Bellissimo

Duluth, MN

2010-07-30T16:16:00.002-05:00

We left Bayfield at 6a.m. bound for Duluth. I'll be really glad when we don't have to get up at 5 am.!!! On the way, we passed the Sand Island Lighthouse.

It was another uneventful day on the water--warm, little wind and waves. Unlike other days, we saw more boats--maybe 5 or 6.

We entered the Duluth Harbor through the Superior entry. As we neared Duluth, we heard that the parade of Tall Ships was going on at the Duluth entry and that another group would be going under the bridge about 3 pm. There were many, many small boats visible for quite a distance up the shore, so we thought we'd go in and watch them from inside the harbor.

This was the Pride of Baltimore entering the harbor...

and a view of the harbor and the fleet of boats with Duluth in the background.

The Sundew is the former Coast Guard ice breaker which was bought by a local and has been converted to a tourist attraction with rides, tours, etc.

There were hundreds if people on the shore, the piers and the bridge to welcome the ships.

Another picture of the harbor and some of the Tall Ships.

It is good to be back where we started. While we have boated in many places of our country, and discovering new destinations, there is something very special about being back on Lake Superior and familiar ports !

Bayfield

2010-07-29T16:40:00.004-05:00

On Monday evening, this ship- the Denis Sullivan took people out for a ride.

We left early Tuesday morning with the plan to go to Bayfield in the Apostle Islands, weather permitting. Our alternate plan was Ontonagon, MI. Here we are approaching the western end of the Keeweenaw Waterway into Lake Superior.

As it turned out, it was a perfect boating day--little to no wind or waves, sunny and warm with puffy clouds. We saw only 3 other boats on the water for the first 9 hours...this was the tall ship, Europa from the Netherlands heading for Duluth also.

We passed the time reading, knitting and playing cards on the computer while Otto steered.

Here we approached Stockton Island in the Apostles with quite a few boats anchored. We elected to go into Bayfield because there was some severe weather approaching, possibly that night.

While in Bayfield, we played tourist. I shopped till I dropped, but bought very little. But it was fun to have the time to stop in all the shops. Bob walked the town. These two tall ships docked there for the night--the Niagara which is a replica of a battle ship. The other was the Roald Amundsen from Germany. We talked to a crew member who said that of the crew of about 21, 3 had begun the trip in Germany when it started in March. The other crew are people who sign up for however long they can commit.

Here is a view of Bayfield from the dock. The next day we took the ferry to Madeleine Island to spend the day. We walked the town which has changed a lot since we were there. There are newly paved roads including sidewalks and it is much more commercialized. We had a great fish sandwich for lunch at the Bay Street Tavern.

Houghton-Hancock, MI

2010-07-25T16:42:00.005-05:00

We slept in today and didn't leave Big Bay until 6:30 am. You can see our empty spot along the wall...there was no more room at the inn last night. The 50 footer came in late and had to park at the gas dock.

View of the sandstone cliffs along Lake Superior........

Off in the distance are the Huron Islands....a group of about 7 outcroppings of rock - 3 of which are larger.

This lighthouse sits on one of the larger ones....we have talked about being lighthouse keepers sometime, but this place wouldn't be one I'd choose ! It's a long way up to it !

In Keeweenaw Bay there were sailboats out. This one looked especially pretty against the red sandstone cliffs.

This lighthouse is at the entrance to the Keeweenaw Waterway which is a canal that cuts through the thumb of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

A view of the waterway as we entered.

There were many large beautiful homes along the waterway but this one was especially interesting. Nearby was an older farmhouse so we suspect this barn was part of that farm earlier. It had a nice dock on the water and a portable sauna close by.

Just a pretty sailboat with spinnaker which made Bob a little reminicent about sailing again.....

Here we were approaching Houghton-Hancock with Michigan Tech buildings on the left.

After docking, we found a nice restaurant to enjoy a Sunday meal followed by a walk over the bridge. When we were back at the boat, this tall ship which we saw in Sault Ste. Marie on Friday, went by. Someone has told us that there will be a total of 12 tall ships in Duluth from the 28th July to August 3rd. It will be interesting to see them all together--if there is a spot big enough for them !

Big Bay, MI

2010-07-24T17:04:00.005-05:00

We had another long day-85 miles-today. We were bouncing around a little shortly after we left Grand Marais at 5 am. But it evened out and we had a nice ride with sun, scattered showers, some wind, some fog; just about every kind of weather. Here we are passing the sand dunes near Munising where the Pictured Rocks National Park is.

This outcropping of rock is called Granite Island. The Huron Mountains are in the background.

This is Big Bay Lighthouse overlooking Lake Superior and Big Bay. We had never been here and it seemed like a nice quiet place, which it is. We are tied up to the wall but it does have a shower, bathroom and electric hook-up. I had hoped to walk to the lighthouse which is now a B&B, but it was too far. Instead we walked in to town which is about a mile away ( and up a steep hill). The town used to be a lumber mill town with the houses all built in the same style. Some have been improved and added on to; some have not. There is a camp here for handicapped children and Special Olympics are held there. Apparantly there are a couple of restaurants too but we didn't go far enough....at least the walk back was down hill.

Grand Marais, MI

2010-07-23T17:01:00.004-05:00

We were up early to leave for Whitefish Point. Here were had cleared the lock at Sault St. Marie by 6:45 am.

This was a marker as were entering Whitefish Bay, and it was pretty foggy....but it was pretty calm, so that's good.

We met this laker in the middle of the Bay. Bob was sleeping.

We arrived at Whitefish Point at 11 am. and the weather was great--sunny and the lake was calm. We decided instead to go for Grand Marais...about 45 more miles as long as the weather was good.

Weather was still good with calm lake as we passed Crisp Point Light.
We arrived at Grand Marais at 4:30 which was a good 10 hour day and we traveled 82 miles. Weather may be good tomorrow morning but afternoon is iffy...we'll have to wait and see. This marina is just a long dock wall with bare essentials...but at least there's electric.

Sault Ste. Marie, MI

2010-07-22T19:55:00.002-05:00

Today we had an "off the water" day. So we did some cleaning, laundry and shopping. We also had dinner with a couple (Jim and Peggy) from Naples, FL who are docked next to us. They live on their boat in the Detroit area during the summer. We learned they will be going to the Finnfest gathering which will be held for 5 days next week in the Canadian Sault Ste. Marie. Interestingly, Peggy who is 100% Finnish like I am, was born in Upper Michigan, also like me. And even more interestingly, she was born in a little farming community next to where I was born. We went to the same school but even though she was a year behind me, she remembered me! I moved from there when I was in about 2nd grade. We had a wonderful visit about our backgrounds, neighbors, the community, etc. This was unreal as neither of these communities really are towns....they are more of a crossroad with the school, 2 stores and a church at the crossroad. Who would expect this to happen????!!!
The weather sounds good for a "go" tomorrow to head for Whitefish Point. No communication there is likely....... That is pure adventure if you want to call it that !

St. Ignace, St. Mary's River, Sault Ste. Marie

2010-07-22T09:15:00.006-05:00

Leaving St. Ignace, we passed on the north side of Mackinac Island. You can see the Bridge in the background. This lighthouse marked shoal near the LeCheneaux Islands. While I knit, Bob was really getting into the routine and is able to multi-task---here he is enjoying a book while watching Otto.

We intended to stop at DeTour, but because we were there early, and the weather was good, we decided to head up the St. Mary's River and stay in Sault Ste. Marie for a night or two. Here we pass the DeTour lighthouse.

As we start up the St. Mary's River, we meet this laker.

And still another one.........

Here we pass DeTour village and marina.

There are many islands along the way...all pretty.

This is Lime Island (Canada side of the river). It is now a campground but during WWll it served as some kind of battle supply place

Further up the river, we saw these two tall ships. They are heading for Duluth. There's supposed to be a total of 6 making the trip.

Here we are passing the Pride of Baltimore. We learned later that the crew on these ships is all high school students who are given the opportunity to get out of their environment (often from a bad one) for 3 months in the summer to share other experiences.

Here we are approaching the Bounty.

Note the kids up on the yardarm working on the sails !

This was an interesting church on the Canadian side with the steps going down to the water..........

As we get nearer to the Soo, there was still another tall ship......

And still anothe one--this one was called the Europa

Finally, here was the last one we saw just before we went in to the marina.

There is also a boat which offers tours of Lake Superior shown docked on the Canadian side of the Soo.

All in all, it was a nice day. We saw more boats on the water today than we did in the past five days ! But it was good to get to land as it was getting pretty windy the last few miles of the river.

After dinner, we decided to walk to the park to see the musice we were hearing. It sounded like it was right next door...not so, it was about 10 blocks away through a construction zone. But it was worth the walk. The music in the park that evening featured "The Saline Fiddlers", a group of about 25 high school students near Ann Arbor, MI. They played blues, county, celtic, etc. They were excellent. Apparantly this kind of music program was offered in the public schools to increase interest. From all appearances, it looks pretty successful. If you'd like to know more, check out their website at www.salinefiddlers.com.

Plan is to stay here a couple of days, do laundr, etc and hope the weather will be nice to cross Whitefish Bay.

2010-07-20T15:14:00.004-05:00

We left Manistique at 6 am heading for Mackinaw City, about 75 miles. Again the lake was calm and Otto worked well. We had the lake practically all to ourselves....for the first 6 hours, we saw 1 fishing boat and this "salty". We passed this lighthouse on Bue Choix point and, nearing the Straits, the White Shoal lighthouse.

Nearing the Straits we could see the Mackinac Bridge from 14 miles away.

Instead of Mackinaw City, we decided to go in to St. Ignace. I would've liked to stay at Mackinac Island, but their docks were closed to the public because of some sailboat races. We arrived at 3 pm. and will settle for a walk later as it's pretty warm here ! Not sure what tomorrow will be--we'll have to wait and see what the weather brings.

2010-07-19T20:47:00.003-05:00

We left Fayette at 6:30 am for Manistique, MI. about 55 miles. It was foggy, but predicted to lift by 8 am. It lifted in the harbor early except not on the lake, but the radar worked well.

But with the fog, there was virtually no wind so we had a smooth ride again !

Rounding the point on Poverty Island, we could see this abandoned light house.

At the entrance to the Manistique Harbor is this lighthouse, built of steel in 1910.

Manistique is largely a fishing town with logging operations nearby. There isn't much here, and even though we're docked in the town marina, there is no TV reception and few radio channels. The harbor master wasn't here when we arrived, but a couple of locals told us which slip was empty and helped us dock. Before the Mackinac bridge was built there was ferry service from here to Frankfort in lower Michigan.

There is a nice boardwalk along the lake which we took to the grocery store. We were told it was about a 1/2 mile---turned out it was 1 1/2 miles but manageable. Noticed the seagull perched on the bow of this old fishing boat on the way.

Tomorrow- Tuesday-we'll leave early again for our trip through the Straits of Mackinac to Mackinaw City on Lake Huron. This is about 75 miles, weather permitting. Should we need to, we'll go into Beaver Island.

2010-07-19T19:36:00.004-05:00

Leaving Menominee, we had a nice ride up the northern part of Green Bay to Escanaba, MI. It was cool on the water, but very warm in town--upper 80's. This town has a very nice waterfront too with parks on both sides of the water. There is a little lighthouse behind the marina office, but we arrived too late to tour it. So, we decided to take the lakewalk to a little wagon that sold Gram's pasties. But on the way we talked to a couple of locals and each praised the benefits of living in this small town...safe for children especially. One preferred Gram's pasties, the other preferred Dobber's pasties. So, we decided to check them out...we bought one of Gram's pasties...a pizza one. Not one we would buy again. Then we took a taxi to Dobber's and bought 2 frozen ones there which are still in the freezer, so we don't have a verdict on those yet. While we were in Dobber's, we noticed the Trenary toast which both of remember our parents and grandparents having with their coffee, so of course we had to buy a bag of that ! It is good with coffee !

We left Escanaba early Sunday morning to go to Fayette. We would cross Little Bay de Noc and Big Bay de Noc in northern Lake Michigan. Again, despite the intermittent rain, the ride was a nice one (a nice ride is one that's not too bumpy), but we stayed dry in the bridge.

Rounding the buoy, we entered the channel to the Snail Shell Harbor which is a part of Fayette Historic Park. The company town was founded in 1867 to produce iron ore. The company owned the store and employed the doctor, vet, etc. Those charges were deducted from the workers' wages. When the smelting production stopped in 1891, the town was abandoned. The state DNR began a preservation of the remaining 22 shells of the buildings, with restoration of some. Entering, you can see the remains of the blast furnaces and the limestone bluffs surrounding the harbor.

We took the walking tour of the town...all of the buildings are open with informational displays in each explaining the construction, lifestyle, etc of the time. These first houses were homes to employees of the plant, the white house was the home to the superintendent and the doctor's home was still in the renovation stage. Note the stairs, which would suggest if the patient was seen at the doctor's home he had to be able enough to manage those !

The setting was beautiful with views of the lake on three sides of the town and trails through the woods. The following three pictures are of some more of the town buildings--music hall, company store--and the view of the harbor from the town site.

At the top of the hill was a visitor center with a large display of how the town looked when it was at its prime.

This was a very pleasant stop and we enjoyed visiting with the other boat people who were docked along side.

Menominee sights

2010-07-17T18:53:00.004-05:00

When it was cooler, we decided to check out the marina facilities and the sights around town. First we headed to the boaters' lounge which was renovated from the old Water Works building.

Without a doubt, this is one of the best lounges we've seen if not the best in our entire loop trip. Not only was it immaculate, it was decorated beautifully. Just inside the door was this old floor scale which Bob checked out....I was afraid to!

Next we checked out the private toilet/shower rooms. There were 5, each named after a Great Lake, and decorated differently.

This was the entrance to the main lounge.........

and the eating area with a beautiful stained glass lighthouse. We enjoyed a complimentary breakfast of waffles before we left here.

This model ship was made and donated by a local artisan.

Here is the other part of the lounge with the TV. There was a computer station and library as well.

Another part of the sitting area with a large aquarium.

The lamps were all in a nautical theme and there was a lot of art work, knot boards, etc on the walls.

Entrance view as we left the room....there was another larger room adjacent which had a large TV and several tables which appeared to be used as a meeting room.

Last, we took a walk around town which had many lovely old buildings. But as many small towns today, there were many empty storefronts.

We ended our walk at the sandwich/ice cream shop where all the locals seemed to come as well as many of the boaters.

It was well worth the visit to this town.

BACK TO BELLISSIMO

2010-07-16T16:52:00.004-05:00

After a two year hiatus, we are back on BELLISSIMO. While bringing all the stuff on board to cruise is quite a job, we have to admit, it feels good to be back on the boat. Getting re-aquainted with the boat takes some time, but after a few weeks, it probably will feel like we never left it. The plan is to cruise up Green Bay into northern Lake Michigan and visit the places we skipped.

Our first leg is to Menominee, MI. Here we are leaving Skipper Bud's.

On this first day out, we had to get used to the trawler "roll" all over again. With the winds from the SW, we bounced our way until we got in the lee of the other shore. The weather is warm--in the upper 80's so we took a nap when we arrived. We'll walk up town to the historic district when it cools. Here is a picture of the approach to this area.............

So far, everything seems to be working well. But, it took me most of the 2 1/2 hour trip over to figure out how to do waypoints again. But, think I have it now !

Home to Wisconsin !

2008-08-06T07:40:00.004-05:00

We left Frankfort at 6 am with a good weather forecast for crossing Lake Michigan. There were a few swells for the first part of the trip but that was okay. Then, all of a sudden, the fog rolled in and we couldn't see 50 feet. This didn't last too long, but when that lifted, here's a view of the lake....

Here is the entrance to Sturgeon Bay. A welcome sight.

Finally, here we are. Because I learned so much this time about handling the boat, these shirts seemed appropriate.

After 243 days, about 6600 miles, 102 locks, passing under hundreds of bridges, 4 canals, too many rivers to mention, a couple of nail-biting times (for me), a new engine, a new transmission, a new drive shaft, but most importantly, many more memories of places we went and people we met, our Great Adventure is over !

Start: July 28, 2007

Finish: August 5, 2008

North Channel to Crossing Our Wake

2008-08-04T09:46:00.010-05:00

We spent a couple of nights at anchor in the North Channel where Darrell and Bob did some fishing again. We had another nice dinner of great small mouth bass.
At this anchorage, which was our last night there, Beth and I had picked out 3 possible anchorages. The guys chose this last one. However, when we got there, we found it was VERY small....first the entrance to it was barely visible, and then it was only about 20 feet wide. Our boats are 14 feet wide. Holding our breaths though, we made it in. The book had assurred us that once we were in though, it was plenty deep with plenty of room. Well, not exactly....it was deep enough in the middle but the whole space was only about 100 feet by 300 feet. The first picture shows Bob stringing a line to one shore which he tied to a tree.

This is a line to the other shore...with storms forecast, we didn't want to swing too much. Rather, we didn't have any room to swing !

This shows the entrance....leaving in the morning, we again held our breaths.

Before leaving though, the anchors had to be raised. Beth here looks like she's wondering what to do about the stuff on the anchor...and this was after they got most of the stuff off by dropping it down again !

She looks a little more relieved here !!! Bob and Darrell said that this anchorage will forevermore be known as "Beth and Margaret's anchorage"..

Here we pass a cottage within the US border near Drummond Island where we cleared customs...

This is a picture of Drummond Island Yacht Club where the Customs officers are located. We had to wait a little while because they didn't come on duty until noon, but once they came, we were cleared in just a few minutes.

Although we started our "loop" in Superior, we actually closed our loop when we crossed the St. Mary's River. This is about where the Coast Guard stopped us last year. This cruise ship was docked here now.

And, because we were so close, we went up to where this boat was on shore to see if any more work had been done on it since we saw it last....We think the entrepreneurs ran out of steam. It was supposed to be a Bed and Breakfast...

To celebrate, we bought some steaks and had Darrell and Beth over for dinner, including champagne of course. This is Bob and Darrell cooking---it was windy. Bob is in charge of the meat and Darrell is holding the umbrella.

Leaving the DeTour Marina the next day, we headed out into Lake Huron with the destination of Mackinaw City Marina.
The first lighthouse is the DeTour LH--I don't think I was able to get a picture of it last year as the water was pretty rough as I recall. Today it was very calm.

As we neared our destination, we passed Mackinac Island. This is a picture from a distance.

This lighthouse is at the entrance to the Mackinac Island harbor.

And of course, the Grand Hotel !!!

Across from Mackinac Island is Round Island which has its lighthouse too.

This is a view of the fort there on the Island. We have been there a couple of times so we didn't go there this time.

Our first sight of lakers...with a view of the Mackinac Bridge. It celebrated its 50th birthday this year.

We enjoyed Mackinaw City...it has a nice waterfront and the downtown is filled with shops and restaurants. Returning to Michigan, of course we had to get some pasties again !

Leaving, we had this wonderful view of the Mackinac Bridge.

From here we plan to go to Charlevoix (it turned out to be Leland), then Frankfort, MI. From there, we will cross Lake Michigan to Sturgeon Bay where we will leave the boat. Home soon !

Georgian Bay Scenes-July 21 to July 28

2008-07-28T14:57:00.015-05:00

Leaving Port Severn, our destination was Henry's for fish on Frying Pan Island. However, before we could get to Henry's, Georgian Bay greeted us with a BIG Storm. Luckily, we were not in one of the narrow, rocky channels when it hit, so we were able to stay off-shore in deep water until the storm passed. Henry's was reputed to serve the best pickerel (we know this as walleye). We must be spoiled....

The next night we anchored in Hopewell Bay. Nice place but a little tricky to get in to...I had to be on the bow watching for rocks. We were able to stop before we hit one. Bob and Darrell went fishing and caught 4 nice small mouth bass.

Not only did they catch the fish, but they cleaned them and cooked them too !! These fish were MUCH better than Henry's !

We (the gals) figure we should get at least one more fish dinner to justify that Canadian fishing license !!!

Along many of the rocks, we would see these sort of rock formations....we've seen them before in South America, but can't remember the meaning....

Every eveining Bob and Darrell would plot out the route for the next day....sorry Darrell, I didn't get all of you in the picture !

This is Point au Baril lighthouse, which we passed before we headed out for a long stretch of the Georgian Bay. Bob thinks it was about 35 miles---I think it was about 15. Could look it up, but it was uneventful anyway....until we got into the small boat channel again................more rocks.

This picture just said "photograph me".

This was another lighthouse somewhere along the way...we tend to lose track of the days, and as well as of the day of the week,etc.

Actually, we pretty much know what day of the week it is , according to the pill box.

This was the lighthouse as we turned into Byng Inlet where we stayed at a marina for the night. This is in the NE part of Georgian Bay.

This an example of the narrow channels--L'Attitude Changer is leading...were they to meet another trawler of the same size, there would not be much room. It's red buoy on the right side....

We caught these kids jumping into the water as we were going into Parry Sound...apparantly the parents (or some adults) were in the boat below.

Another view of the kids in the water....

There are all varieties of cottages on Georgian Bay...in the southern part, the shoreline is dotted with homes of all sorts. I have thought that every Canadian must have a cottage in these parts, there are so many.

As we go further north, the cottages are spaced further and further apart. But electric cables are strung (under water) to many of the islands.

Some are really remote....................

I'm not sure I'd like to be this far away from everything...our place in Wisconsin looks pretty good right now.

This place says "Paradise something...."

Leaving Britt in Byng Inlet we decided to head for Killarney. The weather didn't co-operate so we anchored between Tie and Strawberry Island in the Bustard Islands. This shows us going for a dinghy ride and I collected some flowers for our dinner table.

Here are our two boats anchored together....we started with one anchor. Darrell and Beth put in another anchor the opposite way. Later in the evening, Bob got in the dinghy and took another anchor and tied it to the shore. That makes 3 on day 1.

Day 2 was a relaxing day.....look at Bob! They tried fishing, but Bob apparantly caught the only fish in this bay. According to a lady in a cottage, no one catches fish here because of the rocky bottom. They gave it up then...

These next few pictures show the narrow, rocky channels we went through. Remember, red on the right.

We had to zig-zag through many channels.... But, we only got off course once---that required a detour out to the bay and then follow the narrow, rocky channel back in again...We are feeling pretty lucky to have missed so many of the shoals...

On the last night at anchorage, we had yet another anchor down---Darrell's Big Bertha. This weighed 60#. It did hold us for the night as the winds were predicted to be very strong.

Next day, we left--after the anchors were raised (this took 1 hour) with the destination of Little Current across the Bay instead of the small boat channel. This will be the start of the North Channel.

Big Chute to Port Severn

2008-07-22T15:33:00.007-05:00

Leaving Big Chute, we'll go into the Small Chute canal. We know it's here somewhere....hmmm.

This is another one of those narrow canals---rocky on both sides. Wouldn't want to meet anyone here.

These signs are posted at the entrances to these canals. I'll be glad when we're through with this Trent Severn Waterway !

But, they are pretty.....

This cottage has its resident moose.

There are many, many cottages along the way. They don't have much lawn though in this rocky landscape !

After spending the night on the wall at the Port Severn lock, we are lined up bright and early to go through. Here we are, down in the lock---our last one for the trip--# 102!

Next posting will be on Georgian Bay. Everyone says the scenery is stunning. It has been so pretty to this point, I can't imagine that it could be better.

Orillia to Big Chute

2008-07-22T12:29:00.013-05:00

Our next stop was Orrillia where we stayed for 3 days while we waited for Darrell and Beth. We were lucky as there was a lot to entertain us there. First of all, there was a beautiful theater that has been in use for over 100 years. We went there one evening and saw "Something Funny Happened on the Way to the Forum". It was hilarious.

The next day we went to the Farmers' Market and that was wonderful too. So many vendors with veggies that we filled up the refrig. There was a country/gospel music band playing and they were good to listen to. There was also a little girl, about age 7 who played the fiddle--she was featured in a couple of songs.

The featured event of the week-end was the Scottish Festival with 20 bands. They came from all over the area. There were men in kilts everywhere !!!

Another band....There were craft and food vendors in the park next to the marina as well as pipe and drum contests. It was a fun day.

And of course, no parade is complete without the Shriners !!!

We left Orillia early in the morning so that we could spend a little time studying this next lock called the Big Chute. It started out as a railway transport, but was never converted to a regular lock because it was thought that this type of conveyance would prevent the spread of the sea lamprey to the Great Lakes. This is a view from the top down to the lower waterway. We have to go down THIS??????

Here we see how the boats come UP from the lower waterway. Loaded onto the car, they'll go up and over to the higher water.

Going up......

Almost to the top....

Up and over the road to the upper waterway...being lowered into the water.

Now we'll see how we're going to go down...Here is a boat being loaded...

Up out of the water, over the road, and ready for the downhill ride. Looks easy enough...........!!!!

Our turn...we're going in with 2 other boats- 2 smaller cruisers in front of us.

Slings are in place and the car is coming out of the water.

Up and ready to go over the highway before we head down the hill. On the average, the highway traffic is stopped about twice and hour for this operation. It takes only about 7 minutes for the ride but loading can be longer, depending on the size of the boats, etc.

WOW, this is quite a view from the top !!!

Safely back in the water again. Whew !

We say we'll wait for the Berge's at the bottom. Here they come....!

With that over with, we'll head for Port Severn-our last lock for the trip. Hallelujah !!!

Bobcaygeon to Orillia

2008-07-18T12:12:00.005-05:00

After spending one day/night on the wall in Bobcaygeon and watching the newly rented houseboats maneuver, we decided to move up a couple of locks ! There were many of these and it was interesting to watch them. No pictures--we were too busy making sure they didn't hit us ! Anyway, we did get to visit John and Gail a couple of times when we were here and at the next stop. For them it was a 20 minute drive to the next lock--for us, 2 1/2 hours !

From Balsam Lake, we entered this canal. The canals are between 30 and 50 feet wide---not much room if you meet another boat in some places. For much of the time, we were alone. Later a cruiser did catch up to us but we didn't meet anyone in these narrow places !

I put this picture in to show the sheets of granite on each side of the canal!

Next, we had to go through the Kirkfield Lift lock. Same principle as the Peterborough but only 49 feet---but now we were going down. Additionally, this lock didn't feel like it had much of a gate at the front. I had the boat in neutral or reverse most of the way in !!!

Bob at the front of the boat when we were at the top !

Another view from the top.

A view from the back where we came from...

Bob is talking to our lock partner... on the way down.

Here we're nearing the bottom...

Here you can see our lock partner leaving the lock. I'm glad that one is over....Although, the rides up and down on these lift locks are smoother than the regular locks.

We pass through farm country during these last sets of locks before we get to Lake Simcoe.

The bridge tender opened up the bridge just before Lake Simcoe. Now we have about 15 miles of fairly calm sea before we get to Orillia. It will be nice to stay at a marina with electric, showers, etc.

Peterborough Lock to Bobcaygeon

2008-07-18T10:57:00.008-05:00

As we were about to leave Peterborough, we saw this mother duck and her babies. She was trying to get the ducklings to hop up onto the dock, but they just couldn't do it. So then she was trying to get them under the dock--maybe they were less visible to the big muskies that we saw in the harbor there...

We hurried to get to the next lock which was just around the corner from the marina. This shows the wooden doors on the locks and the parks that are around each lock. There is wall space to tie up to for the night at all of them.

Our next lock was the Peterborough Lift lock. This is the largest one of its kind in the world. When this was being planned in the late 1800's, the architect for the lock went to England and France to study the locks of this type there. The construction of this lock was completed in 1904, so it has been in operation for over 100 years!!!

There are two pans of water. Boats are driven into the pan. Whichever pan is up in the air is filled with more water (weight) than the other so that the lower pan is raised to the level of the upper waterway.

This lock lift is 69 feet. Here, the pan on the left is lowered, and ready for a boat to go in.

Here a tour boat is entering the lower pan.

Here you can see the tour boat being lifted. It feels like an elevator...and unlike other locks, there is no turbulence when you're in the lock.

We toured the visitor center and also walked up to the lock. There is a road going through it. Actually, a pretty busy one with traffic from both ways when we were there.

Here is a view of our boat and the one which will be in the lock with us.

Driving into the lock pan on the right side.......

View from the top of the lock toward the canal we will be going into...

And the view from where we came....! WOW!

That day we traveled through such places as Stony Lake and Hell's Gate. I think you can guess the reasons for those names...! The scenery is beautiful, but we don't dare venture out of the channel.

One of the cottages on the route...I think every Canadian has a cottage of some kind on the water. The shore line is dotted with them.

This was a strange looking tour boat--the bow had to be lifted in order to fit in the lock.

Last, here are some birds walking on the rocks just barely above the surface of the water. It is not surprising that there are several prop shops in this area and they get a lot of experience!

Petersborough, Ont.

2008-07-14T06:42:00.002-05:00

We enjoyed our stay in Peterborough. The marina is right next to McCrary Park where concerts are held every Wednesday and Saturday evenings during July and August. Hundreds of people attend and there are a few vendors selling popcorn, etc.

It was very nice to see people of all ages there, families with children, seniors, teens wandering around. For these concerts, the Chamber brings in a variety of performers and secures donations from businesses as well as individuals to fund this. Concerts are followed by a short fireworks program each evening.

Performing the evening we were there was the group, Destino. This was a group of 3 young men accompanied by a violinist and pianist, all from Vancouver. They sang a mix of opera and popular music. We enjoyed their music very much and can understand why they will be representing Canada at the opening of the Olympics in Bejing.

On Sunday we went to a play put on by the local Theater Guild. It was a farce comedy called "A Perfect Wedding". It was good and a nice way to spend the afternoon. This guild had purchased a church and has converted it into a theater.

This is a view of Little Bay, with a fountain in the middle where we are docked.

Monday we will head off toward Bobcaygeon, stopping one night on one of the lock walls before we get there. I bet Bob will catch a fish.....

Kingston to Trenton-Peterborough, Ont.

2008-07-13T05:46:00.004-05:00

Leaving Kingston, we took the inland route to Trenton, traveling through the Bay of Quinte. This took 2 days, so we anchored out one night in a bay which was a favored anchorage. When we arrived, there were 10 sailboats there already--9 of which were rafted together. It was also supposed to be great fishing for walleye (they are called pickerel here) but the fishermen among us didn't have the right bait !--or so they said !
The next day we headed for Trenton and had a nice marina spot in front of this park.

The next day we began the Trent-Severn Waterway. This route will take us 240 miles from Lake Ontario to Georgian Bay with a series of 44 locks. We will rise about 600 feet in elevation before beginning our decent.

Here is a picture of the swinging bridge over a gorge near Campbellford which I did not want to go on. Beautiful scenery but everyone says the best is yet to come....hmmm.

Many of the locks were adjacent to a road bridge, so the lockmaster would have to open the bridge for us too. People would get out of their cars and watch the boats go in and out of the locks.

This is a sculpture of the toonie--the two dollar Canadian coin. The designer of the coin came from this town of Cambellford. We have been getting loonies (one dollar coins) too which are needed for the laundry machines.

While many of the locks are hydraulic, many are still hand operated. This picture shows the two operators opening the gates on either side of the lock. Many of the locks employ college students---all have the lock people have been very friendly.

We saw this loon with a hitch-hiker when we were going through Rice Lake. The scenery is beautiful. The lakeside cottages are modest and there are lots of fisherman.

There are 2 double locks on this waterway. These 2 locks each were 27 feet. Leaving one lock, we'd just have to drive the boat forward about 100 feet and get secured again. This is a view from the top of the second lock.

This is Margaret Island--the name thus worthy of entering it in the blog!!

Here are some of the many many summer cottages along the way. They not only dotted the shoreline, but those away from the shoreline apparantly had water access.

Not entirely sure, but we thought these white dots on the hillside were hay bales wrapped in plastic. There were many farms also along the way...

A pretty, older home along the waterway.

In our last lock before Petersborough, we think the lockmaster was trying to set a record. Up until then, the most boats we'd had in a lock was 3 trawlers or 2 trawlers and 2 small runabouts. Here he put in Berge's and us (35 and 36 feet), 2 larger trawlers (52 and 48 feet) and the 18 foot runabout sqeezed in the middle. Since it was on the week-end, it was entertaining for the spectators !
Arriving here at the marina, we'll do laundry and catch up on things like that. So far, we have been 3 days on the Trent and have traveled 90 miles and gone through 19 locks.

Kingston, Ont.

2008-07-08T08:33:00.007-05:00

As we left the 1000 Islands, we soon approached Kingston. This is the oldest city in Ontario, established in 1673. Here, we could take the Rideau Canal up to Ottowa, but instead we'll head for the Trent Severn Waterway on the west end of Lake Ontario.

We took a trolley tour of the city narrated by a student of Queens college, who interestingly was an American history buff.

This is a view of Fort Henry which was built in the 1930's. It is now staffed by college students dressed in period costume. The cylindrical building in front is one of the four Martello towers which were built in the 1840's during the Oregon Crisis. The four were placed strategically to guard the entrance to the harbor and the Rideau Canal.

This is the entrance to the Royal Military College of Canada, located on Pt. Frederick. Students here must be in the 96%ile of their high school in order to be admitted. After graduation, they are required to spend 5 years in the military.

These are a couple of buildings on the college campus. The college was established around 1812, the big building being built in 1832.

These are part of a group of students who participate in the sailing program on the college campus. You will see the sailboats in a later picture.

This is one of the buildings on the Queen's College campus. Most of the buildings were constructed of limestone.

This is a view of the maximum security prison located in Kingston. The city houses 9 of the 19 prisons in Ontario.

This is one of the buildings in Portsmouth which is a part of the city. Located near the prison, many of the guards lived in this area. The style of building is reflective of other buildings in the city.

This is a view of the city and harbor from Fort Henry. The harbor is called Deadman's Bay where many ships were sunk. Here you can see the students practicing....there were at least 75 boats out there, in various phases of expertise. Those who were most accomplished were far out on Lake Ontario.

We also toured the Fort which offered a beautiful view of the city, islands and Lake Ontario. There were at least 50 college students employed here, all in period dress, and manner. Extremely polite. There was a drill inspection and the cannon was shot off, as well as the guns. Each part of the drill was explained in both English and French. Dressed in the wool uniforms of the British (including gloves), I expected someone to faint in the heat. After the drill, we were taken on a guided tour of the fort which included the various quarters of the officers, recruits, mess hall, etc. During this time, the drill practice continued ! No pictures--my battery went dead so you'll just have to imagine.

Dinner was at an English Pub which had wonderful woodwork. I chose a boxtie (Irish dish) and Bob had an Irish stew dish but I can't remember what it was called. Both were good, though.

Before leaving Kingston, we took in the farmer's market in the square behind the government building. It was the nicest market I've ever been to (other than the one in the cities) and interestingly, this market has operated continuously on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays for over 200 years !

Oswego Canal, Lake Ontario, 1000 Islands

2008-07-07T05:38:00.015-05:00

Leaving the Erie Canal, we entered the Oswego Canal which took us to Lake Ontario. There were only 7 locks on this stretch of water.

Here we are-docked in Oswego, looking out to Lake Ontario. We should be able to leave in the morning to cross to Sackett's Harbor. This will be about a 35 mile run on the lake.

Here, we pass Tibbett's Lighthouse before we round the corner to Sackett's Harbor. This was a very nice town with a nice waterfront park. Unfortunately, to get a prescription filled, we had to get it delivered from Watertown, which was 7 miles away.

The next day, we headed for Cape Vincent where we planned to stay a couple days at the free docks. It was time for getting something done to the tops of our heads. Hair cuts were long overdue.

This is the beginning of the 1000 Islands and the St. Lawrence River.

Further into the 1000 Islands, we passed this International Bridge which connects the US and Canada. It spans a couple of islands. The scenery was beautiful and there really are many, many islands. I read the exact number somewhere, but have forgotten.

The criteria to classify an island is that it must have a tree on it and it must be above the water 365 days a year. Many of those islands, no matter how small, had a cottage on it.

This is another cottage---notice the clock tower.

There were all sizes of homes. This area was "discovered" in the early 1900's by the "new money" people from New York City. They built summer cottages and hunting lodges here.

This is another pretty island---and cottage--there were so many, it's not possible to show them all.

We stopped in Alexandria Bay, hoping to pick up some fresh vegetables at the Farmer's Market. Not much at the market, so Darrell, Beth, and Bob took the dinghy to the grocery store. Unfortunately, the engine stopped on the way back and had to get a tow back. Interestingly, the 4 guys in the boat were all taking care of their kids that day!

Here is the town dock in Alexandria Bay. This was the place to be and to be seen. I should also add, it was BUSY--we docked only a few hours to get our errands done before we headed for our anchorage.......

Here is another "cottage" on an island. They really like clock towers and turrets...

On July 4, we decided to tour Boldt Castle and then anchor near the boathouse for the fireworks display. So, on the way to the boathouse, we passed this little cottage on this little island. The

Boldt Boathouse is in the background.

Here is a view of the children's playhouse on the estate....

The Boldt Castle was built in the early 1900's by the Waldorf Astoria Hotel businessman as a tribute to his wife. It is on Heart Island and he actually blasted the island in order to shape it into a heart form. The original building was torn down, and the castle construction begun. In the meantime, they spent summers in another cottage. Sadly, the castle was never finished because all construction was stopped when Mrs. Boldt suddenly died. He never returned. Over the years, it deteriorated, was vandalized until it was taken over by the 1000 Islands Group which is now in the process of restoring the castle to its original state using the original architectural plans. The first floor is finished, the pump house restored and other floors and parts are in various stages of restoration.

A little more of the castle grounds, with the entrance arch...

Castle entrance arch is completed.

Here is the grand staircase. There is a beautiful stained glass dome above, shown later.

This is the parlor.

On the huge porch, there is this fireplace. Weddings are often performed on the grounds and usually in the gazebo. But, if the weather is inclement, the wedding is performed here.

The dining room with furniture from the Boldt family cottage.

Above the grand staircase is this beautiful stained glass dome.

The library--pretty much as it was.

From the upstairs we had this wonderful view of the lighthouse and the mainland.

This estate on Heart Island, carries the theme of the heart throughout with the symbol on the masonry and ironwork, etc.

Bob poses in front of the fireplace at the foot of the grand staircase. Does he look like a natural there?

If you enlarge the picture, you wll see the heart symbol in the ironwork...

This is a photo of a photograph of the boathouse.

Note how the door was designed so that the sailboat could go in--mast and all.

A view of the entrance from inside the grounds...these deer are also known as harts.

This is the pump house with its electrical system for the castle.
The main floor is completed redone and houses historical photographs of not only the grounds but life in the 1000 Islands.

Finally, we finish the tour and return to the anchorage for dinner and the fireworks. A view of the castle and the grounds was the backdrop for the evening...

Fireworks reflecting on the water..... and a happy crew....

The next day, we decided to visit the Singer Castle about 10 miles further up the river. We passed Sister Island Lighthouse on the way.

As we approached Singer Castle, we met this salty. It seemed to dwarf the island......

This castle was built as a hunting lodge for the owner of the Singer Sewing Machine company. It had been occupied by family until 2003 when it was sold first to a religious group, now recently taken over by German investors. It is located on Dark Island also known at Jarstad Island on the charts.

The next day we departed our anchorage to cross into Canada and go through customs. At first we thought we would anchor somewhere near Admiralty Islands, but because we were so close to Kingston, we headed for the Confederate Marina there.

Canadians also had their cottages on the islands....

This is the Skydeck on Hill Island, Ontario. It is located near the International Bridge and offers a great view of the Islands and the St. Lawrence River.

Finally, another charming cottage.

Scenes along the Erie Canal

2008-06-27T10:21:00.006-05:00

This is the Waterford dock near Troy, NY which is the beginning of the Erie Canal. Here the dockage is free for the first 2 nights, then $10.00 a night after that. Usually the boats stay a couple days and provision, etc before beginning the canal. In the foreground you can see the Canal boats which can be rented for $2800/week.
We are the first boat in line with Berge's rafted to us because the rest of the dock was full.

This is a view of the old canal. The original canal was only 4' deep and 40' wide. It was enlarged in 1862 to 7' deep and 70' feet wide. Today it is 123' wide and 12' deep. The number of locks has been reduced over the years, starting with 83 locks to 72 and today, just 34. As we traveled, we could see the remains of the original canal in many places. We will be on the Erie Canal for 150 miles on the way from the Hudson River to Lake Ontario.

These signs are at each lock along the way. The first 5 locks are within 2 miles and lift about 168'. It took us only 1-1/2 hours to go through these---which was faster than normal--probably because we were the only boat going through at that time ! There was very little traffic for the first 3 days...we shared a lock with one other boat only 4 times (in 20 locks).

Here is the remains of the original canal at the top of one of the locks... The original canal was built along side the Mohawk River because the boats had to be towed along by mules on the sides of the canal. As the boats became bigger and self propelled, the canal was enlarged and parts moved to the River.

There were many, many, many bridges along the way, and a lot of
trains.

The lock bollards, fences and grounds were all in nice condition and most were freshly painted.

Here is a tug...there is no commercial traffic any more so the only boats we encountered were other recreational boats, a few of these tugs and maintenance barges such as dredges and slag boats.

This is a guard gate and there many of these also. In case of flooding, they are lowered to control the flow of water in the canal.

Here is a picture of one of the locks and dam along side. In total, we will go through 23 locks on the Erie. Some are equipped with cables or pipes which you tie off to , others have ropes and this requires both of us to hold on to at each end of the boat.

This mansion is the Llenroc estate which is Cornell spelled backwards.

Our first day was pretty tiring...through 11 locks with wind that started building in the afternoon. We were happy to get to this wall where we could tie up to for the night. It even had electric ! The down side were the trains every 15"--but as tired as we were, we slept well. In the morning, the water was like glass so I had to take some pictures of it.
Our view from the front of the boat as we started up the canal....
Remember the mansion?--well this is another place on the water !
This is only one of 2 of these types of locks in the America's--the other is in Canada. Here the lock gate is lifted up above the boater--others have gates. The lift was 40'.

This is a view of the lock as we exited... Many of the towns we passed were very old---this is Amsterdam with one side of the town above the canal...the other side of town below the canal (we wondered if they have flood insurance!)
This was an interesting railroad bridge just immediately before the dam...from a distance it was hard to see the lock..........

Bob saw this deer along the way............We spent another night in Herkimer which is known for Herkimer diamonds...they are perfectly formed crystals with points on each end. The town was named for General Herkimer who won the Battle of Oriskany during the Revolution.
Another perfect reflection...We spent one night in Rome, NY and visited Fort Stanwix there. It is a reproduction of the original (all wood) right in the center of town. It was here in Rome that the construction of the canal was begun in 1817.
Here we are crossing Lake Oneida to Brewerton where we will spend the night. The canal to this point has mostly been along the Mohawk River. On the other side of the lake (20 miles) we will be on the Oneida River. From there it will be only a few miles until we turn onto the Oswego Canal to Lake Ontario.

Hudson River-NYC to Waterford

2008-06-22T15:03:00.011-05:00

Here we are leaving NYC on the 17th of June. This is the George Washington bridge on the Hudson River which was built during the depression in 1931. The second deck was added 30 years later and this is known as the Martha Washington Bridge. We passed Tarrytown on the way--here is its lighthouse. The town is also known as Sleepy Hollow. Some of the loopers who want to visit NYC stay here at this quaint town and take the train into the city.Here is a view of NYC as we are leaving with Darrell and Beth passing under the George Washington Bridge.Leaving NYC, the scenery soon changes. This area is known as the Palisades--the cliffs here are 300-500 ft high. The Hudson River is about 150 miles long and is very deep. We were fighting the current for several hours--didn't plan well for tide AND current. It is deep and not much available for anchorages until further up.
It passes through the Appalachian Mountain chain for about 10 miles, so we passed Bear Mountain, Dunderberg Mountain which are state parks.
Here we are passing West Point. It would've been nice to be able to go there for a tour, but since 9/11 it is not allowed.
This is another view of the mountainous scenery. It was a nice change from the flat country of the Carolinas. We passed Pollepel Island, also known as Bannerman's Island. Bannerman was a munitions dealer who built this replica of a medieval castle between 1900 and 1918 as his summer resort and storehouse. The state obtained the property in 1967 and offered tours of it until 1969 until the castle burned in 1969. Landing here is no longer allowed because of the deteriorating condition of the building.
We stayed at a dock in Newburgh for the night. This place was the headquarters for George Washington's headquarters during the American Revolution. This riverboat was giving tours when we were there.
The town is refurbishing its waterfront and this mural was painted on the cement wall holding the train tracks. It had just been completed in 2007 and depicts various places in the city.

There is also a statue of Columbus in the foreground............
The Hudson River is still used for commercial transport although it is not as busy as it once was. Tourism is being promoted to the riverside towns which once flourished. Here crushed cars are being carried down river.
Along the way, there were many, many huge beautiful estates. Roosevelt's Hyde Park is along the way (not visible).
Another estate....

This is the Esopus Meadows Lighthouse, currently being restored near Kingston. The Catskill Mountains are in the background.
Another estate barely visible in the trees...
A New England town.....
And, still another estate.......... Here is the Rondout Lighthouse at the entrance to Rondout Creek and Kingston. We will stay in Kingston 2 nights because there is some weather coming..
I take my turn at deck-hand..........
Waterway entrance to Kingston...looks like a pretty town. While there, Bob changed the oil, fixed the head and replaced the thermostat in the refrig-it had been working so well it froze everthing !
We left Kingston early in order to make the 65 mile run to Waterford. Again, we had the current against us for a good share of the way. We pass the Saugerties Lighthouse.

And then the Hudson-Athens light. The town of Hudson is on one side of the river, Athens on the other.
Finally, we are approaching Albany...the capital of New York.
The state capitol buildings..........we went through the Troy Lock and we now docked at the town dock in Waterford. Docking is FREE for 2 nights, then $10 a night after that and includes water and electric ! Wow, what a deal ! With that kind of deal, we'll eat out. And we did, the first restaurant recommended for breakfast has the special of 2 eggs, toast and coffee for $1.79. We splurged and added hash browns--total bill $7.12. Next morning, we tried the more up-scale restaurant--price is up to $2.39 for 2 eggs, toast and coffee. We splurged anyway and added corned beef hash--total bill $7.82. Tried the up-scale Irish Pub for dinner...total dinner including a glass of wine and a beer-total bill $32.00. Tonight, seeing that we're still only paying 10.00 to dock, we'll go to the casual Irish Pub for dinner !!!

New York City sights

2008-06-17T10:15:00.014-05:00

Here is the New York City skyline as we headed up the harbor to our dockage on Friday the 13th. We stayed at Newport Yacht Club and Marina on the Jersey side. This swan came to visit us at our anchorage at Liberty Landing State Park. Bob obliged with some bread...
Here is Lady Liberty as viewed from our anchorage in the morning before we started up the river.
Arriving at the marina about noon, we decided to visit Ellis Island that afternoon. So we took the fast train, then the shuttle bus to get to the Park, then by ferry to Ellis Island. It is huge with 3 full floors of displays about the immigrants who have come to the US. Here it is....

This is a view of the building fom the balcony. The display rooms were on the perimeter of the floors.

One of the things we wanted to do in New York was to see a Broadway play, so we stood in line at the TKTS booth to get half price tickets. We lucked out and got first row mezzanine seats for Mama Mia. It was wonderful !
New York traffic....Yikes! Horns blowing, people scurrying across the street in the middle of the block. It is quite the experience. And to think, that swan shown earlier was only across the river from here !
This is a sculpture in the garment district....There were people dressed in costumes of the various plays-Phantom of the Opera, etc. in the theater district. These were from Mary Poppins.

Here we are in front of the ABC studios in Times Square. You never know what you're going to see here ! This guy dressed in cowboy hat and boots and wearing just jockey shorts was playing his guitar in the middle of it all !
And here is a view of Times Square. Darrell and Bob enjoyed the scenery--real and otherwise !
We took a Grayline tour to get an overview of the city. We could hop on and off at various places. Here are some buildings in the government center.

This is the globe which was near the twin towers. Despite damage, it was transported to Battery Park where it is now on display.
We had to visit Wall Street and the bull, of course! I wasn't about to have my picture takesn at the other end.
Bob on Wall Street...
View of Wall Street from the Episcopal Church at one end..
This is a statue of Washington who took his oath of office at this spot on Wall Street.
This a view of Wall Street with the church at the end from in front of the Washington sculpture. I was surprised---had no idea that this church was in the center of the financial district. Services were going on and the bells were being played manually from the steeple. The church had been founded in the 1600's but was destroyed in the fire of 1776, and again in the 1800's. This church was built about 1886.

Alexander Hamilton was buried in this church yard as was Robert Fulton, inventor of the steam engine.
We visited Ground Zero. It was a very solemn experience. This ship, built with some of the steel salvaged from the twin towers, will be launched in 2009. A view of the actual site. A viewing platform and memorial is in the process of being built.
Next we visited St. Paul's Chapel. This church was built in 1766 and survived the fire of 1776 because townspeople formed a bucket brigade to save it. It is adjacent to the Twin Towers site and amazingly had no damage from the blast. There was a lot of debris in the church cemetary, but not even one window was broken! During the salvage operation, it served as a center for feeding and caring for firemen, policemen. Volunteers included food preparation and serving, medical personnel, physical therapists, masseuses, etc who cared for the salvagers. Visiting this church was a very emotional experience.
Inside of the church...it is still used for services, but is also a memorial to 911. George Washington's pew is on display here.
View from the rear of the church--cranes in Ground Zero can be seen from here.

There are many, many beautiful buildings of different styles of architecture in New York.
Chinatown....
St Paul's Cathedral...

Here are a couple views of Central Park....

This is a sculpture of Christopher Columbus down near the waterfront of the Hudson River.

Another sample of the beautiful buildings....

This is a sculpture of Teddy Roosevelt in front of the Museum of Natural History. There is so much to see here...! But one can only absorb a little at a time.....If we ever do come back, we'll know what more we want to see.

We went through Harlem which is now being renovated.

Our tour actually took the better part of 2 days. We visited the Macy's store which is over 100 years old---with the original wooden escalators still in use. Seven floors of shopping--too big for me !

On our last day, we got up early and were at the Today show by 7 AM. It took us an hour to get there on the subway even though we had practiced this mode of transportation for 2 days before. We didn't get right up to the front right away, but were able to move up. We did get a good view of Matt and Meredith.
This is a view of the crew working on this show---on the outside.

Later, we stopped in the NBC store to view pictures which had been taken of us at the time of the show. I just couldn't resist having our picture taken with Matt there. His suit was a little shiny....

Arrived New York City !

2008-06-12T14:51:00.011-05:00

Today, we got up early to make the trip to NYC. Darrell and Bob planned it so we would go out the inlet on the falling tide and arrive in NY on a rising tide. It's about 58 miles. This is the first bridge of the Point Pleasant Canal we had to go through. It's only about 6 miles to the inlet.

We had to go through this narrow railroad bridge on the Mannesquan River---sure looks narrow !

Sure enough--we didn't meet any boats for the first five miles until we got to this bridge...then here they all are !

The entrance to the ocean--about 50 miles to go.

This statue of a mariner is just at the outlet. It was a beautiful day-sunny, calm, just a gentle ride-except when some hot dog would pass us and throw a big wake !

We passed this Navesink lighthouse on the way...it's just south of Sandy Hook, NJ.

Then passed Sandy Hook lighthouse--I think this is the oldest lighthouse in the country.

Here we are passing Coney Island.

This is the Verazanno suspension bridge into the NY harbor--it's one of the longest in the country. A double decker with truck traffic on top and cars on the lower.

Here we are passing the Statue of Liberty...what a thrill and such a perfect day for this !

Berge's and us took turns passing and taking pictures of the other.

Here is a picture of the Staten Island Ferry--one of many in the harbor.

And last, the Lady Liberty by herself.

Tonight, we are anchored in the Liberty Landing park and we'll celebrate with Darrell and Beth. Dinner will be an all American meal of hamburgers, accompanied by a bottle of champagne.

Rock Hall, MD to Beach Haven NJ

2008-06-11T10:30:00.005-05:00

Leaving Rock Hall, we traveled up the last 35 miles or so of the Chesapeake Bay. Our plan was to stay at the free dock in Chespeake City before going through the C&D canal. We passed this barge on the way.

Nearing the beginning of the canal, we passed by the Turkey Point Lighthouse, shown here.

This is the entrance to the canal.

Arriving in Chesapeake City early, (about noon) we decided instead to go through the canal today since the weather was good and anchor behind Reedy Island at the most inland part of the Delaware Bay. That would make our run down the bay so much shorter.

It is interesting to see the osprey nests and where they build them. Here is one on a pretty narrow pole across the water. A good blow would surely knock it down !

As planned we anchored behind Reedy Island for the night. We rafted on to Beth and Darrell's boat and had dinner with them that night. Planning to leave early the next morning, like 5 AM to catch the outgoing tide on the Delaware Bay, we were in bed early. We also hoped for none to little wind since this body of water can get choppy. We were'nt totally prepared for this fog though! Here we were in the morning, with visibility about 100 feet. With radar and the GPS we traveled slowly. One thing in our favor was that all big boat traffic had been stopped on both the Bay and the canal.
It was chilly going down with the fog and we were dressed in long pants and sweatshirts. Arriving in Cape May, it was HOT ! And BUSY---it was the week-end and everyone was out enjoying the water. The Cape May Harbor and was buzzing with boats of every size--I wondered if they knew what "no wake" meant.
The Marina we stayed at (Utch's) was very nice and we were given a welcome package with wine, biscotti, soap and information on the area. The showers were super clean and private, so we were already feeling pretty good about this place.
That evening, we went next door to the Lobster House for dinner--this was said to be one of the top 10 restaurants on the East Coast and had been privately owned for 70+ years. We agreed with it being a top 10--the service, food and prices were all A1. There was a large formal dining room, an outdoor area where you could order your food, pick it up and sit outside to eat or take out, and a very large seafood market where you could buy most of the kinds of foods served at the restaurant--seafood, breads, desserts, etc. The building housing all these parts and parking lot stretched about 1 block. We went back before we left Cape May and bought some of their seafood and stewed tomatoes which were very good.
The next day it was still very HOT- in the 90's, and it did hit 100 for a short time. We had elected to walk to the historic district in the morning and we're glad we did it then. We took a tour of the town covering their beautiful Victorian homes, the beaches and Cape May lighthouse. No pictures to show as neither Bob or I wanted to carry any more than we had to when it was so warm ! We had lunch at another soda fountain which was like an old 5&10 store. Amazing that this town of about 3500 people could be so busy and big---tourism is their primary industry other than fishing--but it is, and always has been known as the seaside resort of the east coast. Many, Many condo's but the city has a strict building code because the whole place has been registered as a National Historic District. Despite the heat, it was a nice, interesting day.

Leaving Cape May on Monday, we began our trek up the New Jersey Intracoastal Waterway. Because it was still very hot, we decided to stay in a marina, so we could get electric and air conditioning. And, considering the traffic there is on week-ends, we found it quite pleasant with little traffic. The fisherman here though find that the best fishing is in the center of the channel and we can't go far out of it because it is really shallow. We have brought up a little mud now and then.

The next day, we left early (probably too early as it was low tide and pretty muddy again) and resumed our ICW journey. We knew that there would be delays waiting for several of the bridge to lift around Atlantic City. However, when we got to Margate, south of Atlantic City, the bridge tender asked if we were continuing on to the next bridge---when we said yes, he said he'd check for us but he thought the next bridge was closed for maintenance. Sure enough it was. So we back tracked a few miles and went out the Great Egg Harbor Inlet to the Atlantic. It actually was pretty nice and a whole lot cooler for the next 10 miles or so. And we did get some nice views of Atlantic City.

Here are views of the casinos from the water. The narrow building on the far left, had TRUMP on it. We weren't too impressed..

Closer to the inlet, we passed the Taj Mahal, Trump's other casino which was definitely more opulent.

This shrimper met us on the way into the channel.

Harrah's Resort and Casino.....

Sunbathers on the opposite side of the channel from the casinos..

The Absecon Lighthouse...now overtaken by all the casinos..

Re-entering the ICW, there was a contrast in scenery with the flat green marshes. We planned to stay at a marina again because of the heat. Tomorrow we definitely will anchor out. That's the plan for the next couple of nights until we get to New York City on the weeke-end

St. Michael's to Rock Hall

2008-06-05T18:31:00.011-05:00

Leaving the anchorage near St. Michaels, we first went through Knapp Narrows to go into the Chesapeake. (We were leaving the Choptank River).

Leaving the Chesapeake again, we entered East Bay where we went through Kent Narrows. Just north of the Narrows, off in the distance, you could see this development....just a few condo's ! We are really close to Annapolis and the west coast...the Bay bridge crosses here.

Leaving the Narrows, look closely on the right side of the picture. Here is a duck hunting blind....behind it is a boat harbor...to the left were many,many condos and looking in the background is the Bay bridge from the west coast of the Chesapeake bringing all the people from Annapolis, Washington DC and Baltimore. This duck blind just didn't seem to fit.....

We arrived in Rock Hall where we were going to meet Darrell and Beth who we would travel with from here to NYC. Here they come...in spite of the small craft warnings which had been issued for the Bay !!! (They came across from Annapolis)

We decided to explore the town the next day...it was a 1/4 mile walk into the center of town so we decided to stop in this coffee shop for a break. Not many shops were open during the week. But, in spite of that, this is a nice town. Only one flashing stop and go light.

Looking out the back door of the coffee shop, we discovered the Oyster Court with many small buildings with a variety of merchandise for sale. It was just really charming and a nice quiet place to browse....(we were the only ones there !).

Here's another view of the buildings...............

This one was really neat.............note the sign above. "Hubby Day Care" !!!

Here is Bob and Darrell---they were watching TV and when we went to get them, they said, " Are you through already?...aren't there more shops you want to check out? !!!!

The shops and restaurants in this town are all artistically decorated like this restaurant...........They were all nice for browsing---at least the ones that were open !

Durding's Store was closed on Wednesday so we had to go back on Thursday to check it out..it was said to be an authentic soda fountain/drug store. It was, and had been maintained amazingly well. There was the old fashioned metal ceiling, the old wood floor, original wooden booths, and soda fountain counter along with the old pharmacy drawers, etc. Of course, we had to sample the offerings....note what the rest of us had versus Beth's !!! Such willpower !!!

Here is the old fashioned phone booth in the corner..sign said to deposit a nickel to make a phone call.

One of the old pharmacy cupboards....

Tomorrow, we'll leave early to go to Chesapeake City where we will wait to traverse the C&D Canal down Delaware Bay to Cape May.

Tangier Island to St. Michael's

2008-06-02T16:23:00.008-05:00

Leaving Crisfield, we traveled up Tangier Sound, heading for Choptank River on the East side of the Chesapeake. We planned to visit Cambridge, Oxford and St. Michael's. We passed through the Hooper Island Pass and I expected to see that lighthouse there, but it was not. So, I thought I just missed it. Going on, we did pass this Sharp's Island Lighthouse entering the Choptank River, but I sure wondered how I could have missed the other one............. That night, we anchored in LaTrappe Creek just off the Choptank. It was a really nice anchorage, quiet with just a couple houses around us. It was amazing to me that we could be so close to Annapolis, Baltimore, and Washington DC and still find this rural, quiet area. These osprey were on the buoy as we entered the anchorage......
The next day we traveled about 5-6 miles to Cambridge where we planned to stay in a marina because of the impending heavy winds forecast. We passed this catamarran and crabber on our way.
We enjoyed our stay in Cambridge and it was an easy town to walk around...colonial homes with beautiful yards and huge trees with branches that overhung the sidewalks so that we walked in the shade. Several of the older, large homes had been turned into B&B's or apartments, but they were still beautiful. We passed several churches and decided to go to the Episcopal church in the morning. The weather forecaster was right and we did have a big blow that afternoon with some rain which washed the salt off the boat !
We arrived at the church a little early the next day, but visited with a man who had at one time worked at Cargill. He invited us to go to breakfast with them after church. This church was founded in about 1680 but the present church was built in 1886--fires had destroyed the first two. It is a beautiful church with stained glass Tiffany windows. The service began and as is customary in many churches, after the prayer, there was the "sharing of the peace". We have been used to greeting people sitting in our immediate area in all the church services we have attended. Not here---EVERYONE greets each other...and this takes a while ! And, during this greeting, many knew we had started in Minnesota and also invited us to breakfast ! This was undoubtedly, the friendliest church we have ever attended ! I guess it goes with the town.......because we enjoyed the flavor of it..
Leaving Cambridge, we decided to forego Oxford and head for St. Michael's. But instead of going in to the marina, we were going to go in the back way--anchor in San Domingo Creek off the Broad River. We can take the dinghy in to shore and walk 3 blocks to the main street of St. Michael's. Arriving in the afternoon, we just anchored and decided to enjoy the quiet of this area which had colonial homes set apart on several acres each. We also had been told not to go into St. Michael's on the week-end as that's when all the people from the west coast go there. Here is one of the homes at this spot.

Next morning, we left Bellissimo at anchor and headed into St. Michael's...
We found this was really a neat way to go there---we walked down a street of smaller homes. We passed this huge magnolia tree in a church yard with HUGE blossoms--they smelled so good.
Here is a view of main street in St. Michael's---pretty quiet at 9am. Shops in older homes and buildings...........History is that the townspeople here outsmarted the British. The British planned to invade the town on August 10,1813 and the townspeople who had been forewarned, hoisted lanterns to the masts of ships and in the tops of the trees, and tricked the British by causing them to overshoot their cannons and miss the town. Only one house was struck by a cannonball and that house still stands and is still a private residence.

We decided to visit the Chesapeake Maritime Museum and after touring it for 4 hours, we're glad we did. It covered 12 aces. Not only did it show boats, but covered the whole history of the Chesapeake including the oystering (aystering according to the locals), duck hunting and lighthouses. Here is a picture of one of the boats and the Hooper Island Lighthouse....Here it was.....!....it had been moved after it was decommissoned by the Coast Guard !
It was amazing to learn of all the different kinds of boats....each designed for clamming, oystering, crabbing, bugboats, buyboats, etc, etc,etc. The log boat design which was original from the Native Americans was adopted and fine tuned with sails, first used for oystering, then used in recreation and racing. They still have these log boat races on the Bay and they certainly appear to be adrenalin raising! There is no motor so they have to be towed out and without much of a keel, can turn over pretty easily. So the ballast are people hiking up springboards on the side...some pretty high. The movie showed one overturning and it is quite a feat to re-assemble with the boards, etc.
It was surprising to me to learn just how big clamming, crabbing, and oystering is an industry. They are everywhere....I'll definitely have to read "Chesapeake" as Bob has. Here is Hooper Strait Lighthouse...the bay has many of this type. Others include Drum Point and Thomas Point among the better known ones. This type of screw pile lighthouse was adopted from the British..
This sign I thought was interesting so I thought I should show it here for our sailing friends !!!
These boats with the pilot houses are called buyboats....I don't know why..

And this is a skipjack, used for oyster dredging. I understand that waterman who use this type of harvesting now can only use sail power rather than mechanical power in order to conserve the oysters.
We walked up to the top of the lighthouse....here is the Fresnel lens used in this one...
A view of the restoration shed in the museum. There were many, many different types of boats in various states which are constantly be restored here. One of the shops on the main street............. On the way back to the dinghy, we passed this home and garden. Many, many homes had roses of many kinds including climbing roses. It was a nice day.............

Tangier Island

2008-05-29T14:52:00.016-05:00

Leaving Portsmouth, we traveled up the west coast of the Chesapeake to Deltaville. We spent the night there and having good weather we decided to cross to Tangier Island on the east coast of the Bay. The island is only 3 miles long and 1 mile wide and is pretty isolated--major shopping is done at towns on the mainland. The only industry on the island is crabbing and oyster harvesting although according to one of the locals, oystering has now been outlawed in the Bay. The waterway into the marina is lined with crab houses where the waterman keep their boats and separate the crabs to get them ready to ship to market. They are "waterman" rather than "fisherman" because they make their living on the water. A closer view of the town from the water....tour boats come here from both the east and west sides of the Bay twice daily. That's when the shops and restaurants open...when the tour boats come. After 5 or so, there is only 1 shop open...an ice cream store. There were a few gift shops and about 5 restaurants.

A closer look at the crab house and kind of boat used. The boats are about 40 feet long.

Here is a waterman sorting his crabs...these are Maryland blue crabs and they are now shedding their shells...it's soft shell crab season.
Leaving Parks marina, these signs advertize the restaurants...

Main street....note that they use golf carts here. Very few cars here---I think we saw three including the police car. Life is pretty laid back here...thought this was kind of a neat sign.

View of the street to the north end of the island...streets are just wide enough for one car.
Porch of the History Museum had these interesting checkerboad tables and pieces. Oyster shells are painted...
The yards here are fenced in and many, many had their dead buried in the yard..

This sign explains why.....
According to this sign, this island was discovered in 1608. Historical records are not verified about when it was actually settled, but the Crockett family is one of the originals. Interestingly, most of the current residents (now about 600, once was 1100) are decendents of the two original families....very common names here are Crockett, Pruitt, Parks, Dize. They have their own dialect which is described as Elizabethan cockney or maybe Cornish. It was more prevalent when they were talking with each other. Speaking with strangers, they tended to speak more slowly. We had the opportunity to listen to 3 local women while we were in the museum.

The History Museum was interesting. In one incident, the island had the opportunity to be the setting for a love story film starring Paul Newman. The council voted it down because the story had cursing, sex and drinking in it. I think it was "Time in a Bottle". No amount of persuasion could change their minds even though there was a nice financial incentive. The locals also feared that this would bring too many people who would have bad influence on their young girls.

This island is dry...no liquor sold anywhere. Here is their fire department. Many of the newer homes are modular or double wide which must be an interesting site being transported first across the bay and then down these streets !
Finally, despite this Verizon sign on the house (the one on the right in back)who we assumed to be a dealer, we had no cell phone or internet coverage. It's my understanding the locals use satellite TV,etc.

Scenes from Portsmouth/Norfolk

2008-05-26T15:49:00.008-05:00

Arriving in Norfolk, just out of the Dismal Swamp, here is what we encountered....Boats, boats, and more boats...BIG boats. So much traffic after just seeing 3 other boats in two days....Wow !
This is a picture of the Tidewater marina where we left the boat while we went back to the cabin for a couple weeks...It was in Portsmouth, right next to the Naval Hospital.

Here is a picture of the water taxi which you could take across the Elizabeth river between Norfolk and Portsmouth for $1.00.
This is a picture of the lightship Portsmouth which is part of the waterfront in Portsmouth. It was stationed in several ports before it was retired from service in the late 1900's.
Portsmouth was a nice town to walk around...a lot of different styles of architecture from Renaissance to Victorian to French Provincial. Bricked streets. There was a 1940's theater which has been renovated and it showed the latest films...unfortunately, the new movie of Indiana Jones was sold out so we had to pass. The old courthouse is now an art museum which had a display of kites and hot wax art. There were several museums too and I wished we could've spent more time here. We finished our walk around town at the Bier Garten Restaurant with German beer, reubens and beer battered french fries. There were no less than 350 kinds of German Beer !---Dennis, you would've loved it !

This was an interesting photo of two naval ships...

And still another ship......
A view of some of the homes along the waterfront in the Norfolk harbor.
As we went by the navy base docks there were many, many ships, one sub but also a lot of security....

And there were many containers ships too...this one from Panama.
Leaving the harbor, we started up Chespeake Bay with the plan to get to Deltaville on the west coast before the high winds forecast start. From there, we plan to go to the east side of the Chesapeake which is said to be still somewhat untouched as far as tourism goes..

Dismal Swamp Visitor Center to Norfolk/Portsmouth

2008-05-06T17:41:00.004-05:00

Leaving in the morning so that we could arrive for the 11:30 locking we passed by this bridge. A farmer who has property on both sides of the canal has permission to pull this bridge across to transport his cattle to the other side. Luckily, he wasn't doing this as we went by........We also found later that he was the mayor of Chesapeake. (no political influence I'm sure ! ) This is a view from the stern of the boat of the one turn in the Canal !
We are now in Virginia !
A blue heron on the waterway............
Another view of the Dismal Canal. It was a very pretty place and we could hear the birds....
This is was the Superintendent's house (Corps of Engineers).

Isn't unreal just how straight this is ?
Here are remnants of the old pilings which lined the canal. A lot of them had begun to sprout branches so it was hard to see them with the overhanging trees. We could also see a few of the old cement mile markers here and there.
And it was sometimes hard to take pictures with the mirrored images.
We finally made it to the last bridge and even the vehicles were mirrored in the water. After the lockmaster opened the bridge for us, we went into the lock with one other boat. The lockmaster was reputed to be an expert conch player so he played a tune for us.
After going through this canal and seeing a total of 3 boats on the entire 40 miles (22 on the canal and 18 on the Pasquotank River) it was a real shock to get into the waterway to Norfolk and Portsmouth. Here were all kinds of boats from cruisers, to Navy ships, ocean liners and big yachts...!

We'll leave the boat here for 2-3 weeks while we return to the quiet cabin in NW Wisconsin. There we'll get revived again to continue this journey so we can absorb more history and scenery.

Elizabeth City to Dismal Swamp Visitor Center

2008-05-06T16:42:00.005-05:00

Leaving Elizabeth City, we were on the winding Pasquotank River for about 18 miles before we got to the Dismal Swamp Canal. But this was very pretty and the winding curves added to the diversion. It was certainly more comfortable riding than on the Albermarle Sound the day before. Here we came to the division in the river leading to the Dismal Swamp canal. On the right side of the picture is the bridge near the lock.
The canal stretches for 22 miles and is absolutely straight except for one turn. This canal is the oldest continually operating canal in the United States. It was first surveyed in 1728. George Washington visited it in 1763 and then suggested that the swamp be drained and make a canal between the Chesapeake Bay and the Albemarle Sound. So a company was formed to drain the swamp, harvest the trees and turn the land into farmland.
He actually surveyed and directed the digging of the first 5 northern miles using slave labor who worked in the swamps in the water, often up to their shoulders.
Realizing then that this was such an enormous task, they decided instead to focus on lumbering and use the cypress trees for shipbuilding and the cedar for shingles. The lumber industry continued until the 1950's when all the timber had been harvested. The land was donated to the Nature Conservancy and eventually to the Department of the Interior for the creation of the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. Thus, all the trees in the present swamp (which is much smaller than the original 40,000 acres) are less than 50 years old.

Here is the southern lock called Southern Mills. Boats are raised 8 feet. The lockmaster tends both the lock and the bridge north of the lock. When we went through, he then went to the bridge and raised the bridge for us to pass. Locks and bridges are opened four times a day. This sign in the lock gives the mileage both north and south.
Here you can see the farmland now on the west side of the canal. We couldn't find out what this yellow crop was.
We then stopped for the night at the Visitor Center where we can tie up. There is a new education center on the west side of the canal (opened only 2 months) with a boardwalk into the swamp.

Here is the pontoon bridge which is usually open, but the operator opens it for anyone who goes across to the Education Center. The Visitor Center on the east side of the canal was closed for the day.
Here is the bridge completely closed so we could go across and return....actually we were the only ones there who walked across when we were there.
Here is a picture of the bridge in the open position and the Education Center in the rear.
There was one other boat tied up at the wall--a couple from New Jersey who we had met in Vero Beach. They joined us for a social time and gave us good tips for New York City. It was a nice quiet night.

New River to Elizabeth City

2008-05-06T08:04:00.003-05:00

This is picture of an old landing craft that was in Mile Hammock Bay where we anchored near Camp Lejune. Along the waterway there were some other military pieces of equipment. The Marines sometimes use the area for maneuvers.
We headed for Beaufort, but because we arrived there early and the weather looked good for traveling, we instead decided to go to Oriental. This is known as the sailing capital because of the large number of sailboats there compared to the number of residents. Crossing the Neuse River (which is more like a big lake than a river) was forecast for good weather that day and the next. So, we opted for that and only stayed in Oriental one night. This is also a very small town and we really are not as enthused at looking at more old houses at this point.
From Oriental, because the weather was good, we decided to leave the next day and head down the Neuse River, into Pamlico Sound and then across the Pamlico River which were all pretty big bodies of water. We got into the Alligator River where we anchored for the night. Six other boats joined us; it was quiet and pretty calm.
From there we decided to stay at the Alligator River Marina which is at the south end of the Albemarle Sound until we had good weather to cross. Again, we had a good weather forecast, so we left the next day. The crossing is 18 miles of open water. The first half was pretty good, but we rocked and rolled for the last part of the trip.
Then we arrived in Elizabeth City home of the Rose Buddies. This was a group of retired men who would meet visiting boats at the dock and present the women with roses or a newspaper. Unfortunately, the man who started this tradition, Fred Fearing, died last fall and the state of this hospitality program is uncertain at this point. There is a very large domed building near Elizabeth City which was used during the war to house derigibles. It is now being used as a manufacturing plant for blimps. This one was parked near it--apparantly it is for golfing.After taking a walking tour of the town and their museum, we decided to leave in the morning to go through the Dismal Swamp.

Bald Head Island to New River

2008-05-01T19:38:00.005-05:00

April 30 We left Bald Head Island on a clear, calm day (much calmer than when we arrived). It was Day 166 of our Loop. Here we are passing a shrimper going out to sea. And, passing what was once a military fort on Oak Island which has now been sold to a church group which uses the land and buildings for a retreat. As previously said, no vehicles except for a few service vehicles are allowed on the island. Here is a ferry bringing a few cars and some delivery trucks to the island...one is a Lowe's truck, supplying I suppose, some of the building materials for the contstruction which is going on.
As we get back on the ICW, past Southport, we pass the remains of another lighthouse for this imortant port.
Here is another newer looking ferry................ There seemed to be many of these from the mainland to the various islands.

Passing through the Carolina inlet, there are cars on the beach of this outer island.
For a while, I wondered where we were when I saw this statue of the giraffe on this lawn ! It had to be 12-14 feet tall !
Many of the channel markers had the osprey nests on them. The birds didn't seem to mind the traffic close by.
We anchored for the night in a bay which the Marines have a dock and an old landing craft on the shore. The helicopters did maneuvers until about 10 pm but then the rest of the night was quiet. It was a nice anchorage with about 12 boats here....

Myrtle Beach-Bald Head Island

2008-05-01T12:35:00.004-05:00

Leaving Coquina Harbor in North Myrtle Beach...this lighthouse is at the entrance. We left allowing enough time to get to the first bridge for the 9 am opening ( we wanted to be there in time since it only opened on the hour). On the way, we spotted these wild goats on one of the outer islands.
We were able to get to this pontoon bridge in time for the 9 am opening. This is the only remaining pontoon bridge on the East Coast. Here, the boat in front of us is waiting--see how the road dips down since we were at low tide.
The bridge is open.....see the part of the road on the pontoon. The bridge tender took down the names of the boat that went through for his record...
Here we see one of the inlets to the Atlantic Ocean.

And still another inlet. At these places, we experienced the tide changes. On one side of the inlet the tide was against us, on the other side, it was with us...
Here is the lighthouse on Oak Island which is on the south side of the inlet from Bald Island.
And here is Bald Island Lighthouse as we were entering the harbor. This lighthouse top is off set from the center. This inlet was another major fortification for the country during the Revolution and the Civil wars...

We spent the afternoon and night on Bald Head Island. There are no cars allowed on the island except for service vehicles. So after lunch, we walked to the lighthouse and visited the museum. Then we asked directions to the Maritime Market and a woman gave us a ride there on her golf cart. After walking back the 2 miles back to the boat, we were ready to call it a day. It's an intersting place. There are houses surrounding the marina and many, many houses on the island are available to rent.
A closer view of the lighthouse so that the off set could be seen clearly.

Charleston to Myrtle Beach

2008-04-28T19:08:00.009-05:00

View of Charleston skyline as we were leaving on April 26.

Cruise ship in the port next to where were docked...

This is a view of the Spirit of Charleston double masted sailing vessel which was at the end of the dock where we were.

Here is a picture of container ship bring cargo to the US.....

from Singapore !!!
As we entered the ICW rounding Sullivan's Island, this old seawall with a fortification still remained
Traveling down the Wacamaw River part of the ICW was said to be the prettiest part of the waterway on the East Coast. While not as pretty as some of the midwest areas, (predjudiced), it was pretty. Lots of woods similar to the north woods and wildlife. Here is a nest with osprey.

These trees with the overhanging moss and hole were interesting along with the cypress knees along the waterline.

This was just one of the bridges we had to wait to open along the way. We spent one night in Georgetown and bought some fresh shrimp and crab from the local seafood place on Saturday afternoon just before it closed. We had hoped to spend more time in this quaint town, but as in many small towns, absolutely nothing was open on Sunday so we moved on......Nearing Myrtle Beach, this is a privately built and privately maintained 65' bridge across the waterway leading to a gated community on the ocean side !Also in Myrtle Beach is the overhead cable car system which transports golfers from one side of the waterway to the rest of the golf course on the opposite side !Arriving in North Myrtle Beach, we rested at a marina which has its own resident alligator. Looks to be about 8' long. There still were some ducks swimming around here though.......

Charleston Harbor Cruise

2008-04-26T17:20:00.005-05:00

On the day after the Rendezvous, we were on a History tour of the harbor. Here are some of the older homes on the water. The city was first a walled city to protect themselves from the Spanish and the Indians. This part of the city is the Historic District.

Here is the pilot boat from Fort Sumter. It was here that the game of baseball originated about the time of the Civil War.
And a view of Fort Sumter where the Civil War began. During the tour, the biologist pulled up a crab trap to show us the blue crabs. These were mostly females crabs--an easy way to distinguish the females is with the painted nails ! Another way to distinguish was by the round thing on the bottom of the crab.

Here is another view of the Ravenal Bridge across the Cooper River.

This is a view of the Charleston lighthouse on Sullivan's Island. The houses on this island have a problem getting hurricane insurance except from Lloyd's of London..............
This is Fort Moultrie on the northern side of the Charleston Harbor. Charleston is a major seaport with cruise ships as well as cargo ships coming and going. It has a colorful history with pirate lore, some stories pretty gory, early battles, etc. We were told that the chief of the Seminoles, Chief Osceola is buried at Fort Moultrie.

Charleston and the Yorktown

2008-04-26T16:23:00.006-05:00

During the Rendevous, we became friends with other "loopers". Darrel and Beth, David and Adrienne (New Mexico), and Bruce and Bonnie(Ft. Myers) and us all went out for dinner on our "free night". During the Rendevous, all our other meals were with the group. On our last night of the Rendevous, we had a tour and dinner on the Yorktown, an aircraft carrier used after 1942 (after the first Yorktown was sunk). Here we are entering the ship. You can see the planes on the flight deck.

This sub was docked along side of the ship....
Here is a view of the Ravenal Bridge from the ship. In the foreground is the area of the ship where the planes were launched...
The plaque explaining the launch..............

Another plane on the launch deck.....

I would be remiss if I didn't tell you about the dinner. It was first class and we had a choice of spinach stuffed chicken or fillet mignon. Bob had beef and I had the chicken---both were EXCELLENT. We also were served a wonderful salad and a rice medley (wonderful). And the dessert--a rum chocolate topping on cheesecake was to die for. It was a memorable ending to the week.
This island was in Charleston Harbor
View of Charleston from the Yorktown--across Cooper River.

An example of houses in Charleston....they have the south side facing porches. Most of the older homes seemed to be built this way.
A woman in the Market Street market making and selling the sweet grass baskets. I learned that the basket that we bought years ago from a woman on the side of the road (we were on a road trip) was worth much much more than we paid. So, from now on, I'll take much better care of it !
Here is a view of the beginning of the market on Bay Street. It extended about 3 blocks with many different vendors. Some have permanent spots, others come intermittently and if there's an opening, they can be assigned to that spot and sell for the day.

Charleston Marina and Plantations

2008-04-26T09:46:00.013-05:00

These docks seen on our cruise to Charleston, seemed to stretch forever. And each house had their own dock, stretching forever. We wondered why they wouldn't join together and share one.....
This was our first view of Charleston as we entered the harbor from the south...There were other large ships carrying cargo from all over the world as well as cruise ships.
This was the view from our marina...we were at the Charleston Maritime Center which was right in the historic district. A great place to dock, as we could walk to the farmer's market on Saturday, and to the Market Street where there were local crafters and vendors.

This was the view of the new Ravenal Bridge crossing the Cooper River. Our first tour was to two plantations--the Drayton House and the Middleton Place. The first was the Drayton House which was a preserved site meaning that there had been no restoration. The building was only being maintained to its original state. There were no furnishings. This picture is of the grounds looking from the second floor. The driveway coming in is from the Ashley Road which is narrow with huge overhanging trees--now a Scenic Byway.

And here is the house.......The rear of the house faced the Ashley River which was often their route of transportation to Charleston.

Next we visited the Middleton Place which has America's oldest landscaped gardens first landscaped in 1741. One of the Middletons was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, another was the President of the first Continental Congress, another a governor of South Carolina, with successive family members equally active politically.

This building on the property was to store dairy products and foods because the spring water kept it cool. It was also used as a chapel for the family's slaves until the Civil War.

Sheep grazing on the front lawn........... Another view of the pond looking from the house.

This was the Octagal Sunken Garden which was of the three formal gardens on the property. Originally, the gardens where shades of green and eventually, successive Middleton's added colors with azaleas, gardenias and roses.

I don't remember which flower this was but it was used by the slaves who picked the flower and then held it over the mistress's head to shade her !!!!

Here is the Butterfly Garden overlooking the Ashley River. To the left side (not shown) were the rice beds. I was surprised to learn the this area was the largest producer of rice during the 18th and 19th centuries. The slaves who were brought from in from Africa were knowledgeable about growing and harvesting the rice--thus, this was their main crop, not cotton.
This tree is the known as the Middleton Oak and is believed to be over 1000 years old. Indians used this as a landmark when navigating the river. 85' tall, with a circumference of 37' and a limb spread of 145'.
This is the only remaining part of the residence to survive the burning of the plantation in 1865. Because Middleton was an advocate for secession, the Union soldiers were told to destroy this and other properties on their march to the south. We toured the home which is filled with family heirlooms.
We also had lunch at the Middleton Place Restaurant. Southern fried chicken--best fried chicken I've ever had, great pulled pork , rice (of course) and corn pudding which I just tasted and wished I would've taken more. Ended with yummy pecan pie !

Beaufort, SC and Dataw Island

2008-04-18T15:31:00.006-05:00

We passed Hilton Head on the way to Beaufort...Here is the Harbortown Lighthouse..... Then we passed by the Parris Island Marine Corps training center....
Beaufort is a pretty town which has maintained its old buildings. The waterfront is inviting with a large green space and at least a dozen of these porch type swings overlooking the water.
This is an example of the buildings in town---the house is now a bank. Streets are narrow and the sidewalks more so...there's barely enough room for 2 people to walk side by side.

Here is another house which is now an inn. There was a wedding going on here when we walked by.
On Sunday, the 13th of April, we went to church at St. Helena's Episcopal which was founded in 1712. Construction of the church was started in 1724. It was used as a hospital during the Civil War. There is a 6' brick fence around the whole block surrounding the church.
As was customary, the cemetary is right outside the church. Again, many headstones dated from the 1700's. It was a surprisingly large church with a wonderful choir.

Leaving Beaufort, we traveled 3 hours that day, averaging 7 mph. We had arranged to stay overnight at Dataw Island where their fuel was the least expensive since we left Cape Coral. When we arrived there, we learned that we were just 6 miles from Beaufort by land roads !!! We have been on so many rivers which are all part of this waterway, and then there are even more creek and other rivers flowing into or out of the ones we've been on. They twist and turn every which way. Without the GPS and chart, you could surely get lost. Here are a couple of alligators near the pond on Dataw Island.
Dataw Island is a purely residential community with the exception of the marina. But we enjoyed taking a bike ride around. We visited the remains of an old plantation which apparantly is one of the best examples remaining of the tabby stone construction. This is the oyster shells held together with cement. Building foundations included the main house, kitchen, some of the slave quarters, stable, and chapel. The family was all buried outside the chapel. Unfortunately, we didn't have the camera along then !!!
After that, we decided to get more information on the island so we went to the welcome center where the local realtor gave us the grand tour. Very nice...here they were still playing croquet (appropriately dressed of course) on the lawn of the clubhouse. Two golf courses, tennis, beautiful clubhouse, and very nicely maintained homes and landscaping. Prices ranged from the high 200's to millions+. I could live there...........

We were held up in Dataw Island for 2 more days because of high winds and cold. At this time of our lives, we prefer to keep warm and we can do that if we're at a dock with electricity. The temperature got into the 40's and with the wind, it was cold !!! So on Wednesday the 15th, with the weather improving, we left for Charleston. We'll be staying at the Maritime Center which is in historic part of Charleston. There are a couple of things Bob wants to do on the boat, and I need some things done....permanent, hair cut, pedicure etc. Next week, there'll be the Looper Rendevous which has scheduled a plantation tour for us as well as a tour of the Yorktown aircraft carrier. Actually, we'll be having dinner one evening on this carrier.

Savannah scenery

2008-04-16T16:24:00.012-05:00

I had hoped we could stay right in Savannah, but because the current there is so strong, we ended up staying at Thunderbolt Marina which is a suburb of Savannah. From there we took the city bus into Savannah and spent the day. As it turned out, staying in Thunderbolt was pretty nice--every morning, a box of Krispy Kreme donuts and the newspaper was delivered to our boat!

We were told that the first thing you do when you go to Savannah is run up to Paula Deen's restaurant and make a reservation. Well, we got there at 9:15 and ended up at the back of the line. (I'm there at the end, in the red jacket waving a cup of coffee.) The line grew even longer, at least another block. We did get reservations for lunch.
There are so many pretty homes in Savannah, I had a hard time paring my list of pictures. Finally got it down by half !

Many homes had extensive decorative metal work.
And there are 24 squares such as this one in the downtown area.
Another example of the metal grill work on the garden gate..
This home is from the early 1800' undergoing renovation---last selling price was in the $200's for the 1 bedroom efficiency !

After a tour of Savannah, we set off on our own. Here is another home with the metal work.
And still another park. This one was near the city market square.

This is to show that we did go to Paula Deen's for lunch. Food was good, as was the service. A lot of hype though......Gift shop did a booming business too. Restaurant is in an old warehouse with the fire doors still intact along with some of the brick walls in the restroom

Last place for us to visit on day 1 was the home of Juliet Lowe who founded the Girl Scouts. (I was a GS many more years ago than I care to remember.) But I did pick up some memorabilia for Samantha's troop. (our grand daughter)

Here you can see how some of the side walks are...others are of an aggregate of shells. As with many cities, there is a lot of construction and rennovation going on in the downtown area.

On the second day, we started with a walk through the cemetary which is in the center of town. No one has been buried there since the 1890's when it was made into a city park.

Those were the days of the duelists.....

Then we took a tour of St. John's the Baptist Church built in 1872.

This is the organ in the rear of the church and the altar.

This is a picture of the outside of the church...........

taken from this square ! (another one !)

This placard was in front of the Unitarian Church, commemorating the organist of that church who wrote "Jingle Bells".

Some beautiful row houses..............

and a couple more beautiful homes.

All seem to date from the 1800's. In the last one, all the white trim is iron work that has been painted.

We ended our tour on the waterfront where the old cotton warehouses have been converted to shops and restaurants. See the street where Bob is standing...the street is made up of ballast from the ships years ago. I wondered how they dared having these very uneven streets still being used.

Statue of the Waving Girl on the waterfront park. Legend had it she was waiting for her lover to return from sea, but the real story was that she just liked to wave to the ships that returned.

Hotel across the river from the waterfront in Savannah.

Another part of the waterfront park is dedicated to the Irish imigrants. The St. Patrick's day celebration here reportedly draws upward of 500,000 people !

Here is another view of one of the streets from the waterfront paved with the ballast from the ships.

All in all, a great city full of history to visit. I didn't mention the Ship and Sea Museum which we also took in...it was great.

On to St. Simon's Island

2008-04-15T12:39:00.005-05:00

Arriving at St. Simon's Marina, we took the courtesy car (1 hour) to take a quick tour of the island. Since this church was the farthest from the marina, we took it in first. The church dates from the 1700's. It was a beautiful setting with huge old moss covered oak trees.

The cemetery was adjacent to the church and many of the tombstones were dated from the 1700's.

The trees in the church yard.

Bob is reading the placard under the oak tree where it is believed that John Wesley did his first sermon. The tree is thought to be over 400 years old.

Across the street from the church

was a memorial garden dedicated to the Wesley's.

This interesting tree branch was along the path.......

The next day we took the marina's courtesy bikes and rode to Mallory Street which is the downtown area. Many shops, bed and breakfasts, and we had breakfast there. Of course, we had to visit the lighthouse.

It's a very pretty place--I'd go back !

Jekyll Island

2008-04-15T11:16:00.009-05:00

On Jekyll Island, we took the courtesy bikes from the Marina and headed for the Historic Village. This was a private club established by the likes of Morganthau, Pulitzer and a couple others. The bike path was very pretty with large trees.

This building housed the apartments of the original four.

They needed a place to house their guests.... This is a view of the clubhouse from the water.

Here is the front lawn of the clubhouse where they still play croquet. This apparantly is a sport which continues in much of this area. Later on Dataw Island, we saw a game going on with the contestants dressed in white and it can apparantly be quite competitive.

This is one of the other private homes in this village. The employees who maintained the grounds, and managed the Club lived in smaller homes in the same area. These are now various types of shops.

This home (now a book store) was at one time the hospital for the Club and its employees.

Here is Bob under one of the large oaks with the moss.

Before we left on our bike ride, I took a picture of Bob near the dock post so you can see how it is at low tide....see the posts compared to Bob. And you can see the barnacles on the post.

This is where the dock was at high tide...compare the top of the post to Bob. The tide swing here is about 9 feet. This will last until we get to North Carolina decreasing as we go north. By the time we get to New York, it'll be only 3-4 feet.

So we have to contend with the tides, and be aware of that because the ICW can be very shallow in some places...Plus we have to be aware of the current and wind can make it worse.

Jacksonville to Jekyll Island

2008-04-15T10:07:00.005-05:00

Leaving our anchorage, we were on our way to Jekyll Island. We passed this deguassing plant which was located at the Navy submarine base. It demagnetizes the submarines. Apparantly the Navy occasionally stops all recreational traffic in the area when subs are leaving or returning to the base. There were none when we went through.

It seemed strange to see this cruise ship in the waterway as sometimes it seems pretty narrow !

Here we are passing Cumberland Island which is a wildlife refuge. Wild horses are on this island.

It's my understanding that some of the horses are herded up every few years and sold off.

After passing Cumberland Island, we were in Cumberland Sound which is an another inlet from the Atlantic Ocean. This lighthouse was on the south side of the sound. There was a buoy washed up on the beach in front.

On the north side of the sound, is Jekyll Island. On the tip, you can see the remnants of a shrimp boat that sunk here.

Scenes from Jacksonville

2008-04-08T13:02:00.005-05:00

These are scenes from our boat where we were docked at the city dock. There are 4 bridges in Jacksonville, and we were docked betweeen the 2nd and 3rd.

We enjoyed Jacksonville very much. Here we are-docked at the city dock in front of Jacksonville Landing which is collecton of restaurants and shops.

Across from us was another park and fountain. We walked over there one day and then took this skyride back.

The cost for this was 50 ents--but for seniors, only 10 cents !!!

Getting back to north Jacksonville, we got off at this park with the statue of Andrew Jacksonville. Later that evening, we came back for the Art Fest and a dixie land band was playing there. Lots of artists and vendors.

Walking back to the boat, there were at least 3 other bands playing in different areas of town with some of the shops staying open to display other artists' works.

The other two bridges, the park across the river and last, the Jacksonville Jaguars stadium. This town is also home to Maxwell Cofee and has a Budweiser brewing plant. It is expected to grow by about 20,000 jobs in the next few years because of the expansion of the ship yards now being built. Also, Mayo has a clinic here.

St. Augustine to Jacksonville

2008-04-08T07:06:00.009-05:00

Our friends Darrel and Beth caught up to us in St. Augustine so we reserved the marina courtesy car . After walking around the parking lot for a while, we found it ! (see the courtesy car parking sign in front !)

After running errands to Home Depot, Target, West Marine and the grocery store, we stopped to tour the fort at St. Augustine. This was built in the 1600's and although the fort was never taken in battle, it was under the jurisdiction of first the Spanish, then England, then back to the Spanish, then the Confederate States and finally to the US.

This is a picture of the fort overlooking the harbor.

One evening when we were sitting in the boat, this boat attempted to dock across from us. It was so windy though, that they couldn't bring it into the dock even with both bow and stern thrusters. I was really relieved when they went further into the harbor. That night, we had winds of 30-33 mph with gusts up to 50. I was afraid that had that boat been across from us, it would have pulled all the cleats off the dock !

What a change in the landscape--no more mangroves. Just sawgrass along the waterway.

But there were still beautiful homes.

Entering the St. John's River, the boats were even larger. Jacksonville, is about 8 miles up this river off the intra-coastal waterway.

Although I couldn't find any sign that this was a lighthouse, it's architecture suggested it was one. And it was pretty much at the entrance to the St. John's River.

A little further down the river was this suspension bridge with a freighter approaching.

Passing under the bridge, we saw the workers, painting it ! What a job!

Here are some homes along the river and a weird looking freighter flying a Panama flag. Apparantly Jacksonville is a big seaport for shipping cars. There were many container ships too.

Stuart to St. Augustine

2008-03-30T13:13:00.011-05:00

Leaving Stuart, the next week we traveled about 210 miles to St. Augustine. Some days we traveled 20 miles, one day-about 80 ! and still another day--only about 1 mile ! This first picture is of Bob's fish ! Unfortunately, it was only a bullhead.

There were pretty homes along the waterway on much bigger lots than they were further south.

This sailboat saw sad times--it dragged anchor and looks like the owner has forgotten about it.

The scenery changed and looked so much more like what we'd see up north---fisherman in smaller boats.

I think the blimp was returning from the golf tournment.

We made it to Cocoa Beach area and anchored south of the bridge.

This interesting boat named "Freddy Freddy" also was anchored.

We had hoped to see the spaceship return to earth but this was delayed until 8:39 PM so it was too dark for us to see--but we did hear the sonic booms.

The next day, we boated all the way across the waterway to Cocoa, FL and took a dock space at the Cocoa Village Marina. Cocoa is across from Cocoa Beach but we had heard about the historic village which sounded interesting to us.

Our first stop was the Travis Hardware which was said to be the largest

hardware on the East Coast. It was established in 1885 and I don't think

much has changed since then. Note the old step ladder and some of the vintage merchandise. I think a lot of the stuff has been there since 1885 !

Next, we headed down town which

had a lot of small quaint shops and narrow curving streets. It was really enjoyable.

Our next stop was for lunch at the Cafe Margaux. It was delicious and the service was outstanding. We chose to eat outside.

Later we walked around to the park which overlooked the anchorage we had stayed at the night before. In the morning before we left, we took a long walk along the riverside boardwalk before we left.

Passing through Titusville, we could see NASA. A huge building visible for miles. Also pictured is the Titusville swing bridge opening for us.

Here again were people picnicing which was nice to see. This is still in Titusville along the Indian River. The ICW goes through this river for a long way.

Next we went through the Haulover Canal which was very pretty with many people fishing--some from the boats but more fishing from the banks.

Leaving the canal, we entered Mosquito Lagoon. We had learned that there likely would be manatees here and sure enough, there was one alongside the boat.

One of the islands in the Mosquito Lagoon. It was very shallow in this body of water outside the ICW.

Here again were more normal looking waterside homes with docks in front like what we saw on the river system coming down to Florida.

There are four bridges going through Daytona Beach. This one apparantly was a new one. The pilings had images of dolphins and manatees on them. It also was no wake zone because of the manatees.

Here were older homes along the water way.

Here is the Ponce de Leon lighthouse.

Leaving Smyrna Beach where we anchored one night, we passed this drive-by snack shop.

When we were nearing Palm Coast, there was a bicycle trail along the waterway...this bicycler passed us up ! Not too hard to do when you travel at 6-7 miles per hour. We were going against the current here though (need some excuse).

We had hoped to anchor in the Matanzas River near this old fort. But our anchor wouldn't hold...apparantly they had recently dredged and the bottom was all gravel.

So on we went---past this interesting building that advertized itself as Bed and Breakfast. They also had a sign that said "Restaurant Open to the Public" but I didn't see anyone there except the obvious owners.

At last--St. Augustine. On a very windy morning. Here is the downtown area.

And the Bridge of Lions which is undergoing renovation. Note the dog on the boat--I think he wants to get off.

St. Augustine Lighthouse.

The inlet to the Atlantic Ocean...see the surf out there. Glad to be inside and almost to the marina where we'll stay a couple of days.

Marathon to Stuart, Florida

2008-03-23T16:38:00.015-05:00

March 16---Day 121
Leaving Marathon, Bob did try fishing. Luckily, I didn't plan on fish for dinner !

Here are some scenes from the water. We were out in Hawk Channel which is on the Atlantic side of the Keys.

Sailboat going south...

This is one of the turtles we saw along the way..

Later, we entered the Intracoastal Waterway (inside route), passing under this bridge.

Birds sunning on one of the pilings under the bridge.

There are shallow spots next to the waterway, so we had to keep a watchful eye...they say not to boat where birds are walking !

These birds each took a post---not too many openings left !

We decided to stay in a marina that night and enjoy the air conditioning...it was beastly hot that day. So we stayed in Plantation Key and enjoyed long showers and all the comforts of home---A/C, cable tv, etc. Did the laundry. The next day it was blowing pretty good so we decided to rent a car and explore the upper keys that way instead of trying to get into each place by boat.

Our first stop was the Wide World of Sports in Matecumbe Key.

Outside of the store, there is a pond with several large tarpon like this one in it.

Inside, in the center of the store, there is the sister ship of Hemingway's boat. Bob had to check out the helm...

There are just a few fishing reels for sale in here !!!

This elevator shows some of the decor of the store.

Even the floor of the elevator had this beautiful wood inlay.

We also visited the memorial to the people who died in the huricane of 1936. Nearly 500 people died or were never found.

Another suggestion was to visit Robbies's Fish camp.. this was supposed to be prime viewing for giant tarpon. There were tarpon but with the choppy water, didn't show well. But this bird was interesting, and waiting for hand-outs...

After anchoring out for 2 nights, we had decent weather to cross Biscayne Bay headed for Miami. On the way, we passed these Stilthouses ---I saw about 4 of them toward the Atlantic side of the bay.

Here we are nearing Miami..sailboat, power boat, plane...this will be a busy place.

We're getting close.....

This sculpture of the man blowing the conch shell is one of the first sights in the harbor.

And then this pirate ship---little did we know we would see it many more times that evening !

Sure enough, when we were anchored near the Venetian Causeway bridge, this boat went by every 2 hours or so !

Here is the view of downtown Miami from our anchorage.

We saw this blimp flying over the golf course where the PGA tournament was going on. According to the news, Tiger Woods' yacht was docked in Miami, but we didn't see it...we kept a watch out with no luck.

We did see a lot of other yachts though...like this one with it's own helicopter and power boat! That must be hard to take...

While we passed this boat on our left, there was a kayaker on the right side...what a stark contrast !

Here we are entering the channel where the cruise ships leave from in Port Everglades (Government cut) to go out to the Atlantic.

Here are a lot of big yachts docked...but not in the mega yacht category. There were plenty of those too !

Here are a couple of the mansions on the waterway. At first we were struck by their opulence, but after seeing one after another, we grew numb to them... What was surprising was the number of these that were for sale, or were going up for auction.

This island in the middle of the waterway is Peanut Island which is now a state park. During the Kennedy administration however, it was the the bunker for the President during the Cuban crisis.

This was one of the prettier bridges that we had to go under--this was in Palm Beach. There were many bridges that we had to wait to open so we could go through...

Here, we're waiting for the south bound boats to go through so we could go..These were heading for the upcoming boat show in Palm Beach...if you look closely you'll see there is a bunch of them behind the bridge. All together we counted 30 going south that had to wait for the opening...there were only 2 of us going north.

Here is another one of those houses with the yacht in front.

As we went further north, the houses seemed to get more realistic--still big but not as opulent. This was as we were nearing Jupiter.

Even more regular houses with a lot more green space and trees.

Here is a fishing boat coming in for the day. You can see the pelicans following to get the extra bait and remnants from the fish cleaning. There was heavy traffic on this Easter week-end, more so with students on holiday.

Finally, the Jupiter Lighthouse. We were glad to be getting near Stuart where we would take a dock for the night and fuel up. Hopefully we can go to church on Easter Morning.

Goodland to Marathon

2008-03-16T11:25:00.006-05:00

Leaving Goodland where we were held up by high winds, we headed for Little Shark River where we anchored for the night. Nothing there except several other boats. We saw this spoonbill as we were leaving Goodland.

We went through the Ten Thousand Islands...here are just a few.

This is the channel to Everglades City.

It was a pretty channel to the dock in front of the Rod and Gun club where we spent the night. This was a private club at one time for the rich and famous. Had lunch there on the porch and then walked up town for an ice cream cone.

Here we are in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Sunset picture looking at the Boot Key Bridge.

This is our neighbor...see his dock with all the comforts of home--wind generators, solar panel, direct tv. He does a good job with his laundry. There are many many live-aboards in this harbor plus about 200 mooring balls for transients which are always full. We anchored and then dinghied in to the grocery, etc.

We intended to stay only 2 nights in Marathon, but then we heard about the big Seafood Festival on the week-end held in the park right next to the marina. It was worth staying for....enjoyed golden crab and also stone crabs. They were so sweet, no sauce needed. Ended up taking some peel n eat shrimp and fish spread back to the boat where we shared with Jeanne and Jerry from Morning Star,and Beth and Darrel who just arrived.

This charming 83 year old lady was one of the volunteers working the tables (not a very good picture). We visited with many many people from the East Coast there.

More scenes from the Festival.

March 16
We leave Boot Key and the Berge's behind...heading for somewhere in the Northern Keys. Bob says he's going to catch a big fish on the way !