On To Canada

Lake Champlain to Montreal CANADA !

The Hudson River took us straight northward almost 150 miles from NYC to upstate NY, headed towards Lake Champlain, as the Hudson began to narrow, threatening to choke off our route; The Champlain Canal appeared, providing us with a man-made linkage (using locks)  into Lake Champlain. 

Lake Champlain is a beautiful body of water  that spreads north and south over 100 miles, giving us a beautiful  ride through rural New York and Vermont- NY shoreline on the west side of the lake and VT shoreline on the eastern shore.  We spotted a cute little town in Vermont, called Vergennes, which offered free dockage (with water and electricity) for visiting boaters, so we couldn’t resist.  It was very rainy, and the trip to Vergennnes   required a rather long side trip up Otter Creek, so we had a quiet and enjoyable 12 mile  putt  up the creek, a narrow but deep creek, flowing fast with all the rain that had fallen, to a delightful Vermont town.

We had a nice evening walking through Vergennes- it played an historic part in the naval battles of our wars of 1776 and 1812 against the British- and a welcome break.

The next stop was Burlington, Vermont, where we visited with Mary, Bob and Tess.  We stayed several days, had a little more rain and even some sun, took our hosts boating on the Lake, and explored some of Burlington.  Patty took to Burlington quick, it wasn’t long before she was twisting Mary’s arm, asking when we could have a house exchange, our house in Ashland for their house in Burlington, I had very little I could add other than- only if we swapped in the summer. 

We spent two nights ashore with Mary and Bob, did laundry, biked about a bit, Bob took Geoff sailing (they have a sweet Catalina 25 on a sheltered bay of Lake Burlington) and Patty and Mary headed out to a wild flower hike.  For anyone that wants to visit a larger version of Ashland OR, Burlington is the place.

We left Burlington listening to a Coast Guard radio warning that high winds were forecast for the Lake, so we headed to a sheltered cove on Valcor Island for a night on the anchor- we had been warned that when the Lake kicks up, the swell has an annoying tendency to “work” around points of land and make a normally perfect anchorage rolly.  Studying the chart, we couldn’t see how a NW wind could ever push swell into the tight little cove we had chosen for the night.  Wrong, the swell, although not terrible, kept us rocking all night.  We finally hauled anchor the next morning, even though the Lake was still angry (wind was still up in the 20’s) and headed into more sheltered waters.  Our next night’s anchorage was what we sought, serene.

Throughout the trip north along the Hudson River and Lake Champlain and adjoining waters we were constantly reminded of the War of Independence in 1776 and the War of 1812, both fought against the British with many battles fought in this territory.  The US Navy had its beginnings right here along the Champlain Canal.  It was here that Benedict Arnold led the fledging US Navy against the British. In fact, Benedict Arnold play a featured role in much of the fighting in these parts, if anyone has a book about Mr. Arnold and the story of his slide from hero to villain, Geoff would like to read it.

As we headed further north, we were forced to leave Lake Champlain behind and enter the Richelieu River and the Province of Quebec,Canada !  The Richelieu River and the Chambly Canal take boaters straight north from the northern reaches of Lake Champlain to the junction with the St Lawrence River at Sorel, where a left turn allows an upstream visit to Montreal or a right turn to a downstream visit to Quebec.  The clock was ticking for us, the side trip to Quebec was very tempting but summer is short this far north so we made the left turn towards Montreal and a two day trek of about 45 miles against the current of the St Lawrence River. The St Lawrence River carries ocean going traffic from the Atlantic to all of the Great Lakes, so we had to dodge a few large, and fast moving, ships as we headed west towards Montreal.

Montreal was a marvelous treat, we stayed in a marina just across the river from Old Montreal, which we visited by bicycle the day after our arrival.  The city and surrounding area is very bike friendly, so we had no trouble (except that we couldn’t speak or read a word of French) riding the big bridge across the St Lawrence River into Old Montreal.  For those of you that have never visited Montreal, you might consider adding it to your list of cities worth visiting. I would add that we thoroughly enjoyed all of Quebec Province, the rural areas were beautiful, the roads very friendly for bicycle exploration, the small villages very quaint (without being even a bit touristy), and the cities very flavorful  and clean. Quebec (the city) is definitely on our list “for next time”.

  

New Territory

 
6/2/13
We begin week 19 of our journey and have traveled about 2700 miles.  I can't believe that it is June 2 already.

We finished up the ICW with a bang  in New Jersey!! We have met many wonderful and friendly people along the way but when you hit NJ, something changes(besides the NY AND NJ accents).  There are fewer fancy homes, it becomes more industrial and down home and people are hard working and still recovering from Hurricane Sandy.  The ICW in NJ was exciting because you never knew if you would get stuck or not.  It was more challenging (fun) to navigate.  The tides, the fog, the wind, the depths ....we had to be ultra vigilant. We did bump ground a handful of times and once (Geoff and I told each other later)  we thought we might be calling Sea-Tow.  We also had to wait out some 30-40 knot winds before heading out into the Atlantic, the last 25 mile leg toward the Hudson River.  People keep telling us the weather is sooooo different this year!

We had the perfect weather to make it out in the Atlantic to Hudson Bay.  THANK YOU! Sea-sickness is not my idea of fun and I really wanted to avoid that.  The next day we waited out the fog to head under the Verrazano Bridge to.......NYC!  Unfortunately, as we got closer to the bridge the fog thickened.  Geoff studied the radar below while I piloted and kept a keen eye above and we communicated by walkie-talkies!  It was kind of mysterious and spooky to see this bridge appear through the mists and thankfully the barge appeared on the opposite side of the bridge span!  Then we saw her....THE LADY LIBERTY! Impressive.  We anchored out just behind her and could see Ellis Island, Manhattan, Jersey City.  The Hudson River is impressive.  The tidal influence is very much present all the way to Albany.  It changes very quickly from NYC to beautiful rural countryside with rolling hills.  There is occasional barge traffic along the way. Wonderful lighthouses.

We  picked up Geoff's brother Chad who took a train from his home to a park along the river. He traveled with us for a few days and lo and behold, IT GOT HOT!! Ninety degrees!! Nice work Chad!!  Carol, Chad's wife also joined us one of the nights and we had a wonderful re-connect with lots of laughs.

Many people do the Loop and stay at marinas and visit the cities.  Geoff and I just seem to be enjoying the route, the navigation, the challenges, the scenery, the people we meet, the family we have reconnected with and our time together.  Sometimes I feel a little regret, like I should be doing more (sight-seeing/history-reading), but for the most part shoulds just mess me up!!  Relationships are truly most important to me anyway.

New Jersey

Baby Mute Swans

"Is that the bridge we want Geoff?"

THE BROS

Chad and Carol

Merry Month of May

5/27/13

Good Morning Blog Readers!!
May has been a whirlwind. We started May in the Chesapeake.  What a beautiful area with many rivers to explore.  We really could have spent 6 months of our year right here. Many quaint little towns, lots of history, and fun places to ride our bikes.  Our enjoyment of the area though was muted by our excitement of the fact that we were going to see Claire for her boot camp graduation.

Winnie and Jack took over the boat for  us in Kent Narrows, MD, we gave them our latest advice, since we are still learning about docking and boating, then took their rental car and headed south!!

Five hundred miles to Parris Island to see our Marine.  Parris Island graduates Marines 42 weeks of the year with classes of around 600-900 people.  Is that incredible? Wednesday is family day where you learn about the Island and some of what your son or daughter went through during boot camp. Thursday the new marines get "leave" from 1000-1500 (military  time) to see their families.  Friday at 0900 they graduate and are dismissed from their drill instructors!!! It is an overwhelming experience to see all of these young, beautiful people in formation and realize that they have all taken the oath of Honor, Courage, and Commitment and are willing and committed to work, fight and even give their lives for our country.  Claire was just beaming and so proud to be able to now call herself a Marine.  I was most worried that Claire would lose her joy of life and sense of humor after the work-over the drill instructors give but she is still a stitch and joy to be around, she just has a lot more material to work with!!

We then headed to see my Mom in Anderson, NC for Mother's Day.  The visit was short but very sweet and Claire also got to see my Mom's sister Yvonne whose husband, Paden had encouraged Claire to join the Marines before he died two years ago. Yvonne was beside herself when she saw Claire in her uniform.  Claire did a lot of eating and sleeping and healing from her "kennel cough" I called it, that I am sure she acquired from living with 63 other girls. I will just brag here...Claire graduated as a squad leader (one of four), as expert rifleman(the highest you can achieve), as Molly Marine (your platoon votes who represents the most ideal marine) and promoted meritoriously as a Private First Class scoring 295 and 296 out of 300 on her physical and knowledge testing. She is very happy.  She headed back to the boat with us and we showed her what our lives are like now. 

We turned the car back over to Winnie and Jack after a 24 hour visit with them and then continued our journey North. Annapolis, the Chesapeake-Delaware Canal, Delaware Bay and on to New Jersey!!!!! Can't believe how quickly this section has gone.  We have had wonderful visits with my siblings along the way and tomorrow we meet up with Geoff's brother!! A big thanks to my sister Nancy and b-in-law Julius for getting Claire to the train in Wilmington, Delaware with her tons of gear and a lunch bag, for her trip to Camp Geiger in NC for a month of combat training.  More later about the military and our fun experiences in New Jersey.

Pamlico and Abemarle Sounds

I am falling a little behind on the blog postings, so I will catch up with one that covers a couple of weeks.....

We decided to venture away from the charted safety and security of the AICW and head to a less travelled destination- The North Carolina Outer Banks.  The Outer Banks have very familiar names; Nags Head, Hatteras, Kitty Hawk, Ocracoke. We decided to take advantage of a very calm day of weather and leave the AICW, cross Pamlico Sound- an open water trek of about 25-30 miles- and head to Ocracoke.

As forecast, the weather quickly deteriorated once we arrived Ocracoke, the winds stayed 25 knots plus for the next four days (although it would have been safe to leave the island and venture across the Pamlico Sound, it would have been very uncomfortable) so we stayed put in our wonderful little anchorage at Silver Lake, met a wonderful couple (who soon leave on their Hallbergh-Rassy 40 sailboat headed to Bermuda, the Azores, the UK, and then Spain ), walked miles on the windswept island, drank great coffee every morning at the local coffee shop, and met the locals.

Once the weather final let up, we shot back across the Pamlico Sound, reconnected with the AICW, motored the AICW to Bellhaven where we docked for the night at a free city dock,  Nice town with a very nice city dock, free water and electricity (very rare, so far) and several other cruising boats who shared their adventurous tales.  We used our bikes to stock up on food, hit a book store, and explore.

Leaving Bellhaven took us up the Alligator River and the Pungo Canal to the next sound, The Albemarle Sound, another open and sometimes gnarly body of water when the wind kicks up from the wrong direction; we hit it on a reasonably good day, there was some chop but nothing to worry about.  We stopped for the night at another free city dock at Elizabeth City NC, where we found another delightfull town with a very friendly atmosphere.  We once again cracked out our bikes and explored the town,  stocked up on supplies and had a great evening.  

On to the DISMAL SWAMP.......

The AICW splits just north of the Albemarle Sound, providing a choice to boaters.  The fast boats take the Virginia Cut, the slower boats take the Dismal Swamp route.  We took the Dismal Swamp route and it was anything but dismal.  The canal is very narrow, often trees overhang into the canal, in some places two boats would have a difficult time passing.  It is slow going, but we enjoyed every mile, the route has two locks which we had to transit but it was good practice, remembering how to control OSPREY in a lock chamber.  We spent hours chugging along through the dense trees, looking for woodpeckers- I bet Patty we would see a Pileated Woodpecker (Woody Woodpecker) but I lost the bet.

Somewhere between the first and second lock we had a surprise call from Dave Smith, who it turns out was visiting family in Newport News VA, -which was so close, he and his lovely wife Carol drove down late Saturday evening to visit us and we stayed up until the wee hours catching up on news.  They spent the night with us and after a hurried cup of strong coffee, they hurried back to Newport News at 7 am the next morning.

Next chapter-  Norfolk and the end of the AICW and the beginning of the Chesapeake.  Coming soon...

The Intracoastal Waterway through Georgia and South Carolina

THE AICW

I had no idea, before we left Florida, that the AICW (Atlantic Intra-coastal Waterway) would change its' character several times as we moved north through Georgia and the Carolinas.  The Florida portion is what you would expect from Florida, mostly right along the Atlantic, separated from the ocean by a narrow strip of barrier islands, wending its' way northward through heavily populated areas in the south, the banks slowly growing more rural the further north one travels.  Once we hit St Augustine that all began to change, along with the weather.

In St Augustine we were treated to a hellacious thunderstorm, followed by unseasonably cool weather.  A few days after leaving St Augustine, we had weather into the high 30's for our night time lows, since then we have been tangling with early spring weather , for much of the waterway since St Augustine, with many of the deciduous trees on the banks either just leafing out or still bare branches.  We are racing spring as we move north, it would be nice to slow down and let early summer catch up with us, but we need to keep moving so that we can reach Canada before summer ends. (As I write this, we are anchored in a lovely little harbor on Ocracoke Island in The Outer Banks of North Carolina (just south of Kitty Hawk) waiting for a Nor'easter to blow through, with our daily high for the next two days expected in the mid-50's.  I tell you this not to complain about the weather but to let you know that if you decide to take this trip, consider taking two years instead of only one, that will give you time to slow down and smell the coffee).

As the weather was changing, so was the AICW.  As we moved from northern Florida into Georgia several things happened simultaneously; we went totally rural, the banks almost totally in a natural state instead of covered with expensive housing, the waterway rapidly transformed itself from a easy to navigate canal to a labyrinth of rivers, rife with tidal currents, punctuated with man-made cuts every few miles, these man-made cuts acting as connecting links between the rivers, and the tide became a major player in our day-to-day decision-making. Plus the foliage on the banks changed from trees to marsh grass in Georgia and lower SC, then slowly back to trees as we moved further north into SC.  Marsh grass does not offer much protection against the wind, so we much appreciated the return of the larger trees, which help block the wind and make an anchorage much more serene.

In Florida the tidal range was at most two feet, so there was no noticeable tidal current, but in Georgia the spring tides were up to nine feet (the spring tides are noted for their "extra" range- the moon's cycle causes the spring tides to be much larger than tides during the rest of the year.  It is the moon, not the sun, that has the greatest influence on our oceans' tides) and this much larger tidal range (the difference in the waters' height measured between high and low tide) caused serious currents where the incoming and outgoing tidal flow moved through narrow channels ,  We traveled many miles in these narrow river channels, so we had to keep careful track of the state of the tide, so that we could predict what the current would do to us in places where the river was narrow (often bridges are placed at the narrowest part of the waterway , so we often faced the strongest currents when going under a bridge), especially if we had to wait for a bridge to open ( we are 21 ft tall , so any bridge with less than 22 feet of clearance from the water had to open for us).  Many bridges, in an attempt to keep the motorist happy, only open on a schedule, usually every thirty minutes, if we arrived at the bridge before the scheduled opening, we had to wait.  If there was substantial current, it made our delay all that more interesting, since we had to circle in narrow channel, dodging other boats, and also correcting for the strong current.

In Georgia and South Carolina, the AICW is mainly routed through natural rivers, since all of the rivers are naturally flowing to the Atlantic Ocean (generally eastward), this means we travel upriver for a while, then through a man-made canal (usually called a "cut"), then downriver on the next river, then through another cut, then upriver..............you get the idea.  We zig-zagged our way across two states, moving from one river to another, traveling generally north and east. 

When the tide flows inland, it is called a flood tide, in the other direction it is an ebb tide.  There are two high and low tides per day, each slack tide about 6 hours apart.  If the tide was flooding, and we were headed upstream, we would have a current pushing us along with it.  We average about six knots in calm waters, in some flood currents we might enjoy an extra two knot push, giving us an overall speed of eight knots.  If, at that point, we transited one of these man-made cuts, we would then be moving downstream in another river, but since this new river would be experiencing the same flood tidal current, we would now be fighting a two knot current, our overall speed would now be four knots.  In a normal day we might move through three or four different rivers, experiencing this current switch that many times in a day, it is no wonder that we seemed to go through more gin than usual.

And this was even more challenging because of Congress, the budget mess had reduced the money available to the Army Corp of Engineers for dredging, in both Georgia and SC the dredging money is distributed to the different districts based on the commercial tonnage of shipped goods (by water), the AICW doesn't move much commercial cargo, therefore it gets very little dredging.  What this means for the boater traveling the ACW is the danger of running aground.  The AICW is SUPPOSED to have a minimum depth, at low tide, of 10 feet.  In many of the areas prone to shoaling, there are depths as little as three feet  (at low tide), so the only way to approach these areas is at mid-tide or better, with a rising tide.  That way if you do run aground, the rising tide will help float you free of the bottom.

The tidal current also makes anchoring an interesting proposition, many of the better anchorages are in small rivers and creeks, away from the main waterway to avoid the wakes from passing traffic, and since the tidal current switches direction every six hours  the boat swings 180 degrees every six hours.  Every boater assumes their anchored boat will face bow into the wind, but if the water current is stronger than the wind, the boat "faces" into the current.  It wasn't uncommon to wake up in the middle of the night and go up on deck to check the boat, and find the boat stern-to into a stiff breeze, sometimes as much as 25 knots.  This can be alarming the first few times, because it is so unnatural if you are accustomed to anchoring where there is no current, after awhile it was fun to watch the boats around us swinging on their anchors in awkward orientations and knowing our boat looked just as awkward.

We had a few highlights on the way:

We stopped in Charleston SC to visit the Yorktown WWII Naval Museum, where we not only toured the Yorktown but also had the chance to visit a WWII destroyer and sub.  Patty wanted to find the memorial to the escort carrier Gambier Bay, a ship that was sunk during the Battle of Leyte Gulf, taking her Uncle Harold Devine with it to the bottom.  We found his name on the memorial plaque.

We also stopped in Myrtle Beach SC to visit with Patty's aunt Nancy and uncle Dick.

 When we stopped in Myrtle Beach, we decided we had to stay at The Osprey Marina, just a few miles from her house, because our boat is named OSPREY.  The last ten or fifteen miles before we arrived at the marina told the story why the marina is named after the Osprey- there are so many active Osprey nests along this stretch of the AICW that we easily had 5-10 nests in sight at any given moment.  The place was crazy with Osprey, which we found delightful.

 I have another story about a different kind of Osprey flying around our trawler, which I will share with you in my next blog..........................

North Carolina wants me.

4/19/13

Currenly, we are in Ocracoke, NC.  The Outer Banks.  The Barrier Islands.  Crossing Pamlico Sound we had a glorious day.  It was warm, sunny, minimal wind, which translates to minimal "chop" and a nice ride.  We are in a harbor called Silver Lake awaiting the next break in the weather to head back to the ICW.  We have walked and rowed and explored.  I do love NC and was planning to move here when Geoff decided that he could be a married man with children! We moved to Oregon for work for Geoff. (Thanks again Tim!)

 How did I come to love NC?  My first nursing job was at UNC Medical Center.  I left Pittsburgh with my car and a few dollars and decided I wanted to live in the center of the state midway between mountains and beaches, hiking and camping. My parents gave me a cousin's phone number that I was sure I wouldn't need.  Well, living in a hotel, looking for a job and answering roommate ads in the paper (using pay phones!!!) my tough self softened and I was lonely within a week. Hooray for that cousin's phone number because that's how Doc and JoAnn entered my life and they happened to need a house sitter for a week! And so began a wonderful relationship and my love for North Carolina. Doc and JoAnn drove three hours last Sunday from Durham to see us and check out our boating life while we were docked near Surf City.  They figured they weren't boating people but were convinced once they got on the boat!!  We had a wonderful visit and seafood lunch and walked on the beach and fishing pier.  Geoff bought a NC fishing license and Doc and Geoff compared fishing and hunting notes.  What a wonderful re-connect.

So, you may think that the boating life is all easy-peasy and fun and games but you know there is still cooking and cleaning to be done (though 500 vs 2500sq ft).
The boat did conk out a few times WITHOUT warning (remember that it is a 1987 trawler)...engine maintenance.
There is this thing about zincs that I don't quite get...something about electricity, salt water and metal through the hull (see pictures).
Oh yes, and holding tank pumping... don't have to do that at home.  Geoff doesn't even gag anymore when we have to do that which is about every 5-7 days.
We had a powerful rain last night with thunder and lightening and I believe that water is leaking in through the teak decking into our bedroom!!
Geoff repaired our horn  last week (one blast if passing on your port/two blasts starboard).
Today the windshield wipers might get repaired!

Geoff having fun on his birthday!

Old Zinc.

I do love being on the water and looking at the light and wind playing on it especially at morning and night.
I do love that I am sleeping A LOT!
I do love that we decide our day by the weather.
And I do love knowing that I have wonderful people to connect with either on the boat or through the blog.  Thank you.

Looking for Claire

Claire, Claire, Where are you?

It was a strange trip, motoring right past the eastern shoreline of Parris Island SC, literally within shouting distance of Claire and not be able to communicate with her.  Before Parris Island hove into view, I made Patty promise, that if we saw recruits on the island she WOULD NOT yell, call out Claire's name or wave.  She did promise, but thankfully we didn't see anyone you could think was a recruit, I was certain Patty was fully prepared to shatter her promise to me if she could see anyone who might be Claire.  After motoring slowly by the island, we anchored in a queit anchorage on the north shore of Parris Is, where we could hear, wafting over the gentle evening breezys, drill instructors barking commands over loudspeakers. 

From the eastern shoreline, the island looked like a pleasant place to spend a few months, the water sparkled, the trees swayed gently in the sun, the breeze bringing us pleasant scents from the island.  After we anchored, and we could look past the large trees that hid the real action going on there, we could catch glimpses of monster buildings, very official looking, that could house thousands of sweating recruits.  And then, as the sun set, and our public enemy number one came to visit ( also known locally as the sandfly, but better known by the crew of the Osprey as P.E.N.O.), the tiny, biting, blood-sucking little varmints everyone here calls gnats.( By the way, I refuse to call them gnats, the moniker "gnat" makes them sound just a little annoying but generally harmless. They are anything but). After we swatted at the devilish things, and I scratched at numerous welts, drawing blood (but it felt SO GOOD) again, a realization hit us.  Imagine spending three months in this place, the gnats always on the ready to suck your blood, standing at attention for what would seem like hours, when all you really want to do is slap those silly bugs to death. And then scratch the bite until it hurts, all the while hoping for some relief from the itching.  I would rather run all day, in the feeble hope that I could outrun those annoying things.

After we left Parris Island, we visited Beaufort, which is just a few miles north of Parris Island. We not only visited a quaint little town, we met people who told us more about the weekly graduation ceremony that takes place for each graduating boot class.  So we now better understand the importance of the  Marine Corp "culture".  The graduation ceremony is a very big deal, for the recruit, the local community, the Marine Corp, and the recruit's family.  We are very glad Claire stressed how important it will be for us to be there for her graduation ceremony, after visiting Beaufort, we now know we should be there two days ahead of the actual graduation day, so that we can participate in other, special activities given for the benefit of the visiting family members.  We have invited Patty's Aunt Yvonne, who lives only a few hours away, and who's husband was a career Marine Officer to join us..  Before his death he was always happy to talk with Claire and tell her what she could expect if she joined the Corp. We hope she can come.