Friday, September 2, 2011

A couple more pictures of the Erie Canal. Here is Lock 8

The lock is located in front of that mostly submerged building. Now here is a picture of what the dams are supposed to look like, The dams are raised in the winter and the water level goes to just a couple of feet in some locations. In baoting season, the dams are lowered and the water gets deep enough for navigation.

Here's a picture of what the massive amounts of water from Irene did to one dam. No telling how long it will take to repair.

There are many boats stranded along the Canal. Several are at Lock 3 and while those locks are fine, if they were to go through, there would be no place for them to go. The Champlain Canal to their north is closed as is the Federal lock to their south. They say that the Canal Corp is taking good care of them and the feds came by as well to assess the situation. We remain so grateful for our successful trip and feel badly for everyone devastated by Irene.

I'm going to start a new page now, for fall and winter. We have lots of fun things coming up, so stay tuned!!

We continue to receive reports from various boating friends. Fred, who lives on the Champlain Canal, says that near Albany there is a pile of boats up on shore. He also reports that the Erie Canal has been very badly damaged and likely will not be open again until next year. Some Sabre friends were able to ride out the storm in River Dunes Marina, which is in North Carolina, but a nearby marina was almost totally destroyed. We are so grateful that our boat survived with no damage but feel so badly for others not as fortunate.

Here is a picture that Fred sent of Lock E-10 on the Erie Canal. We were just there a week ago Friday!

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

We received a message a couple of hours ago that the boat sustained no damage from the hurricane! We are relieved about that but even more relieved to hear that our friend/dealer/broker Hank and his family are all just fine. Thanks for all the good thoughts over the past few days!

Sunday, August 28, 2011

To those of you who have asked about our boat--conveniently left in Sea Bright, NJ right in front of the oncoming hurricane!--we probably won't know until tomorrow how she came through it. Sea Bright was evacuated so Hank (our dealer/broker) will not be able to get back to the shop til tomorrow. Thanks to the overhype, the crazy news and weather channels and the politicians who just LOVE to see their own faces on TV, we really have no idea what to expect. The TV makes it sound like the winds are at least a million miles per hour but the actual fact as of 30 minutes ago, was the winds were at 18 with gusts to 29--nothing we haven't boated in before!! So we'll just wait and see what tomorrow brings. Thanks to all who have asked.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

We are back in Port Washington, as of 2:45PM today! Yesterday morning we finished our cleaning, Bill washed the WHOLE boat AND the dinghy, and Oliver and I met with Hank, our broker. A brand spanking new Coast Guard boat was launched on Monday and docked next us over night, before starting their trip to New Haven, CT.Oliver and Bill enjoyed talking to the guys on the boat. We stuffed every last thing that we could-including June and me-into the car and left at about 11. We went through New Jersey and ALMOST all the way through Pennsylvania, but Oliver was totally exhausted, so we stopped for the night in Grove City, PA. Turns out there is a big outlet mall there and for some reason we were never very clear on, lots of Canadians come to shop and almost every hotel was full. We finally got a room at the Microtel, which turned out to be new and nice, so we checked in and had an Arrived Alive coctail before walking across the street to My Brothers Place-an excellent little restaurant. We sat next to two local couples-Steelers fans but really nice anyway-and had a great time talking with them. After a really good meal, we were ready to fall into bed. We met this morning at 6AM to stuff the car again and grab breakfast before setting off again. After an hour or so of rain, it was a beautiful day and Oliver and Bill traded driving, with a qucik stop for lunch near a pretty little lake. We pulled into the driveway at 2:45 and pried June out of her tiny spece in the back seat and unpacked everything, before Oliver and I took the rental car back and picked up our doggies. The Arrived Alive cocktail tonight will have to wait until tomorrow-we are beat!! June and Bill, of course, are working like crazy in the yard and show no signs of stopping! We are so LUVKY to have them as neighbors and traveling companions. Oliver had a wonderful time with Bill and the four of us have enjoyed the past week. We have some wonderful memories and will enjoy talking about this trip for years to come.

The Coast Guard boat

How Bill spent his summer vacation!

June made friends with a swan

One Oliver II in her last slip

We had the car as stuffed as possible!

Bill and June on their way home-good thing they live next door!

 

Monday Night

We worked SO HARD today!! June and Bill are both cleaning machines-June washed all the walls and windows while Bill washed the entire boat outside. Oliver and I packed the car and also cleaned the bilge. Finally we went to eat dinner at 8PM at the really good restaurant here at the marina. We're back now having our nightcaps and updating our computers. Bill got some nice pictures today.

This is Ellis Island

Coming down the Shrewsbury River

Dinner at the Dockside Restuarant

A beautiful sunset

 

Monday, August 22, 2011

She's home!!!  We put One Oliver II into the same slip where we picked her up. After last night's storms, this morning dawned bright and clear. We were underway at 7:30AM and enjoyed our trip through New York Harbor. Here's our view of Lady Liberty.

We passed several freighters, both anchored and underway, before leaving New York behind.

Hank, our wonderful friend, Sabre dealer and broker, was waiting for us when we arrived. Here is 1-O-2 in her original slip.

We've had our (very early) Arrived Alive cocktails and are getting ready to go pick up our rental car. We'll spend the day cleaning and unpacking the boat, Oliver will change the oil in the morning and we will be heading home. We will likely stay somewhere in PA or OH tomorrow night, and be home Wednesday afternoon. What a wonderful trip!! Thanks for following along with us.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

We had a wonderful day today. We were all up early as usual and by 9AM we jumped on the ferry for Manhattan.

Here's a picture Bill took last night-the bright lights are the new trade towers

This is the view of Manhattan from our boat

And the 1-O-2 in her slip

Here we are leaving Liberty Landing Marina

And here is Manhattan

Bill and June were looking forward to visiting the city

We walked around Ground Zero for a while and looked at the new buildings. The one building is 70 stories done of the planned 104.

We took a city bus tour-first of the downtown area-this Times Square

Straight ahead is where the ball drops

This is the line to get half price tickets for same day shows

Bill and June enjoying the tour.

We finished the downtown tour and went to the Stage Deli for HUGE sandwiches

After lunch, we took the uptown tour ona  different bus. Here is the Empire State Building.

Horse and buggy carriages at Central Park

The Metropolian Museum of Art

The famous Apollo Theater in Harlem

 A statue of Duke Ellington in Central Park

Rockefeller Center-in the winter this is the skating rink

The Waldorf Astoria-this is the flag of the Netherlands and we can't remember who was staying there, but our tour guide was from Amsterdam

Here's the East River and the Brooklyn Bridge

When we finished the afternoon tour, we walked back to the ferry terminal and the skies opened up and it POURED!! We were lucky, because the ferry had just arrived and we jumped on and then the rain stopped. We're sitting on the boat now in the rain, having our cocktails and cheese and crackers and just enjoying life! Tomorrow morning we will be off for the 25 mile trip to Sandy Hook and our adventure will be over. (Except for cleaning!!)

 

 

Saturday, August 20, 2011

If we can make it there, we'll make it anywhere....and we did!!! We made it to NEW YORK CITY!! We got up early, as usual, and after the guys took the lock fenders off and put the radar mast up, we left at about 7AM. As we got to Albany, it started to get foggy and then it really socked in. We were glad to have our radar!

Here's Albany, NY in the fog

There is a boat builder near Albany and this beautiful sailboat was sitting in front

It got foggier and foggier-here's a tug boat

And a barge-this is for you, Wendy!!

And more fog

But after a couple of hours, the sun came out and it was just a beautiful day! Bill loved taking pictures of the many lighthouses along the Hudson River. Here's the Hudson-Athens lighthouse

And the Esopus lighthouse

And the Kingston lighthouse

We passed several barges and freighters

We saw this PT boat

The train tracks run right along the river's edge. June and I dream about taking this trip.

The Hudson River is so beautiful and West Point sits high above the river. It was built during the Revolutionary War and is the oldest military facility in the U.S.

Further south we passed Sing Sing prison

A couple of waverunners spent several miles jumping over our wake

We passed under the Tappan Zee and George Washington bridges, past Yonkers and into New York. We passed this New York Fire Department boat

And this Circle Line Tour boat with the Empire State building in the background

Right before we got to our marina, we passed the building site of the World Trade Center

We got situated in our slip here in Liberty Landing Marina, which is in Jersey City, across from Manhattan. After our Arrived Alive cocktails and showers, we had dinner at one of the 2 restaurants here at the marina. It was supposedly the "casual" restaurant but we were the only people there dressed like we had just gotten off a boat and it was QUITE expensive, but very good. After dinner we walked all around Liberty Landing park, looked at the Statue, and the baots on the river, and we are now sitting on the bridge, eating pie and enjoying the incredible view of New York City.

Tomorrow morning we will take the ferry across the Hudson to Manhattan and spend the day. Monday morning it's off to Sandy Hook Yacht Sales and a couple of clean up days. See you all soon.

Friday, August 19, 2011

We had a long but very nice day today. We left our slip at about 7AM, with a hand from the other boat that was docked there. They are from Lake Norman but had picked up their boat in Bayfield, WI and were bringing it home. It got VERY foggy about a mile away and June and I were on the bow trying to pick out the buoys. Oliver said we were going to tie up when we got to Lock 13 but the fog was lifting a bit and the lockmaster told us it was going to clear around the next bend, so we went on. He also told us we were going to meet this big cruise ship, the Grand Mariner.

The fog started lifting

We kept moving along. Here is a picture from yesterday of Lock 17, the only lock on the canal with a gate that lifts up instead of open

It is a very deep lock

There were some Amish people on the side of the canal

After the fog lifted, the water was as calm as a mirror

June really liked the dams at every lock

We passed several dredgers yesterday. We would approach them and ask for directions on how to pass. Twice they had to move the equipment out of the canal so we could get by.

They were doing some work on parts of the canal. Looks like that might hurt!

As we approached the end of the canal, there were a lot more houses and docks, so we had to move very slowly. This is Guard Gate #2, which controls the last 5 locks. They are a series of 5 step locks-less than 1/4 mile between each one. We were in these locks with one other boat, a small Looper boat that didn't seem to be too familiar with locking. Once out of the last lock, we turned south on the Hudson River, went through the Federal Lock, and then docked at the Troy Town Dock. We were tied up by 4:30PM, enjoyed our Arrived Alive cocktails, showered, and had a great dinner at Jose Malones-an Irish Mexican restuarant. Bill and I are now working on our computers up on the bridge, soon to go to bed and get ready for another day down the Hudson to New York City. 

Thursday, August 18, 2011

We just had a FANTASTIC day today!  We were up early and left our slip at Ess-Kay by 6:45AM. We had beautiful warm, sunny weather, every lock was ready and open for us, and we passed very few slow boats. By 4:45AM, we had traveled 90 miles and 9 locks!! We tied up at the Canajohorie free dock, with 50 amp power even, and went to a really good Italian restuarant for dinner (although they had NO LIQUOR!!!) We had enjoyed our traditional Arrived Alive cocktails as soon as we tied up though, and had wonderful hot showers, so we were content. We are now back on the boat having nightcaps. We have 60 more miles and 12 more locks on the Erie Canal, and then one lock on the Hudson River and then we are on our way to New York!! I only took one picture today, but Bill and June took several so I will post them tomorrow.

This is an old abandoned lock

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

After being picked up at 2:40AM, June and Iarrived in Syracuse right on time, at about 11:30AM. The guys had been to the grocery store, the laundromat and the liquor store and then picked us up at the Syracuse airport. It took about 15 minutes to get back to the boat and we were happy to settle in. The cocktail hour started VERY early-like 2PM-and by 6, I was not feeling too well. But fortunately, I had time to sober up before our cook-out dinner at 8!! Kim and Ethan, who own the marina, fixed us a wonderful meal of barbecued chicken, cucumber and tomoato salad, salt potatoes (a local specialty) and the guys had bought bluseberry and apple pies! We finally fell into bed at 10:30, ready for a big day tomorrow.

The hammock proved to be quite a challenge. The more we drank, the more we fell out. June fell out about 5 times, making a bigger bump each time!

Our good little Deck Monkey washed the whole boat by himself!

The he was allowed some relaxation time.

We all enjoyed ourselves immensely.

Ethan enjoyed some cocktail time with us

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Today was the longest day...and it was! 62 miles on the canal and 7 locks. That is a long day. Especially when there is almost nowhere where you can open it up. Oliver's boat has such a wake that at idle it puts off 5 footers! Which made for the fun of the day!

You have to have something to do to break the monotony, so Oliver would "gun it" when we had no boats or docks , which produced a few surprises. We came around a blind bend and saw two guys fishing. As soon as we saw them, Oliver backed off to nothing, but too late... they got swamped! We apologized profuesely but  I think they were too busy trying to net the stuff that got swept away.

Even more fun was about the last bend in the trip for the day. We are worn out and tired and just got done slowing to nothing to stop from swamping this fishing boat. Well, along comes this idiot in about a 40 foot boat that was not slowing for anyone. I mentioned that this guy was throwing a big wake...Oliver decided to go the same speed as him and gave him quite the surprise with our wake. I wanted to call the guy and remind him that we were only going about 10% throttle and see if he wanted to turn around and come at each other full speed.  Oliver said no, but it was fun thinking about it.

We saw a unique tree while in one of the locks. It had huge pods hanging down that looked like thousands of big pea-pods. The lockmaster said it was an Italpa tree. Pretty cool, but it looked like it would make a real bad mess in the fall.

The girls are probably here by the time this gets posted. Oliver decided to go do laundry tomorrow morning. we figured we can probably do it all together. It can't be that bad. Neither of us are that fond of the colors anyway, so how bad can it be?

Here's a house that Bill has put a deposit on

 

 

Monday, August 15, 2011

Here's Bill's log for today. Not sure I'll get one posted tomorrow night since June and I have an early morning flight on Wednesday. Our airport shuttle is picking us up at 2:40AM so I figure I'll need to go to bed at about 6!! We're looking forward to getting there but hope we don't act as wet blankets-these guys have been having a LOT of fun.

Hello again,

 

Today we started off at 8:00 and had 5 locks to go through…or so we thought.  We finished up in Newark, NY, about 1000 yards short of the 5^th lock, so we will start the day by seeing if Oliver has his finesse first thing in the morning.

 

We are at a dock along the city that is really nice. For you boaters, this place is a great stop!  Everything is close by.  We met a couple (a father and his daughter) that pulled in behind us that rented a boat for 4 days and seem like they are having a blast.

 

We had a race going for a while with a couple on bicycles with saddlebags.  They would pass us, then we passed them.  Kinda fun to keep meeting them.  Not sure where they were going, but Oliver thought they were burning more calories than us.

 

We met a barge in a corner that took up most of the canal and got us into the shallow stuff.  It shouldn’t have been, since we were still in the canal, but one engine died.  Oliver was thinking quick…threw it in neutral…ran downstairs and restarted the starboard engine.  Then used the bow thrusters (which he never uses) to get the boat turned around and pulled us out with the port engine.  All is good.  While this was going on, I got pictures of the barge!

 

We accidently swamped a little boat today.  It is amazing the wake this thing puts off.  Did you know that a wake gets bigger in smooth waters the farther it goes?  I didn’t either, but I told Oliver to look at the cattails on the side of the canal.  The wake was making them do “the wave”.

About that time, we noticed a little boat on a little dock.  Oops!  It was actually ON the dock at one time.  Cool wake!

 

I learned more in the locks today…every one is somewhat different and you have to be on your toes at all times.  I found out today after 4 unsuccessful attempts that no matter how tough you think you are, you will NOT stop a 55,000 pound boat.  You have to let the captain do that.  I dropped a few boathooks in the water…good thing they float! By the end of tomorrow, I should be a pro…I hope.  Oliver is patient.

 

Tomorrow, we go to Brewerton, put the top back up and wait for the girls.  Finally, someone to clean and do the laundry!  Did I just say that outloud?  Oops

Here's the barge that caused them a slight problem

Here's their parking spot for tonight. Olibver and I stayed there on our Loop trip in 2008.

These little rental boats are so cute. People just idle along and do a few locks and then go back to where they started

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Here's a picture Bill sent tonight. Hmmm-I wonder what this is all about?

Maybe his log will explain-I'm sure it's nothing.

Well, so much for our uneventful days!  Today started out by finishing up taking the top down, so we could get under all the bridges on the Erie Canal.  Everything went smooth and we had time to burn, since the first lock did not open until 10:00, so we cleaned the boat a little.  We left at 9:00 and headed for the first lock.  There was a drawbridge about a mile or so up the canal and no one was there.  We called and called and no one answered.

 

Oliver said we could get around by going into the Niagra River and passing the first lock entirely.  The current speeds up to 21 mph in that part of the river, making it difficult to navigate, but we had black skies coming fast and decided it was worth it to get into the canal before the storm hit.  To add to that, we had an electrical problem, so we had no depth, speed or anything!  Oliver told me to grab the life jackets before we got in the river, which gave me tons of confidence, but it turned out to be pretty cool.

 

Then we missed a turn to get into the Erie Canal and got up against a bridge with 12’ of clearance…not good when you are 13.5 feet tall.  A guy standing there told us how to go around and we did that, only to find out we were back in the same place.  Turns out we did not see the small entrance, being so poorly marked.  C’mon New York…it’s the ERIE CANAL!

 

Turned out through all that we were actually still right on schedule from the time we gained by “shooting the rapids” in the Niagra River and although we drove from inside because it rained all day, we arrived in Albion for the night right at 5:00. 

 

Oliver said it was the boring part, because we can only go 5-7 mph, but I thought it was fun because there is a lot to see and something different around every bend.  We went through 2 locks that dropped us 50 ft.  That was cool to see and experience.  We saw the only road that goes under the canal, built in the 1800’s.

 

Going under the many lift bridges was fun too.  The guys that run those things are nice to talk to and they really take good care of you.  One guy handles several bridges and opens one and then drives to the next town to open the next.  Then they call the next town and tell them we are coming.  They we always ready when we got there.

 

We also found out that ducks and geese love to surf.  One Oliver II puts off a mean wake at 7 mph in the canal (see pics) and the ducks actually would come off the shore and into the surf when we came by.  They were having a blast!

 

Tomorrow we have another 5 locks and 55 miles to Newark. Hopefully the rain stops so we can get back outside.

 

Oh I see!  Gee, he didn't mention anything about whimpering. That's what I ALWAYS do when Oliver says I should get the life jackets out. Either Bill handled it better than I do or he was too embarrassed to mention that part!

 

There is still life outside of the boat and I had a nice week-end with my mother, sister and brother-in-law all her for my greatniece Erin's first birthday party. Erin and her Mommy and Daddy joined us Friday night for dinner, then we all ( and I mean about 35 of us) met at Dave's brother's house on Saturday for a big party with massive amounts of food! Nany and Nick left yesterday morning and were supposed to drop Mary Mom off at the Lake Express Ferry but it was canceled because of 8 foot waves on the lake! So she and I had a nice day up at Kohler, looking at fixtures for the house in Georgia, and then a nice dinner at Pasta Shoppe before turning in. today is a beautiful day, so she will have a nice ride across the lake.

 

Oliver says that he can see the results of Obamanomics all over the place-the small towns are about closed up. They left Albion at about 7:30 this morning (Monday) and will move to Newark-another teeny tiny spot on the Erie Canal map. Anxious to see what today brings.

 

Here's a picture of the boat in the the twin locks at Lockport.

 

 

Here's the wake we make at almost idle speed!

 

 

 

 

Here is Bill's log for Saturday, August 14, 2011

Hi Sally,

 

Having gone to the Rock-N-Roll hall of fame last night in Cleveland, we were somewhat surprised when Little Richard showed up at 7:00 am to shove us off.  Good Golly miss Molly!

I sure had a ball!  When you are Rock’n and Rollin, you can hear your mamma call!  We left Cleveland as planned and motored straight through in 1-3s.

 

Got to Buffalo at 3:00 and were welcomed by a CF at the fuel dock.  Buffalo is a really fun place to people watch.  We went to a nice restaurant that had a long waiting list, but somehow we survived by having a few more cocktails before dinner.  Fortunately Oliver and I are both willing to make those types of sacrifices and everything turned out OK.

 

There is a lot of action on the piers where we are and there is a lot of security.  Not good security, but security.  They asked us what we were doing and we told them we had a boat.   

Based on Oliver’s less than respectable shorts he was wearing, they will let anyone in!

 

It is amazing the conversations that you get into with people walking by the boat.  They love the sleek lines and always stop to talk.  Today everyone said we would have had the coolest boat, but we are docked next to a 150 footer that we saw in Cleveland last night.  Rumors are it belongs to Heather Locklear and we are pretty sure she is following us.  Sucks to be us!

 

We finished up the night by having a cocktail on the bridge and Oliver showed me how the spotlight worked as boats went by.  Security came by again and we decided to stop it.

 

This is no fun!

 

Approaching Buffalo

 

Heather Locklear's Boat?!! If she keeps following our guys, June and I are going to have a cat fight with her when we get to Brewerton!!

 

Here's Bill's log for the trip today from Port Huron to Cleveland on Friday, August 12

Hi Sally,

 

No question, Oliver is a professional boater.  We had a late night the night before so we got up a little late…about 8:40.  The drawbridges are supposed to open at 9:00, but at 8:50 the horn went off and we were still tied up and the boat was not running yet.  Well…we made it.

 

The rest of the day was another perfect day of travel.  Great weather; less than 1-footers and great views all along the way through the St. Clair and Detroit rivers (which are actually not rivers…look it up). It was amazing to see the size of Lake St. Clair…you could not even see across it.  I had no idea it was that big.  There were a lot of freighters out there, but that was about it. Not a lot of pleasure boats out there today. 

 

The time went very quick through most of the day with so much to see on each side.  Oliver used some very colorful language (he said golly-gee, I wish you wouldn’t have done that…and it ended with something about a horse they made have rode in on?) when we were in a tight channel, passing a freighter and some boneheads in about a 14 ft boat were just sitting in our passing lane in the channel.  We could have (and maybe should have) swamped them, but Oliver was nice and cut them some slack!

 

We noticed that Lake Erie is not the beautiful hues of blue that we enjoy on Lake Michigan.  Because of the shallow depth, it was kind of a murky green color.  We are really blessed with a beautiful lake.

 

When we got into Lake Erie, we went north of an island called Pelee Island.  It is the biggest Island in Lake Erie and the southernmost habited part of Canada.  It is in the middle of the lake and we got cell coverage when we went by the island.  We had to go around a bit because it was so shallow, but the whole lake is shallow.  The deepest water we were in today was 62 ft.

 

We got to Cleveland at about 4:30 and pulled into a VERY full Lakeside Yacht Club.  There was only one spot to dock along a wall with only a few feet on each end to get in.  I am glad I wasn’t driving, but was impressed that Oliver got in with one shot and never hit a thing. He missed a dinghy along the wall by about an inch!  See the pictures.

 

Oliver got so close to the power station, that I did not even know what to do with the extra cord.  He got within 4 feet and we have 70 ft of cord. See the pictures.

 

We had dinner at the Lakeside Yacht Club and traded a burgee, so we will have one to add to PWYC.  Time to call it a night…we plan to get up early and shuffle of to Buffalo.

This is from last night at the bar in Port Huron-BEFORE they picked up the total strangers and took them back to our boat!

The tight parking place they found at the Lakeside Yacht Club

OK Bill-I'm pretty sure I demonstrated the use of the Cablemaster before you left!

Friday, August 12, 2011

Here is Bill's log for yesterday

Hello Again,

 

Oliver said that boating life was a little about boating and a lot about the people and places.  That has certainly proven to be true so far.

 

We had an uneventful 170 miles of travelling from Rogers City to Port Huron.  Except for freighters, we only saw one boat in 9 hours on the lake.  We pulled into Port Huron at about 5:00 and we were offered a face pier along the river, but while we were fueling, a guy in a Jon boat ran into a boat on the other side of the river and Oliver decided it may be safer to get a slip instead.

Tomorrow, we go back under the drawbridges, into the St. Clair river and on to Cleveland.

  

We docked next to a nice guy with a well-behaved Yellow Lab named Colby.  While we were petting Colby, the owner told us of a good restaurant and gave us a ride.  We both had Jambalaya.  Oliver felt at home with it…first time for me.  Good stuff! 

 

We asked a group next to us to take a picture for us and it turns out they are good friends with the guy docked next to us, so they gave us a ride back to the boat.  It was one of the guys birthday, so we had them in for a birthday nighcap.

 

It sure is easy to meet people and get a conversation started while boating.  It seems to be about the people and places.

 

I think there is much to be read between the lines in this log!! Like, Oliver finally called me at 12:45AM and the impromptu party was still going on. Needless to say, they overslept this morning and missed the 8AM bridge opening. Waiting to hear if they finally got moving and are on the St. Clair River now.

 

Bill was able to send me some pics. First, here are a couple that boat neighbor Julie took for us (she is a great photographer!)

 

 

 

Not much going on in Rogers City!

 

A beautiful rainbow after one of their numerous showers on Wednesday

 

 

 

 

Here is Colby, the dog they are trying to blame their late night on!!

 

 

Oliver just called and they barely made the next bridge but they are on Lake St. Clair and on their way to Cleveland. I feel a little guilty unleashing these two on Cleveland!

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Bill and Oliver's Excellent Adventure continues. They left the slip at about 8:30AM and are on the lake where it's not too rough---yet. Should run into 3-5 foot waves til mid-afternoon but it is from the northwest so won't be quite as bad. Should be in Port Huron in 8 or 9 hours.

Thursday night

The guys had a pretty easy day, weather wise, and they made good time, arriving in Port Huron at 4:45PM. They had to wait until 5PM for the 2 lift bridges to open, but they have fueled up, tied up and are out to dinner now. Bill's report will be posted later tonight.

By the way, dunnage is kind of like packing peanuts for cargo ships-keeps the cargo from moving around. And socabia demoto is......my husband's idea of a joke! He told Bill he knew I would go right to Google and look up the words, and sure enough, I did. Found dunnage right away but since they MADE UP socabia demoto, I wasted about 30 minutes on that. I will pay them back-you can count on that!!

Wednesday Night, August 10, 2011

Here's Bill's log for the day. I will be looking up the fancy words and report back tomorrow.

Hi Sally,

 

Today we got up at 4:00 just because we did not want to believe it would be so bad, but it was.  9-10 ft waves all day.  One ambitious (or stupid) sailboat left in the afternoon…and was back in about 10 minutes.  So we hung out here, stuck in Rogers City and listened to numerous distress calls on channel 16, glad they were not talking about us.

 

We decided to go walk to town and see the sights. Oliver said it looked like “the bomb” went off and no one was left.  How true!  Clean little town, with nice people, but not much going on.  We found a bright spot  in a Maritime Museum with a caretaker that REALLY knew his stuff.  They had every fact and picture about every boat that ever sailed or sunk off of Rogers City.

 

Oliver and I learned what Dunnage meant.  We’re not telling, so now we are smarter than you!

 

We were going to have dinner at a different place, but after thinking about the great meal last night, we had to go back to the Thai Restaurant one more time.  We talked to the Laotian family that are very intelligent and discovered what socabia demoto really meant and how it related to the United States.  Oliver and I concurred and will contemplate that for a while and perhaps think about doing it ourselves, but we are not real sure about our positions as of yet.

 

The lake is supposed to get down to about 3-footers by morning, so our plan is to get up and be ready to go by daybreak if conditions allow and the day will take us 170 miles south to Port Huron.  We are supposed to have decent waves and weather through the rest of the week.  Perhaps some rain on Saturday on the way to Buffalo, but no big water, so we are ready.

 

Have a great night,

Bill & Oliver

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

The guys are holed up in Rogers City-I just checked the weather and the wave height at the buoy near them is 7.55 feet already-supposed to get to about 10 feet before settling down tonight. We hope they will be able to move on tomorrow. They are entertaining themselves by visiting the maritime museum and then going to the sausage shop!!!! Can't wait to get Bill's log tonight!

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Here is Bill's log for the day. He's doing a passable job of filling in for me-at least the writing part!! There will be pictures later-he said the internet is very slow in Rogers City-along with everything else, apparently.

Hi Sally,

 

Oliver and I can’t wait to see you and June.  We are already tired of all these women that hang around the marinas and throw themselves at any available man.  We keep telling them we are not available…that we have hot wives and we are more than satisfied, but they seem to keep trying.  Don’t’ worry…we are tough and we will persevere!

 

This morning, Oliver planned for us to get up early to beat the weather.  Really good call!  We were up at 5:00 and we left Petosky at 6:15, we had 1-2s.  It quickly began to build and by the time we turned the corner to the Straits of Mackinac, as the winds built to 25 knots, we looked back at 6 footers or more…and really ANGRY seas that were going everywhere.  (I can’t believe how good your boat handles this stuff…my butt would have been puckering bad if we were in my boat).

 

Not long after we turned the corner, it calmed to 15 knot winds and 2-3s.  After we went under the bridge, it calmed to less than 7 knot winds and one-footers. It was weird.  Like you flipped a switch going under the bridge.  The straits…and the bridge…awesome and beautiful. Smooth boating all the way to Rogers City, which we made by 11:00 am.  Oliver thought briefly about continuing to Port Huron, but that would have been another 9 hours and the weather was calling for waves building to 3-5s in the evening with maximums of 6.  That would have also pushed us to dark or beyond, so he decided since we were ahead of schedule, we would wait it out in Rogers City. 

 

What a town!  Nice people, clean town, but dying.  Nothing happening.  The guy that works at the harbor said he bought four lots and a nice house in town for 55K.  Another friend bought a decent house for 12K.  WOW!  The “bar” in town closes at 8:00.

 

We found a few bright spots though.  Long stories about the ups and downs of the day, but we think Oliver figured out the “ghost of the auto-pilot” that has plagued the boat since 2006.  And Oliver (Our social director) befriended a boat docked next to us…Craig & Julie from Port Clinton, OH.  They are just beginning the Great Loop.  Craig even thought for a minute he may have the cord we need to fix the auto-pilot.  No such luck, but we had a cocktail on their boat and Oliver gave them a lot of tips about the loop.  Oliver said he thinks they will be great “Loopers”…whatever that means.  Very nice people…and the way the weather looks with up to 10 footers predicted for tomorrow, we may get to know them better.

 

The other bright spot is a great Thai restaurant a few blocks from the marina that had one of the best Thai meals either of us have had.  The young man that waited on us was awesome and really a great server.  Turns out he is going to school in Madison and just home for the summer and working his butt off!  Good for him...good kid.

 

Just got back to the boat for a nightcap; writing about the day.  Oliver is having tea and I am debating between ice-water or a vitamin drink…or something like that!  We had about 4 rounds of thunderstorms come through fast and furious throughout the afternoon, so Oliver made the right decision.  Cool clouds.

 

Not sure what tomorrow will bring, but we are prepared to wait out the storms of needed; prepared to move on 172 nautical miles to Port Huron if we can.  More tomorrow.

 

The guys got to Rogers City at about 11AM and (briefly) thought about fueling up and moving on. However, we all agreed that ould make for too long a day, and they are a day ahead of plan anyway so they will tie up and stay put until Thursday.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

For those of you keeping an up to the minute eye on the boys---- they called here at 5AM this morning and said they were getting ready to leave Petoskey, as the waves were supposed to start building early today. They just called (9AM their time) to say they were under the Mackinac Bridge and past the Island and the water went from REALLY rough to almost nothing, so they should be in Rogers City within a couple of hours. I'm sure Bill will have another interesting report for us later!!

Bill is obviously going to do a great job as the substitute blogger so I will not try to paraphrase him-here is his report

Later Monday

Trying to keep up to date as they go!  They arrived in Petoskey at about 4:15 (CDT) so about a 9 hour trip. They ran into some pretty good wave action between here and about Frankfort-they had talked about maybe stopping in Frankfort but the water settled down so they decided to go on. Apparently coffee flew all over the galley and Bill was in charge of clean-up! Tomorrow looks a bit interesting as well but they have a relatively short trip-4 or 5 hours-and then they will have a lay-up day on Wednesday. They are getting ready to fill up with fuel-that should pretty much take whatever we have left after today's disaster on Wall Street!! More tomorrow.

Monday, August 8, 2011

This morning Oliver and good neighbor Bill slipped the lines at 7:10AM and took off towards Petoskey, MI on Day 1 of a planned two week trip to New York-actually to Sea Bright, New Jersey where Sandy Hook Yacht Sales is located. The marine weather reports have been bouncing all over the place and we went from a Monday departure to Tuesday to finally-late yesterday afternoonback to Monday. And a good decision it appears to be. This morning is sunnya and calm and clear-you couldn't ask for a better day. Of course, it IS boating so we had our issues-the coffee pot wouldn't work (ran to the house for an exchange), the lower helm autopilot wouldn't turn on (the upper helm appears to be working just fine) and my camera-which I took down there to take pictures of the event-ended up on the boat! Luckily Julie, who takes much better pictures than I do anyway, was there to document the departure. When I get her pictures, I will post them.

When they get to Petoskey late this afternoon, they will actually ahve completed about 15% of the trip, mileage-wise!! Tomorrow they plan a relatively short trip through the Straits of Mackinac and over to Rogers City. Wednesday looks nasty on Lake Huron, so they will lay over until Thursday-and hopefully get the autopilot fixed!

June, Bill's sister and brother-in-law, Julie and I were left on the dock waving goodby!!  June and I will join them next week in Brewerton, New York.  I'm not sure how I feel about this yet. I really want to sell this boat and perhaps get one that would be Georgia Intracoastal Waterway friendly, but it looked really weird to see our slip sitting empty, with all the lines gone!

I'll post pictures later and any updates I get from the guys. Bill is going to try to keep the vital stats updated and get a few pictures.

Please keep Oliver and Bill in your thoughts and prayers for safe travels.

Here are Julie's pix-thanks much.