Finally Heading South

O C Diver said:

Well they've pulled most of the buoys from Hell Gate. Other than draft, you could probably drive a container ship through there now. From what I understand, they have one buried cable that they need to identify the owner of, so that they can dredge and bury it deeper. Other than that, it looks like 12' at MLW and wide enough for 2 tugs and barges to pass each other. No reservations going through there in the dark at dead low tide.

Ted

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Thank is great news. We should slide thru Hell Gate in about two weeks.

Another tough day on the AICW.



Ted

you need to take it easy Ted..lol

O C Diver said:

Another tough day on the AICW.

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Ted

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Chesapeake is friendly today too

O C Diver said:

Another tough day on the AICW.

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Ted

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wow a stress less day! Are you in your shorts, flip flops and cheap sunglasses???

O C Diver said:

Another tough day on the AICW.

Ted

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Well, darn it, somebody has to do it. Otherwise the lubbers will not have anything on the water to point at as you pass them by.

Well it was a tough day. Picked up a mooring in Titusville around noon (visiting a friend tonight) and was eating tuna ahi tacos ($12) by 1PM at:

https://www.pier220.com/

Do yourself a favor, don't look at the menu if you don't want to stop. Yes, they have a dinghy dock.

With a BoatUS card, mooring (with a pumpout included I believe) and filling water tanks is <$21.

Ted

fryedaze said:

Chesapeake is friendly today tooView attachment 96099

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Hmmm... we must have been in sight of one another sometime yesterday.

Made Annapolis to Portsmouth, kinda boring... but the weather window seemed too good to pass up.

-Chris

ranger42c said:

Hmmm... we must have been in sight of one another sometime yesterday.

Made Annapolis to Portsmouth, kinda boring... but the weather window seemed too good to pass up.

-Chris

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Yep, long day for us at 8 knot. Only made it to Hampton. Buck Island tonight. We love first light departures.

Another tough day crossing the Atlantic ocean. Ok, Lake Okeechobee. Nothing but water on the horizon.



Ted

O C Diver said:

Another tough day crossing the Atlantic ocean. Ok, Lake Okeechobee. Nothing but water on the horizon.

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Various issues kept us here in Portsmouth one day too many... and just now it's 15 kt winds (down from 20s) gusting to 32... rolling waves in the marina, whitecaps just outside...

I could get out, but it'd take some work with spring lines and maybe ending up having to back out of the fairway anyway...

Too much trouble, and it's supposed to be nice tomorrow...

-Chris

ranger42c said:

Various issues kept us here in Portsmouth one day too many... and just now it's 15 kt winds (down from 20s) gusting to 32... rolling waves in the marina, whitecaps just outside...

I could get out, but it'd take some work with spring lines and maybe ending up having to back out of the fairway anyway...

Too much trouble, and it's supposed to be nice tomorrow...

-Chris

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I use to be impatient. Now I'm either smarter or lazier, not sure which.

Ted

O C Diver said:

Another tough day crossing the Atlantic ocean. Ok, Lake Okeechobee. Nothing but water on the horizon.

View attachment 96243

Ted

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That sure looks like the Inside passage. The only difference, you can wear shorts and flip flops!!

ranger42c said:

Various issues kept us here in Portsmouth one day too many... and just now it's 15 kt winds (down from 20s) gusting to 32... rolling waves in the marina, whitecaps just outside...

I could get out, but it'd take some work with spring lines and maybe ending up having to back out of the fairway anyway...

Too much trouble, and it's supposed to be nice tomorrow...

-Chris

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Chris Chris Chris. Are you retired? if you are there should not be on a schedule. Sit back relax, pour another drink, relight the cigar and enjoy the storm and watching the idiots out there in it!!

O C Diver said:

I use to be impatient. Now I'm either smarter or lazier, not sure which.

Ted

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Today's forecast for Okeechobee: Partly cloudy, 78, northerly breeze 10-15 knots. That sounds awfully nice.

Ted: How’s the water level? I saw something recently that the Lake is looking like it was in 2011, low.

You guys are killin me. My wife slipped/fell on the ice this am, on the way to the car, covered in snow. Yesterday at work, I unlocked my car, and the door still didn't want to open...

diver dave said:

You guys are killin me. My wife slipped/fell on the ice this am, on the way to the car, covered in snow. Yesterday at work, I unlocked my car, and the door still didn't want to open...

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I know the feeling. I'm thinking about what I'll have to wear to not freeze while working on the boat this weekend. Too bad the storage shed it's in isn't heated...

My phone reports that Monday will bring a 90% chance of 6" of snow. So, my Sunday starts with tire swapping on my car. Unheated garage... more headbang.

ps; pretty big shed, that must be!

diver dave said:

My phone reports that Monday will bring a 90% chance of 6" of snow. So, my Sunday starts with tire swapping on my car. Unheated garage... more headbang.

ps; pretty big shed, that must be!

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I did the snow tire swap on one car on Wednesday, need to do the other that's not parked for winter this weekend (fortunately the garage is heated). Got the snowblower ready the other day in case Monday does bring snow I have to care about.

The boat shed isn't mine, it's the storage building at the marina, so yeah, it's a large one.

Wayfarer said:

Today's forecast for Okeechobee: Partly cloudy, 78, northerly breeze 10-15 knots. That sounds awfully nice.

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That might have been the afternoon forecast. We went across in the morning with light and variable winds. Was in the 80s before noon, but then cooled off.

Larry M said:

Ted: How’s the water level? I saw something recently that the Lake is looking like it was in 2011, low.

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It's about 13.5' which is 3' higher than the low this spring. West coast hasn't got the rain this late summer / fall that the East coast got. 4" for October. Supposedly they haven't been dumping water; the farmers have been sucking it up.

rslifkin said:

I did the snow tire swap on one car on Wednesday, need to do the other that's not parked for winter this weekend (fortunately the garage is heated). Got the snowblower ready the other day in case Monday does bring snow I have to care about.

The boat shed isn't mine, it's the storage building at the marina, so yeah, it's a large one.

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Snow tires? That sounds vaguely familiar from my childhood.

Ted

So the magical mystery tour went from Stuart to Moore Haven (town after the Moore Haven lock on the West coast of Lake Okeechobee). City dock is $1 per foot including 30 or 50 amp electric. They have padded pilings (no fenders needed), city water, but no pump out or fuel facilities. There is a bathroom shower facility, but can't comment on it as we use the boat. Problem in the past is finding a place to eat. Not anymore.

We had dinner at Haven Fresh. It's a mom and pop Mexican restaurant and smoothie bar. Food was great and extremely inexpensive ($27 for the 2 of us before tip). The walk is about 4 blocks from the dock. Good service and very clean. Website isn't up yet.





Ted

O C Diver said:

Now I'm either smarter or lazier, not sure which.

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I'm sometimes both of those, sometimes even at the same time. Proudly.

Alaskan Sea-Duction said:

Chris Chris Chris. Are you retired? if you are there there should not be on a schedule. Sit back relax, pour another drink, relight the cigar and enjoy the storm and watching the idiots out there in it!!

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Heh... yep, retired of sorts, and didn't mean to imply we were in a hurry. Hadn't expected to stay there so many days, and just wanted to get to a less expensive place. Thinking next time, for those who know the area, we might try Ocean instead of Tidewater; probably same or similar costs, but maybe easier to get out if the weather comes up blowy. And equally close walking distance to the Legend Brewery riht near one of the ferry landings.

-Chris

We made it to Ortega Landing on Sunday, with breaking waves on the Ortega River... but docking was OK.

Surprised it really did sorta-kinda take us a whole month to get here. Our original concept was to leave Annapolis circa 1 Nov, arrive OL 1 Dec. Given some snotty weather on the Chesapeake, we didn't leave until 5 Nov. Then some find-parts-and-fix-it work followed by some weather in Portsmouth held us up there for 4 days.

As we came down the Chesapeake we had noticed our brand new port main alternator wasn't alternating... and as we were leaving Portsmouth we discovered the genset wouldn't start... so we needed to limit ourselves to marina hopping for shorepower. And then we found that weather was affecting many who were making the ICW trip south... and many were holding in marinas ahead of us, so that meant we couldn't move 'til they moved... etc. Which meant we were held up briefly for weather in Oriental, then again in Wrightsville Beach...

Then we had a family medical thing come up, thought we'd have to leave the boat in Southport for a while (great support for that from the folks at South Harbor Village Marina), and even though that situation cleared itself up (sorta) it held us up for another few days. Then we had another weather hold up at St. Simons Island waiting to get into Amelia Island...

And so forth and so on. Our OL reservation was supposed to start on 1 Dec but we originally thought we'd be in the vicinity much earlier, maybe time for a side trip to St. Augustine or somewhere... but no, sure enough we arrived on 1 Dec.

Genset issue is hopefully just the battery; generator needs 500 CCA, 10 year old 880 CCA battery now only giving 333 CCA... new battery en route.

And our yard sent us a replacement alternator, so this time we'll try to get the installation correct.

Not to worry, we've been in vacation mode since 1 Nov, staying here for 3 months, all good!

-Chris

Welcome to Jax. Sorry we couldn't supply you with a warmer week! Bit brrrrrrrr this am!

Yeah, what's up with the 30-degree temps this morning??

Not to worry, still warmer than home.

-Chris

I believe we broke the high temp record on Sunday, strange weather week!

November 08 2017

Well it's a little after 6AM. Slow Hand is steaming down Chesapeake Bay headed to Fort Myers, FL. Figured there were a number of Canadian TF members not migrating to South Florida this winter because of Covid. So I thought I might add some pictures to this old thread to stir up some memories.

Left Crisfield, MD this morning at 1AM in calm winds and intermittent fog. A very still quiet morning only disturbed by the regular tone of my foghorn.

It's been unusually calm for the last 3 or 4 days on Chesapeake Bay with temperatures in the 70s yesterday (hence the fog at night).







More pictures to come in the following weeks.

Ted

Not too fast Ted.....the storm over Cuba today hasn't made up its mind to go away...become a bigger storm or where it wants to go.

Mother Nature decided to hold off tantalizing Florida with a tropical storm till I put my boat back in the water.

Not far ahead of you Ted. Sitting in front of Deep Creek lock this morning. We got a late 1000 start Friday due to a failed raw water pump. Took two days to run the Chesapeake from Solomons. The fog was bad both days. Elizabeth City tonight. If forcasts hold we may hold up some where Thur and Friday due to weather. Safe travels. Pic is ballons we picked up yesterday South I Deltaville. Safe travels.

Plan is to leave Jax next Sat the 14th and head for Fort Myers Beach/Sanibel for a week or so before heading back. We will probably be well ahead of you guys all the way though!

All dependent on the yard diagnosing and correcting my charging issue this week.