After our Naples trip we drove south to Fort Lauderdale twice, once to visit North Trail RV Center and the other to attend Fleet Week Port Everglades. In between, we visited Stuart to the north to check out a couple of boat yards. Trip highlights from May 5th through 9th follow. Click any image for…
May 23 – Annapolis, MD
City Mooring Field
“I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, and all the friends I want to see.” –John Burroughs
We spent our first day in Annapolis exploring on foot. The weather was clearing, but not completely, so we decided to stay in the historic area. We wandered down the main streets where most of the buildings are over 200 years old. It’s a beautifully laid out city where almost all the roads end at the water. It’s fun to look down Main Street from St. Anne’s Church and see the water and boats…even though it’s filled with cars these days. I’m sure the view was more spectacular a few hundred years ago.
CONTINUE READING HERE…»
Movin On Up
We rolled out of Demopolis at 8:25. An hour much more palatable for Pam. Tourist was content to run at trawler speed all day. We rose 35′ in Heflin Lock and continued on to our anchorage for the night at Upper Cook’s Bend, mm 278. No sooner had we gott…
Movin On Up
We rolled out of Demopolis at 8:25. An hour much more palatable for Pam. Tourist was content to run at trawler speed all day. We rose 35′ in Heflin Lock and continued on to our anchorage for the night at Upper Cook’s Bend, mm 278. No sooner had we gott…
May 22 – Annapolis, MD
City Mooring Field
“If we were meant to stay in one place we’d have roots instead of feet.” –Rachel Wolchin
We woke to another cold wet day, more of a fog, which meant Stan had to drive from the flybridge so he could use the radar. The Chesapeake becomes considerably narrower when you approach Annapolis with a lot to see along the shorelines and lighthouses in the bay, but our weather today made these treasures hard to see. It’s a beautiful area and I’m glad we’ve been through this area before on sunny days.
CONTINUE READING HERE…»
May 21 – Lexington, MD (Solomons)
Lewis Creek – Anchorage
“Just another day in Paradise where every hour is happy.” —Unknown
When it rains all day and is also cold, what do you do for entertainment…read, watch TV, sleep, cook, go to the mall? When you’re on a boat, anchored in a little cove, your options are a little more limited. We seem to be stuck in what I’d call Texas March weather…damp, grey, drizzly, foggy and a little on the cold side. We do get the occasional day of sunshine thrown in just to keep our hopes up. It’s kind of like the movie Groundhog Day where Bill Murray wakes up to the same day over and over. Every day seems to be the same this cruising season.
CONTINUE READING HERE…»
Ketchikan to Wrangell
May 15-18, 2016
After arriving in Ketchikan on May 15 we spent the remainder of the day cleaning some of the salt from Spirit and laying out our plans for the next few days. The rain intensified as the day progressed. As a celebration for a smooth crossing of Dixon Entrance we went to the new Bar Harbor Restaurant in a drenching downpour. Even with a taxi it was wet.
On Monday Patrick went to the post office and picked up the parts we had shipped in, including the new Tecma toilet seat which had failed. The main navigation computer had also failed in heavy seas in Johnstone Strait and we had been using a laptop as a stopgap. We had a mixture of sun and showers as the weather front began to move onshore.
Midday we met the crew of Seaducktress at the Cape Fox Lodge for lunch and found that the funicular to the lodge was broken, so we had to hike up “married man’s trail” from Creek Street to the lodge to enjoy the views of downtown Ketchikan and Thomas Basin. Patrick found a new power supply at a local computer store and by the end of the day we were back in business.
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| Hiking up Married Man Trail to Cape Fox Lodge |
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| The trail has 150 vertical steps plus gravel paths |
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| The view from the dining room was worth the hike |
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| Salmon Sculpture alongside Ketchikan Creek |
The weather continued to deteriorate and the predicted gale began on Tuesday, with cold temperatures, wind and rain. Even the eagles looked bedraggled as they fought over food on the boat launch ramp close to our slip. That evening we shared dinner on board “Misty One”, a custom Rayburn that also moors at Anacortes Marina.
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| The bedraggled eagles fighting over a fish |
Wednesday was just as bad from a weather standpoint, so we stayed in Ketchikan and hoped the weather would clear, although a few boats were arriving from Prince Rupert and asking for slip assignments.
May 19, 2016
The rain had stopped and the wind had shifted to the northwest, so at 0715 we cast off the lines and said goodbye to Ketchikan until we are headed south across Dixon Entrance later in the summer. Proceeding north up Tongass Narrows we had hopes of a smooth day in Clarence Strait and that was the case until we got to Ship Island, south of Meyers Chuck. Then the flood tide combined with NW winds to 30 knots created conditions just like Johnstone Strait. There were short, very steep seas and Spirit put the anchors on the bow pulpit underwater on several occasions. We slowed down to keep from pounding to avoid a repeat computer failure. Once again, even though the rain of the past few days had washed off the salt, in in a few minutes we were covered once again. Passing Meyers Chuck we could see that the dock was full so we continued past Misery Island (well named), since the seas were the roughest right off of the island, and then turned into Ernest Sound. The wind continued to blow for another few miles, but now on the beam, and the seas gradually calmed. Once past the tip of Deer Island, the wind and waves both disappeared and we had a flat calm approach into Santa Anna Inlet.
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| The view out of a placid Santa Anna Inlet |
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| Remains of mining machinery in Santa Anna Inlet |
Spirit was the only boat in the inlet, so we anchored at the head of the inlet in 50 feet of water at 1435. Patrick and Miriam got the prawn pots ready and by 1530 three pots were set at our favorite site near the opening to the inlet.
We spend a peaceful night at anchor trying to watch a movie, but either the movie was boring or we were actually too tired, so at 2100 we turned out the lights after watching a nearly full moon rise over the trees.
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| Bald Eagle |
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| Full Moon rising over Santa Anna Inlet |
May 20, 2016
With no particular schedule, Patrick checked the prawn pots sometime after 0800 and brought back our limit of spot prawns plus a number of squat lobsters. After cooking all of them, we pulled the anchor at 0925 and headed up Seward Passage, past Thoms Place and into Zimovia Strait. Regardless of the tide, the current seems to always run towards Clarence Strait down Seward Passage.
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| Some of our spot prawns |
Entering Zimovia Strait we saw something in the water and it turned out to be two deer out for a mid-day swim. As we passed by they turned around and headed back to shore. It is not the first time we have seen this behavior.
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| Deer in Zimovia Strait out for a swim |
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| Approaching Wrangell from Zimovia Strait |
By 1435 we were moored at Wrangell’s Heritage Basin, having covered 90 miles since leaving Ketchikan. That evening we shared the spot prawns with Pat & Rick Lennon on the Selene 53 “Tranquility” along with another apple pie baked by Miriam.
A ridge of high pressure is predicted to build over the Gulf of Alaska over the next few days, so we should continue to have clear but somewhat windy weather.
Decisions
North or South?All went fairly well on our shake-out cruise. A few minor glitches but nothing I couldn’t fix myself. It was good we were aboard Istaboa as one of our ACs decided to overflow it’s condensation well. Mel woke me up to point out we were dr…
May 20 – Lexington, MD (Solomons)
Lewis Creek – Anchorage
“The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.” —William Arthur Ward
Today we said good-bye to our new Monk friends and moved up the Bay towards Solomons. The weather couldn’t have been better…the water was flat, the sky bright blue and we even got to wear shorts part of the day. It was a wonderful day on the Chesapeake.
CONTINUE READING HERE…»
Naples
Earlier this month we rented a car and made a road trip to Naples, Florida to have lunch with a friend. On the way there, we made a couple of stops to take in some Everglades wildlife. We didn’t see the elusive Florida Panther, but we did see plenty of alligators. Trip highlights from May…
