2020 Cruising, Where are you going?

[boathealer]

We were going to start the loop this year, but with the lock closures that will have to wait until 2021.

Instead, we will leave FL in March/April and cruise the Chesapeake and a bit north all summer before returning to FL/Bahamas for the winter.

This will allow us to move through the Chesapeake area without feeling like we're missing everything when we do "go around" the following year.

 

[tn6437]

starting the loop in the fall

right now she is on the hard, shrink wrapped for the winter. doing a few upgrades and repairs this winter and spring. recoring the flybridge deck, adding a bow thruster , taking care of the teak on the exterior. then in October departing Cincinnati to begin the loop. going to fly home for the holidays then around the first of the year back on the loop. from Cincinnati to fort myers is familiar as I did that trip bringing her home this past summer. hope to leave her in mobile for the holidays, then cruise around florida next winter and heading up the east coast in the spring. midsummer should find me in the great lakes then back home late summer. probably take her down to Columbus marina on the tenn-tom for the winter 2021.

 

[koliver]

First cruise of the new year will be 37 days on a Cruise Ship.
We leave from LA Jan 4 and fly back from Oz at the other end. Will still have the summer for cruising our own to Desolation Sound or other BC environs.

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Leaving mid-June. Down the Columbia to the Pacific, up the coast, turn to stbd at the Straits of Juan de Fuca to Seattle. Then we'll spend the rest of June, July, August and September visiting ports in the South Sound, up through the San Juans to Canada. We'll hit the high spots (Chatterbox Falls, Prideau Haven, Blind Channel Resort, etc.) and all the small ports and anchorage spots along the way.

Hope we can hook up end of August!!


I figure we'll cover about 2,000 miles before we start home somewhere around the end of September or early October. By the time we're done we'll have logged about 2500 miles.

Have fun Mike, hope you guys have a great trip. Go easy on the Admiral, so she will wanna come back again.

Cheers

I bet he goes faster than 7.6kts!!

 

[Pete Meisinger]

I hope to do the "Mini Loop". For those Midwesterners and Great Lakers who have not heard of it or done it:

Chicago river to the Calumet river back to Lake Michigan. Can be done in a couple days. More for me since I like to take my time running from Green Bay to Chicago. With any amount of luck I can make it last 2 weeks.

pete

 

[WayneDana2]

Haven't decided yet. It will either be:
1) Spend early summer here on the river gunkholing, then do a late summer/early fall cruise up the Columbia to Lewiston ID.


2) Return to Northern BC again leaving Portland in early May and returning in early October. It is an awesome cruise and we absotively love it, but we're not sure we want to do that many miles again.


In either case we will give up our slip in May and not return to it till November 1st.

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Haven't decided yet. It will either be:
1) Spend early summer here on the river gunkholing, then do a late summer/early fall cruise up the Columbia to Lewiston ID.


2) Return to Northern BC again leaving Portland in early May and returning in early October. It is an awesome cruise and we absotively love it, but we're not sure we want to do that many miles again.


In either case we will give up our slip in May and not return to it till November 1st.

If you do the Columbia River run, Crusty and I can give you some good advice on that run. We did it a few years ago. Let us know we can meet up for dinner one evening. Here is the thread on our jouney:

http://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/s3/pairadice-asd-columbia-river-adventure-2018-a-38536.html

 

[BandB]

Wifey B: Full length of Columbia River still on our list of future things we'd like to do. Much like the full Mississippi. And the Ohio to Three Rivers and then all the rivers there to their end. Oh, and the Arkansas. So many rivers and so little time.

 

[menzies]

When we are too old to do these things on our own bottom - there are all those rivers in Europe and Asia to be done in luxury!

 

[WayneDana2]

If you do the Columbia River run, Crusty and I can give you some good advice on that run. We did it a few years ago. Let us know we can meet up for dinner one evening. Here is the thread on our jouney:

http://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/s3/pairadice-asd-columbia-river-adventure-2018-a-38536.html

I've read both of your blogs. And your Active Captain reviews up and down the river. For these I am very grateful. They are largely what's given us the idea in the first place.


Dinner sometime sounds good. If not at the boat show this year, we'll do our best to pick your brain at some point. If nothing else, the lat/long of your dock is on your Blog. You might come home to find an old Taiwanese trawler rafted to your boat.:lol:

 

[GFC]

Menzies, we did a Viking River Cruises tour in Europe last summer. A total trip of about 3 weeks, a bit more than half of that on their boat. I can't even begin to explain to someone who has never done one how much they treat you like a king. I think this photo sums it up nicely...

 

[Ken E.]

Mike, my wife and I are very interested in the Viking river trips. I'm presently checking ouf their itineraries and plan to go in the next year or so. Sounds like you were impressed with their operation. Tied up at a dock each night?

 

[Lou_tribal]

2020 will be a no cruise for us. After my last event and my move to our new place, the boat is stored under a big shed so this made me think that I should take that opportunity to do a full refit before being back to water. So in summary boat will stay on hard and I will spend the full season to do all I wanted to do, change portlights, re bed all windows, refit the whole interior (remove all the carpet and redo the whole interior mainly with mahogany), rewire mostly everything and refit the flybridge to name a few things.
List is long and almost endless and it will make us lose another season but at least I want to tackle all the stuff I find hard to do while on the water due to weather hazard.
Time will say if it is a good idea or not.

L

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

I've read both of your blogs. And your Active Captain reviews up and down the river. For these I am very grateful. They are largely what's given us the idea in the first place.


Dinner sometime sounds good. If not at the boat show this year, we'll do our best to pick your brain at some point. If nothing else, the lat/long of your dock is on your Blog. You might come home to find an old Taiwanese trawler rafted to your boat.:lol:

Come by anytime. Our winter dock is 11 miles off of I-5

Wifey B: Full length of Columbia River still on our list of future things we'd like to do. Much like the full Mississippi. And the Ohio to Three Rivers and then all the rivers there to their end. Oh, and the Arkansas. So many rivers and so little time.

Our biggest suggestions would be start in late spring. There is a KOA campground and marina just below Lower Granite Dam, I think it is called Boyer Park and Marina. Make this your base camp.

Then take your boat through the dam do some circles in the Snake and Clearwater Rivers. Stop for lunch at Roosters (they have a city dock) then go back down river to the KOA campground marina. The Hells Canyon Marina is in disrepair and very shallow as the Corps will not allow the owner to dredge.

Also be aware there is NO diesel on the snake river.

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
WARNING: Thread drift and reality check!


Mr. L_t. I would strongly recommend you re-think your summer work plan. There will always, always be things on your to-do list. ALWAYS!!!


Sure, your boat will be in better shape BUT you've lost a season you'll never get back. Unless your ports and windows are leaking like a sieve and your wiring is catching fire every week, I'd leave it be. You can always re-bed a window on the water and pre-cut, pre-fit your mahogany pieces while sitting in a nice anchorage or even when sitting at your home dock.


Ecoute et pense, mon ami.

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Yep what he said!!!!

 

[O C Diver]

I couldn't agree more! There are all sorts of things that make your future cruising uncertain. Some are relative to you and your family's health. Others may involve the economy, environmental regulation, or the availability of diesel fuel for recreational purposes. The only thing certain is change. Go while you still can, as much as you can.

Ted

 

[BandB]

I couldn't agree more! There are all sorts of things that make your future cruising uncertain. Some are relative to you and your family's health. Others may involve the economy, environmental regulation, or the availability of diesel fuel for recreational purposes. The only thing certain is change. Go while you still can, as much as you can.

Ted

Wifey B: Every opportunity you let pass you by, you need to ask yourself if the other opportunity or activity you pursued was worth it. There are more important things in most of our lives than cruising. I don't see working on a boat as one of those things, but if it brings the OP equal or more pleasure then that's fine. Too often we are not selfish enough with our time and we ask what we need to do instead of what we want to do, what would make us happiest. In my opinion, the one thing we as educators, we as parents, we as bosses, and we as family and friends don't emphasize enough is happiness. Instead we preach work and productivity. We guide kids along paths we feel they should pursue too often instead of letting them find their own way.

It sticks with us as adults. We've been taught a work ethic. That's fine unless we allow it to control us and deny us the pleasure in life we deserve. I see people who spend 40 hours a week in a job they hate. I see people spend their weekend working on their yard instead of playing with their kids. I see people working on their boat's cosmetics, rather than boating.

 

[RT Firefly]

Secret Greetings for Mr. L_t's eyes ONLY!!!!!


Watch out Mr. L_t, you're in DEEP merde. Ms. Wifey B is on your case now.

 

[BandB]

Wifey B: If Lou Tribal will enjoy what he's going to be doing more than boating, then I have no issue at all. I'm just following others talking about the fleeting value of time for all of us. To each their own though and I'm not about to tell him what to do, just don't pass up the opportunity to do what you like best.

 

[Lou_tribal]

LOL! Merry Christmas to both of you lol!

L

 

[BandB]

LOL! Merry Christmas to both of you lol!

L

Wifey B: To you too and I know you're fully capable of taking care of yourself. I don't know what Tribe you're a part of though, but then don't know my tribe. Is Blonde Tribal? Blue eyed blonde? BB'ed blue eyed blonde? Crazy blonde?

 

[Gbinterim]

Staying in Southeast Alaska from May to September. Exploring from Ketchikan to Juneau. Hope to see you there.

 

[koliver]

Mike, my wife and I are very interested in the Viking river trips. I'm presently checking ouf their itineraries and plan to go in the next year or so. Sounds like you were impressed with their operation. Tied up at a dock each night?

Like Ocean cruises, River cruises are all about the ports visited. When there is going to be more than a single day in a port the ship remains overnight. Otherwise, daytime is for excursions ashore, nights are for moving towards the next stop.
We too have recently done River Cruising with Viking. Not at all impressed by the weather, but that is not the fault of the Cruise Co. Ours was preceded by and followed by good weather, but our own was 14 days of bad. Ports were interesting, especially as we hadn't been to any of them. Viking did a great job on the shore excursions, which is really what the journey was all about. Met some nice folks on their ships, though few fellow Canadians. 90% were from the US, a few from UK, Oz, Canada, 1 couple from Asia. Didn't meet a single European on our ship.

 

[Gbinterim]

River cruise

In March we are booked on a river cruise from Paris to the English Channel then a bus tour of Normandy and back to Paris. Should be interesting in that someone else will be in charge. Looking forward to it.

 

[menzies]

Didn't meet a single European on our ship.

Yes you did!

 

[GFC]

Just a glimpse of the level of service Viking offers--you have your choice of a few different dinners each night, or you can eat all of them if you want. One night I decided I'd try something different and went with an asparagus soufflé. It turned out to not be what I expected and I asked if I could send it back. Our waiter (we had the same waiters every day) gladly took it back and brought me a nice steak. No questions asked.


If you take one of the Viking cruises, grab a table out on the bow for your meals. We did that and met a couple from Atlanta that we got to be great friends with. The four of us took our day tours together, got pleasantly sloshed on board each evening and their friendship made our tour much more pleasant.

 

[firehoser75]

We are not 100% decided yet, but proceeding with plans in case (probably about 90%). We are thinking about doing a circumnavigation of Vancouver Island. For those of you who may not be familiar with the area, Vancouver Island is a large island about 290 miles long and about 62 miles wide (at the widest point). There are several capes to be rounded where you MUST watch the weather and sea conditions very carefully (eg. Cape Scott, Brooks Peninsula, Estevan Point, etc.). Alot of the way down the west coast, we will be on the open ocean, with safe anchorages being about 30 - 40 miles apart (some a lot closer). There are sections where there is a more "protected" internal route, but at times, the open Pacific Ocean (with Japan in the distance) is the only route. It is very remote, with not allot of pleasure boat traffic, but is very spectacular. Our current thought is to head up the inside (east side) of the island (timing and transiting 5 tidal rapids and Johnstone Strait) and round Cape Scott (top or north end of the Island) near mid June, spending about 2 months (more or less) on the west coast following the normal NW summer winds down the west side.
So far, we are going solo, but friends that own a 42 foot sailboat have expressed a possible interest in joining us, so we will see what happens there.
We have travelled in open water before (for short portions of a trip to northern BC), but have not been on the west coast of Vancouver Island before. It is exciting, but also a bit scary (mainly due to not having been before).

 

[T210DRVR]

More prep this coming season. In September headed North up the Coast to Brookings, OR. The following Spring North to Southern B.C. and possibly S.E. Alaska. Meantime, weekend proving trips to the California Channel Islands for some diving.

 

[koliver]

Yes you did!

OK, other than the couple from the UK you mean? Who else?