a concrete wall in Canajoharie at about 7 p.m.(no shore power) so we tied up, ate shrimp cocktail for dinner and called it a night.
Monday was another beautiful day so we decided to try for Lake Oneida. All of the guidebooks warned that a 10 mph speed limit is strictly enforced through the canals but we met a local who said this was bunk so...techie Lynn said "Google it" We did and found that the local guy was right. The speed limit was 30mph through the part we ran yesterday - today's run is where it drops to 10. CRAP. Unfortunately the locks were father apart and seemed to take a lot longer to get through today even though we had perfected our technique: ) Dave was feeling the work of the previous day in his lower back so he asked Lynn to get him a couple of Aleves. Evidently he combined all of his pills into one bottle and Aleve and his sleeping pills look extremely similar. Our "Ship's Nurse" delivered the wrong meds and it took us the better part of the day to figure out why Dave was so groggy and quiet. We demoted him from "bow line tend-er" to the stern, figuring it was less distance to fall should he doze off midway through a lock.
We did finally make it to Lake Oneida and pulled up to the port just as a downpour broke the heat spell. We got soaked but had shore power, which translates to air conditioning at night without the sound of a generator to keep you awake.
Tuesday we treated ourselves to breakfast at a dive and got a late start on the water. We still managed to get through the rest of the locks and put in by 6 for our celebration. We laughed over the fact that Lynn warned us before agreeing to come, "I'll go but I'm not good crew - I'll watch Scrappy but I don't want to do lines or anything". Lynn ended up having the role of picking up the slack and trust me, there was always slack. Waiting on the Captain, grabbing the center line on the lock wall when the aft or bow line was missed by Dave or I, running up to the bridge to get a line that was too short to reach from the transom, running boat hooks to Dave and I, communicating Captain's commands out the side door to us (and often times softening the message to keep our morale up). The only thing she didn't have to do was watch Scrappy because he basically laid in the sun and wanted no part of our folly.
Tomorrow we head West on Lake Ontario to Rochester then Thursday it's off to Toronto for some culture!!!
Sunday, May 9, 2010
I Heart NY!
I completely understand the pride and infatuation that New Yorkers have with their home state. The New York I always thought of was Manahattan, Times Square, Wall Street, and Broadway, all of which were fine for a weekend but I could never see the allure of living in the busy, smelly, pushy city that never sleeps. But running the boat down The Hudson brought it all into perspective. I have never seen such beautiful boating. Not even Georgian Bay, which is some of the finest display of nature I have ever witnessed. What makes The Hudson special is the combination of nature and architecture. As you are awed by the beauty of lush green against the backdrop of black mountain rock, you round the bend and are faced with the massive Westpoint Academy. And then there is the train that runs along the river...that was really neat to see. Up in the hills are some of the most splendid homes - both modern and gilded age architecture. Just a fabulous run. I'm so glad we did it. Now I get why people summer in the Catskills.
I insisted that we stop in a little town called Saugerties because I had cooked up a big surprise for Tom. About two years ago while in Miami we saw these magnificent binoculars from WWII warships that had been polished and mounted on large aluminum stands. We thought one would be great for freighter viewing off of our balcony but decided to "think about it" and of course never went back to the antique show and bought one. Tom has said several times since that he regrets it so I tracked down the vendor and lo and behold, his workshop is in Saugerties, right on the Hudson. I knew we'd be passing by and thought what a great surprise outing it would be. Guess what Tom is got for his birthday this year. I am traveling with a very Happy Cappy again!!
Saugerties is as small town as small town gets. Really quaint and the people are so accomodating - not at all the classic New Yorkers. The marina was tiny so they had us tie up at the fuel dock for the night. As soon as we docked this undersized and unremarkable golden retriever jumped from the dock to our swim platform, proceeded to the aftdeck and promptly squatted on Scrappy's little pee grass (fake grass) that we keep on the boat for emergency pees while running. She then turned and jumped back onto the dock and was Scrappy ever ticked about the whole thing. It happened so fast that by the time he got out to defend his property she was gone. That dog was every bit a typical "New Yorker".
We are parked in Albany and after two weeks of unbelievably perfect boating weather, all "hail" broke loose. It has been like winter here. Still we washed all traces of saltwater off Uncorked and told her she is on track to a better "freshwater" life with us in Michigan. We are heading home Tuesday and then we'll return in a few weeks to work our way through those dreaded locks. (Well, I dread them because I'm crew. Captain Tom is excited about the whole journey) That will be the final leg of my blog. Look for an entry around May 29th.
I insisted that we stop in a little town called Saugerties because I had cooked up a big surprise for Tom. About two years ago while in Miami we saw these magnificent binoculars from WWII warships that had been polished and mounted on large aluminum stands. We thought one would be great for freighter viewing off of our balcony but decided to "think about it" and of course never went back to the antique show and bought one. Tom has said several times since that he regrets it so I tracked down the vendor and lo and behold, his workshop is in Saugerties, right on the Hudson. I knew we'd be passing by and thought what a great surprise outing it would be. Guess what Tom is got for his birthday this year. I am traveling with a very Happy Cappy again!!
Saugerties is as small town as small town gets. Really quaint and the people are so accomodating - not at all the classic New Yorkers. The marina was tiny so they had us tie up at the fuel dock for the night. As soon as we docked this undersized and unremarkable golden retriever jumped from the dock to our swim platform, proceeded to the aftdeck and promptly squatted on Scrappy's little pee grass (fake grass) that we keep on the boat for emergency pees while running. She then turned and jumped back onto the dock and was Scrappy ever ticked about the whole thing. It happened so fast that by the time he got out to defend his property she was gone. That dog was every bit a typical "New Yorker".
We are parked in Albany and after two weeks of unbelievably perfect boating weather, all "hail" broke loose. It has been like winter here. Still we washed all traces of saltwater off Uncorked and told her she is on track to a better "freshwater" life with us in Michigan. We are heading home Tuesday and then we'll return in a few weeks to work our way through those dreaded locks. (Well, I dread them because I'm crew. Captain Tom is excited about the whole journey) That will be the final leg of my blog. Look for an entry around May 29th.
Friday, May 7, 2010
NY is in sight!
After the big Hatteras adrenaline rush we played it safe in the Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds and laid over at Portsmouth. We waited out the winds for two days and used the opportunity to get the props aligned. We also went to the historic movie theater in town and saw "Oceans", the new Disney movie. It was incredible. Hard to believe all that activity is going on underneath us as we run the Atlantic. From Portsmouth we had flat seas and ran to Virginia Beach and then up to Atlantic City for Cinco de Mayo, which we celebrated by making tacos on the boat. Not too impressed with Atlantic City. The weather was not cooperating but we just couldn't spend another night is this sorry substitute for Vegas so we ran inside and it was really a nice, fast and beautiful run alongside Long Beach Island, NJ and up through Barnegat Bay. We put in at Manasquan Inlet at a little town called Brielle where we met a fun couple and emptied a few bottles of wine together. The Weavers, Bonnie and Jack, are also retired and enjoy traveling so we had lots to talk about and shared stories about favorite destinations. We agreed that often what makes a place memorable is the people that we meet; we share laughs for a night and then often never see or hear from one another again but it's great to have these "encounters", which is the term that Jack used to describe these snap friendships.
Today you can look for us in The Hudson.
Today you can look for us in The Hudson.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Hats off to Hatteras!
What a rush getting here. We came via the Atlantic against the advice of the charts and guidebooks. We had a following sea all the way up the coast, which made for a pretty smooth ride so I rationalized, "these books advertise for businesses along the ICW and so naturally they encourage boaters to stay inside - this is fine" The waves started building about 10 miles out of Hatteras, which was still fine because they were big rollers that were just pushing us a little harder - good for fuel economy, right? Then we had to turn to head into the inlet. The following sea became a sideways sea and that got a little dicey but timing is everything and as we were coming in, so was the tide. It pulled those sideways waves and us into the inlet at a wild speed. It was a little like rapids. Would have been a lot more fun if finding markers wasn't so critical. None of them are shown on the charts as the channel is constantly changing and the markers get moved regularly. So as you come into the inlet it becomes a game of speed finding your way through the shoaling. Anyone watching would have cracked up; "Green, there's the Green!" "Red 2 o'clock - turn! turn!" "Another Red! And Green - over there!" "Scrappy stay!" "3 Greens!" "We're in"
We docked and went straight to the bar. Great ride but neither of us said, "Wanna go again?" We'll be running inside tomorrow - the guidebook recommends it.
We docked and went straight to the bar. Great ride but neither of us said, "Wanna go again?" We'll be running inside tomorrow - the guidebook recommends it.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
3 States in 3 Days!!
The weather has been kind to Uncorked. We've been able to run the Atlantic for three days with a gentle wind at our back. We spent Sunday & Monday in New Smyrna, FL (had to run up to Daytona and check on the house) but Tuesday we docked at Jeckyl Island, GA, Wednesday we tucked in at Charleston, and tonight we are in Wrightsville, NC. Long days but with flat seas, why not? I am so, so happy to have avoided the slow, no-wake nightmare of NC intercoastal. It's supposed to be pretty calm tomorrow so we are shooting for Cape Hatteras. NY by 5/10 is starting to feel like it could actually happen.
Lozons introduced me to audiobooks on the ipod so we have been entertaining ourselves for these 8 hour runs with Stephen Frey books. First, "The Chairman", and now the sequel, "The Protoge". Suspense novels set in the business finance arena - we love it. Could have done without the dramatic reading of the scene where the lead character is out boating and a storm comes out of nowhere almost capsizing his 150 footer. This chapter, of course, was read when we were out in the Atlantic with no land in sight. Lynn Lozon asked me a while back if I get nervous when I can't see land; well, I never used to but now that she asked...
Lozons introduced me to audiobooks on the ipod so we have been entertaining ourselves for these 8 hour runs with Stephen Frey books. First, "The Chairman", and now the sequel, "The Protoge". Suspense novels set in the business finance arena - we love it. Could have done without the dramatic reading of the scene where the lead character is out boating and a storm comes out of nowhere almost capsizing his 150 footer. This chapter, of course, was read when we were out in the Atlantic with no land in sight. Lynn Lozon asked me a while back if I get nervous when I can't see land; well, I never used to but now that she asked...
Monday, April 26, 2010
Rain Rain Go Away Kathy Wants to Run Today
We returned to Marathon on the 20th to find Uncorked shining like a new dime. The wet-sanding and waxing really made a difference and Tom is one happy cappy. After errands and stocking the boat, we headed out.
We stopped over in Lauderdale for a little more maintenance; cleaning out the fuel tanks. It's amazing and grotesque what can grow in a fuel tank that is left sitting in the heat. The best way I know to describe the procedure is to say that the boat got a colonic.
We had a full day of running today. Mostly out in the Atlantic, which helped us gain some ground (so to speak) Eventually we had to slip in to get to a fuel stop. We ran this narrow little fresh water channel and for the first time ever in all my trips to Florida I saw gators. Creeped me out! Their heads were halfway out of the water and looked like really big rocks; one was right off our bow. And just beyond the gators, these guys were standing in the water fishing!? Also, this little day boat passed us going in the opposite direction (toward the gators) and all these girls were sitting out on the bow dangling their feet into the water. I just hope those gators weren't out looking for something to snack on.
Tonight we are in New Smyrna and Mother Nature is in a foul mood. It's raining and between downpours there is constant thunder and lightening. Hopefully she gets it out of her system by morning. Tom and I admit that we are fair weather boaters but we are also on a mission; NY by May 11.
We stopped over in Lauderdale for a little more maintenance; cleaning out the fuel tanks. It's amazing and grotesque what can grow in a fuel tank that is left sitting in the heat. The best way I know to describe the procedure is to say that the boat got a colonic.
We had a full day of running today. Mostly out in the Atlantic, which helped us gain some ground (so to speak) Eventually we had to slip in to get to a fuel stop. We ran this narrow little fresh water channel and for the first time ever in all my trips to Florida I saw gators. Creeped me out! Their heads were halfway out of the water and looked like really big rocks; one was right off our bow. And just beyond the gators, these guys were standing in the water fishing!? Also, this little day boat passed us going in the opposite direction (toward the gators) and all these girls were sitting out on the bow dangling their feet into the water. I just hope those gators weren't out looking for something to snack on.
Tonight we are in New Smyrna and Mother Nature is in a foul mood. It's raining and between downpours there is constant thunder and lightening. Hopefully she gets it out of her system by morning. Tom and I admit that we are fair weather boaters but we are also on a mission; NY by May 11.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Does anybody really know what time it is???
So, we spent the first hour of the day trying to figure out what hour of the day it was. In fairness, we had been on a week long Old Club Rendezvous in the Carribean, which is one hour ahead and because the cruise ship wanted us to spend all of our time (and money) in their bars, casino, and gift shop, they blocked access to normal television news channels. So we have been out of touch for days.
We returned to our boat in Marathon Key with Neal and Lillian Stoneback last night with the best of intentions; getting up early to go to church and then setting out to Little Palm Island (that's Torch Key FL Jim Franey) The service was at eight but we missed it and for the life of us couldn't figure out why our cell phones, and Fox News said 9:00 a.m. when our watches and clocks said 8. We finally copped on to the "Spring foward thing" but felt that March 14 hardly qualified for spring. So we missed church but Lillian says we get points for trying.
Little Palm was still just as lovely. We encountered two little Key deer while lunching by the pool and fed them leaves from the tall trees that they love but can't reach. Then we snapped pictures of Spencer, the resident Great Blue Heron. But perhaps the most fun of all was what we encountered on the dock next to our boat.
Our new boat neighbors pulled in and set about washing the salt off their boat (we skipped that step in favor of rum drinks at the tiki hut) The woman was washing the windows, which is a huge turn on for Tom and he couldn't resist chatting her up. "Want to do our boat next?" She laughed and said "You can't afford me" I asked "where are you from?" and she held her hand up in the all too familiar mitten, pointed to her lower thumb knuckle and said "originally Michigan - it's where I grew up" We couldn't believe it. We all introduced ourselves and said, "We're from Harsens Island" to which she responded "Pickeral at Browns! What's your name?" Tom answered "Vertin" A look of horror came over her face as she said "Tom? Tom Vertin?" and quickly moved from her husband to the dock and frantically sputtered unrelated pieces of data. "I dated your friend Mel. Alexander. This is my husband. Patrick. How long ago was that? Wow" And then she moved toward me, hand extended and reintroduced herself "I'm Kim". I said "Yes-you said that back there" gesturing to her boat and sort of relishing the fact that my husband clearly knew something about her past that she did NOT want her husband to know. Then it occured to me almost instantly that my husband WAS what she didn't want her husband to know. As the realization came over my face the relish moved to Neal who muttered "Oh this is gonna be good" We made plans to have a cocktail with our new friends before dinner and retired to our boat at which point Lillian said "Mel dated that woman!" followed by Tom and I saying in unison "So did Tom(I)" Kim went back to washing her windows and we called Mel who when confronted by Neal with the whole thing offered this response; "So did Tom"
All I can say is its a good thing I'm not the jealous type. We had a cocktail with them and actually enjoyed ourselves very much. We never tipped our hand but when her husband mentioned that they also might like to go to the Bahamas this year on their boat I couldn't resist suggesting we run across the gulf stream together just to watch her squirm. What I lack in "jealous" I make up for in "evil".
Sorry for the lack of blog in February. Nothing much to report during that period. Big news now though...Not only are Ben and Val expecting in August but Tommy and Kelle have another bun in the oven that's due in November. We are going to be up to our ears in Grandbabies and loving every minute of it!!!!
We returned to our boat in Marathon Key with Neal and Lillian Stoneback last night with the best of intentions; getting up early to go to church and then setting out to Little Palm Island (that's Torch Key FL Jim Franey) The service was at eight but we missed it and for the life of us couldn't figure out why our cell phones, and Fox News said 9:00 a.m. when our watches and clocks said 8. We finally copped on to the "Spring foward thing" but felt that March 14 hardly qualified for spring. So we missed church but Lillian says we get points for trying.
Little Palm was still just as lovely. We encountered two little Key deer while lunching by the pool and fed them leaves from the tall trees that they love but can't reach. Then we snapped pictures of Spencer, the resident Great Blue Heron. But perhaps the most fun of all was what we encountered on the dock next to our boat.
Our new boat neighbors pulled in and set about washing the salt off their boat (we skipped that step in favor of rum drinks at the tiki hut) The woman was washing the windows, which is a huge turn on for Tom and he couldn't resist chatting her up. "Want to do our boat next?" She laughed and said "You can't afford me" I asked "where are you from?" and she held her hand up in the all too familiar mitten, pointed to her lower thumb knuckle and said "originally Michigan - it's where I grew up" We couldn't believe it. We all introduced ourselves and said, "We're from Harsens Island" to which she responded "Pickeral at Browns! What's your name?" Tom answered "Vertin" A look of horror came over her face as she said "Tom? Tom Vertin?" and quickly moved from her husband to the dock and frantically sputtered unrelated pieces of data. "I dated your friend Mel. Alexander. This is my husband. Patrick. How long ago was that? Wow" And then she moved toward me, hand extended and reintroduced herself "I'm Kim". I said "Yes-you said that back there" gesturing to her boat and sort of relishing the fact that my husband clearly knew something about her past that she did NOT want her husband to know. Then it occured to me almost instantly that my husband WAS what she didn't want her husband to know. As the realization came over my face the relish moved to Neal who muttered "Oh this is gonna be good" We made plans to have a cocktail with our new friends before dinner and retired to our boat at which point Lillian said "Mel dated that woman!" followed by Tom and I saying in unison "So did Tom(I)" Kim went back to washing her windows and we called Mel who when confronted by Neal with the whole thing offered this response; "So did Tom"
All I can say is its a good thing I'm not the jealous type. We had a cocktail with them and actually enjoyed ourselves very much. We never tipped our hand but when her husband mentioned that they also might like to go to the Bahamas this year on their boat I couldn't resist suggesting we run across the gulf stream together just to watch her squirm. What I lack in "jealous" I make up for in "evil".
Sorry for the lack of blog in February. Nothing much to report during that period. Big news now though...Not only are Ben and Val expecting in August but Tommy and Kelle have another bun in the oven that's due in November. We are going to be up to our ears in Grandbabies and loving every minute of it!!!!
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
There's No Place Like Home.
So Brother-in-law Tim is here with us. We had a really busy day. We had to inflate the dinghy and go across the canal to investigate the 4 foot long iguana hanging out in the mangroves a little too close to our boat for my liking. Now the guys are picking on me regarding my pre-coffee disposition this morning. Evidently I was a touch on the crabby side. And now we are debating whether we should be good little patriots and suffer through yet another of those redundant, uninspiring, rhetoric-ridden, Obama performances. They made me swear that I will withhold narrative until its over. And they are laying bets on how long I'll last. I said, "that's it - I want to go home" Tim told me to click my heels three times. I responded, "y'know this is a little like Oz. I've got the Cowardly Lion to my right (Tim), the Tin Man to my left (Tom) and we're about to listen to the Scarecrow" sing along with me folks..."with the things that I'd be thinkin' I could be another Lincoln, if I only had a brain..."
I failed miserably. Obama opened with Ladies and Gentleman our Constitution states...and I blurted out, "oh NOW you want to consult the Constitution!"
I failed miserably. Obama opened with Ladies and Gentleman our Constitution states...and I blurted out, "oh NOW you want to consult the Constitution!"
Monday, January 25, 2010
Uncorked Help Menu
This blog is dedicated to our friend Jim Franey who recently complained that my blog does not contain enough geographic data. For example I told you that we traveled from Key West to Little Palm Island but I neglected to tell you whether that was Little Palm Island Florida, in the Keys, or say Little Palm Island India. My bad. Should I commit a great oversight such as this in the future, might I suggest that confused readers familiarize themselves with this new thing called "Google" where you can enter just about anything and get info on what and where it is.
For those of you who figured out where Little Palm is, here's another pic of us while we enjoyed this heavenly little 5 miles in size island in the Keys, near Pine Key, but west of Marathon Key.
For those of you who figured out where Little Palm is, here's another pic of us while we enjoyed this heavenly little 5 miles in size island in the Keys, near Pine Key, but west of Marathon Key.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
From Manatee Moments to Senior Moments
Our friends headed home to Michigan today but not without a great Florida send off from a Mama Manatee and her baby. Yesterday morning Tom was cleaning the boat and this big manatee was attracted to the fresh water from the hose. I commandeered the hose and Uncorked became Sea World. First we held the stream over her head and she opened her mouth to drink. Then, while getting in position to touch her, I accidently let the end of the hose go into the water and she latched onto it like a baby to a nipple. Seriously, I couldn't get it out of her mouth without really pulling. It was just like trying to take Ella's bottle away! This manatee was right next to our swim platform we were eye to eye. What a sweet and wonderful encounter. She let me pet her head and everything. None of us had ever seen a manatee so close up and it was really quite an experience. Her baby just hung out underneath Mama's flipper and showed no interest in the fresh water and Mama seemed to keep her away from it. Fresh water must not be good for baby manatees - it was like all the new human mommies who say "no dairy!" as naughty grandparents try to slip a little whipped cream into their mouths (not that we would ever do anything like that) I made a slideshow of our manatee encounter - if you scroll over the picture to the left and click, I believe it will open in large format. First try at this - no promises.
That was the last wonderful vacation moment for The Lozons. Yesterday they left for Miami to stay at the airport since their flight was so early this morning and on their way they realized that they'd left their winter coats on the boat. Then they received an email informing them of the Harsens Island Ferry shutting down until the ice jams could be cleared (could be days) The only way to get to their home would be on the uncovered airboat, which is not only scary but cold as hell (remember where their winter coats are??) They got up this morning at the crack of dawn to get through security at the airport with time to relax over a newspaper and a cup of coffee. You can imagine their disappointment in arriving at the airport and finding out that their airline only flies out of "Ft. Lauderdale/Miami Area" not Miami International Airport. In a panic they hailed a taxi to Lauderdale and $80 later they found themselves racing through the terminal and onto the flight. But - whew - they made it. So much for coming home refreshed.
Had a visit today from Chris LaBelle, Rick LaBelle and Jeff Sangster on their way to Key West. Mel stopped by as well. It's kind of fun connecting with people from home for quick visits. Tomorrow Bro-in-law Tim arrives for a week and agreed to be the Galley Wench (great cook - we will eat well this week!)
Wonder what wildlife we'll encounter next?
That was the last wonderful vacation moment for The Lozons. Yesterday they left for Miami to stay at the airport since their flight was so early this morning and on their way they realized that they'd left their winter coats on the boat. Then they received an email informing them of the Harsens Island Ferry shutting down until the ice jams could be cleared (could be days) The only way to get to their home would be on the uncovered airboat, which is not only scary but cold as hell (remember where their winter coats are??) They got up this morning at the crack of dawn to get through security at the airport with time to relax over a newspaper and a cup of coffee. You can imagine their disappointment in arriving at the airport and finding out that their airline only flies out of "Ft. Lauderdale/Miami Area" not Miami International Airport. In a panic they hailed a taxi to Lauderdale and $80 later they found themselves racing through the terminal and onto the flight. But - whew - they made it. So much for coming home refreshed.
Had a visit today from Chris LaBelle, Rick LaBelle and Jeff Sangster on their way to Key West. Mel stopped by as well. It's kind of fun connecting with people from home for quick visits. Tomorrow Bro-in-law Tim arrives for a week and agreed to be the Galley Wench (great cook - we will eat well this week!)
Wonder what wildlife we'll encounter next?
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Da Plane, Da Plane...
We have found Fantasy Island. Little Palm Island is a magical place and we all want to stay here forever. We are the only boat in the tiny little marina. On the island there are 30 little thatched roof huts;one houses a library, another is the spa, the rest are private rooms for guests. The grounds are manicured yet lush with foliage. There are hammocks and lounge chairs set throughout the grounds so that you can stop and enjoy the 360 degrees of ocean view or enjoy the various birds and wildlife that seem completely untroubled by our presence . Check out the photos I took of a great blue heron on the beach - I did not have to use the telescoping lens - I actually got that close. It is the most romantic place ever and no children are allowed here.
The beach is lovely. Lozons are relaxing with ipods in their ears but Tom and I do not lay in the sun well. We get bored. Tom announced that he was going kayaking and put up his flag to alert the Cabana Boy (Yes, you heard me correctly. We have a Cabana Boy - loved it) I said, "I like to kayak" and Tom responded "You like to YAK" But he let me come along anyway. Very cool kayaking through the mangroves although a little creepy too. We took Scrappy along and while not keen on being that close to the water, he did seem fascinated by the all too friendly wildlife.
Dinner on the beachfront terrace was wonderful and so relaxing. There is a giant firepit and a few tiki torches and that is the lighting - period. A guitarist was there to set the perfect mood but the best, best, best part of the night was having this utterly adorable little Key Deer (like a pygmy version of the white tail deer) wander up between Tom and I and stick her nose right in my lap begging for a little treat (which she of course got - are you kidding!) I don't think I have ever seen anything so sweet and precious in the wild and I broke all the laws and gave her my apple chips (served with unbelievably delicious beignets - yummm) And she thanked me by nearly kissing my nose, which was fine with me until my RN friend Lynn alerted, "Wild animal! Wild Animal" I got the pic though and it's really cute.
Eden. This is Eden and we are coming back sometime soon. (with a stock pile of carrots and apples)
The beach is lovely. Lozons are relaxing with ipods in their ears but Tom and I do not lay in the sun well. We get bored. Tom announced that he was going kayaking and put up his flag to alert the Cabana Boy (Yes, you heard me correctly. We have a Cabana Boy - loved it) I said, "I like to kayak" and Tom responded "You like to YAK" But he let me come along anyway. Very cool kayaking through the mangroves although a little creepy too. We took Scrappy along and while not keen on being that close to the water, he did seem fascinated by the all too friendly wildlife.
Dinner on the beachfront terrace was wonderful and so relaxing. There is a giant firepit and a few tiki torches and that is the lighting - period. A guitarist was there to set the perfect mood but the best, best, best part of the night was having this utterly adorable little Key Deer (like a pygmy version of the white tail deer) wander up between Tom and I and stick her nose right in my lap begging for a little treat (which she of course got - are you kidding!) I don't think I have ever seen anything so sweet and precious in the wild and I broke all the laws and gave her my apple chips (served with unbelievably delicious beignets - yummm) And she thanked me by nearly kissing my nose, which was fine with me until my RN friend Lynn alerted, "Wild animal! Wild Animal" I got the pic though and it's really cute.
Eden. This is Eden and we are coming back sometime soon. (with a stock pile of carrots and apples)
Something to Crow About
Key West is, well, Key West. You can't really do the Keys without going to Key West and it is hands down some of the best people watching on earth. It is amazing what you see on any street near Duval. Scattered among the various drunks and roosters (yes - lots of roosters) are these entrepreneurs of sorts trying to sell their "talents" (and I use the word loosely) to the tourists. There's "Dirty Joke Guy" who will tell you jokes - the more you pay, the dirtier they are. There's the couple who fashion hats out of palm branches they no doubt "borrowed" from the neighbors' trees, mimes (who really likes mimes? they weren't exactly raking it in) And there was this young kid who was very astute at reggae music but who we felt should have been in school on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. Hmmm
But, our friends Dave and Lynn introduced us to a new little gem among the usual beer joints. Across from the Westin Marina (where we swayed all night on our earlier trip) is a lovely little island called Sunset Key. You can only get there by shuttle and there is a fabulous restaurant overlooking the famous Key West Sunsets. Food was fab and the ambience was magnificient! I'd go back for sure. Thanks Lozons.
But, our friends Dave and Lynn introduced us to a new little gem among the usual beer joints. Across from the Westin Marina (where we swayed all night on our earlier trip) is a lovely little island called Sunset Key. You can only get there by shuttle and there is a fabulous restaurant overlooking the famous Key West Sunsets. Food was fab and the ambience was magnificient! I'd go back for sure. Thanks Lozons.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Old Home Week
We headed back to Naples on Tuesday and found a whole slew of Harsens Islanders waiting for us. Amy Crouchman (Mel's ex-gf) lives here now - she recognized Scrappy as she drove by us one afternoon and stopped to say hi. Mel is down here visiting his friend Bob Farabee (old neighbor of Tom's). And Dave and Lynn Lozon arrived Saturday to boat with Tom and I to the Keys.
Ist stop, Sunday at Stan's Idle Hour on Marco Island. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Stan's, it is a party every Sunday, and only Sundays. They have these powerful little drinks called Buzzards (which I'm sure are just Rum - lots of rum- and Hi C)that go down way too easily. There's a little shop called Island Woman Boutique that sells all the tackiest clothing and accessories you could imagine. But somehow after a couple of Buzzards you find yourself shopping in this horrid little store and finding "must have" items like the ones we are sporting in the pictures to the left. In fairness, our boat is named Uncorked and so you see how these items just fit with the theme and had to be purchased and proudly worn. Stan's attracts every walk of life from your basic degenerate to the neighborhood millionaire. Hands down some of the best people watching on earth. And we saw a lot of people we knew, Gary Broad, Marv Tomlan, the Schmidts, the Hobsons, the parents of a guy Lynn and Dave's daughter could have ended up marrying, and someone my hubby did end up marrying, Tom's ex (Mary). Stan's never disappoints.
After much coffee and a little recovery, and after waving goodbye to a sad Melvin who'd lost his cell phone at Stan's, the four of us set off for Key West this morning and got a fairly calm crossing. The weather is back to lovely - yea!!! The Lozons have been contemplating a boat purchase so that they can do The Loop. They thought this week would be a good way to determine whether they will like boating enough to do it - we hadn't even left the dock and Lynn looked at Dave and said, "let's get the boat" We'll see if she's still as enthusiastic on Friday.
Ist stop, Sunday at Stan's Idle Hour on Marco Island. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Stan's, it is a party every Sunday, and only Sundays. They have these powerful little drinks called Buzzards (which I'm sure are just Rum - lots of rum- and Hi C)that go down way too easily. There's a little shop called Island Woman Boutique that sells all the tackiest clothing and accessories you could imagine. But somehow after a couple of Buzzards you find yourself shopping in this horrid little store and finding "must have" items like the ones we are sporting in the pictures to the left. In fairness, our boat is named Uncorked and so you see how these items just fit with the theme and had to be purchased and proudly worn. Stan's attracts every walk of life from your basic degenerate to the neighborhood millionaire. Hands down some of the best people watching on earth. And we saw a lot of people we knew, Gary Broad, Marv Tomlan, the Schmidts, the Hobsons, the parents of a guy Lynn and Dave's daughter could have ended up marrying, and someone my hubby did end up marrying, Tom's ex (Mary). Stan's never disappoints.
After much coffee and a little recovery, and after waving goodbye to a sad Melvin who'd lost his cell phone at Stan's, the four of us set off for Key West this morning and got a fairly calm crossing. The weather is back to lovely - yea!!! The Lozons have been contemplating a boat purchase so that they can do The Loop. They thought this week would be a good way to determine whether they will like boating enough to do it - we hadn't even left the dock and Lynn looked at Dave and said, "let's get the boat" We'll see if she's still as enthusiastic on Friday.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Rhapsody in Snooze...
With 40 degree temps, hanging out at a Tiki Bar listening to Jimmy Buffet music was not an option so I found the Fort Myers Symphony Orchestra "Evening with Gershwin" and Tom was game. The first half was a symphony performance of An American in Paris (which we both really enjoyed - well done) followed by a guest pianist performing a tinny, emotionless Rhapsody in Blue (which made me really miss Danny Patrona plopping down at at our piano on random weekends on the island) But what really pained my hubby was the "Selections from Porgy and Bess" performed by guest (not so great)vocalists. I'll never understand why Gershwin wanted some of the greatest jazz/blues numbers he'd ever written performed as an opera. The contrast of classical singing combined with "dis" and "dat" and "nuttin'" just doesn't work for me. High brow doing low brow? It would be like hearing Bocelli do rap. Po' Tom he done had to sit dare and listen. What a sport.
And what a show we're missing at home. Five freighters stuck in ice in the South Channel!! Thanks Lozons, Licatas, and Whipples for the pics and updates on all the island excitement we are missing. I'm posting the pics here for non-islanders.
And what a show we're missing at home. Five freighters stuck in ice in the South Channel!! Thanks Lozons, Licatas, and Whipples for the pics and updates on all the island excitement we are missing. I'm posting the pics here for non-islanders.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Greetings from the Arctic South
We're back to the two of us and Scrappy but we proved that our family of 6 + baby can peacefully coexist in under 650 sq. ft. of living space and have a lot of fun doing it!
Family departed at 10a.m. on Jan 2nd and Captain had guests (Franeys) arriving at 11 to cruise up to Fort Myers for a cocktail party. Yes, I could have killed him. We ran in crappy waves but made it to Ft. Myers by 2 and 11 more friends hopped aboard. It was too cold to enjoy the view from the bridge so we stayed inside the cabin and picked our noses. NOT literally...I found these clever cups with noses printed on them so that when you tipped your cup to drink, you looked like you had a new nose. See the pics to the left and you'll get it. Look, its freezing down here and you have to find creative ways to make fun.
Labelles stayed on the boat that night & the next morning Chris reported a repetitive mechanical noise under the v-bunk. Tom checked the anchor winch, the heater, everything, then I put my head on the pillow and said, "I know that rhythm...give me a minute...ch-ch-cha-chu...it's the baby swing!" Sure enough. He stowed it under the bow and the waves must have switched it on. In seven nights Baby Ella never once disturbed our sleep but she got the Labelles good.
I did a 24 hour turnaround trip home to get Scrappy on Monday. When I left Detroit Tuesday night it was 32 degrees...I got to Fort Myers and it was 38. Does Al Gore feel like the fool he is? Global warming my a$$.
Family departed at 10a.m. on Jan 2nd and Captain had guests (Franeys) arriving at 11 to cruise up to Fort Myers for a cocktail party. Yes, I could have killed him. We ran in crappy waves but made it to Ft. Myers by 2 and 11 more friends hopped aboard. It was too cold to enjoy the view from the bridge so we stayed inside the cabin and picked our noses. NOT literally...I found these clever cups with noses printed on them so that when you tipped your cup to drink, you looked like you had a new nose. See the pics to the left and you'll get it. Look, its freezing down here and you have to find creative ways to make fun.
Labelles stayed on the boat that night & the next morning Chris reported a repetitive mechanical noise under the v-bunk. Tom checked the anchor winch, the heater, everything, then I put my head on the pillow and said, "I know that rhythm...give me a minute...ch-ch-cha-chu...it's the baby swing!" Sure enough. He stowed it under the bow and the waves must have switched it on. In seven nights Baby Ella never once disturbed our sleep but she got the Labelles good.
I did a 24 hour turnaround trip home to get Scrappy on Monday. When I left Detroit Tuesday night it was 32 degrees...I got to Fort Myers and it was 38. Does Al Gore feel like the fool he is? Global warming my a$$.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times
"This is the BEST!", we all exclaimed as we pulled into the marina in Key West. It was a swanky little hotel marina village lined with a collection of adorable shops and just a few steps from Duval Street. We scored.
You see yesterday we called nearly every marina in Key West looking for a slip only to hear "We're full - this is New Years in Key West- good luck" Val was sad because she really wanted Ben to experience Key West; Tommy just accepted it and said, "Let's go straight to Naples. It's warmer there anyway" I have always been one of those people who gets super motivated by the phrase, "You can't have or do that" So armed with my iphone I sprang into action and found us perhaps the last available slip in Key West and here we are.
We all hopped off the boat and scampered off in different directions to explore Hemmingway's favorite island. Then we met at Sloppy Joes for a Hurricane (specialty drink of the house) to share tales about what we saw. We got back to the boat and it was rocking a little but we figured once the ferry boats stopped running it'd be fine. So we decided to wait it out at a lovely Bistro where we had a decadent dinner.
The ferry boats are at dock, it is midnight, and we are pitching side to side at a feverish rate. Our shore power is intermittent so while we rock back and forth, our air conditioning keeps cutting out making for a nice warm berth. Added to the ambiance is the rythmic slapping of waves against the bow. No one is sleeping except Baby Ella. Actually if they'd pipe in "Old MacDonald" or "Twinkle Twinkle" through the PA system, it would be like we were in a big giant baby swing. It's not so much the rocking that is keeping me awake, it's how loudly I can hear Tommy thinking "We should have gone to Naples"
This is the worst.
You see yesterday we called nearly every marina in Key West looking for a slip only to hear "We're full - this is New Years in Key West- good luck" Val was sad because she really wanted Ben to experience Key West; Tommy just accepted it and said, "Let's go straight to Naples. It's warmer there anyway" I have always been one of those people who gets super motivated by the phrase, "You can't have or do that" So armed with my iphone I sprang into action and found us perhaps the last available slip in Key West and here we are.
We all hopped off the boat and scampered off in different directions to explore Hemmingway's favorite island. Then we met at Sloppy Joes for a Hurricane (specialty drink of the house) to share tales about what we saw. We got back to the boat and it was rocking a little but we figured once the ferry boats stopped running it'd be fine. So we decided to wait it out at a lovely Bistro where we had a decadent dinner.
The ferry boats are at dock, it is midnight, and we are pitching side to side at a feverish rate. Our shore power is intermittent so while we rock back and forth, our air conditioning keeps cutting out making for a nice warm berth. Added to the ambiance is the rythmic slapping of waves against the bow. No one is sleeping except Baby Ella. Actually if they'd pipe in "Old MacDonald" or "Twinkle Twinkle" through the PA system, it would be like we were in a big giant baby swing. It's not so much the rocking that is keeping me awake, it's how loudly I can hear Tommy thinking "We should have gone to Naples"
This is the worst.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Who's having fun? We are... yes we are.. yes we are...
Imagine that in a high pitched, happy tone and you have the sounds coming from our boat fairly regularly. It's called boating with a baby and a doting family that likes to see Ella giggle. I'm sure that people passing by our boat in the marina think we are all nuts but...
And Tom and I need to step it up a bit because at Ocean Reef where the average size boat is probably 100 feet, Tommy and Kelle trolled the docks with baby Ella in an attempt to trade up; and they were almost successful. This lovely old couple on a 130footer came off their boat twice to get a little play time with OUR Grandbaby. As lovely as Ocean Reef is, we thought we'd better move on.
The guys really wanted to do some sport fishing so we figured Holiday Isle on Islamorada was the next stop. What a major step down from Ocean Reef. One night here will be sufficient. While Val, Ben and Tommy fished, Tom, Kelle, Ella and I lunched at the Cheeka Lodge and it was great. Not a cloud in the sky so lunch on the beach was dreamy. (Did I hear something about freezing temps in Michigan?) No fresh fish dinner tonight. They scored 1 sailfish and 2 barracudas but nothing to eat. Had a lot of fun though. And returned in time for us to set off to Marathon Key. Farewell dumpy old Holiday Isle that badly needs some maintenance.
We're in Marathon now and while planning the remainder of our trip, we realized that we all somehow lost a day. I hate when that happens. So now we have to decide between Key West or heading directly to Naples. Val is pushing hard for Key West but this close to New Years everything is booked. She and I are not giving up though and we are finagling a way. Finding a secluded anchorage is out after reading about increased crime and pirate (yes pirate!) attacks on boats anchoring out. We'll see...
Baby Ella loves the boat. The motion and the humming of the engines puts her into lala land. It doesn't hurt that she has four extra people around who are happy to play with her, feed her, hold her and for the most part spoil her non-stop. I don't envy Tommy and Kelle when they get home.
As an aside, we are keeping up with the news and I took great satisfaction in learning that the terrorist who tried to bomb a flight in Detroit may well have burned his privates off. A bomb in your underwear? A lot of good 12 million virgins in heaven will do a guy with no wiener. What will they think of next?
And Tom and I need to step it up a bit because at Ocean Reef where the average size boat is probably 100 feet, Tommy and Kelle trolled the docks with baby Ella in an attempt to trade up; and they were almost successful. This lovely old couple on a 130footer came off their boat twice to get a little play time with OUR Grandbaby. As lovely as Ocean Reef is, we thought we'd better move on.
The guys really wanted to do some sport fishing so we figured Holiday Isle on Islamorada was the next stop. What a major step down from Ocean Reef. One night here will be sufficient. While Val, Ben and Tommy fished, Tom, Kelle, Ella and I lunched at the Cheeka Lodge and it was great. Not a cloud in the sky so lunch on the beach was dreamy. (Did I hear something about freezing temps in Michigan?) No fresh fish dinner tonight. They scored 1 sailfish and 2 barracudas but nothing to eat. Had a lot of fun though. And returned in time for us to set off to Marathon Key. Farewell dumpy old Holiday Isle that badly needs some maintenance.
We're in Marathon now and while planning the remainder of our trip, we realized that we all somehow lost a day. I hate when that happens. So now we have to decide between Key West or heading directly to Naples. Val is pushing hard for Key West but this close to New Years everything is booked. She and I are not giving up though and we are finagling a way. Finding a secluded anchorage is out after reading about increased crime and pirate (yes pirate!) attacks on boats anchoring out. We'll see...
Baby Ella loves the boat. The motion and the humming of the engines puts her into lala land. It doesn't hurt that she has four extra people around who are happy to play with her, feed her, hold her and for the most part spoil her non-stop. I don't envy Tommy and Kelle when they get home.
As an aside, we are keeping up with the news and I took great satisfaction in learning that the terrorist who tried to bomb a flight in Detroit may well have burned his privates off. A bomb in your underwear? A lot of good 12 million virgins in heaven will do a guy with no wiener. What will they think of next?
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Christmas Uncorked
We celebrated my parents golden anniversary with a party upnorth and then headed back to the boat. Christmas onboard seemed unconventional but was actually quite fun. Christmas Eve our friends J and Lynn treated us to a delicious dinner in Palm Beach at Renato's. They too were in town waiting for family to arrive. Then Tom and I ran the boat from Palm Beach to Fort Lauderdale and prepared a lovely prime rib dinner for two at Pier 66 to celebrate Christmas.
We joked with fellow Club members (Grekins) who are also down here on their 70 Lazzara that we will no doubt pass one another at some point. Well we did! Passed their boat in Boca right before one of the many low drawbridges along the way. That's their boat 3rd from the left in the top photo. On our way to Pier 66 we saw a couple of familiar boats that we'd seen in NY and Annapolis; My Marilyn, Gallant Lady and Linda Lou. I'm just guessing that they weren't looking out their salon windows saying "Isn't that Uncorked who we saw back in Maryland?" Beautiful ships - Linda Lou is that one on the left in pic 2. This place is a yacht spotters dream - we had so much fun just walking through the marina looking at the gorgeous ships. One stunner, Natanya 8, blew me away. I said to Tom, "when Obama redistributes the wealth, I would like that to come in our direction please"
We now have a fully loaded boat. Val, Ben, Tom, Kelle, and baby Ella have joined us. It's tight but really fun to all be together. We ran to Miami today and are going to Ocean Reef in Key Largo tomorrow. Tommy got a digital video cam for Christmas and Val is working for a super internet savvy marketing firm so I'm guessing that my little blog is going to get kicked up a notch. The final pic for this entry is our sweet little Grand-daughter who seems to love the rocking of the boat. Good nautical genes in that little gal! You can expect at least one Ella pic per day.
Hope you had a Merry Christmas.
We joked with fellow Club members (Grekins) who are also down here on their 70 Lazzara that we will no doubt pass one another at some point. Well we did! Passed their boat in Boca right before one of the many low drawbridges along the way. That's their boat 3rd from the left in the top photo. On our way to Pier 66 we saw a couple of familiar boats that we'd seen in NY and Annapolis; My Marilyn, Gallant Lady and Linda Lou. I'm just guessing that they weren't looking out their salon windows saying "Isn't that Uncorked who we saw back in Maryland?" Beautiful ships - Linda Lou is that one on the left in pic 2. This place is a yacht spotters dream - we had so much fun just walking through the marina looking at the gorgeous ships. One stunner, Natanya 8, blew me away. I said to Tom, "when Obama redistributes the wealth, I would like that to come in our direction please"
We now have a fully loaded boat. Val, Ben, Tom, Kelle, and baby Ella have joined us. It's tight but really fun to all be together. We ran to Miami today and are going to Ocean Reef in Key Largo tomorrow. Tommy got a digital video cam for Christmas and Val is working for a super internet savvy marketing firm so I'm guessing that my little blog is going to get kicked up a notch. The final pic for this entry is our sweet little Grand-daughter who seems to love the rocking of the boat. Good nautical genes in that little gal! You can expect at least one Ella pic per day.
Hope you had a Merry Christmas.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Early to Bed, Early to Rise...
does not always make one healthy, wealthy or necessarily wise. I know that most boaters swear by "getting an early start" but we've been retired now for two years and have taken to sleeping in. Today we had over 100 miles of intercoastal to run so we set the alarm. Within the first couple of miles we had a bridge to deal with. Tom says check the bridge height on the chart - so I oriented myself on the chart and found the Addison Bridge with 29 ft vertical clearance. We need 21.5 ft so we were good to go and I could go back to getting my coffee. Except the Captain sees the bridge in the distance and says, "I don't think that's 29'" Just to confirm, I call the bridge master on the two-way radio: "Addison Bridge this is power vessel Uncorked. We are approaching the bridge and were wondering what the clearance is?" He replies, "29' Uncorked" There. But as we got closer I also thought it looked tight. I scrambled with the chart. WRONG BRIDGE! This one had about 7' clearance. I had to get back on the radio and call this bridge master and ask for a drawbridge opening. About 1/4 mile after clearing the little bridge we approached the 29 footer and the smartalec Bridge Master says "Well, Uncorked - we've been expecting you" Bastard.
Tom wasn't without challenges this morning either. I know I've been hard on sailboaters in previous blogs but c'mon some of the names they come up with I swear are just to screw with the powerboats who will inevitably have to call them on the radio to request a pass. For example, Tom comes up behind sailboat "Lagniappe" and ends up saying something like "Sailboat Long Leap this is powerboat Uncorked looking for a slow port side pass" What was he supposed to do - really? I can deal with the Greek mythology names as we all should have been paying attention in sixth grade and should know that Persephone is not pronounced Purse Phone but the ones that really ticked us off were those damned Irish names hailing from Boston. Today we passed one named "Gra Mo Chroi" - turns out it's Gaelic for "Love of my life" Ironically, Tom called it "Grab My Groin" I completely understand now why Tom was so vehemently opposed to my suggestion that we name the boat Laissez Faire. I can just imagine a southern accent calling out on the two-way, "Southbound Lesbian Powerboat..."
We ran for eight hours and made it to North Palm Beach before dark but not before the sky opened up. I scrambled to get lines and fenders out in the down pour and was really irritated that in spite of plenty of notice, the marina had no one on the dock to so much as grab a line for me. Finally a guy came up after I had snagged the cleat with the spring line and secured us. I snapped, "Oh just get the stern line, I've got the bow myself" as I threw the stern line to him. Come to find out, he wasn't the marina dock hand but was our boat neighbor! I was mortified!! Turns out that when the marina staff asked via radio, "Captain, need some help getting in?" Captain replied from his cozy little inside helm chair, "No, we have it" Love that royal "we".
Tomorrow is a relaxing day. "We" are going shopping and meeting friends for lunch. We head home on Sunday and the blog will go quiet until we return on the 22nd. Thanks for following along with us.
Tom wasn't without challenges this morning either. I know I've been hard on sailboaters in previous blogs but c'mon some of the names they come up with I swear are just to screw with the powerboats who will inevitably have to call them on the radio to request a pass. For example, Tom comes up behind sailboat "Lagniappe" and ends up saying something like "Sailboat Long Leap this is powerboat Uncorked looking for a slow port side pass" What was he supposed to do - really? I can deal with the Greek mythology names as we all should have been paying attention in sixth grade and should know that Persephone is not pronounced Purse Phone but the ones that really ticked us off were those damned Irish names hailing from Boston. Today we passed one named "Gra Mo Chroi" - turns out it's Gaelic for "Love of my life" Ironically, Tom called it "Grab My Groin" I completely understand now why Tom was so vehemently opposed to my suggestion that we name the boat Laissez Faire. I can just imagine a southern accent calling out on the two-way, "Southbound Lesbian Powerboat..."
We ran for eight hours and made it to North Palm Beach before dark but not before the sky opened up. I scrambled to get lines and fenders out in the down pour and was really irritated that in spite of plenty of notice, the marina had no one on the dock to so much as grab a line for me. Finally a guy came up after I had snagged the cleat with the spring line and secured us. I snapped, "Oh just get the stern line, I've got the bow myself" as I threw the stern line to him. Come to find out, he wasn't the marina dock hand but was our boat neighbor! I was mortified!! Turns out that when the marina staff asked via radio, "Captain, need some help getting in?" Captain replied from his cozy little inside helm chair, "No, we have it" Love that royal "we".
Tomorrow is a relaxing day. "We" are going shopping and meeting friends for lunch. We head home on Sunday and the blog will go quiet until we return on the 22nd. Thanks for following along with us.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
The Daytona Project
That's what we not so affectionately call our little beach house in Daytona - The Daytona Project that never really ends. When we docked at the local marina I said, "maybe we should just NOT go to the house and never reaaly know how much damage those 26 days of continuous rain caused a few months back" But we went to look; then we went to Home Depot. So basically, we lost 5 days of cruising to wall and window reconstruction at The Daytona Project. Thank you bro-in-law Paul for the use of your truck for the first material run, and thank you niece Mary for the use of your VW Bug for material run two, which included about ten 8 ft. long 2 x 4's. That was a picture that I wish I'd taken. And additional thanks to Paul for the use of his Motor Scooter with a double seat so that we had transportation to and from the boat. I'm sure I looked stunning in that little Harley Davidson Half Shell Helmet that I easily could have lived my whole life without ever donning and not regretted. (Yet another photo NOT taken) It's perhaps the closest I'll ever get to being a "biker chick" - so not me. Tom liked me holding on tight, except that our helmets kept knocking together. Handyman Hubby saved the day again and the little house is back in order.
So today we high-tailed it out of Daytona at about noon and ended up in Titusville just in time for what appeared to be a wine tasting of sorts at the end of E-Dock - right where we were docking. Evidently there was supposed to be a rocket launch at the nearby Military Base and so everyone brought their bottles of wine to gather together and watch. Well the launch was cancelled but our little dock party lasted regardless and we all had a pretty good time. We had a lovely pairing tonight for dinner - Rodney Strong Cabernet (gift from the LaBelles) with a Bison Steak. Mmmmm. In hindsight it was probably really clever of us to name the boat "Uncorked" because when people visit us, they bring us wine!
Captain says he wants to get an early start so that we can get at least to Jupiter tomorrow so until then,I'm blogging off.
So today we high-tailed it out of Daytona at about noon and ended up in Titusville just in time for what appeared to be a wine tasting of sorts at the end of E-Dock - right where we were docking. Evidently there was supposed to be a rocket launch at the nearby Military Base and so everyone brought their bottles of wine to gather together and watch. Well the launch was cancelled but our little dock party lasted regardless and we all had a pretty good time. We had a lovely pairing tonight for dinner - Rodney Strong Cabernet (gift from the LaBelles) with a Bison Steak. Mmmmm. In hindsight it was probably really clever of us to name the boat "Uncorked" because when people visit us, they bring us wine!
Captain says he wants to get an early start so that we can get at least to Jupiter tomorrow so until then,I'm blogging off.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Bright Sun. Not So Bright People.
Case in point. As we prepared to depart Fernandina Beach at about 11 a.m. to head to St. Augustine I met a guy up in the dog walking area who inquired about our boat. He asked "How do you know where you are going - do you like have GPS?" I responded, "yes, but unfortunately it's not working so we'll have to rely on the charts" He looks amazed and says, "so like do you read the stars?" I simply did not know how to respond but I'm pretty sure my expression said "are you stupid?" But rather than saying that aloud, I just said, "that or we use a compass" He gives that self-deprecating stoner chuckle and says "Oh yeah - a compass" Then I asked, "where are you from?", fully expecting him to say Florida but instead he answered, "L.A." Of course.
GPS just wasn't finding us but it was a gorgeous sunny day and we ran the intercoastal using charts. It was a gorgeous run and I kind of enjoyed telling Tom where to go. Without electronic toys to play with he got bored and decided that it was an ideal time to teach me to drive the boat. It was a lot like my Dad teaching me to drive. See, my Dad really loved his cars and my husband really loves his boat. Putting these prized possessions in the hands of an amateur makes them a little nervous. I did fine - there are a couple of funky little things like a delay when you accelerate but I got used to it (and I also got used to him yelling at me "speed up, slow down - NOW, get over - no the other way!) I drive best when he's down in the head.
Arrived in St. Augustine around 4. Tom fixed the GPS - has no idea what he did to fix it but...it's back and he's happy. We run to Daytona tomorrow to visit Joyce and Paul. Looking forward to seeing them.
GPS just wasn't finding us but it was a gorgeous sunny day and we ran the intercoastal using charts. It was a gorgeous run and I kind of enjoyed telling Tom where to go. Without electronic toys to play with he got bored and decided that it was an ideal time to teach me to drive the boat. It was a lot like my Dad teaching me to drive. See, my Dad really loved his cars and my husband really loves his boat. Putting these prized possessions in the hands of an amateur makes them a little nervous. I did fine - there are a couple of funky little things like a delay when you accelerate but I got used to it (and I also got used to him yelling at me "speed up, slow down - NOW, get over - no the other way!) I drive best when he's down in the head.
Arrived in St. Augustine around 4. Tom fixed the GPS - has no idea what he did to fix it but...it's back and he's happy. We run to Daytona tomorrow to visit Joyce and Paul. Looking forward to seeing them.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Today I'm thankful for...
calm seas, a sunny day in the midst of a cold, drizzly week, cellphones so that we could talk to our family and friends, a very good captain/hubby, and the best little boat dog on earth. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
We spent last night in Beaufort SC and had a wonderful visit with the McGarrity's. Pat gave us a tour of the historic home district - you could just feel the history in that place. Had visions of Rhett and Scarlet strolling along, sniping at each other. Gorgeous, authentically restored homes, including McGarrity's stunner. Suzanne has a great sense of combining old with new - loved her home. And, I will never forget the ham bisquits. Yum, yum, yum. Like nothing I've ever tasted.
Left Beaufort at about 11 a.m. today and ran outside in almost non-existent waves. A gift from God this Thanksgiving. The seas eventually built to about 3 foot but not until we were ready to slip into the ICW channel to Amelia Island Florida. The run through that channel was challenging. Lots of really narrow twists and turns with little branches going off in all directions. Markers up the wazoo! So there was a lot of "wait - that's not our red...is that our green?" Geez Louise - it was ridiculous.
Fernandina Beach on Ameilia Island is a really cute town and very dog friendly so it's fun to walk around and shop. We found a great little restaurant serving Thanksgiving dinner so we didn't have to resort to those turkey sandwiches after all. We're blessed and we're thankful. Hope everyone had a lovely day. Tomorrow we're off to St. Augustine.
Oh, and we're thankful for all of our "followers" too: )
We spent last night in Beaufort SC and had a wonderful visit with the McGarrity's. Pat gave us a tour of the historic home district - you could just feel the history in that place. Had visions of Rhett and Scarlet strolling along, sniping at each other. Gorgeous, authentically restored homes, including McGarrity's stunner. Suzanne has a great sense of combining old with new - loved her home. And, I will never forget the ham bisquits. Yum, yum, yum. Like nothing I've ever tasted.
Left Beaufort at about 11 a.m. today and ran outside in almost non-existent waves. A gift from God this Thanksgiving. The seas eventually built to about 3 foot but not until we were ready to slip into the ICW channel to Amelia Island Florida. The run through that channel was challenging. Lots of really narrow twists and turns with little branches going off in all directions. Markers up the wazoo! So there was a lot of "wait - that's not our red...is that our green?" Geez Louise - it was ridiculous.
Fernandina Beach on Ameilia Island is a really cute town and very dog friendly so it's fun to walk around and shop. We found a great little restaurant serving Thanksgiving dinner so we didn't have to resort to those turkey sandwiches after all. We're blessed and we're thankful. Hope everyone had a lovely day. Tomorrow we're off to St. Augustine.
Oh, and we're thankful for all of our "followers" too: )
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
We're Back!
In Charleston that is. The boat got a facelift while we were home - new carpet and cork flooring. We're really happy with it. Thank you Jim Franey and World of Floors. Not only is the interior much nicer, but with all new batteries installed, I think our engine issues and GPS failures are behind us (quick - knock wood)
LaBelles came with us for the weekend. Their son Lance works at the Boeing plant here and needed a stress relieving overnight cruise to Beaufort and back with us. Don't know how strees free it was given that it became our first night time run with this boat. And do you think we could have had just a sliver of moonlight to help us out? No such luck. It was as pitch black as I've ever seen and after a few panicked moments, we figured out how to get the built-in spotlight working. Having two helms is a nice feature unless you have the spot working from the wrong helm at exactly the moment when you NEED to spot the green marker shielding you from very shallow water.
Arrived in Beaufort about 8 p.m. and headed out to find a good restaurant. The McGarrity's from the Old Club spend their winters in Beaufort and we promised to contact them if we got to their town. Since this was just an overnighter, we figured we'd call them later in the week when we head back their way. Who do you think was sitting at the first table of the restaurant we walked into and said "I thought you were going to call us!" It really is such a small world. We will be seeing them tomorrow though and we all got a good laugh out of it.
Circled back to Charleston to drop off our guests - we had a lot of laughs and seeing a hard-working, level-headed kid with a great sense of humor gave me hope for this Y generation. We head out toward Florida tomorrow but would highly recommend Charleston to anyone looking for a great, small-town, yet cosmopolitan vacation. We'd come back.
LaBelles came with us for the weekend. Their son Lance works at the Boeing plant here and needed a stress relieving overnight cruise to Beaufort and back with us. Don't know how strees free it was given that it became our first night time run with this boat. And do you think we could have had just a sliver of moonlight to help us out? No such luck. It was as pitch black as I've ever seen and after a few panicked moments, we figured out how to get the built-in spotlight working. Having two helms is a nice feature unless you have the spot working from the wrong helm at exactly the moment when you NEED to spot the green marker shielding you from very shallow water.
Arrived in Beaufort about 8 p.m. and headed out to find a good restaurant. The McGarrity's from the Old Club spend their winters in Beaufort and we promised to contact them if we got to their town. Since this was just an overnighter, we figured we'd call them later in the week when we head back their way. Who do you think was sitting at the first table of the restaurant we walked into and said "I thought you were going to call us!" It really is such a small world. We will be seeing them tomorrow though and we all got a good laugh out of it.
Circled back to Charleston to drop off our guests - we had a lot of laughs and seeing a hard-working, level-headed kid with a great sense of humor gave me hope for this Y generation. We head out toward Florida tomorrow but would highly recommend Charleston to anyone looking for a great, small-town, yet cosmopolitan vacation. We'd come back.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Bad Luck or Good Luck?
I guess it's all in how you look at it. We spent last night in Georgetown SC after a pretty good run along the Intercoastal. Pretty much ran with "Miss Penny" a lovely custom 53 Alden out of Palm Beach. Nicest couple - we really enjoyed chatting with them once we both put in. We planned to run to Charleston today (50 miles) but our starboard engine didn't want to start. Tom jumped the battery, got her going and we were off. 10 Miles into our journey the port engine's power dropped dramatically. Tom shut it down and restarted it and everything seemed fine. And then the starboard engine just went dead and was NOT going to restart. While we were both thinking "Good Lord what if the port engine goes out again!!" neither of us dared to speak it out loud. And then the power dropped off on the port engine again. Now, do you shut it down and hope you can restart it again or just keep going at a snail's pace on that last engine? We decided to try to restart it but I was out on the bow with lines ready to tie up to this concrete pier that we were drifting towards, just in case. God bless that little engine that could - it restarted. We kept losing power though and finally just crawled into The Isle of Palms, about 10 miles shy of Charleston. Never been so happy to see a sleepy little town. It's not an engine issue but a battery issue. We're putting all new batteries in the boat just to ward off any future issues and we'll try for Charleston again tomorrow.
Poor Captain, he has a gimpy first mate, a gimpy boat...but he's lucky. We say that because we are reading an article in the local paper about a boat that lost its engines exactly where we were. They ran aground as the tide was going out, ended up listing over while sinking into the mud and had to be rescued by Coast Guard helicopters. See, we are very lucky - it's all in how you look at it.
Poor Captain, he has a gimpy first mate, a gimpy boat...but he's lucky. We say that because we are reading an article in the local paper about a boat that lost its engines exactly where we were. They ran aground as the tide was going out, ended up listing over while sinking into the mud and had to be rescued by Coast Guard helicopters. See, we are very lucky - it's all in how you look at it.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Uncorked, Unlucky & Uncoordinated
We met a couple at dinner last night who live between Miami and Maine and have run this route for years. She was a dead ringer for Nancy Licata - seriously - same height, same hair, same facial features, and same voice (well except that strong New Yawk accent) They had great tips for todays run-where to run outside safely and where to duck in. We figured it would knock a day off our trip and with any luck we'd be in Little River SC (North of Myrtle Beach) by 3 at the latest.
Luck. Well the two pictures to the left show you how that went. Running outside was easy (3-5fters) right up until we lost our GPS. Yep - good thing Tom has a sharp 1st mate who likes following along on the charts. We made great time to Masonborough (ICW tuck in) but we never got above 10 knots in the ICW. We literally ran into a sailing regatta where they were all dressed as pirates and then we got into what we called "Ben's Bay", I have never in my life seen so many little fishing boats in one waterway. It started raining and still fishing boat after fishing boat. Unbelievable! Then, waiting for bridges. We did see a very cool one called a Pontoon Bridge. The road actually runs across a barge that they float out of the way when a boat comes. So basic. Tom loved it.
The Carolina intercoastal is lined with all these pastel colored houses on stilts. Looks like those paper dot candy strips we ate as kids. It's pretty in a Lily Pulitzer dress kind of way (meaning you could get really sick of it in large doses)
Uncoordinated. That would be me. I have been an accident waiting to happen today. Slammed my finger in the door this morning while taking off. Ow Ow Oww. Looks like I'll be wearing dark nailpolish this autumn. Then we caught a sideways wave and my velcro attached chair that my husband and Mr Franey rigged up came un-velcroed. Then once we made it to our destination at 5:30 pm, in my exhuberance to get tied up and relax, I missed the bottom step onto the transom and landed strangely on my ankle. Yes Nurse Lozon, I iced and elevated and then took 4 ibuprofin with vodka for pain and swelling. I'm hobbling about but will be ready to run in the morning. Clutz. So much for the sharp 1st mate.
We really covered a lot of water today and should make Charleston tomorrow or the next day. It's supposed to be pretty windy tomorrow and I don't know if I'm up to balancing in bad seas. My confidence level has dropped.
On the upside, while waiting for the bridge we saw this really bright rainbow that ended in a patch of golden wheatgrass. With the bright sun shining it looked just like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Sorry no pic but it lasted for mere seconds.
Luck. Well the two pictures to the left show you how that went. Running outside was easy (3-5fters) right up until we lost our GPS. Yep - good thing Tom has a sharp 1st mate who likes following along on the charts. We made great time to Masonborough (ICW tuck in) but we never got above 10 knots in the ICW. We literally ran into a sailing regatta where they were all dressed as pirates and then we got into what we called "Ben's Bay", I have never in my life seen so many little fishing boats in one waterway. It started raining and still fishing boat after fishing boat. Unbelievable! Then, waiting for bridges. We did see a very cool one called a Pontoon Bridge. The road actually runs across a barge that they float out of the way when a boat comes. So basic. Tom loved it.
The Carolina intercoastal is lined with all these pastel colored houses on stilts. Looks like those paper dot candy strips we ate as kids. It's pretty in a Lily Pulitzer dress kind of way (meaning you could get really sick of it in large doses)
Uncoordinated. That would be me. I have been an accident waiting to happen today. Slammed my finger in the door this morning while taking off. Ow Ow Oww. Looks like I'll be wearing dark nailpolish this autumn. Then we caught a sideways wave and my velcro attached chair that my husband and Mr Franey rigged up came un-velcroed. Then once we made it to our destination at 5:30 pm, in my exhuberance to get tied up and relax, I missed the bottom step onto the transom and landed strangely on my ankle. Yes Nurse Lozon, I iced and elevated and then took 4 ibuprofin with vodka for pain and swelling. I'm hobbling about but will be ready to run in the morning. Clutz. So much for the sharp 1st mate.
We really covered a lot of water today and should make Charleston tomorrow or the next day. It's supposed to be pretty windy tomorrow and I don't know if I'm up to balancing in bad seas. My confidence level has dropped.
On the upside, while waiting for the bridge we saw this really bright rainbow that ended in a patch of golden wheatgrass. With the bright sun shining it looked just like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Sorry no pic but it lasted for mere seconds.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
A Nautical Blog
My husband brought to my attention the fact that my boat blogs lack any true nautical information. In fairness, I did neglect to indicate which port we ended up at yesterday but trust me, Belhaven was an insignificant stop. He is going to assist in blogging this evening.
We left Lat 76 Degree 37 minutes Long 35 degree 32.2 minutes (Behaven, NC) at 1200 hours EST. (We had a leisurly morning - Scrappy got a bath) We cruised south about 12 nautical miles on the Pungo River (I asked the difference between a mile and a nautical mile and he told me that a nautical mile is shorter - is that because you go up and down a lot?) Crossed SW on the Pamlico River 4 Miles to Goose Creek where we continued for 9 miles (which was just enough time to make the beds - no we didn't have a fight and sleep in separate beds - Scrappy pushed Tom out of the bed last night and instantly became Alpha on the boat) that dumped into Bay River where we set a new 135 degree course and passed IWC Mile Marker 165 (evidently this means we've gone 165 short miles on the Intercoastal Waterway since leaving Norfolk - big whoop) to the Neuse River Junction Fl (2+1) R 6s 15ft 5 M Rs Ref (took that baby right off the chart) Took a 217 reading in the Neuse River for 5 miles, changed course to 248 for 13 miles - new heading 141 into Adams Creek. (blah, blah, nautical blah)
He's still reading chart data to me thinking I'm putting it in the blog - So basically we ended up in this great little town ,Beaufort NC, in the afternoon where there are more than 3 restaurants to choose from and lots of darling shoppes. Trust me, these little stores deserved the french spelling - really cute. Oops. Captain caught me.
We are at Lat 34 degrees 43 minutes Long 76 degrees 40 minutes 1606 EST(like I said Beaufort in the afternoon) and we are enjoying a lovely glass of Ironstone Cabernet Franc, courtesy of the Whites whom we visited back in Delaware, which pairs nicely with the Snickers Fudge we bought in town.
We left Lat 76 Degree 37 minutes Long 35 degree 32.2 minutes (Behaven, NC) at 1200 hours EST. (We had a leisurly morning - Scrappy got a bath) We cruised south about 12 nautical miles on the Pungo River (I asked the difference between a mile and a nautical mile and he told me that a nautical mile is shorter - is that because you go up and down a lot?) Crossed SW on the Pamlico River 4 Miles to Goose Creek where we continued for 9 miles (which was just enough time to make the beds - no we didn't have a fight and sleep in separate beds - Scrappy pushed Tom out of the bed last night and instantly became Alpha on the boat) that dumped into Bay River where we set a new 135 degree course and passed IWC Mile Marker 165 (evidently this means we've gone 165 short miles on the Intercoastal Waterway since leaving Norfolk - big whoop) to the Neuse River Junction Fl (2+1) R 6s 15ft 5 M Rs Ref (took that baby right off the chart) Took a 217 reading in the Neuse River for 5 miles, changed course to 248 for 13 miles - new heading 141 into Adams Creek. (blah, blah, nautical blah)
He's still reading chart data to me thinking I'm putting it in the blog - So basically we ended up in this great little town ,Beaufort NC, in the afternoon where there are more than 3 restaurants to choose from and lots of darling shoppes. Trust me, these little stores deserved the french spelling - really cute. Oops. Captain caught me.
We are at Lat 34 degrees 43 minutes Long 76 degrees 40 minutes 1606 EST(like I said Beaufort in the afternoon) and we are enjoying a lovely glass of Ironstone Cabernet Franc, courtesy of the Whites whom we visited back in Delaware, which pairs nicely with the Snickers Fudge we bought in town.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Blowing By Blow Boats
There are two kinds of sailboaters: The Pseudo-intellectual Sailors; the ones whose boats have names like Icarus, Absinthe, Ecolution, who listen to classical music while boating, and are relatively certain that they are enormously ecologically and intellectually superior beings. Then there are the Hippie Sailors; their boats sport names like Reef-er, Deadhead, Peace-Nick. They are listening to The Grateful Dead on their unbelievably cluttered never been washed boats, and they are are fairly certain that the most significant event in US History was Woodstock. They are the ones with the long gray pony tails (the females still have some of that gray hair on the top of their heads - the guys, not so much)
All of these boaters seem to be heading south on the Alligator River (a 25 mile extremely narrow canal that is described on the chart as "foul with debris, snags, and submerged stumps") traveling at about 1 knot to conserve on fuel. Unfortunately my husband respects boater etiquette and keeps slowing down to pass each of these 850 boats. One had the nerve to complain that we snuck up on them at 5 knots and should "learn to use the radio to warn boaters that we are overtaking them" Tom had to wrestle the mic from my hand to keep me from responding. He also knows that there is no bathroom break in his future as I would BLOW by these liberals. (and we know they are liberals) Probably good that he did as we are at our next port, Belhaven NC, and are seriously outnumbered by the ragbaggers. We'll be dining in this evening.
And, despite my constant monitoring of shore, there wasn't a single gator in that river.
Beaufort tomorrow - CIVILIZATION!!!!!
All of these boaters seem to be heading south on the Alligator River (a 25 mile extremely narrow canal that is described on the chart as "foul with debris, snags, and submerged stumps") traveling at about 1 knot to conserve on fuel. Unfortunately my husband respects boater etiquette and keeps slowing down to pass each of these 850 boats. One had the nerve to complain that we snuck up on them at 5 knots and should "learn to use the radio to warn boaters that we are overtaking them" Tom had to wrestle the mic from my hand to keep me from responding. He also knows that there is no bathroom break in his future as I would BLOW by these liberals. (and we know they are liberals) Probably good that he did as we are at our next port, Belhaven NC, and are seriously outnumbered by the ragbaggers. We'll be dining in this evening.
And, despite my constant monitoring of shore, there wasn't a single gator in that river.
Beaufort tomorrow - CIVILIZATION!!!!!
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Back at Sea
Okay so we're not actually at sea but are playing it safe in the intercoastal. We left Norfolk this morning after coming to the horrid realization that I left my iphone on the nightstand at home and Tom left his phone charger right next to it. Not being thrilled with the idea of being cell-less, I begged a ride to the nearest Radio Shack from a kid at the marina. I know, I know, people relied on two-way radios for years but I'm simply not willing to be that detached from civilization. I almost posted a Mayday this morning to get someone to run to house and fedex it to me but I thought that would sound too pathetic.
Great cruising today. I think the Virginia shore is just one big Naval Base. We saw some of the coolest ships. Tom made me go out in the rain to get pics for all the guys following this blog - he said you'd think they were cool. We experienced a lock - my first one. It was largely uneventful but good to see how it works for the 44 lock run home in the spring. We made it to a little town (Coinjock, NC) that reminds us of Killarney in Georgian Bay. All the boats we saw along the way ended up here on the walls. (Note to Dave and Lynn, the trawler finally got here at dusk and had to squeeze into the little gap left on the wall. If you decide to get that trawler, better get good at docking or get thrusters)
Weather Report says 7-9 footers tomorrow at Cape Hatteras - we'll be running inside again. Scrappy is adjusting. Check out his new perch at left. Is my canine prodigy navigating???
Great cruising today. I think the Virginia shore is just one big Naval Base. We saw some of the coolest ships. Tom made me go out in the rain to get pics for all the guys following this blog - he said you'd think they were cool. We experienced a lock - my first one. It was largely uneventful but good to see how it works for the 44 lock run home in the spring. We made it to a little town (Coinjock, NC) that reminds us of Killarney in Georgian Bay. All the boats we saw along the way ended up here on the walls. (Note to Dave and Lynn, the trawler finally got here at dusk and had to squeeze into the little gap left on the wall. If you decide to get that trawler, better get good at docking or get thrusters)
Weather Report says 7-9 footers tomorrow at Cape Hatteras - we'll be running inside again. Scrappy is adjusting. Check out his new perch at left. Is my canine prodigy navigating???
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Blog Break
We are back at River Bend. We have to come back for our Baby Ella fixes. Scrappy is soooo happy to be back in his own yard. But, he has left his "mark" on 5 states so far. We left the boat in Norfolk and will head back on Oct 26th. The blog will resume then. Thanks for following.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Annapolis to Norfolk
We ran from Lewes DE to Annapolis via the D and C canal. It's a 20 mile canal that connects the DE bay to Chesapeake Bay. Pretty much a smooth trip with the exception of the tossed salad Tom made for lunch. See he had a problem with one engine so with no warning he shut it down and put the well behaved engine in neutral. This left us bobbing around, well...like a cork in the waves. Fridge flew open and everything piled out on the floor. Grapes on the bottom. I guess we're having wine with that salad. The rest of the day was uneventful. Annapolis was beautiful. We were docked with the big boys. I'll load a pic of our boat neighbor. Of course we only met the crew.
On our way to Norfolk now. We're moving at about 26 kts with a nice following sea. The Chesapeake Bay is impressive. Tons of sailboats and not those MI sailors motoring along with wimpy engines. These guys have earned the right to claim Eco-superiority. They're actually under sail. It's so pretty and colorful.
On our way to Norfolk now. We're moving at about 26 kts with a nice following sea. The Chesapeake Bay is impressive. Tons of sailboats and not those MI sailors motoring along with wimpy engines. These guys have earned the right to claim Eco-superiority. They're actually under sail. It's so pretty and colorful.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
The Uncorked Fitness Center
I was worried about staying in shape while leisurely boating this winter but I have since realized it won’t be a problem. You see I have a personal trainer, Captain Tom. Here’s an average day at The Uncorked Fitness Center.
We wake up. Within 10 minutes Tom has accomplished his two major morning goals; drinking coffee and that other morning event that seems all too important to all men. (hint: rhymes with ship) So with that, he is winding in the power cord and pulling the lines. The Captain is ready to cruise and evidently it doesn’t matter whether the First Mate has finished battening down the hatches, putting away the coffee maker, or walking the dog. We call this The Morning 50-Foot Dash. If I win, all is good. If I lose, it generally leads to a verbal boxing match.
We start cruising up on the bridge. In his eagerness to get to sea Tom has preset nothing so he begins a set of drills that goes like this: “damn, I left my coffee down below”, “have you seen my sunglasses?”, “where’s the chart book?”, “I thought I had a pair of reading glasses up here”… this is my aerobic workout on the Stair(for)Master.
The course is set so we can get out of the frigid morning air and go down to the lower station. The Captain takes the helm (see pic left), getting nice and comfy in his Starship Enterprise-esque chair and observes, “we didn’t have breakfast – aren’t you a little hungry?” This means it’s time for Galley Lunges, as that’s the only way one can balance on an inclined floor while running across 2-3 foot rollers. Then there is this amazing outer thigh exercise that I call the “Loaded Diaper Walk” that I have to do to climb the incline and deliver the Captain’s meal.
Tom has mentally planned our day and as I clear away the last of the galley mess he announces, “I called our friends and told them we’d meet them in 2 hours.” Okay, that leaves me no time at port to make the bed or take a shower, which means I now begin a series of deep stretches in order to hold on while making the bed and then off to the head for a very robust little routine I call “Shower Yoga” That’s all the visual I’m providing.
I’m back up to the salon. Captain’s still in his cushy chair and with a twinkle in his eye he says, “isn’t it 12 o’clock somewhere??” Back to the galley for “Bar Squats” Not a bad idea though, the mimosas are yummy.
Finally settling in with a book. “What?” Captain needs a bathroom break so I diaper walk to the helm. Hey, this is one comfy chair. I may need to take a Power Squadron course when we get home and let Tom have the morning workout instead.
We made it to Cape May, finally. We are crossing the bay to Lewes to visit Patty and Martin White. That one will be an overnighter. But off to Virginia Beach in the a.m. Provided the winds stay calm.
We wake up. Within 10 minutes Tom has accomplished his two major morning goals; drinking coffee and that other morning event that seems all too important to all men. (hint: rhymes with ship) So with that, he is winding in the power cord and pulling the lines. The Captain is ready to cruise and evidently it doesn’t matter whether the First Mate has finished battening down the hatches, putting away the coffee maker, or walking the dog. We call this The Morning 50-Foot Dash. If I win, all is good. If I lose, it generally leads to a verbal boxing match.
We start cruising up on the bridge. In his eagerness to get to sea Tom has preset nothing so he begins a set of drills that goes like this: “damn, I left my coffee down below”, “have you seen my sunglasses?”, “where’s the chart book?”, “I thought I had a pair of reading glasses up here”… this is my aerobic workout on the Stair(for)Master.
The course is set so we can get out of the frigid morning air and go down to the lower station. The Captain takes the helm (see pic left), getting nice and comfy in his Starship Enterprise-esque chair and observes, “we didn’t have breakfast – aren’t you a little hungry?” This means it’s time for Galley Lunges, as that’s the only way one can balance on an inclined floor while running across 2-3 foot rollers. Then there is this amazing outer thigh exercise that I call the “Loaded Diaper Walk” that I have to do to climb the incline and deliver the Captain’s meal.
Tom has mentally planned our day and as I clear away the last of the galley mess he announces, “I called our friends and told them we’d meet them in 2 hours.” Okay, that leaves me no time at port to make the bed or take a shower, which means I now begin a series of deep stretches in order to hold on while making the bed and then off to the head for a very robust little routine I call “Shower Yoga” That’s all the visual I’m providing.
I’m back up to the salon. Captain’s still in his cushy chair and with a twinkle in his eye he says, “isn’t it 12 o’clock somewhere??” Back to the galley for “Bar Squats” Not a bad idea though, the mimosas are yummy.
Finally settling in with a book. “What?” Captain needs a bathroom break so I diaper walk to the helm. Hey, this is one comfy chair. I may need to take a Power Squadron course when we get home and let Tom have the morning workout instead.
We made it to Cape May, finally. We are crossing the bay to Lewes to visit Patty and Martin White. That one will be an overnighter. But off to Virginia Beach in the a.m. Provided the winds stay calm.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
My name is Kathy and I'm an addict...
I have discovered THE MAGIC SPONGE! Incredible little thing. The Franeys hooked me up and I can't stop. The vinyl seats on the bridge look new again - no more dingy white. I've been rubbing little stains everywhere. This thing is truly magic. Tom finally took my sponge away and said he was beginning to worry about me.
Still too windy to run - but tomorrow we are going for sure. Forked River has it's charms but....
Still too windy to run - but tomorrow we are going for sure. Forked River has it's charms but....
Socked in at Forked River, NJ
Well, we spent the night at Wilbert's Marina in Forked River, NJ and were hoping to get to Cape May today. Unfortunately, we are getting "forked over" by Mother Nature. The forecast calls for 30 knot winds and 5-7 foot waves. Yesterday they said we had 4-6 footers so I'm pretty sure we're staying here at ol' Wilberts today.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Leaving the Bronx
We have been stuck in New York because of high winds and are eager to get under way. First stop - fuel dock. We decided that Liberty Landing Marina in NJ was the closest stop. As we were topping off the tanks gale force winds picked up. So, looks like day one took us all the way to Newark. Nice marina. We're looking at the Manhattan skyline and waving hello to Lady Liberty again. If we had to get socked in, this was a great place to have it happen. There is a fabulous restaurant on site and guess what? This particular Thursday there's a special six-course gourmet dinner with wine pairings.
The meal and pairings were incredible and the entertainment was right up my alley - jazz standards. Yes I did get up and sing with the band and it was so much better than my Birdland performance. Maybe New York is just more intimidating than Jersey.
Got up early Friday to make another go at it. It's windy and wavy but tolerable here in the river so we're committed and going. Unfortunately the 2 footers didn't settle down the got bigger, and bigger. Our goal was Cape May but we are getting beat to hell - Scrappy hates us. We're tucking in 50 miles short of our goal. My liver hadn't quite recovered from last night - I think I felt it slamming into my kidneys with each free fall off the waves. What fun boating is. We are all exhausted.
The meal and pairings were incredible and the entertainment was right up my alley - jazz standards. Yes I did get up and sing with the band and it was so much better than my Birdland performance. Maybe New York is just more intimidating than Jersey.
Got up early Friday to make another go at it. It's windy and wavy but tolerable here in the river so we're committed and going. Unfortunately the 2 footers didn't settle down the got bigger, and bigger. Our goal was Cape May but we are getting beat to hell - Scrappy hates us. We're tucking in 50 miles short of our goal. My liver hadn't quite recovered from last night - I think I felt it slamming into my kidneys with each free fall off the waves. What fun boating is. We are all exhausted.
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