Now a bit of INDULGENCE
Bear with me in this post, while I partake in bit of Indulgence. Many may think, what we are doing is in fact indulging, but let me remind you not all this adventure is a walk in the park....
After approximately 6000 miles (at about 6-8 miles an hour) Jo, I and Indulgence ( the boat) crossed our wake in Marathon, Florida. For those not versed in boating lingo, "crossing one's wake" in the cruising world refers to returning to the place you started and crossing over that imaginary starting place. In our case, officially it was any place we chose to cross over from the west shore ( Gulf of Mexico) to the Atlantic side ( Atlantic Ocean). In 2015, we sailed as south as Marathon, Florida and on Monday January 14, 2019 at 11pm, we returned.
This blog is being written from Boot Key Harbor where we will be for about a month,
To refresh everyone of this 6000 miles and the timelines involved, this is what it looked like.
Aug 2014 -departed south from Barrie, Ontario., down the Trent River Canal system , down the Saint Lawrence Seaway, took a right down the Richelieu River into Lake Chaplain and the Champlain River system. We picked up the Hudson River, traveled south to New York City, hopped outside on the Atlantic, down the Jersey shore. Again turned right up Delaware Bay, over to the Chesapeake. At Norfolk VA. We picked up the Intercoastal waterway (ICW) for 1192 miles as we went through the Carolinas, Georgia and then Florida. At Miami, we left the protected waters of the ICW and traveled the last 150 miles on the Atlantic to Marathon, Fl..
In 2015, not quite sure this was what I wanted to do for the next few years, we decided ( actually I decided) to bring the boat home to Canada. In May 2015 we left Boot Key and followed the same route home, except when we got to the Erie Canal in Troy, New York. This time I turned left and we traveled the Erie Canal to Buffalo ( could have exited at the Oswego River and crossed over Lake Ontario to Kingston) but no we decided to go to Buffalo. At the Niagara River, we turned left again and crossed into Lake Erie Glad I turned right on the Niagara River and not left... otherwise I wouldn't be here writing this blog.... I have a lot of faith in Jo and the boat, but I don't think we would have made that LEAP OF FAITH over Niagara Falls. It sure would have put me in the history books but maybe another day. ( ... a barrel !)
Across Lake Erie , up the Detroit River, Lake St Clair, through to Lake Huron. We turned right at Tobermory into treacherous Georgian Bay... I was in the home run. Across the bay and stopped in Midland Aug 2015.
I didn't quite cross my wake this time as we never went back to Barrie. We were about 50 miles shy of this accomplishment. This trip was about 5500miles.(there and back)
There is an organization called the American Great Loop Cruiser Association. This group is made up of crazy boaters who want to do nothing other than take a 6000 mile journey from the Great Lakes in Canada , pick up the Inland river system in Chicago down to Mobile, Al. where you pick up the Gulf Intercoastal Waterway (GICW), down the western shore of Florida, over to the Atlantic side of Florida, via the Keys or Okeechobee Waterway, then head north up the Atlantic ICW to the Great Lakes. You can start this journey anywhere as long as you cross your starting point. People start from Toronto, Illinois, Alabama, Florida, Maine... wherever they want. In fact we came across, Dutch, Brits, Aussies, Kiwi's, Poles... doing what they all affectionly call the LOOP. Many take a few years to complete the Loop, Many do it every year, many never complete it... This past year 150 boaters registered for it. I believe there were about 10 Crazy Canucks that registered.
In 2014-15, we in fact traveled close to 5500 miles , going up and down the Atlantic side , so in my mind I was already half looped, (TWICE) just not on the approved route. I don't think I'll find anyone to disagree with the fact that I'm Loopy sometimes, and even twice Loopy on occasion. In my book half looped twice equals fully Looped and again I rest my case, who can attest that they haven't seen me Looped at sometime. With this logic in hand I approached AGLCA, if I qualified for my Gold flag as completed the Loop. I even told them I'd take out a membership and pay for both flags. I quite don't understand their answer that although I may be loopy, and that my offer was generous, they said I had to complete the approved route. Go figure.
Sooooo, in Aug 2018, as Forrest Gump said... "Mamma said ..life is like a bowl of cherries..." oops wrong quote, lets try "people asked me why I ran... I just said I don't know I just did" So Forrest, Jo , I and indulgence set off to cross our wake.
Here's our route: Midland, Ont., across Georgian Bay, through North Channel, Sault Ste Marie, short stint on Lake Huron, then Lake Michigan to Chicago. Down the Illinois River to the Mississippi River, then turned left (north) up the Ohio River. Turned right down the Cumberland River, picked up the Tennessee River , then the Tombigbee waterway down to Mobile Alabama. Picked up the Gulf ICW, but due to Hurricane Michael and low bridges we were forced to travel outside along the Gulf of Mexico down the west coast of Florida to Madeira Beach /Clearwater/St Petes. As Forrest said at the end of his running days .. "I'm tired and going home" . So we were tired we went home for Christmas.
We brought the car back to Florida and dropped it off at Indiantown and then we continued our journey down the west coats of Florida to Boot Key. ( Whew... I'm out of breath just writing this ... damn we went such a far way in a short time.
Now for the last few days... our last blog left you in Marco Island on Sunday, watching football, drink in hand... could life be much better.
The next morning we set off for Everglades City in the middle of the everglades. It was to be a 33 mile run. The more I read about where we were going, the fact that we were going to be running in shallow waters the next 3 days and ( here's the kicker) we wouldn't even get close to Everglades City, or Flamingo on the southern most point of mainland Florida before the Keys. I questioned why am I taking 3 days to do what I can do in less than 1. Weather , waves and winds convinced me after 2 hours of starting out that morning to make the jump to Boot Key , Marathon. It would take about 15-16 hours provided wind, waves etc. did not change. We had a north wind and following waves that were going to push us and the boat another 80 miles over to Key West. About 25miles into the plan, I re-routed us to Boot Key. I was apprehensive about taking the boat into Key West at night, having never done it before. I was familiar with Boot Key and knew we could anchor out off Vaca Key and go into the harbour the next day. The trip was pretty well as I thought, just extremely long. We switched off every hour and we maintained a steady 6 - 7 knot speed with fore sail out to keep the boat balanced and not rolling over on crest of waves. In a way we were surfing with a 9 ton boat. The downside of this trip was that we would be sailing for 4-5 hours in the dark. This was not a problem until we got closer to shore 9 10 miles)where I had to start picking up the necessary safe passage to get to the 65' Moser Channel and 7 Mile bridge that needed to navigating to get over from the Gulf to the Atlantic. The stars were out and we adjusted to night vision, but the glare of the boat nav station (dashboard in a car) does affect you when you look at it amid total darkness. Jo made sandwiches and we ate along the way.
I forgot to mention that highlight of the trip, other than successfully completing it was racing with pods of dolphins, jumping and racing the boat, over, under, each taking turns showing off. Man they are fast and fascinating. One pod followed us for over 30 minutes and another for about 20. It seems they could look you in the eye, smile and then 'poof' they were gone. It almost appears that they get bored with what they are doing and with a flick of their tail... they are gone. Simply amazing creatures.
Well, we did in fact locate the channel and successfully navigated the crossing over to the Atlantic. The water level was less that 8' and at times we were fighting the tides. Throughout the day we were. dodging Crab pots ( in 30' of water) they were everywhere. We hit the occasional one but the real issue was if one got wrapped around our propeller shaft or wrapped around our keel or rudder.
It did happen to us in 2014-15 when we got caught on one. I had to dive on the prop and cut it loose. I'm certainly not looking forward to this if it happens at night under these conditions , 3-5'waves and 10 knot winds). Further to this at least during the daylight you can see the crab pot markers dancing on the water top, but at night visibility on the water is "zip"
Again we made it under the 7 mile Bridge and we had about 5miles to cut across the Atlantic to Vaca Key. We threw out the anchor in 9'water with 75' of chain. We took an hour to unwind and see that the anchor was indeed holding ad went to bed. Because of the winds and waves, I woke up every 2 hours to do an anchor check. All was well.
We had done it, we had crossed our wake, 11pm Monday January 14, 2019.
Jo and I will find a way to celebrate this accomplishment this weekend. Aside from the fact that we completed what we said we would do, we have a great sense of pride, not many boaters do the LOOP, particularly in a sailboat, so I'm pleased with what we were able to do.
Why did we do it... because it was there? Something to do? Or no particular reason just as Forrest said.
On top of this in celebration of this accomplishment, we have the priviledge of paying $40 odd dollars to buy our GOLD Loopers flag ( to replace our $40 white in progress flag) and flying it were ever we go. Funny thing is the only ones that will recognize this flag are those that have done this. (Not really a conversation piece to boaters let alone non-boaters.)
The last 5 months have been hard and we experienced several set backs along the way. What we will get out of this the most are the memories ( people, places, things and sharing) and oh yea the Gold Flag
BOOT KEY - HURRICANE IRMA 2017
There were 220 boats on mooring balls and several more anchored out in Boot Key when the hurricane blew through in 2017. Afterwards there were only 56 remaining. A chain reaction resulted when one or two boats not being adequately prepared for Irma had there mooring lines sheared/chafed off or broken which caused these boats to slam into others, pushing boat after boat into the mangroves or the Boot Key Bridge structure, causing damages resulting in the boats sinking. Today 40 odd boats have not been recovered , having been blown out to the ocean. Several boats were found several miles away and some as far as Jacksonville Florida.
Key's wide it is estimated over 1300 boats were displaced.
There is still evidence of Irma here. One of the 2 dinghy docks was destroyed and some of the plastic docks are still in the mangroves. Some of the major docks and pathways were damaged , concrete pylons (size of telephone poles) holding docks in place were snapped off at waterline or below so temporary pylons have been installed. Monies from the US government has been slow in coming, so the municipality and State are doing what they can with what they have.
The marina offices/clubhouse etc., which is about 4' - 5' above the high tide waterline had a foot of water in it the staff tell me.
Surprisingly after Irma, only 1 of the 220 moorings failed the structural (engineered) stress tests, so that's why the harbor was back in service a few months after the storm. The big issue was cleaning the water of all the sunken/derelict boats.
You can still see evidence of the wind damage to the vegetation, trees, grass etc. It's not quite as green/aqua (colorful) as it was when we were last here. You don't see the iguanas and geckos around much. One good thing is that bugs still aren't bad. Don't get me wrong, its still beautiful and one of our favorite places to be. Most of the community that were here in 2014-15 have left , either lost their boats or just relocated to other places over the past 4 years. Much of the staff are here as are a few others that are recognizable from before, in particular Diesel Don & Deana, who helped us several times on our original trip.
The activities at the harbour are still going on... softball, yoga, crafts, bocce, movie in the park (elf... this weekend), festivals in the park. It wasn't long to step into the pace of the community, with community lunches, meet and greets, Cruiser net , Buy & sell, Marathon Community Theatre , groups meeting to go to Cuba and Bahamas.
At this time we are 18 on the waiting list for a mooring ball. Because of the northerly winds and the cold fronts we are experiencing, no one is going anywhere. Temperatures haven't been too bad, mid 70's to low 60's/high 50's at night, but other than today the winds have been pretty consistent in the 12-15 knot range all day and night. Wind generator and solar panels have been keeping the batteries up, so we haven't had to use our new generator/inverter at all. We are anchored pretty close to shore and other boats in about 7-8' of water, so when the tide goes out (low tide) or when the winds suck the water out of the harbour, the boat is swinging into 1' of water under the keel. It will be a concern when full moon comes along as the tides rise and lowered a bit more ( moon's gravitational pull on the water). As well , because how crowded it is in here, I only have about 25' of anchor rode out, where I would typically like about 50' . There is a storm coming in on Sunday with wind gusts of 35 knots expected and a day of rain.. No TV at the boat so looks like I'll be listening to the NFL Conference championships on radio. I'm considering putting out my 2nd anchor so I don't drag into another boat which is only about 50-60' away. Problem I'm facing is the boat changes direction every 6 hours with the tide schedule and don't want the anchors knocking each other out.
Well that's it for a while as we anticipate being here at least until after Superbowl Sunday. If anything exciting comes up, I'll blog you.
Take care my friends and family... Whoopi, we are are officially Looped.
Having some technical issues with the camera right now so will post pictures later.
After approximately 6000 miles (at about 6-8 miles an hour) Jo, I and Indulgence ( the boat) crossed our wake in Marathon, Florida. For those not versed in boating lingo, "crossing one's wake" in the cruising world refers to returning to the place you started and crossing over that imaginary starting place. In our case, officially it was any place we chose to cross over from the west shore ( Gulf of Mexico) to the Atlantic side ( Atlantic Ocean). In 2015, we sailed as south as Marathon, Florida and on Monday January 14, 2019 at 11pm, we returned.
This blog is being written from Boot Key Harbor where we will be for about a month,
To refresh everyone of this 6000 miles and the timelines involved, this is what it looked like.
Aug 2014 -departed south from Barrie, Ontario., down the Trent River Canal system , down the Saint Lawrence Seaway, took a right down the Richelieu River into Lake Chaplain and the Champlain River system. We picked up the Hudson River, traveled south to New York City, hopped outside on the Atlantic, down the Jersey shore. Again turned right up Delaware Bay, over to the Chesapeake. At Norfolk VA. We picked up the Intercoastal waterway (ICW) for 1192 miles as we went through the Carolinas, Georgia and then Florida. At Miami, we left the protected waters of the ICW and traveled the last 150 miles on the Atlantic to Marathon, Fl..
In 2015, not quite sure this was what I wanted to do for the next few years, we decided ( actually I decided) to bring the boat home to Canada. In May 2015 we left Boot Key and followed the same route home, except when we got to the Erie Canal in Troy, New York. This time I turned left and we traveled the Erie Canal to Buffalo ( could have exited at the Oswego River and crossed over Lake Ontario to Kingston) but no we decided to go to Buffalo. At the Niagara River, we turned left again and crossed into Lake Erie Glad I turned right on the Niagara River and not left... otherwise I wouldn't be here writing this blog.... I have a lot of faith in Jo and the boat, but I don't think we would have made that LEAP OF FAITH over Niagara Falls. It sure would have put me in the history books but maybe another day. ( ... a barrel !)
Across Lake Erie , up the Detroit River, Lake St Clair, through to Lake Huron. We turned right at Tobermory into treacherous Georgian Bay... I was in the home run. Across the bay and stopped in Midland Aug 2015.
I didn't quite cross my wake this time as we never went back to Barrie. We were about 50 miles shy of this accomplishment. This trip was about 5500miles.(there and back)
There is an organization called the American Great Loop Cruiser Association. This group is made up of crazy boaters who want to do nothing other than take a 6000 mile journey from the Great Lakes in Canada , pick up the Inland river system in Chicago down to Mobile, Al. where you pick up the Gulf Intercoastal Waterway (GICW), down the western shore of Florida, over to the Atlantic side of Florida, via the Keys or Okeechobee Waterway, then head north up the Atlantic ICW to the Great Lakes. You can start this journey anywhere as long as you cross your starting point. People start from Toronto, Illinois, Alabama, Florida, Maine... wherever they want. In fact we came across, Dutch, Brits, Aussies, Kiwi's, Poles... doing what they all affectionly call the LOOP. Many take a few years to complete the Loop, Many do it every year, many never complete it... This past year 150 boaters registered for it. I believe there were about 10 Crazy Canucks that registered.
In 2014-15, we in fact traveled close to 5500 miles , going up and down the Atlantic side , so in my mind I was already half looped, (TWICE) just not on the approved route. I don't think I'll find anyone to disagree with the fact that I'm Loopy sometimes, and even twice Loopy on occasion. In my book half looped twice equals fully Looped and again I rest my case, who can attest that they haven't seen me Looped at sometime. With this logic in hand I approached AGLCA, if I qualified for my Gold flag as completed the Loop. I even told them I'd take out a membership and pay for both flags. I quite don't understand their answer that although I may be loopy, and that my offer was generous, they said I had to complete the approved route. Go figure.
Sooooo, in Aug 2018, as Forrest Gump said... "Mamma said ..life is like a bowl of cherries..." oops wrong quote, lets try "people asked me why I ran... I just said I don't know I just did" So Forrest, Jo , I and indulgence set off to cross our wake.
Here's our route: Midland, Ont., across Georgian Bay, through North Channel, Sault Ste Marie, short stint on Lake Huron, then Lake Michigan to Chicago. Down the Illinois River to the Mississippi River, then turned left (north) up the Ohio River. Turned right down the Cumberland River, picked up the Tennessee River , then the Tombigbee waterway down to Mobile Alabama. Picked up the Gulf ICW, but due to Hurricane Michael and low bridges we were forced to travel outside along the Gulf of Mexico down the west coast of Florida to Madeira Beach /Clearwater/St Petes. As Forrest said at the end of his running days .. "I'm tired and going home" . So we were tired we went home for Christmas.
We brought the car back to Florida and dropped it off at Indiantown and then we continued our journey down the west coats of Florida to Boot Key. ( Whew... I'm out of breath just writing this ... damn we went such a far way in a short time.
Now for the last few days... our last blog left you in Marco Island on Sunday, watching football, drink in hand... could life be much better.
The next morning we set off for Everglades City in the middle of the everglades. It was to be a 33 mile run. The more I read about where we were going, the fact that we were going to be running in shallow waters the next 3 days and ( here's the kicker) we wouldn't even get close to Everglades City, or Flamingo on the southern most point of mainland Florida before the Keys. I questioned why am I taking 3 days to do what I can do in less than 1. Weather , waves and winds convinced me after 2 hours of starting out that morning to make the jump to Boot Key , Marathon. It would take about 15-16 hours provided wind, waves etc. did not change. We had a north wind and following waves that were going to push us and the boat another 80 miles over to Key West. About 25miles into the plan, I re-routed us to Boot Key. I was apprehensive about taking the boat into Key West at night, having never done it before. I was familiar with Boot Key and knew we could anchor out off Vaca Key and go into the harbour the next day. The trip was pretty well as I thought, just extremely long. We switched off every hour and we maintained a steady 6 - 7 knot speed with fore sail out to keep the boat balanced and not rolling over on crest of waves. In a way we were surfing with a 9 ton boat. The downside of this trip was that we would be sailing for 4-5 hours in the dark. This was not a problem until we got closer to shore 9 10 miles)where I had to start picking up the necessary safe passage to get to the 65' Moser Channel and 7 Mile bridge that needed to navigating to get over from the Gulf to the Atlantic. The stars were out and we adjusted to night vision, but the glare of the boat nav station (dashboard in a car) does affect you when you look at it amid total darkness. Jo made sandwiches and we ate along the way.
I forgot to mention that highlight of the trip, other than successfully completing it was racing with pods of dolphins, jumping and racing the boat, over, under, each taking turns showing off. Man they are fast and fascinating. One pod followed us for over 30 minutes and another for about 20. It seems they could look you in the eye, smile and then 'poof' they were gone. It almost appears that they get bored with what they are doing and with a flick of their tail... they are gone. Simply amazing creatures.
A bit of entertainment while we crossed
Well, we did in fact locate the channel and successfully navigated the crossing over to the Atlantic. The water level was less that 8' and at times we were fighting the tides. Throughout the day we were. dodging Crab pots ( in 30' of water) they were everywhere. We hit the occasional one but the real issue was if one got wrapped around our propeller shaft or wrapped around our keel or rudder.
It did happen to us in 2014-15 when we got caught on one. I had to dive on the prop and cut it loose. I'm certainly not looking forward to this if it happens at night under these conditions , 3-5'waves and 10 knot winds). Further to this at least during the daylight you can see the crab pot markers dancing on the water top, but at night visibility on the water is "zip"
Again we made it under the 7 mile Bridge and we had about 5miles to cut across the Atlantic to Vaca Key. We threw out the anchor in 9'water with 75' of chain. We took an hour to unwind and see that the anchor was indeed holding ad went to bed. Because of the winds and waves, I woke up every 2 hours to do an anchor check. All was well.
We had done it, we had crossed our wake, 11pm Monday January 14, 2019.
Jo and I will find a way to celebrate this accomplishment this weekend. Aside from the fact that we completed what we said we would do, we have a great sense of pride, not many boaters do the LOOP, particularly in a sailboat, so I'm pleased with what we were able to do.
Why did we do it... because it was there? Something to do? Or no particular reason just as Forrest said.
On top of this in celebration of this accomplishment, we have the priviledge of paying $40 odd dollars to buy our GOLD Loopers flag ( to replace our $40 white in progress flag) and flying it were ever we go. Funny thing is the only ones that will recognize this flag are those that have done this. (Not really a conversation piece to boaters let alone non-boaters.)
The last 5 months have been hard and we experienced several set backs along the way. What we will get out of this the most are the memories ( people, places, things and sharing) and oh yea the Gold Flag
Boot key Harbor Marathon
BOOT KEY - HURRICANE IRMA 2017
There were 220 boats on mooring balls and several more anchored out in Boot Key when the hurricane blew through in 2017. Afterwards there were only 56 remaining. A chain reaction resulted when one or two boats not being adequately prepared for Irma had there mooring lines sheared/chafed off or broken which caused these boats to slam into others, pushing boat after boat into the mangroves or the Boot Key Bridge structure, causing damages resulting in the boats sinking. Today 40 odd boats have not been recovered , having been blown out to the ocean. Several boats were found several miles away and some as far as Jacksonville Florida.
Key's wide it is estimated over 1300 boats were displaced.
There is still evidence of Irma here. One of the 2 dinghy docks was destroyed and some of the plastic docks are still in the mangroves. Some of the major docks and pathways were damaged , concrete pylons (size of telephone poles) holding docks in place were snapped off at waterline or below so temporary pylons have been installed. Monies from the US government has been slow in coming, so the municipality and State are doing what they can with what they have.
The marina offices/clubhouse etc., which is about 4' - 5' above the high tide waterline had a foot of water in it the staff tell me.
Surprisingly after Irma, only 1 of the 220 moorings failed the structural (engineered) stress tests, so that's why the harbor was back in service a few months after the storm. The big issue was cleaning the water of all the sunken/derelict boats.
Dinghy docks gone
Tiki Hut ...used to be the hub of the community
Office Complex - desolate
Docks still out of commission (18 months later)
You can still see evidence of the wind damage to the vegetation, trees, grass etc. It's not quite as green/aqua (colorful) as it was when we were last here. You don't see the iguanas and geckos around much. One good thing is that bugs still aren't bad. Don't get me wrong, its still beautiful and one of our favorite places to be. Most of the community that were here in 2014-15 have left , either lost their boats or just relocated to other places over the past 4 years. Much of the staff are here as are a few others that are recognizable from before, in particular Diesel Don & Deana, who helped us several times on our original trip.
The activities at the harbour are still going on... softball, yoga, crafts, bocce, movie in the park (elf... this weekend), festivals in the park. It wasn't long to step into the pace of the community, with community lunches, meet and greets, Cruiser net , Buy & sell, Marathon Community Theatre , groups meeting to go to Cuba and Bahamas.
Parking Lot
At this time we are 18 on the waiting list for a mooring ball. Because of the northerly winds and the cold fronts we are experiencing, no one is going anywhere. Temperatures haven't been too bad, mid 70's to low 60's/high 50's at night, but other than today the winds have been pretty consistent in the 12-15 knot range all day and night. Wind generator and solar panels have been keeping the batteries up, so we haven't had to use our new generator/inverter at all. We are anchored pretty close to shore and other boats in about 7-8' of water, so when the tide goes out (low tide) or when the winds suck the water out of the harbour, the boat is swinging into 1' of water under the keel. It will be a concern when full moon comes along as the tides rise and lowered a bit more ( moon's gravitational pull on the water). As well , because how crowded it is in here, I only have about 25' of anchor rode out, where I would typically like about 50' . There is a storm coming in on Sunday with wind gusts of 35 knots expected and a day of rain.. No TV at the boat so looks like I'll be listening to the NFL Conference championships on radio. I'm considering putting out my 2nd anchor so I don't drag into another boat which is only about 50-60' away. Problem I'm facing is the boat changes direction every 6 hours with the tide schedule and don't want the anchors knocking each other out.
Well that's it for a while as we anticipate being here at least until after Superbowl Sunday. If anything exciting comes up, I'll blog you.
Take care my friends and family... Whoopi, we are are officially Looped.
Having some technical issues with the camera right now so will post pictures later.
From where I sit, Looped is one hell of an accomplishment. Big Congratulations to you both.
ReplyDelete