We don't spend as much time at the boat as we used to but did have a nice get together last week-end with friends Bill and Pat from Cedar Rapids. Their boat is for sale so unfortunately we don't get to see them as often as we would like. We are waiting for the road work in Port Washington to be completed and then we will have the boat pulled out and put into inside storage so we can do the rest of the work on it. In the meantime, we continue to work on the house and I remain in physical therapy, hoping my back will improve. I am following many Looper blogs. It doesn't seem possible that is has been almost a year since we left on our own trip. I plan to re-read my blog starting with the day we left and reliving the trip!!
What a beautiful moonlit night it was!
I think Marina is ready to go again!
I'm going to start a new page on this Blog called Post Loop and that is where I'll post from now on. If you have any interest in our now-rather-dull post Loop lives, check there!! We finally have one chore completely (almost) done! We have the dinghy washed, the oil changed and the engine fogged. Now all we have to do is put the cover on it and it's ready to be stored until next spring. If only we had the big boat in as good a shape! I am struggling with 3 herniated discs (which I may or may not have incurred in Buffalo, NY, when the dockhand declined to help us tie up and I fought a 25 knot cross wind) so physical therapy takes up a lot of my time, but we will get it all done eventually. This is a big week-end in Port Washington, with 5 Tall ships coming for Maritime Heritage Festival. We will be working most of the week-end at our church potato-and-corn booth but should have an enjoyable time. Hoping to see some Loopers here as fuel prices at our marina remain among the lowest on the lake. Here's the dinghy ready to be covered. We continue to work on getting the boat cleaned up. The dinghy is now on a trailer in our garage, so we can wash the grime and dirt off, and Dave the miracle worker from Great Lakes Marine Services has started working on the I-O-2. We will probbaly put it into storage a little early this year so that we can clean the hull and Dave can get to his punch list. We are starting to kind of miss our cruising lifestyle and have ordered a guide book for the Down East Loop. This trip would take us back out to the Erie Canal, up the Oswego Canal, across Lake Ontario to Canada, then up the St. Lawrence to Montreal and Quebec, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and down to Maine, then down the East Coast to New York and back out the Erie Canal to the Great Lakes. It would probably be about a 4 month trip - much shorter than our 10 month Great Loop - and much of it would be over waters we've already traveled but a lot would be new, also, so we'll be thinking about this over the winter. I have been having a lot of back and arm pain since we got home and it turns out I have a few herniated discs, so I start physical therapy next week and will see how much improvement I get over the next months. Last week-end we got out on the water for the first time - on the Lake Express Ferry!! Our entire family surprised my father for his 85th birthday! People came from Wyoming, Atlanta, California, New York, and Wisconsin - 24 of us for dinner Saturday night!! We had a wonderful time. Here's a not s good group shot of us all-
Yesterday was THE day that we came home for!! Paul and Sharon, our very dear boat friends, hosted one of the most beautiful - and fun - weddings we have ever attended. Their daughter Kelly and new son-in-law Frank were married in a beautiful chapel, followed by a wonderful reception with lots of great food, drink and dancing. There are a lot of pictures I wouldn't dare post but here are a couple of the tamer ones. Our boat buddies (L to R - Mike, Sandy, Sharon, Joe, Rose, me, Oliver, Paul) Kelly was a most elegant bride-here she is with her new husband and her sister Nicole. Nicole was our dogsitter several years ago when Prime Time (Paul and Sharon's boat) and One Oliver II journeyed to the North Channel.
We continue to get settled in from the trip. Oliver has begun to organize "West Marine Port Washington" in the basement and soon we'll be able to move things from the garage to the basement-hopefully before snow comes and our cars are sitting outside! We are filling our calendars with visits with friends and today we made the most significant advancement of them all-secured tickets for a Packers game! We met yesterday with Dave from Great Lakes Marine to formulate our plan for bringing 1-O-II back to her pre-Loop pristine condition. The trip is not easy on a boat but we think Dave is a genius at this type of thing and by next spring, she will look brand new.Our friend Sharon gave me these pictures of the moment we returned home-I'm sure they don't reflect accurately how delighted we were! Thanks to all of you who continue to follow our blog. It's not quite as interesting now as when we were traveling but it is a good way to keep in touch. We continue to "decompress"-the adjustment to being home after all those months is not as easy as we thought it would be. I think we both feel at loose ends, after all the years of planning and then doing, the Loop. Our 15 minutes of fame strecthed into 16-MarinaLife just published the article thye asked me to write and Oliver was quoted in a Milwaukee magazine article about the Loop. Oliver is jumping right back into his church activities and we are both enjoying our time with our friends. I'm still trying to recover from my shoulder/neck/whetever injury and had an MRI yesterday. It keeps me from doing much and the picture below of our garage will attest to that! We have had some nice weather and hope that it continues as the Loopers move this way. We hope to see many in Port Washington, for our nice marina and town as well as our (relatively) cheap fuel price-$4.39 for diesel right now. Thanks for checking in with us!! A beautiful evening for the Wednesday night race-although now wind, so a SLOOOW race! Marina had a play date yesterday with Cody. He's an almost-3-year old Welsh terrier who lives in Saukville with 3 Airedale borthers and sisters. Oliver couldn't resist pointing out that Cody was mellow and laid back while Marina was in his face at every opportunity!
This what your garage looks like when you unload the 500 pounds of gear you actually used on the trip and the 3000 pounds you lugged but never used!
Well, we've now been home for over a week and in some ways it feels like we were never gone! We've been very busy. The Ozaukee Press did a very nice story on our trip, with several pictues, including one of Marina. She is very happy to be home and for the first week she pretty much stayed away from us, sleeping in closets and on the deck-safely out of reach. I think she's afraid we'll take her to the boat again! Oliver was in the sitting room, in the chair she likes to lay in as she can look out at the yard and lake, but when she walked in and saw him there she turned around and left!! My shoulder injury is not healing as quickly as I would like. I am limited in what I can do, which is very frustrating as there is LOTS to be done. Oliver continues to unload the boat-we sure had a lot of stuff with us-but most of it is now in the garage. As soon as I am better, we will start organizing what everyone calls "West Marine North" in our basement! We enjoyed the wonderful fireworks last night with our friends at the marina. We all agreed they were the best ever and it's wonderful to be with our pals again. No pictures fit for publication as the boat is filthy! Hopefully I'll be able to help Oliver wash it next week. I continue to keep an eye on several blogs of current Loopers and we hope to see soem of you here later this summer. We're HOME!!!! We arrived yesterday (June 24) at about 4:45PM after two LOOOOONG days of travel. We left Port Huron on Monday morning a little before 7. On our entire 9 month plus trip, we have used our horn exactly once and that was to open the bridge in Port Huron when we arrived on Sunday. We pulled up to the same bridge, Oliver pushed the button and.....burble burble. The horn sounded like someone blowing a straw into a soda!! We were pretty sure that the bridge tender could not hear us! Of course we had 2 disposable horns on board-one didn't work at all and the other exploded it's chemical and about froze Oliver's hands off. Still no bridge opening. So, while I treaded water with the boat, Oliver climbed into the dinghy to get the emergency kit-and that horn worked! In the meantime, I saw a number on the bridge and called it-got the Public Works Department and said we needed the Military Street Bridge opened and the lady said....just blow your horn. She also offered to call the bridge tender and within a few minutes we were on our way. I was sure the Coast Guard was going to show up, as you are required to have a working horn but apparently they didn't get the word! As we left Port Huron behind, we could see a rainstorm moving in-missed that one! The lake was smooth so we soon decided that we'd run as far as we could. The weather looked good for Monday and Tuesday and a little iffy after that. We watched a big area of rain that was over the top of the lake at 7AM and of course was still there waiting for us at 4PM!! It wasn't heavy or long and shortly after 5PM we were at the Cheboygan County Marina fuel dock and then had our choice of slips-there are very few boats out now. We had dinner at The Boathouse, our favorite Cheboygan Restaurant, and then went back to the boat. Hours traveled - 10.5 Miles traveled - 218 Tuesday morning we were up and out of the slip by 6AM (that's 5AM Central) and had a beautiful crossing under the Mighty Mac Bridge. By the time we got to Grey's Reef, we ran into fog. I don't think we've ever gone through there without fog and usually sharing the channel with a big freighter as well. It cleared soon and, though we had a few more patches of fog, the trip was great for the first 8 hours. I calculated our fuel burn and we decided we could go home, although we did turn the generator off as it burns 2 gallons per hour. That meant I had to give up my heating pad for my pulled muscle but it seemed a small price to pay to get home. The winds were out of the south so the waves kicked up on Lake Michigan and the last 4 hours was bumpy and wet. We had sheets of water over the windows although we stayed nice and dry but it was uncomfortable. We feel very bad for Marina because she hates it when its' bumpy and we couldn't explain to her that she'd soon be home. What excitement when we came around the last point of land and saw the Port Washington light!! As we pulled into the harbor, we could see some friends waiting for us and as we neared our slip, we could hear the familiar sounds of Rake 'n Scrape!! (For those of you who visited the Bahamas, I know we all thought we'd NEVER want to hear Rake ' n Scrape again but it was a wonderful sound!!!). How great to be in our home slip for the first time in almost 10 months! Hours traveled - 11.5 Miles traveled - 244 We are so greatful for all the help and support we had in doing this trip. We couldn't even start to mention everybody who played a part but if you're reading this, we're talking about you!! As for our next adventure, that's anybody's guess. I won't be posting on our blog until we do something interesting but we're always available by email and would love to hear from anyone and everyone. Thanks for taking this amazing voyage with us!! I never get tired of the Mackinac Bridge
And here's what it looks like when you're in it. We've learned a lot about boating over the past couple of years and one of the best is how to use and trust our instruments. This used to freak us out but isn't a big deal now-although it's better NOT to have it!
Here's our welcoming committee!!
The Rake 'n Scrape Girls
For Marina's many fans, here's one more picture of her. She is ecstatic to be home!!
Here are the stats for the Port Washington to Port Washington Loop Hours traveled - 389 Miles traveled - 5268 Days gone - 296 Days traveled - 69 Average miles per day - 76 Average hours per day - 5.6 Average miles per hour - 13.5 Total fuel used - 8357 gallons Average gallons per hour - 21 Locks traversed - 52
I hardly know where to start with everything that has happened since I last posted! After our rock and roll night in Buffalo, we got up early to put the canvas back up-Oliver had done the frame and we did the radar mast when we got into Buffalo. Turns out I pulled a muscle in my back/shoulder while trying to dock our 55,000 pound boat with no help and I was absolutely miserable. We left anyway since it was supposed to be a nice day, which it was. Lake Erie was interesting-calm and rough at the same time. We arrived at Geneva State Park Marina and, although last year, they had been very organized, this time they were very unorganized-I think because they had 2 different yacht clubs coming in for the week-end. We fueled up and moved to our slip on the outer wall, which turned out to have electricity but no water. They had a hard time getting our bill right-they ended up charging three different times and refunding once! By the time we got settled I could hardly move, so I got in bed with the heating pad and Oliver went and got hamburgers for our dinner. We decided we really wanted to leave yesterday, so we made a bed for me on the bridge and I laid on the heating pad while we motored toward Toledo Beach Marina. I was really looking forward to being back in Michigan but when we were about 30 miles out, BIG thunderstorms appeared on our chartplotter and the Coast Guard issued severe thunderstorm warnings. We knew there was no way we could beat them to Toledo Beach so we headed towards the Detroit River and I called a marina. NEVER go to the (Bah) Humbug Marina in (I think) Wyandotte, Michigan. I told the manager we were trying to get off the water before the stor and he said he didn't think he had any place to put us, nor could he recommend any place nearby! Oliver was willing to ride it out but I was of course freaking so we headed back east at a furious rate. (FYI, per the many discussions among Loopers as to whether slow or fast boats are best, the discussion is closed as far as I am concerned!! Our boat WILL go 7 knots any time we want but it CAN go 22 knots when necessary and it saved our butts!) I called the Leamington Municial Marina in Leamington, Ontario and they said they had room. We were about 20 miles away and the storms were closing fast but we flew into the harbor, they told us where to dock and came out to take lines, Oliver spun the boat and put our 57 feet into the 59 feet they had available, we all threw on some lines and the dock hands ran back to the office and within 90 seconds the skies opened, the wind howled and you could hardly see 10 feet. As we watched, a sailboat came into the marina and they were heeled over as if under full sail on a windy day. They struggled for several minutes but there was nothing anyone could do. They managed to blow by us and it looked as though they were going to end up on the rocks but at the last minute, they managed to reverse the boat and blew right into an empty slip! The marina told us later that they had called the fire department rescue team because they thought the boat had hit the rocks. Great seamanship-we didn't get a chance to meet the couple but we were surely impresed and wish them well. It rained for a long time but eventually we were able to check in,call Canadian Customs and go out to eat. What a day!! This morning we awoke to a beautiful morning-and about a million fish flies (or mayflies, as some call them) all over our boat! It was disgusting but we got out the hose, broom and dustpan and managed to get most of them off. We left by 7, headed for Port Huron, Michigan. It was a beautiful day but I could see thunderstorms over Lake Michigan so we throttled up whenever possble. There were lots of boats out but we made it to Port Huron in good time and were soon at River Street Marina, fueling up. I had just asked the dockhand if he had a phone number for Customs when who should show up, but 3 Customs and Border Protection officers. They asked where we had come from and when we said we had stopped in Canada, they asked if we had an I-68 or Nexus Pass. We said we had passports, and hadn't planned to stop in Canada, whereupon they informed us we were in violation of the rules and they were going to give us a warning ticket. Then they wanted to search the boat so we had to get Marina off and we sat in the grass as they went through the boat. (Doesn't it just figure that when you don' make your bed, company comes?!) When I said that we didn't plan to stop in Canada but were evading the storm, they said Oh yeah, that was a really big storm and it sure came up fast! We also had our Local Boater Option cards from Florida but none of them knew what that was-they guessed it was like an I-68. In the end, they were actually very nice and gave us our "warning". After they left, I read the regulation again and it still appears to me that as long as you are willing to show up at their office in person, you don't have to have the I-68 or Nexus, but who am I to argue!! I asked where we would get the documents and they told me Detroit or Sault Ste. Marie-the guy had no idea where Port Washington, Wisconsin is. I guess next time, we'll just let the Coast Guard come get us in storm! I did mention that the (Bah) Humbug Marina wouldn't take us in and the CBP guy was very surprised. I might drop a little note to the Coast Guard about that as well. We had a big storm here a while ago and saw boats treading water here in the river, waiting for it to pass. Looks like tomorrow we might have a few hours of good weather so we'll move a bit north on Lake Huron. Hope to be home by next week-end with no more adventures to report!! Hours taveled Friday, Saturday and Sunday - 19.5 Miles traveled - 363 Here's the storm-the sailboat is just at the end of the dock This wasn't the highest wind we had but it rocked us pretty good This shows what a great job docking Oliver did-that's a steel wall behind us Warning-the following picture is disgusting!! Here go our friends from Customs and Border Protction. All kidding aside, we do appreciate what they do and Oliver told them so. We had such a nice, peaceful night in Albion. A good dinner at Wiggles and Jiggles (I think that's the name) and it was cool enough to turn off the generator so I slept well. This morning was bright and sunny-not to last, unfortunately, and we lef at 7:15AM. The bridges all were expecting us and they opened right up-no waiting!! We got to Locks 34 and 25-they're a double lock-you drive into one, they fill it and open the doors and you drive right into the next one. There was a tour boat of school children in Lock 34 with us as we went up, and a boat FULL of kids locking down from 35 when the doors opened. They waved and called to us and Marina went ballistic!! She was inside nd couldn't see them but she sure could hear them. We finally got to Tonawanda-forgot how long and slow and boring it is! Since it was only 2:00, we decided to go on to Buffalo. We went through the Black Rock Lock-it's only a 5 foot lift but VERY slow-and then through 2 lift bridges-almost ran right into the first one as we didn't even see he was opening!! We are at Erie Basin Marina in Buffalo. It started blowing hard and raining a little. We stopped at the fuel pier and when I asked the dockhand if he was going to help us with our lines at our slip, he said no, we should just go anywhere on the wall we wanted. The 20 knot winds were blowing AWAY from the wall so Oliver had to power up close, I got a spring on a cleat and he worked against that line until I got a second one and then a third one on. It took us about 30 minutes to get secure and then he went up to the office and had a "discussion" with the dock kid!! Needless to say, when a boat came in a little while ago, TWO people came out to help him in!! Anyway, we're secure but rocking and rolling like no cruise ship I've ever been on. We're separated from Lake Erie by Buffalo Harbor AND land but we're still getting a lot of wave action. Hopefully we'll leave here in he morning-it's supposed to be not too bad on the lake. We'll go to Geneva State Park Marina-we really liked it there last year. They are really busy with a couple of yacht clubs coming in but have found a spot for us for a couple of nights. Oliver got the rdar mast back up-so we can watch TV and in case of fo tomorrow-but we still need to put all the canvas up so we'll take a day at Geneva to do that. Hours traveled today - 9 Miles traveled - 52 Locks - 3 Bridges - 10 Look how pretty it was in Albion this morning Looking up Main Street as we went under the bridge The Erie west of Lockport looks like the Amazon!! Look how gray it is in Buffalo! What a difference a few hours makes.
After another long, somewhat boring day (not that boring is a bad thing in boating!!) we are in Albion, NY, just about 45 miles from the end of the Erie Canal. We awoke to rain but left at 6AM anyway and within a couple of hours, it had dried off and the sun even came out. Oliver's back has been bothering him from driving at the lower helm so he decided to run the boat from the bridge. It was a little chilly up there and he had to duck for a few low bridges, but it made the trip much easier for him. The western end of the Erie is really much nicer than the eastern. There are lots of little towns and they all seem to have upgraded their free docks-many have electric and water, and there are usually restaurants nearby. There are 16 lift bridges at this end of the Canal and the bridgetenders go out of their way to be helpful-they call ahead and we have never waited more than 2 minutes for the bridge to open. Same can be said for the locktenders-all 4 were open and ready for us today. When we tied up here in Albion, the bridgetender lowered the bridge after we came through and then jumped in his truck and came to help us with our lines-I'm sure that's not in his job description! There aren't many boats around-we passed a couple going east and there are a few of the small Canal rental boats but pretty much that's it. We will probably stay in Tonawanda tomorrow night and then go to Buffalo early on Friday, put the canvas and radar back up and hope for good weather. We're only about a week from home, if we can travel everyday. Hours traveled today - 9 Miles traveled - 59 Locks - 4 Lift Bridges - 7 Marina found a new place to sit, where she can look out on the Canal path. The red and green markers end about 60 miles from Lockport and this is what the chart looks like-good thing the Canal is straight! Some of the bridgetenders have to work 2 or more bridges. This is Brockport-after you go through the first bridge, the tender lowers the bridge, puts the gates up, locks the door, jumps in his car and drives to the next bridge! And we still didn't have to wait!! The Canal is a little narrow in places-makes passing other boats interesting. Oliver was a little chilly-he has on 2 jackets! By the time we got to Albion, he was sunburned and we were back in shorts. The arrow means DUCK !!!!!! Here we are tied up in Albion.
We were up and out early this morning and we made good progress. Went through a few rain showers this morning and then partly cloudy and a little windy. Still, we made it through 7 locks and arrived in Newark, NY, by about 3:45. We tied up and showered, then had an excellent dinner at The Corner Tavern. We've walked Marina and we're back on the boat-it's raining again and it's pretty chilly. Supposed to be 50 tomorrow morning! We may get to Buffalo on Thursday or we may slow down because of the weather and wait until Friday. In any event, we have the majority of the Erie behind us, so we can just relaz an wait for the best possible weather now. Here we are at the wall in Newark. Very nice-30 amp power (although we need 50) and water, several restaurants nearby. Hours traveled today - 9 Miles traveled - 69
Just an update from the lazy ones!! We're still in Brewerton at Ess-Kay, but we're going to kick ourselves out tomorrow. Yesterday was foggy, then when Marina got up she was sick so we thought we'd wait a while to make sure she was O.K. She laid around all day-wouldn't eat and wanted to eat grass (I didn't let her because her Grandpa says it's bad for her) so I finally just put on my bathing suit and laid in the sun and read a book. We were really tired and I think I was asleep before 7:30 last night. The weather didn't look great today and, in fact, we had thunderstorm warnings and this afternoon, a tornado warning, so we decided just to stay put. We're very comfortable here-even with our mast down, they have cable so we can watch TV. Marina has seemed better this afternoon so we'll go in the morning if the weather looks good. We're expecting some wind and more rain this week so doubt that we will be able to venture onto Lake Erie til at least the week-end. We'll keep you posted. Happy Happy HAPPY Birthday to my very special niece ( and bride to be) Libby!! Here are 2 of the lazy ones!!
We had a very busy day yesterday. We left the lock wall at 5:30AM and we were through 2 locks by 8, and then it was off on Lake Oneida, a 20 mile long lake that connects the eastern and western ends of the Erie Canal. It can be a nasty piece of business to cross on a bad day but it was a nice day, although storms were predicted for later, so we didn't waste any time getting here to Ess Kay Yards-one of our absolute favorite stops. We filled up with the most reasonable diesel we've seen recently and were in our slip by 10:00. A quick walk for Marina and we jumped in to the courtesy car and went to the liquor store, bank and grocery store-for what we hope will be the last time until we get home! When we came back, we started getting the boat ready for the next leg. "Low bridge, everybody down. Low bridge for we're coming to a town"! There are many low bridges between here and Buffalo so we had to take down all our canvas-a rather cumbersome ordeal. Oliver takes down each window and I wash it and stack it in the guest room. Each piece has to be covered in a sheet or blanket to keep them from scratching each other. Then Oliver takes the frame down and ties it all up with electrical ties. In about 4 or 5 days, when we get to Lake Erie, the process is repeated. At least we're getting good at it! I did 3 loads of wash and decided to rinse the boat off but the poor thing was so dirty from the 22 locks we've traversed that I decided to give her a real bath. After showers, we joined several other boaters (a couple Loopers, a local, and a delivery captain) and Kim and Ethan, who own Ess-Kay, for a wonderful cook out. I didn't think I could keep awake past 7 but we had a wonderful time sharing boating stories and didn't get back to the boat until 10:30. One of the things we have really enjoyed about this trip is finding out how small the boating community really is. At one point someone mentiond "Woody and Ellen" and we knew right away who they were talking about-our next door neighbors in Marsh Harbour!! It's a lot of fun to see people or hear of them months after meeting them. We'll miss that when we get home and hope that some of our new friends stop by Port Washington as they go down Lake Michigan. We had planned an early start today but even as I was writing this, the fog settled in so it will be a while. We've decided t run about 8 miles a day and just see where we are at the end so it doesn't really matter when we leave. Hours traveled - 4 Miles traveled - 43 Locks - 2 This is what the Canal looked like between Lock 20 and Lake Oneida-you can't say it is't straight!! This is in front of us
And this is behind us
I find that I don't take as many pictures now, since this is our 4th trip through the Erie Canal! Last night we had a great pizza at Russo's but had a really bad sleeping night. There are double train tracks about 50 yards from the lock where we were tied up. About every 12 minutes a 1000 car train came through at 500 miles an hour, in both directions. Being stupid, I had turned off the generator and opened the windows, which really didn't help the noise situation. So, at 6:30 AM, we slipped our lines and off we went. Had a long but beautiful day and tonight finds us tied off west of Lock 20. So far, NO TRAINS!!! One thing I forgot to mention about our travel yesterday was when we approached an Erie Canal tug and barge and dredge. We slowed WAY down and then they came on the radio and said-if we didn't mind-would we please speed up and severely wake them as they were aground!! We sped up a little and they told us to go faster, so we did! As we passed them at a fairly high speed, the tug and barge popped loose and they came on the radio and thanked us!! Not often you get thanked for waking someone! The weather looks a little iffy for tomorrow but we hope to be in Brewerton before noon. Here's our home for tonight. A really pretty spot. We stayed here last year and they had entertainment-an accordian band!!! None tonight though, which is good because we are exhausted!! Hours traveled - 9 Miles traveled - 63 Locks - 9
Our postings may be spotty while we're on the Erie but tonight we're in Amsterdam (New York, that is) and we have great service. We decided to tie up at Lock 11 tonight-that's about 1/3 of the way through the Erie Canal locks that we will do before we get to Buffalo. We're in the company of 2 other pleasure craft and 1 of the canal tugboats-they are so great looking! The weather has been beautiful and we hope it will hold for at least a few more days. Here are the other boats with us tonight Here's the tug-the Governor Roosevelt And don't even ask how this Beetle got to where he is!! Not sure where we'll be tomorrow night but Saturday we should be in Brewerton, NY. Hours traveled - 4 Miles traveled - 21 Locks - 4
We awoke to very hot weather as well as thunderstorm and tornado watches. It looked like a chance of bad weather all day so we decided to stay at the Schenectady Yacht Club for another night. We haven't had any storms yet but they have struck all around us-earlier this afternoon I was talking with a marina in Brewerton, NY and they were having a storm as we spoke. Several locks on the Oswego Canal are closed, as well as 3 on the Erie-all due to power outages. We are hopeful that everything will be back to normal tomorrow, as it is supposed to be a beautiful day. Lots of big logs have drifted past today so we know it has rained west of us. Marina has been very listless today, Oliver sat around and chatted with some of the men here (there don't seem to be any women), and I sat in the pool with my new friends George, Carl and Jerry! This afternoon I played in a free on-line poker tournament-finished 85 out of 4087-that got me exactly 0 but I enjoyed it!! Belated birthday wishes to our dear friend Sharon, who celebrated yesterday. Happy, happy, HAPPY Sweet 16th tomorrow to my beloved niece Spencer. I witnessed Spencer's birth and can hardly believe she is such a grown up. (Her Dad is one of our most faithful readers so I know she will be embarrassed to hear she made the blog again!) Here's what our weather looked like most of the day. I am waiting for the tornado watch to expire before going to sleep. Here's Oliver solving world issues with some yacht club friends
We had a slow day today. We left Troy in the company of Eagle Point, a very large Sunseeker being delivered by a captain with his girlfriend, and 2 other guys, one from Australia. We were docked together at Troy so went through the Federal Lock together. When we reached the first Erie Lock (which is called Lock 2) we were joined by another pleasure craft and two tugboats. They only traveled through a couple of locks with us but they really slowed things down. The big tug would come into the lock behind the 3 of us, get situated on the wall and then the little tug would snug up beside him. He had a problem in the second lock and it took quite a while to get them both situated. We made it through 7 locks before stopping at the Schenectady Yacht Club. We took on some fuel and then moved up into our slip for the night. It is beautiful here but it's really too hot to go out so we're having steaks on board tonight. Even Marina is too hot to play. The weather tomorrow looks a bit iffy-some strong thunderstorms are predicted, so we will see. Speaking of rain, we're sorry for all the trouble our midwest friends are having. Here is the big tug-you can just see the little one coming in behind him.
Look out or that bridge!! (Actually, this is from our slip. There are kids jumping off this bridge into the water-hope they don't hit us)
The Cheyenne, one of the tugs we locked through with this morning, came past us late today pushing a barge
Hours traveled today - 5 Miles traveled - 25 Locks traversed - 7 We were too hot and exhausted to do anything last night so w had grilled cheese sandwiches and went ot bed early. This morning we were up by 5 and we were happy to see that it was not foggy, so we were on our way early. The weather was absolutely beautiful-clear, calm and sunny but it got really hot as the day went on and eventually we ran into some rain around Albany. Since it was Sunday, there were a lot of boats out so we had to take it kind of slow. We were undecided as to whether to stop at Troy or Waterford-we couldn't raise the TroyTown Dock on the radio so we went on to the lock, only to find we couldn't raise them either! I called the Waterford Welcome Center and they siad they were really packed today, so we turned around and went back to Troy. The dock mistress was waiting for us, as was a delivery captain and his crew who we had first encountered near Coeyman's Landing. We were soon tied up and glad to be here. We've walked Marina, showered and will have dinner and get an early start tomorrow. See how beautiful West Point looked this morning
There are big logs and things that look like telephone poles that one must dodge. We saw a beer keg and a huge round piece of metal a little later on but we were able to miss everything.
Marina was hot but she rested most of the day.
Except when she was sightseeing
I loved this tug and barge because of the color combo-very stylish!
I know you won't believe this but we were waked by a sailboat! Look how fast he's going!
Hours traveled today -8 Miles traveled - 105 Today we completed the Great Loop as we passed the Battery in New York City! We agree that we have found the trip to be fun, puzzling, sometimes frustrating and always educational. We are still 1400 miles from home. We awoke on this final day to fog so we went back to bed. We left at 7:15AM, as it looked clearer but of course when we got out on the ocean it was dense. The seas were calm as there was no wind and the fog finally started to clear at about 9:30. By the way, we ended up minus 25 cents at the casino last night! Puzzling - Maintenance was always puzzling. We have involved a number of mechanics with various maintenance problems. The most mysterious was one in which we finally got the answer today. For several months, the starboard engine has been difficult to start and the first CAT mechanic suggested we replace the batteries, which we did. No improvement. We've mentioned losing our steering in Florida, which was repaired in Daytona. We also noticed a vibration. which seemed to worsen. At one time, we pulled into a well-known boat yard in Beaufort, NC and as they looked for vibrations, it was determined that the shafts were aligned perfectly and the props were scanned and they were fine. The vibration continued as well as the starting problem so in Portsmouth we had an independent mechanic take a look and he found no problems. We noticed a fluctuation in oil pressure in the starboard engine so had more CAT mechanics meet us at Summit North Marina in Bear, Delaware. They replaced the injectors in cylinders 1 and 3 (fortunately under warranty) and today, on our last day of the Loop, on a perfectly smooth day, all is well. No problems starting and no vibration!! We made our way through a hazy New York City and went from jeans and jackets to shorts. By the time we reached Haverstraw Marina, it was hot as blazes! Oliver spent time getting our "lock fenders" installed and I walked Marina. This is a 1000 slip marina and it's like a maze-she and I got lost twice and we could SEE our boat but we couldn't GET to our boat!! All of us are exhausted and plan to have sandwiches for dinner and an early bedtime. From her on home, we'll take it easy and get some rest! We really appreciate everyone who has followed our Great Loop adventure. Thanks fo your messages, phone calls and visits. Keep following us as we make our way to Port Washington. This is our summary of the Loop, starting from New York City on May 31, 2007, including two months in Port Washington, and ending on June 7, 2008. Miles traveled - 5541 Hours traveled - 409 Days gone - 375 Days traveled - 76 Average miles per day - 73 Average hours per day - 5 Total fuel used - 8770 Average miles per hour - 13.5 Average gallons per hour - 21 Average miles per gallon - .6 Locks traversed - 58
Here is our boat completing the Loop at 12:38PM Lady Liberty was very hazy today As was Manhattan. My nephew John lives here and we would have loved to stop and see him but we are behind schedule for some summer commitments. Passing the Empire State Building After 3 nights in Cape May, it was time to move on. We took our time this morning, as we weren't going far, but we were still on our way by a little after 8AM. It was a cloudy, overcast morning and it was chilly enough on the bridge for jeans and jackets but the sea was fairly calm and we had an easy ride up to Atlantic City. We topped off the fuel tan, as we will have a long day tomorrow and we hear diesel is more expensive in New York, and we were in our slip here at Farley State Marina before 11AM. It's now warm and sunny. Oliver is washing the boat down, I'm doing this and soon we'll have a short nap time on the bridge with Marina. Tonight we'll visit the casino here and who knows, tomorrow I may have great things to report!! This is part of the commercial fleet in Cape May The only Coast Guard Basic Training Center in the country is at Cape May. Every Coastie goes through here, some 500 a week! In our slip in front of the Trump Marina. Maybe we'll win a huge jackpot - and be able to buy one more tank of diesel fuel! Hours traveled today - 2.5 Miles traveled - 43
We had a quiet day. Did a few more chores and then we walked into Cape May. This is a really cute seaside town and we saw some houses that gave us ideas for when we build on the NC lot. There are lots of shops and we bought a few things - Marina got a new collar, Marina got a "parking sign" and Marina got a cookie. Unfortunately I forgot the camera so no pictures of Cape May. We looked at the restaurants but have decided that the Lobster House an't be beat so we'll be there for the 3rd night in a row. Tomorrow night we'll be in Atlantic City at the Trump Marina and casino. Marina seems to be a little crabby So much for that cookie
Just a quick note for any of you who noticed how bad the weather was out our way last night. We had a BIG storm-lots of lightening and thunder and a ton of rain but all of us made it through-Oliver slept, I played on-line poker and Marina laid next to her Dad and trembled. Will be a nice day today though.
We had a most pleasant day. It rained hard during the night but we slept well and woke to a sunny but windy day. We took our time getting up and then went to the marine hardware store that's almost right on the marina property. Oliver spent the morning fixing the lift for the dinghy and changing the impeller on the gen set, while I walked Marina, did laundry and washed the boat down. We chatted for a while with the captain of Lysistrata-a sailboat that we had passed yesterday just before the lift broke. He called me on the radio when Oliver was launching the dinghy to see if we were in distress. I guess seeing a guy in a life jacket launching his dinghy might cause one to think that an abandon ship was in progress but I assured him we were just dealing with a dinghy issue. He very kindly said he would stand by until we had the tow line hooked up and, after checking with us once more, he was on his way. We passed him later and he ended up coming into the marina at 11PM last night. Because of his 6.5 foot draft, he could not come through the Cape May Canal, so had to go about 20 miles further than we did. We certainly appreciated his concern. This morning the marina delivered the morning paper, the marine forecast for the week, and a bag of fruit and candy to our boat. They say they will do this every morning. Isn't that a nice touch? Little touches like this make for great public relations. This afternoon we all sat up on the bridge, reading our books (don't know when Marina will finish War and Peace!) and took short naps. Showers and cocktails were followed by dinner at the Lobster House. We are waiting for our tornado watch to expire - I wish I had a dollar for every tornado watch we've been under on this trip - and it's raining. Even though the weather is predicted to be pretty nice tomorrow, we plan to stay here until Friday because we didn't have time to see the town today. Tomorrow will be a strictly "play" day and then we'll be off for Atlantic City on Friday. Thanks for visiting with us. Come back soon. We are now at our last "New" stop!!! We're in Cape May, New Jersey and everything north of here we have already visited. When we leave here-depending upon the weather-we will close the Loop. Today was an interesting day on the Delaware River and Bay. We knew it was going to get windy but it got quite a bit worse than we anticipated and as we came down the Delaware, the wind was opposing the current, causing some really big waves! They were supposed to be 1-2 but in reality were 3-5. We bottomed out on one so hard that it popped a bolt in the lift for our dinghy, so we had to "launch" the dinghy and tow it behind us into Cape May. Tomorrow Oliver will replace the bolt. We were also watching the big storms approaching but we made it into our slip at South Jersey Marina with no problem. This looks like a great place and we will spend at least 2 nights here, depending upon the weather. Guess what this is? Answer to follow This is at the entrance to the Cape May Canal-"Welcome to New Jersey"!! This is the view from our slip-how quaint is this?!! OK-that was "Oliver crossing the Delaware"! Actually, that was Oliver going down the Delaware. I forgot to mention that today marks the 9 month anniversary of our trip. We thought it would be a 9-10 month trip so we are right on schedule. We just got back from one of our best meals of the trip-we strongly recommend the Lobster House here in Cape May. Hours traveled today - 5.5 Miles traveled - 63 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 NEXT
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