Post # 57:  SO OUR JOURNEY HAS ENDED….Day 409, June 13, 2015:  On Board:  Tom McNichol, Hank Koningisor, Paul Coates, Pat Coates, Jenny Koningisor, Dave Luciano, Jake Mycofsky, Red Southerton, Bill Burke, Jack Kelly, Mary Chevalier, Bob Hall, Louise Bombardieri, Jim K.

So our journey has ended.  What did it all mean?  What did I learn?  Undoubtedly those questions can only be answered when the trip can be viewed through the prism of time. But here are a few random thoughts:

First, my faith in people has been re-nourished. Virtually everyone we met, both on and off the water, was friendly, went out of their way to help us if we needed it, and added positively to our experience. I wondered how we might be received in areas stereotyped as “Deliverance country” – Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi – especially since my hair and beard were out of control by that time. The people could not have been friendlier, even when we stopped in local “redneck” bars for a meal or a beer.

Second, rural America is unique and more than worthy of exploration. In order to have a balanced perspective on this diverse country of ours, one must venture out of the urban areas and into the truly rural outposts that make up the vast geographic majority of our land mass. There is no better way to do it than via the huge system of navigable waterways – doing so takes you to places you would never otherwise go – river towns, farm towns, and some of the forgotten backwaters of our country – all have their own unique story to tell.

Third, our country is astoundingly beautiful. I rode a bicycle across the country with my daughter Jenny about 10 years ago, and we experienced incredible scenery which included mountains, deserts, plains, and forests. However, the scenery along the oceans, bays, estuaries, lakes, rivers, and canals is incomparable. The sunsets and sunrises reflecting of the water and the marshlands are like no other.

Lastly, boating is a unique, fun, exhilarating, and challenging pastime. The water can be unforgiving and must be respected every minute, but the rewards make it more than worthwhile. Except for bluewater sailing, the Great Loop includes every type of boating environment imaginable – open oceans, bays, estuaries, rivers, lakes, canals, locks. It also includes virtually every type of boating challenge imaginable – navigation, wind, river currents, tidal currents, fog, narrow channels, shallow water, shoals, obstructions, debris, docking, undocking, anchoring, tight maneuvering. However, in part, that’s what makes the Great Loop so alluring and exciting. Most of it is in protected waters, and it is quite manageable by taking one day at a time and making smart decisions regarding weather and local conditions.

So – on to some statistics regarding our Great Loop voyage:

We passed through 20 states and two other countries – (three if you count Key West, which at times felt like another world…).

A total of 45 friends and family rode on the Joint Adventure for a portion of the trip – of those, 15 people were on for multiple segments, including Paul who was on for 2/3 of the voyage and was a wonderful shipmate – I couldn’t have done the trip without him. Four other people joined the trip 4 different times. While managing the trip in this way added to the complexity and required us to maintain somewhat of a schedule, the rewards of sharing the experience and of having so many close friends on board with us enriched the experience immeasurably. Surprisingly, we never missed a rendezvous point during the entire trip.

We traveled well over 7,000 miles – 7,427 to be exact. Incredibly, we averaged just shy of 5 miles per gallon of diesel fuel – amazing mileage for a 34′ cruiser with twin diesels. We used a total of 1544 gallons of fuel, which cost a total of $6,520 – not bad for 13 1/2 months of cruising, especially when the cost is divided among those on board at any given time. The highest price we paid was $6.06 per US gallon in Canada, while the lowest was $2.80/gallon in Norfolk, Va.

We navigated through a total of 144 locks of all sizes and shapes – these included two “lift locks” (in which the entire chamber of water – like a giant aquarium with the boat in it – is raised or lowered), one marine railway (in which the boat is lifted out of the water and travels up or down on a platform on rails), commercial locks built for oceangoing vessels (such as on the St. Lawrence Seaway), and tiny, historic locks built in the 1800’s in which the Joint Adventure barely fit. The change in elevation by each lock ranged from 2 feet to 7 stories.

Various people have asked what area we liked best, and what were our scariest times. The first question is very hard – certainly there is no place like the Bahamas, so I would have to rate that first. A close second would be Canada – the Chambly Canal, the Tent Severn Waterway, the Rideau Canal, Georgian Bay, and the North Channel are all recognized as some of the best cruising areas in the world. The eastern shore of Lake Michigan – with its enormous sand dunes, wonderful freshwater beaches, and unique harbors and towns – was especially interesting and fun. The “Big Bend” of Florida (the curved part that transitions from the panhandle to the Peninsula) was also really interesting, with its rural towns, wild rivers, and wildlife – swimming with manatees in the wild in Crystal River was certainly a highlight. The Florida Keys are also fun and unique, and of course Key West is in a class by itself.

Unquestionably our scariest moments were the 250 miles we traveled on the Mississippi, when the water had just risen 20 feet above normal due to heavy rains 150 miles upriver. We literally ran a slalom course dodging debris including entire trees rushing down the river in 5-6 knot currents. The scariest moment was when a red buoy up ahead of us suddenly disappeared, sucked under by the current, only to pop back up violently as we passed by it. A 600′ long commercial tow that we were passing at the time hailed me on the radio to warn me. For a variety of reasons, we chose to start down the Mississippi the day the river peaked. The next day, a tugboat got turned sideways in the river, swamped, and sank. The tree crewmen were rescued, but the river was closed for a day or so while they tried to locate the sunken tug in the opaque, muddy water.

Other moments that grabbed our full attention were shoals and shallow areas, often unmarked, particularly in the ICW in the Low Country of Georgia and South Carolina and in the New Jersey ICW. However, whenever it seemed prudent, we planned our transit through shallow areas or areas prone to shoaling during high tide cycles. We did not run aground the entire trip, in part due to our choice of a shallow-draft boat for this trip (it is still fairly easy to run aground – you just have to work a little harder at it…). The shallow draft allowed us to go places where other boats couldn’t or wouldn’t go.

So here are some pictures from our final run from Hull, Ma. through Boston Harbor and to our permanent dockage on the Charles River in Cambridge:

My Dad cleaning the windows on the Joint Adventure as we get ready for our final run of the Great Loop

We stayed in Hull, about 15 miles south of Boston, the night before our final run to the our home port. Fifteen people who had joined us for various segments of the Great Loop drove to Hull and joined us for our final run. From left to right:  Mary Chevalier, Tom McNichol, Jake Mycofsky, Louise Bombardieri.

My Dad & Louise enjoying the ride

A welcome sight! In the background is Boston Light, the second oldest operating lighthouse in North America. Many years ago, when my kids and their cousins were little, we were out exploring the harbor in a motorboat. I stopped to point out the beauty of Boston Light, explaining that many artists come to paint the scene, claiming that it was likely the most painted lighthouse in the world. After a brief moment, one of the kids asked: “How many coats of paint do you think it has?”

APPROACHING BOSTON!!! – 13 1/2 months later!

Our 144th lock! Entering the Charles River! Note Bill Burke expertly managing the lines, a skill which earned him the (self-proclaimed) title of Mariner of the Year last summer.

Our home port and our permanent dockage on the Charles River!

Celebrating completion of the Great Loop at our dockage with beer and Champaign!

From left to right: On the bridge:  Red Southerton, Hank Koningisor, Tom McNichol;   On the deck:  Jack Kelly, Mary Chevalier, Chrissie Bell, Elissa Mycofsky, Louise Bombardieri, Pat Coates, Jake Mycofsky, Paul Coates, Dave Luciano;  On the dock:  Jim K, Bob Hall, Jim Small, Chrissie Bell (Jenny Koningisor is taking the picture)

Trish welcoming me home…wait, what’s that behind her back?

YIKES!! A SCISSORS!

A year’s worth of beard gone in a flash!

So our journey has ended, and along with it the Great Loop Adventure blog. My goal was to try to share the experience as best I could with those who might be interested in following the voyage. My challenge now is to transition back to real life – YIKES!!!

Post # 56:  HOMEWARD BOUND!  Day 406;  June 11, 2015.  On Board:  Tom McNichol, Hank (my Dad), Kate Koningisor (sis), Jim K.

First and foremost, Trish is recovering well from the surgery on her leg. She’ll be on crutches for another five weeks and can’t drive until late August, but she’s tough and resilient and doing well.  Her wonderful friends have been incredible, showering her with attention, well-wishes, food, visits, flowers, fruit – just amazing.  Thank you to everyone!

So we drove back to Manasquan, NJ last Thursday, a week after Trish’s surgery, to retrieve the Joint Adventure. We stopped in New York City on our way through and picked up my sister Kate who planned to ride with us for the next three days.  The forecast for Friday was not good, but we decided to leave very early hoping that we might be able to make the three hour sprint through the open ocean into the Hudson River before the seas kicked up.  Bad decisions make good stories (fortunately, this story isn’t TOO good…). We emerged from the inlet into 6-8 foot seas.  For the first time on the entire trip, we turned back and returned to the dock. So we spent the day in Manasquan, exploring and going to a movie.  Here are some pictures:

Hoffman’s Marina in Manasquan is a short distance from the inlet, so there is a powerful current that makes docking maneuvers quite tricky, particularly when there is also a strong crosswind. My Dad holding on while we untie.  Don’t let that piling get away!!

Kate cooking dinner for us – she’s used to more space in the kitchen, but still served a gourmet meal!

Dinner, followed by a poker game for BIG stakes – 5 cent anty, raises to a quarter

The wind Saturday morning was calm, but predicted to increase to 20 knots in the morning with rain. So we again left very early (6:15), and this time it worked – although we ran through heavy rain and fog, the 5′ swells were wide and gentle and we beat the wind into the Hudson River. The wind started to increase as we passed Sandy Hook, and we had whitecaps in the Hudson by the time we reached Manhattan. But we made it to New York!  Here are some pictures:

Kate can do more than just cook – here she’s expertly guiding the Joint Adventure along the Jersey shoreline –

The Verrazano Bridge emerged from the fog as we approached the mouth of the Hudson River.

The Manhattan skyline emerges from the fog as we proceed up the Hudson River

Passing the Lady as we head up the Hudson River

The marinas on the New York side of the river have no protection from wakes from the constant ferry traffic that plies New York Harbor, so we stayed on the Jersey side at Liberty Landing Marina, which has direct ferry service every 30 minutes to New York – just a 10 minute ride. We needed to move along to get home, so we were only able to spend one day in the Big Apple. We therefore decided to go to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum at the site of the World Trade Center (now the Freedom Tower). The Memorial consists of two deep holes in the ground lined with black marble that trace the foundation walls of the two former towers. A continuous flow of water spills over the walls, where it collects and then cascades into a deeper hole in the middle, the bottom of which is not visible from the edge of the Memorial. The name of each person who perished is engraved in the marble along the perimeter of each tower. It is a very powerful memorial. The Museum, entirely underground, is expansive – it includes film clips from 9/11, personal accounts from survivors and first responders, recordings and accounts from officials trying to understand what was happening and how to respond to it, remnants of the towers, and much more than I could describe in a meaningful way in this forum. It is worth spending half a day to remember and assess the significance of what happened there.

Here are a few images:

The new Freedom Tower dominates the NY skyline

The Freedom Tower –

A small portion of the 9/11 Memorial. The white structure in the background is a sculpture still under construction, being built from remnants of the old World Trade Center towers.

Returning to the Joint Adventure on the ferry, with the Manhattan skyline and the Freedom Tower in the background. From left to right: Jim K, Kate, Hank, and Tom.

On Sunday, we waited until 9:30 to cast off the lines so we would transit the East River and aptly-named Hell’s Gate at slack tide.  The passage is notorious due to its ferocious tidal current, standing waves, and rapids, particularly when winds oppose the tidal currents. The passage can be treacherous in today’s world, but in earlier days the danger of the strong currents was exacerbated by numerous obstructions. In 1850’s, the Army Corp of Engineers began to clear some of the obstructions, a process that would go on for 70 years. In 1876, the Army Corp used 50,000 pounds of explosives to blast dangerous rocks. However, that effort was dwarfed 12 years later when the Corp set off 300,000 pounds of explosives – the blast was felt as far away as Princeton, NJ, sent a geyser 25 stories into the air, and has been described as “the largest planned explosion before testing began for the atomic bomb.” Despite these efforts, by the late 19th century, literally hundreds of ships had sunk attempting to transit Hell’s Gate.

However, none of those bad things happened to us.  Winds were fairly calm, and we had an uneventful passage. Here are a few pictures from our run around the Battery and into Long Island Sound:

While running down the East River, we came upon this enormous fender that some large yacht had apparently not secured properly, so we circled back and scooped it up for use on the Joint Adventure. I wish I had had it over the past year!

The United Nations, as seen from the bridge of the Joint Adventure on the East River

OK, I know – not another bridge! But I couldn’t resist, even though I included a picture of the Brooklyn Bridge on our passage through New York a year ago. But such a bridge, and such a history!

I recounted this story in the blog a year ago when we passed through New York, but I just have to summarize it here. The Brooklyn Bridge was designed by a pioneer in the art of suspension bridges by the name of John Roebling, one of the few engineers in the world who had successfully designed cable suspension bridges. This one was far longer than any he had ever attempted. However, while conducting a survey for the bridge, Roebling’s foot was crushed between a ferry and a piling while he was conducting a survey for the bridge. His toes were amputated, but he died of tetanus a couple of weeks later. With no one else to turn to, the Trustees reluctantly named Roebling’s 32 year old son, Washington Roebling, as Chief Engineer, since Washington had been working with his father on the design of the bridge. Construction of the foundation caissons for the two supporting piers began in 1869. Two giant wooden boxes, open at the bottom, were floated over the location of the two piers and sunk. Compressed air was pumped into the boxes to force the water out, and men were sent inside the boxes with picks and shovels to dig beneath the boxes. Excavated material as well as access by the workmen passed through air locks, similar to those used on a submarine. As the box sank further into the ground beneath the floor of the river, the pressure of the compressed air had to continually increase to keep out the increasing pressure of the water. Soon workmen started to suffer from a mysterious disease that confounded medical experts at the time. We now know that they were suffering from the bends, as they emerged from the chamber filled with compressed air without any decompression. As a result, in January of 1870, shortly after taking over as Chief Engineer and after construction on the bridge had just begun, Washington Roebling suffered a paralyzing case of the bends. From that point on, he was unable to visit the construction site and supervised the entire construction from his apartment with a view of the site. His wife, Emily Roebling, became his eyes and ears and his conduit of communication for the next 11 years of construction, transmitting information back and forth from the site to Washington. In the process, she studied higher mathematics, the calculations of catenary curves, material science, and the intricacies of cable construction. Many historians have concluded that she became the de facto engineer for the bridge, making many key design decisions on her own. The entire story is described in an outstanding book which reads like a novel entitled The Great Bridge by David McCullough – a truly remarkable story which I highly recommend!

Please note that, when transiting the East River from NY Harbor to Long Island, one passes under about a dozen remarkable, iconic bridges. Using all my willpower, I have restrained myself from posting any more of these beautiful structures.

The East River led us into Long Island Sound, with our destination being Norwalk, Connecticut.  Norwalk is an upscale city with manageable train access to New York, and has a multitude of restaurants, pubs, and shops in magnificent old, historic buildings.  Here is an image from the main street:

A sample of the beautiful, historic buildings that now house upscale restaurants, shops, and pubs along an active main street

Our main focus for stopping in Norwalk was to rendezvous with our good friends Tom and Tim from the vessel IF. You may remember them as the grandfather/grandson team doing the Great Loop together, whom we first met in Trenton, Ontario last June ( a year ago!).  We have hop-scotched with them throughout the trip, meeting up along the way for some wonderful outings, including a visit to our favorite anchorage, known as “The Pool”, in the North Channel of Lake Huron. Our most recent encounters were in Boca Grande, Florida, where Tim served us an incredible home-cooked meal aboard IF, and a visit to Fort Myers, Florida, where Tim & I went out together and checked out a few clubs.  We’ve stayed in touch since then, following each others’ trip, and finally were able to link up again in Norwalk. Tom, his lovely bride Alice, and Tim are currently in Mamaroneck, NY visiting family, so they were kind enough to drive to Norwalk to meet us for a wonderful dinner together. Here are a few pictures:

Evidence that the best part of an epic trip like this is the people you meet – from left to right: Tom McNichol, Tim, Tom, Alice, and Hank

Dinner in Norwalk with such good friends – left to right: Tom, Jim K, Hank, Alice, Tim, Tom McNichol

We planned to leave early the next morning before the winds increased, but an engine alarm sounded when we started the port (left) engine. It took until early afternoon to determine that it was caused by a faulty connection in the alarm rather than a problem with the engine. We cast off about 2:00 PM, but by then the wind had increased to 20 knots – after a couple of miles in the open water, we decided to turn back and try again Wednesday morning. We cast off in calm seas early in the morning and ran 98 miles to Watch Hill, Rhode Island when the wind had again kicked up and the fog rolled in, which convinced us to stop. Watch Hill is an affluent beach town which came to prominence in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as an exclusive summer resort characterized by enormous Victorian homes built by wealthy families. According to an article in the New York Times from that time period, it is a community “with a strong sense of privacy and discreetly used wealth” as opposed to “the overpowering castles of the very rich” in Newport, RI.  Taylor Swift recently purchased a large Victorian mansion from this era, and has made Watch Hill her home.

The Hurricane of 1938 devastated Watch Hill – on Fort Road, which ran along a sand spit in Watch Hill,  39 homes completely disappeared within hours. Today the sand spit is a vacant beach.  Here are some images from Watch Hill:

The beach at Watch Hill. Noice the flag in the background – the wind was whipping when we entered the harbor and the fog forced us to navigate the winding, narrow channel using our radar. The wind continued unabated through the afternoon. The sand spit where 39 houses disappeared in the Hurricane of 1938 starts in the background

Shops along the waterfront in Watch Hill

The Ocean House in Watch Hill is an enormous historic building and is the only Forbes Five-Star and AAA Five Diamond Hotel in Rhode Island.

The front of the Ocean House

First opened in 1883, the Flying Horse Carousel is the oldest operating suspended-horse carousel in the United States, and is on the National Historic Landmark

The old stone building housing the historic carousel on the Watch Hill waterfront

This is Taylor Swift’s home overlooking the ocean near the waterfront in Watch Hill

We again planned a long day, steaming 90 miles across the open waters of Block Island Sound and Rhode Island Sound, then through the Cape Cod Canal. This time the weather cooperated, however, with sunny skies and lighter winds than we’ve had in several weeks. We’re currently docked in Sandwich, Ma. at the eastern end of the Cape Cod Canal, which was our first stop 13 1/2 months ago. Hard to believe we’re nearly back at the beginning, near the end of the voyage.

Early readers of the blog may recall this picture from the first blog post from Sandwich last May – the caption is self-explanatory:

A testament to Yankee ingenuity – how to fix the ice machine when it won’t drain properly

Here is the same machine now:

You’ll be happy to know that, 13 1/2 months later, they have apparently fixed the drain problem on the ice machine…

One more blog post to go, upon completion of the Great Loop Adventure….

Post # 55:  AN ABRUPT CHANGE OF PLANS;  Day 394;  May 30, 2015.  On board:  Tom McNichol; Hank (my Dad); Jim K.

Life and boating are full of surprises – this time it was a life surprise. Unfortunately, my wife Trish slipped getting into the shower at home in Boston and tore her hamstring from the bone, requiring a significant surgery. Therefore, we docked the boat in Manasquan, New Jersey, rented a car, and drove home so I would be there for the surgery and the beginning of her recovery. The surgery was performed yesterday (Friday), and was successful. Her full recovery will take quite some time – crutches for 6 weeks, no driving for 3 months. I plan to stay home until she is past the initial stages of recovery and arrangements are in place for assistance for her at home, then drive back to Manasquan to bring the Joint Adventure the rest of the way to Boston at a faster pace than originally planned – I expect that will take a week or so, which would get me back to Boston mid-June, which is consistent with our original schedule.  Life is full of surprises!

Back to the trip – as we prepared to leave Cape May and head up the New Jersey Intracoastal Waterway last Sunday, we asked everyone we could find in Cape May about the condition of the New Jersey ICW.  We called and asked Sea Tow.  We called and asked BoatUS.  We talked to the dockmaster and several local boaters. Everyone said the same thing:  It is in terrible shape – it has not been maintained;  there are shoals;  there are unmarked shallow spots;  there are long, narrow channels that are difficult to see and easy to wander off into shallow water;  there is still unmarked debris in the channel from Hurricane Sandy.  Bottom line:  their recommendations were unanimous: do not use the New Jersey ICW, especially between Cape May and Atlantic City.  Instead, they recommended going outside the Cape May Inlet and running along the coast, then going back inside the nearest inlet for our overnight destinations.  So we went in the ICW anyway.  We knew the ICW would be a really scenic run if we could minimize our risk of running aground, and we have the advantage of a boat with a relatively shallow draft (about three feet). So we marked on the chart every critical area that people could identify for us, then timed our departure to get to the shallowest spots on the upper half of the tide cycle, when the tide was rising (with a rising tide, if we did go aground, we could wait an hour or so for the tide to lift us so we could back off. With a falling tide, the wait could be 10 hours or longer with the risk of damage much higher as the water ran out from beneath the boat as the tide receded).

Our preparation and our gamble paid off. We crawled through the low spots on the upper half of the tide cycle and enjoyed some wonderful scenes, matching some of the best we’ve seen on the trip. We encountered just one other cruiser the whole way, and he was carefully picking his way through as well. However, it was Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend and it seems that every recreational boater with a small run-about in the entire state was in this section of the ICW – there were boats flying by us in every direction, some passing at full speed within 5 feet of our Hull.  After all, we were in New Jersey….

Here are some pictures from the NJ ICW:

Some wonderful waterfront homes and cottages along the New Jersey ICW, which runs behind the barrier islands that make up the Jersey Shore. In addition to being shallow, the waterway brought us through some narrow channels, so were quite close to many classic northeast cottages built on stilts often right up to and over the water’s edge.

The tidal range is up to about 5 feet, so the homes and cottages are on stilts with floating docks accessed off the porch.

The NJ ICW passes through a surprising amount of marshland, which at times was reminiscent of the Low Country of Georgia and South Carolina, except that upland areas adjacent to the marshes is much more developed in New Jersey than down south.

The cottages and homes exhibited a wide range of sizes, shapes, and styles.

The New Jersey ICW has more bridges than we’ve seen in quite some time. We got stranded for nearly an hour waiting for an opening at a bridge at which the fire department had stopped all openings while they dealt with an emergency and wanted to make sure the bridge was available for them to cross in case they needed it.

Motoring through a populated portion of the NJ ICW

Most of the visual damage from Hurricane Sandy 2 1/2 years ago has been demolished or removed, but this sunken boat and damaged dock was a reminder of the massive destruction that New Jersey and New York City endured.

Our first stop on the NJ ICW was a large marina with an on-site restaurant just outside of Ocean City, NJ. Other than the marina, there wasn’t much there without taking a cab, so we decided to cook dinner on board and watch one of the multitude of movies with which my Dad had stocked the boat. The next morning we ran just 15 miles to Atlantic City.

Atlantic City is a very interesting place with a fascinating history. The first hotel was built in 1853, and a year later railroad service began from Philadelphia.  By 1874, nearly half a million visitors a year were flocking to the newly-formed beach resort community, often credited as the first such resort in the country. The famous boardwalk was first built in 1870, and at one time extended more than 7 miles before some parts were damaged by a hurricane in 1944. During the first two decades of the 20th century, Atlantic City underwent a huge building boom in which dozens of enormous resort hotels were built. Prohibition became the law of the land in 1919, but was largely unenforced in Atlantic City – alcohol was smuggled in with the acquiescence of local officials and was easily available in the restaurants and other establishments. The availability of liquor combined with prevalent backroom gambling caused the resort’s popularity to soar even further. In 1923, the City approved construction of a Convention Center (now named Boardwalk Hall), which is discussed in more detail below. Big name entertainers flocked to the City, offering extravagant shows. The Miss America Pageant was born in Atlantic City in 1921, and was held there every year until moving briefly to Las Vegas before returning in 2013. The game Monopoly exploded in popularity after the original board was redesigned to name the properties after locations in or near Atlantic City. And salt water taffy was invented and popularized in Atlantic City.

After World War II, however, the City entered a period of serious decline. With the increased use of automobiles, jet travel, and home swimming pools, people increasingly went to more exotic places to vacation or vacationed in suburbia around their pools. Like many northeastern cities, Atlantic City became plagued with poverty, crime, corruption, and a loss of jobs. Many of the once-magnificent hotels fell into disrepair and were demolished. In an effort to rejuvenate the city, New Jersey voters in 1976 passed a referendum legalizing gambling in Atlantic City. A building boom returned, as a dozen casino resorts were built. The city again boomed, and by the end of the 1980’s, Atlantic City was again one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country. However, most people agree that the boom bypassed the impoverished neighborhoods surrounding the tourist area where rejuvenation was needed most.

Today, the fortunes of the city have changed yet again. As many other states have legalized gambling causing the spread of casinos throughout the country, Atlantic City no longer had a monopoly on gambling in the East and people increasingly visited casinos close to home rather than traveling to Atlantic City. Four of Atlantic City’s twelve casinos have closed just within the last two years, with a loss of 8,000 jobs.  Others are struggling with rampant rumors of more closings to come. While talking with a jitney driver, he described the boom years of the 80’s and 90’s saying “every day was New Years Eve”. He’s very concerned about the future.

We spent two days in Atlantic City, exploring the boardwalk and seeing the sights. Not being a big gambler, I decided to limit my losses to $5, which took about 90 seconds at a slot machine (I needed to ask the woman next to me how it worked…).  Here are some images from our visit:

The Atlantic City skyline as seen approaching from the New Jersey ICW.

The famous Atlantic City boardwalk – some sections are dominated by highrise hotel/casinos, other sections have older, two and three story shops along its edge. The beach runs along the boardwalk the entire way.

Extravagance along the Atlantic City boardwalk

The Taj Mahal in Atlantic City –

The gambling floors are enormous and seem to go on forever. Watching some of the games can be quite entertaining…

Jitney’s provide transportation 24/7 throughout the city, and run every 5 to 10 minutes. There are 190 jitneys, and each is privately owned. The owners have an association, and govern themselves.

This boat came into Atlantic City while we were there and docked across from us. It was built in 1926, and is the nearly-identical sister ship to the Sequoia. The Sequoia was the presidential yacht from 1931 to 1977, used by virtually every president from Herbert Hoover to Jimmy Carter, who ordered it sold. Roosevelt had an elevator installed, which Lyndon Johnson had removed and replaced with a bar.

This is the former Revel Casino. It was built at a cost of $2.4 billion and, incredibly, it was closed within the past 9 months after operating for less than two years. It was just bought for $82 million, about 3% of its cost to construct…

One of the fascinating sights in Atlantic City is Boardwalk Hall, built in 1926. At the time, it contained the longest free-standing arch in the world, and was the largest enclosed open space in the world. The Miss America Pagent, concerts, shows, ice hockey games, boxing matches, and arena football are all held in the cavernous building. Concerts held in the Hall include the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, Beyoncé, and Lady Gaga. The Who performed there last month. During World War II, the hall was used for military training, and the Democratic National Convention was held there in 1964, nominating Lyndon Johnson. Even more amazing is the pipe organ which was built between 1929 and 1932 at a cost of $500,000, weighing more than 150 tons and requiring more than 80 technicians to install it. The replacement cost today is estimated to be three quarters of a billion dollars. We took a tour of the building and learned that the organ is being restored, a process that will take about 12 years. The organ consists of 33,000 pipes, ranging in size from 64 feet to a third of an inch in height (yes – a third of an inch!). The immensity of the organ was required to fill the cavernous hall with music. The Guinness Book of World Records states that the organ produces  “…a pure trumpet sound of earsplitting volume…six times louder than the loudest train whistle.” The air to play the organ is generated by blowers which are powered by 600 HP motors.

Here are some pictures from our tour:

The original Boardwalk Hall as seen from the beach, now listed on the National Register of Historic Places

The cavernous inside of the building

This is the “controls” where the organ player sits to play the organ. It contains over 1,000 keys!

While in Atlantic City, we learned that Trish’s surgery had been scheduled three days later, so we decided to try to get to Manasquan to leave the boat while we came home. Conditions were marginal, requiring us to run nearly 70 miles in the ICW through a low tide cycle with 20 knot winds gusting to 25. Despite the marginal conditions, we decided to go in order to get the boat closer to Boston. Although we lost the channel a couple of times where it was poorly marked, we arrived in Manasquan late in the afternoon without major incident.

We expect to return to the Joint Adventure later this week for the final leg of our journey, which will take us back through New York City, Long Island Sound, the Cape Cod Canal, and up the coast to Boston. More to come!

Post #54:  OYSTER WARS;  Day 387;  May 23, 2015.  On board:  Tom McNichol;  Hank (my Dad);  Jim K

Chesapeake Bay is an enormous body of water, stretching 200 miles north from its mouth at the Atlantic Ocean to the Susquehanna River and measuring 30 miles at its widest point. One hundred fifty major rivers and streams empty into the Bay, and its shoreline is nearly 12.000 miles long. It is relatively shallow, however, with an average depth of just 21 feet. It was first explored in detail in 1607 and again in 1609 by Captain John Smith of Jamestown fame.

Two critical battles occurred on the Chesapeake. The “Battle of the Capes”, described in a previous blog update, occurred in 1781 and resulted in America’s French allies controlling the mouth of the Chesapeake, setting the stage for General Cornwallis’s surrender at Yorktown, effectively ending the American Revolution. The second was the failed bombardment by the British fleet of Fort McHenry at Baltimore, inspiring Francis Scott Key to write The Star Spangled Banner.

Less well known are the “Oyster Wars” that continued on the Chesapeake for nearly 100 years. The Oyster Wars started in 1865 when Maryland passed a law requiring annual permits for oyster harvesting within its territorial waters. Permits were restricted to only Maryland residents. By the 1880’s, the Chesapeake supplied almost half the world’s supply of oysters. Ignoring the permit requirements, New England fishermen started harvesting oysters in the Bay when their local oyster beds became depleted. In response, Maryland formed the Maryland Oyster Navy, the predecessor to today’s Maryland Natural Resources Police. However, it was inadequate to compete with the more heavily armed watermen. Virginia made its own attempts to control oyster harvesting, including license fees, seasonal limits, and a ban on dredging, Its enforcement efforts were also inadequate, and illegal harvesting continued. However, the Governor of Virginia, William Cameron, needed publicity to boost his popularity, so he left his office in the state house to personally lead an expedition against illegal dredgers. In February of 1882, his fleet of two boats, a freighter and a tugboat, engaged the illegal dredgers at the mouth of the Rappahannock River, resulting in the successful conviction of 41 dredgers and the seizure of 7 boats. The Governor’s popularity soared. However, a year later his popularity diminished, so he decided to undertake a second expedition. This one failed, as captured dredgers were acquitted in court and the Governor was blamed. Further, the opposition press mocked him for failing to capture the “Dancing Molly”, a sloop run by three women who managed to outrun the Governor’s fleet (I’m not making this up). The embarrassment increased when the Norfolk Academy of Music lampooned the Governor in a comic opera entitled “Driven From the Seas;  or The Pirate Dredger’s Doom”. The Governor’s popularity never recovered.  The Oyster Wars continued until, in 1959, an officer of the Potomac Rivers Fishery Commission killed a Virginia waterman who was illegally dredging. The Commissioner ordered that the fisheries police be disarmed, and the violence finally ended.

Our next stop on the Chesapeake was Annapolis, Maryland. Founded in 1649, Annapolis grew rapidly in the 18th century as a port of entry and a major center for the Atlantic slave trade. However, it declined rapidly when Baltimore, with its deeper harbor, became a port of entry in 1780. Annapolis became the temporary capital of the United States in 1783 for about a year upon the signing of the Treaty of Paris granting independence from Britain. In 1845, the United States Naval Academy was established in Annapolis. The entire campus is now a National Historic Landmark, and its presence is omnipresent in the city.

Today, Annapolis is a thriving tourist and college town. There are over 100 restaurants in the city, and Main Street is a collage of boutiques, pubs, and specialty shops. There is a very active night life, fueled in part by the Academy.

We docked at the Annapolis City Docks, located in the heart of downtown Annapolis. Here are some images from our two-day visit:

The United States Naval Academy, as seen from the harbor on the way in.

The chapel at the Naval Academy

The presence of the Naval Academy pervades Annapolis. Cadets in the first two years are required to wear their dress uniform whenever they are out and about.

Main Street in Annapolis as seen from the bridge of the Joint Adventure docked in the Inner Harbor

Strolling Main Street in the evening

This statue is located at the waterfront of Annapolis Harbor – the plaque reads: “To commemorate the arrival in this harbor of Kunta Kinte, immortalized by Alex Haley in ROOTS and all others who came to these shores in bondage and who by their toil, character, and ceaseless struggle for freedom have helped to make these United States.”

On Sunday night, we had the pleasure of entertaining Tom’s nephew Brian, his wife Anna and extended family members, along with my college roommate Jerry Solomon and his wife Sheila. We posed for a “groupie” before we had dinner at a the Federal House on Main Street. Unfortunately, Jerry & Sheila were stuck in traffic and aren’t in the picture.

From Annapolis we ran 40 miles up the Patapsco River to Baltimore, about 10 miles each way off our route. We docked in the Baltimore Inner Harbor, located in the heart of downtown Baltimore. The waterfront/Inner Harbor has been transformed in recent decades, and is home to many shops, restaurants, and attractions, including the Aquarium and the Science Museum. We planned to stay for two days in Baltimore, but stayed an extra day due to high winds. Here are some pictures from our stay:

The Baltimore skyline as seen from the water, entering Baltimore Inner Harbor

We docked at the City Docks in the Inner Harbor in Baltimore , in the heart of downtown. This is a view from the bridge of the Joint Adventure, looking across the Inner Harbor at the Aquarium and other harborfront buildings containing restaurants, pubs, shops, etc.

A boat name I hadn’t seen before – it expresses the sentiments of many….

One of the classic ballparks is Camden Yards in Baltimore, home to the Orioles. This iconic part of the park dates from the 1700’s, but the stadium itself was built in the 1980’s. However, it was designed in the style of the original ballparks like Fenway Park in Boston and Wrigley Field in Chicago, and is recognized as one of the great parks to watch a ballgame.

We took a tour of Camden Yards during the day – this is a view from the third base line looking across the field with the warehouse in the background.

Hank and Tom in the dugout, waiting for their turn at bat….

Taking in an evening Orioles game at Camden Yards – the O’s beat the Mariners 9-4.

The Baltimore Arts Tower – otherwise known as the “Bromo Tower” – It was built in 1911 by Captain Issac Emerson, the chemist who developed the headache remedy Bromo Seltzer. The tower was part of an 8 story factory where he manufactured huge quantities of the remedy. At the time it was the tallest building in Baltimore and housed the world’s largest four-dial gravity clock with faces 24 feet in diameter. An unabashed promoter, Emerson crowned the tower with a 51 foot revolving replica of a Bromo Seltzer bottle – illuminared with nearly 600 lights, it could be seen by seamen 20 miles out to sea. In 1986, the bottle was removed and demolished due to structural deterioration.

Fort McHenry, as seen from the water while entering Baltimore Harbor. In the War of 1812, the British intended to burn Baltimore as their next target after having just burned Washington DC. However, they first had to capture Fort McHenry, which guarded the harbor. After 25 hours of bombardment from a fleet of battleships in the harbor, the fort held and the British withdrew. Francis Scott Key, having been captured earlier and imprisoned on a barge anchored in the harbor, awoke in “dawn’s early light” and saw the American flag still flying over the fort – inspired, he sat down and wrote “The Star Spangled Banner”.

Images from Fort McHenry –

Looking downriver from the Fort towards where the British warships and Francis Scott Key were located during the bombardment.

Hank explaining to the Colonel how he should be defending the fort –

There is a really cool modern sculpture/art museum near the Baltimore harborfront called the American Visionary Museum. They display art that is unusual and unexpected. This is the outside of one of the three buildings.

A cool statue in the museum –

A man on a treadmill, built from old coffee cans –

A man at his desk –

My nephew Jimmy Southerton, his lovely bride Heather, and their two beautiful children – Jameson and Nora – drove from their home in southern Pennsylvania to visit us on the Joint Adventure in Baltimore – a wonderful visit!

Jameson in awe at the Science Museum –

My new nice, Nora – what a beauty!

The following day, the wind in Baltimore had finally diminished, but it was cold and rainy. However, we wanted to move on, so we ran 50 miles in steady rain to Chesapeake City. The bridge on the Joint Adventure has a bimini top and clear plastic windows that can be zipped into place, so we dressed warm and stayed dry during the run. Chesapeake City is located on the C&D Canal, which connects Chesapeake Bay to Delaware Bay. The map below is the best way to describe the geography:

The bay on the left with a line showing a route is Chesapeake Bay. The bay on the right is Delaware Bay. The C&D Canal, 14 miles long, connects the two bays at their northern end. The map also shows the route we took – instead of running along the Atlantic coast, which would have been shorter, we went north into Chesapeake Bay, then through the C&D Canal, then south through Delaware Bay to Cape May, which is on the tip of the peninsula at the southeast end of Delaware Bay, with the Bay on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other.

Chesapeake City is a hidden gem – a small, historic town with buildings dating in the early 1800’s with some surprisingly good restaurants and a vibrant marina with a large restaurant/lounge that has live music 5 days a week. Here are some pictures:

Originally a bank constructed in the early 1800’s, this building has been fully restored and now houses a stained glass window shop with a huge stained glass window displayed inside.

The General Store in Chesapeake City, established in 1861

No trip to the Chesapeake would be complete without a meal of hard-shell crabs – all you can eat for $29, but you’d better have time and patience, as each crab doesn’t yield a great deal of meat. Oh, but so good!

The rain cleared but the forecast called for winds increasing to 20 knots with gusts to 30 knots and small craft warnings, so we left at dawn the next day to run 70 miles down Delaware Bay to Cape May, New Jersey. The wind and waves kicked up, but the waves were on our stern so the passage was a bit rough but doable. On the way, we passed the nuclear power plant that my nephew Jimmy Southerton operates:

Jimmy’s nuclear power plant has three reactors, but only one utilizes a cooling tower. The other two, of earlier vintage, uses water directly from the river for cooling. I texted Jimmy to look out the window and wave, but he threatened to call security if we got too close (just kidding…).

Cape May, New Jersey is unique. Located on a peninsula which separates Delaware Bay from the Atlantic Ocean, it was the country’s first seaside resort. Several large hotels were constructed, and it became the summer playground of socialites in the 18th century. In 1878, a five day long fire destroyed several city blocks, including several of the hotels. Nearly all of the homes that were built during the reconstruction were Victorian style, and today Cape May boasts the second largest collection of Victorian homes in the nation, after San Francisco. In 1976, the entire town was designated a National Historic Landmark, the only city in the nation so designated. Today, the city is a thriving tourist town with tours of the historic homes, great restaurants, and a fantastic beach. Here are some images:

An image from Cape May Harbor, as seen from the bridge of the Joint Adventure

We went for a trolley tour and a horse and buggy tour to see the incredible homes in Cape May

A sign at the horse/carriage tours –

My Dad at the helm of the dinghy as we toured Cape May harbor

The next series of pictures are of some of the incredible 19th century homes of Cape May – no further commentary needed

From Cape May, we work our way north on the New Jersey Intracoastal Waterway towards New York. We’re told that the channel is often narrow and shallow, extensive shoaling exists, and some debris from Hurricane Sandy still remains submerged and unmarked. If it gets too precarious, we’ll head into the open water and run outside the shoreline, but we prefer the interesting channels of the ICW if it is safe enough. More to come!

Post #53 – SKIING AT THE TIKI BAR  – Day 380, May 16, 2015;   On board:  Hank Koningisor (my Dad);  Tom McNichol;  Jim K

Before we left Norfolk, a “caravan” of PDQ’s docked at the South Harbor in Portsmouth (just across the river from Norfolk). PDQ is the manufacturer of the Joint Adventure – they built 114 of them from 2001 to 2007, when the company succumbed to economic pressures as the economy began to collapse.  Therefore, only 114 exist – six of them came into the harbor:

A PDQ invasion!

Unfortunately, Jack Kelly left the Joint Adventure on Saturday to re-enter real life. Fortunately, Hank (my Dad, who is now in his 91st year) and Tom McNichol flew to Norfolk to join me.  On Sunday, we ran 40 miles to Yorktown, about 15 miles off-route, up the York River. Norfolk Harbor empties into Chesapeake Bay at its mouth, so we encountered several large ships entering and leaving Norfolk:

We had to move to the side of the channel as these tugs maneuvered this massive freighter towards the harbor

In August of 1781, British General Clinton (no relation to Hillary….) became convinced that General Washington was going to attack Clinton’s position in New York rather than pursue General Cornwallis in Virginia. As a result, Clinton sent word to Cornwallis to adopt a defensive position and be ready to send reinforcements to New York if needed. Cornwallis chose Yorktown to build fortifications and dig in. In fact, Washington’s plan had been to attack New York until he got word that a fleet of allied French battleships were on route to the Chesapeake. Implementing an elaborate decoy which included an encampment of empty tents to fool Clinton, Washington departed under the cover of darkness with his troops on a forced march to Yorktown. Before he arrived, the French fleet engaged the British fleet at the mouth of the Chesapeake in a sea battle that was essentially a draw. However, because of damage to his ships and not knowing that Washington was on his way to Yorktown, the British admiral withdrew his ships to New York for repairs.  This left the French fleet, allied with the Americans, in control of the mouth of the Chesapeake. Cornwallis’s escape route was effectively blocked. Upon his arrival, Washington joined with union forces already in Williamsburg – Washington now had Cornwallis significantly outnumbered. Although Cornwallis had more artillery pieces, Washington had much larger and more powerful cannons. In the siege that followed, Cornwallis quickly realized that his army of over 8,000 men had no chance and would be overrun. His last, desperate way out was to try to withdraw across the York River in a fleet of small boats that he had maintained at the ready for just such a purpose – he could then try to fight his way through a much smaller union army on the other side, hoping to be able to fight another day under more favorable circumstances. As he attempted to withdraw in darkness, however, a violent thunderstorm hit, destroying or severely damaging nearly all of the boats. Cornwallis knew it was over. The next morning, he surrendered his entire army, including all of the weapons and ammunition that had survived the siege. The Revolutionary War was effectively over – only minor skirmishes occurred thereafter until the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783 granting independence to the American colonies.

Eighty percent of Yorktown was destroyed in the battle, including its port facilities, and the town never recovered its former prominence. In 1814, a fire destroyed the waterfront facilities that had been rebuilt, and the town became a small, sleepy farming village thereafter.

The Visitor Center/battlefield at Yorktown is a fascinating place to visit – there are far too many anecdotes and interesting stories for me to relate here.  The small village of Yorktown on a bluff above the river is also interesting, with many historic buildings dating to the early and mid 1800’s. Below the village, there is a tasteful waterfront along the York River which includes a beautiful beach, several restaurants, and many historic markers. Here are some pictures from our visit:

Yorktown Harbor on the York River as seen from a high level bridge adjacent to the harbor. The Joint Adventure is docked across from the small cruise ship that visited Yorktown for the day. Plenty of dock space the days we were there!

This is a statue of George Washington and his French counterpart at the Battle of Yorktown. Tom is asking for directions to the trolley stop….they ignored him…

The Yorktown Victory Monument overlooking the battlefield at Yorktown. The monument was commissioned in October of 1781 just after the news of the surrender reached the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, however construction didn’t begin for another 100 years (the wheels of government turn slowly…). It was completed in 1884.

This is the original Custom House in Yorktown Village, built in 1720. Contrast this with the elaborate Custom Houses from some of the more prominent cities in past updates, such as Savannah or Charleston. Import and export fees levied by Great Britain were collected here until the war broke out in 1776.

This is the home of Thomas Nelson, located in Yorktown Village and built in 1730. An activist who protested British taxes, Nelson led the Yorktown Tea Party, fashioned after the far more famous one in Boston. He was a member of the Continental Congress and was instrumental in getting Virginia to vote in favor of the Declaration of Independence, of which Nelson was one of 56 signatories.

Due to high winds and some rain as Tropical Storm Ana passed over us, we were “weathered in” for another day in Yorktown, which fit our schedule as we had planned to stay for two days in Yorktown.  We rented a car and drove to Williamsburg and Jamestown, both within about 25 miles of Yorktown. Here are a few pictures:

My Dad at Williamsburg in his “raingear” – a plastic poncho that he had saved from our trip from Key West to the Dry Tortugas four months earlier –

Virginia was a key vote in the debate over independence, as several other southern states tended to follow Virginia’s lead. This is the colonial Capitol Building in Williamsburg where the key vote was undertaken in 1776. An excellent movie in the Visitors Center dramatized both sides of the debate, the outcome of which was by no means certain. A fun musical  about the run-up and the vote for independence is “1776” – it can be rented on Netfix.

The Raleigh Tavern in Williamsburg, where Virginia leaders often met. Here in 1769, a group of burgesses adopted a proposal to boycott British goods. In 1774, they met again and issued a call for a Continental Congress.

A classic scene in historic Williamsburg

From Williamsburg, we drove to Jamestown where we spent the afternoon exploring the site of the original Jamestown settlement:

This is the actual, exact location of the original settlement of Jamestown on the James River. Incredibly, until 1994, the site was thought to have been lost to erosion in the river. However, an archeologist persuaded the government to fund a dig based on his belief that the site was still upland of the river bank. He was right, and an ongoing dig since 1994 has uncovered the exact location of the walls of the original fort, burial sites, building sites etc. The dig was covered with tarps due to the weather when we were there, but on a dry day, you can watch the archeologists work.

This is a model of the original fort built in 1607

Each cross marks the burial site of one of the original settlers who perished in the first year of the settlement. This burial site was just discovered in the last 4 years.

On Tuesday, we ran 50 miles north on Chesapeake Bay to a small, isolated island called Tangier Island – one of the most unique places we’ve visited the entire trip. First settled in 1686, most of the 700 current residents are descendants of the early settlers – there are only 53 different surnames among the 700 residents. Because of its isolation over the centuries, the residents speak a fabled, lingering style of speech thought to be directly descended from early Elizabethan-era settlers – at times, it is difficult to understand the dialect it is so pronounced. The islanders are also quite religious. Until recently, the entire economy of the island revolved around crabbing, which still clearly dominates the island. The men who live from the sea are known here as “watermen”. In the last few decades, a limited amount of tourism now supplements the economy of the island, though crabbing still dominates island life. Tangier has its own K-12 school, one policeman, a post office, and a volunteer fire department, so it is quite self sufficient.  The people are fiercely independent and proud of their heritage, and most wouldn’t live anywhere else.  The island has a spectacular beach at the south end, which was chosen by the British as their base of operations in the War of 1812 – it was from here that they launced the attack on Washington DC and burned the White House, and from which they launched their attack on Fort McHenry in Baltimore – the result of which was the writing of the National Anthem by Francis Scott Key.

Entering the harbor is a unique experience – both sides of the channel are lined with crab shanties standing on pilings in the water. Each has its own dock and a series of crab tanks within the shanty where the waterman sorts the crabs, isolating them as they molt which changes them from hard shell to softshell crabs.

However, there are two evolutions which threaten the very existence of the unique, centuries-old way of life. The first is erosion and rising sea levels fueled by climate change. Nearly all of the island lies just 4 feet or less above sea level, so just a modest rise in sea level threatens to drown the island. The second is a drain of young people needed to continue the traditions and the community. As young people born and raised on the island are increasingly exposed to other ways of life through TV, the internet, social media, etc., more and more opt to leave the island and not return. During our visit, we met two producers working for National Geographic who were spending 4 or 5 days on Tangier and Smith Islands, producing a TV documentary about the island communities and the threats to their culture and existence.

Today, the islanders welcome visitors and are willing to share their way of life in small doses. Small ferry boats bring a limited number of day-visitors from the Virginia and Maryland sides of the Bay. There are three restaurants, a few small gift shops in people’s homes, and a few Bed & Breakfasts for people to stay for a night or two.

Here are some pictures from our stay:

The Joint Adventure docked at the small and rustic Parks Marina, the only place for visitors to dock on the island. It has room for just a few boats.

The owner of Parks Marina, Milton Parks, calls himself and everyone else “George” – he is 84 years old and gets around on this motorcycle, which he drives with abandon on the narrow 4′ wide docks with no guard rails. A colorful character!

This map of Tangier Island is painted on the wall of the museum on the island. It shows that the island consists of three separate ridges, separated by salt water marshes. The ridges are connected by paved pathways and wooden bridges.

The isolated and beautiful beach is located on the south end of the island and is accessible only from this wooden footbridge over the marsh.

The view from one ridge of upland to the next across the marsh

A view of one of the marshes

A view from the back side of the beach dunes –

About twice a year on average, a combination of high tides and wind cause most of the island to flood with 6″-12″ of salt water. As a result, most of the golf carts are parked on a raised ramp to keep them above the water level. The frequency and severity of the flooding is increasing as sea levels rise and the severity of storms increases.

Ingenuity reigns on Tangier Island – the two women in the golf cart have a landscape maintenance business – they are moving these two lawn mowers to their next job.

A view of a couple of the homes on Tangier Island.  Most are modest, with very few “vacation” homes often found on other, more upscale islands.

This and following are views of the crab shanties along the waterfront on the channel into Tangier Island

This is a typical crab boat of the type used by the watermen on Tangier Island

We met the Mayor of Tangier Island, who took us out on his crab boat to one of the shanties to see how the crabs are sorted, molted, and processed. He talked about the challenges of erosion and sea level rise facing the island and the islanders way of life. An intelligent, articulate man, his pride in the island and their way of life was impossible to miss.

The Mayor brought us to a crab shanty where his friend Dan had just brought in a load of crabs. Dan showed us his operation – he sorts the crabs into different tubs depending on where they are in the molting process (the process of shedding their hard shell). The crabs that are about to molt must be isolated or they will be eaten by the other crabs as soon as they molt. This crab has just shed its shell – one hand in the picture holds the molted “softshell” crab. The other holds the empty shell that the crab has discarded. Just a couple of hours after the molting, the crab has grown in size by about 10-15%. In order to manage the process, Dan and his wife must attend to the bins round the clock every 5-6 hours to separate and sort the crabs in the tubs – while Dan is out catching the next batch, his wife does the sorting.  When asked about the economics of crabbing, Dan blurted out “I’m broke” and burst out laughing.

Just 12 miles north of Tangier is its sister island, called Smith Island. Tangier is located in Virginia, while Smith is mostly in Maryland. Smith is slightly larger in area but has a population of only 250, compared to 700 on Tangier. Like Tangier, the lifeblood of Smith Island is crabbing. The sparser population makes life a bit more difficult on Smith, since there is much less tourism and therefore fewer service jobs. There are two restaurants (one is actually more of a store/diner), a small museum, a post office, and a church. The island culture is far more vulnerable than Tangier, since there are fewer young people to carry forward and erosion is taking a large toll.  However, the landscape is spectacular, the people are great, and the traditions run deep.

When we ate lunch at Rukes Seafood Deck (the combination store/diner and the only place open for lunch this time of year), Tom asked the storekeeper (Steve), what he would order if he were eating lunch. The manager answered “Wait a minute”, and walked to the door, looked outside, and came back to the table.  When Tom asked him why he had to look outside to decide what he would order, Steve said “I would have ordered cheese steak, but I had to see if the boat came in today because the cheese steak is on the boat”.  A unique place indeed! Here are some pictures:

Ruke’s store/diner near the waterfront on Smith Island

A map in the small island museum showing Smith Island

The channel entrance to Smith Island. Subject to shoaling, we came in on a low and falling tide and had to pick our way in carefully.

Creaky docks leading to a crab sorting building – much of the infrastructure on the island suffers from lack of maintenance and is in disrepair, an indication of the challenges facing the watermen’s way of life. However, crabbing continues to support the island’s small population.

The Smith Island Motel –

Our next stop was Solomon Island – a bit of a misnomer, since the former island has been connected to the mainland in Maryland since the 1800’s. Solomon Island is a boating center, with half a dozen marinas containing literally hundreds of slips. There is no beach, but there is a boardwalk with half a dozen good restaurants and perhaps half a dozen shops and boutiques. Pawtuxet Naval Air Station is nearby, so watching fighter jets and other assorted military aircraft circling on training missions is a major attraction. There is also a museum which focuses on local history and natural resources, which features a relocated lighthouse:

The Drum Point Lighthouse operated on Solomon Island from 1883 till 1962, when it was decommissioned. It was moved to the museum in 1975.

So one of the main attractions in Solomon Island is the night life.  There is a Tiki Bar that is active during the day, but becomes a “happening” at night – at least on a weekend night when we were there. The small street adjacent to the Tiki Bar gets closed off and is turned into a beach party. There is sand along both sides of the street, and there are several more tiki bars and watering holes that open up along the street as well. Seating areas, tables & chairs, cornhole games, etc. are set up in the sand on both sides of the street, and you are free to wander from place to place with your drinks. There is a giant totem pole structure four feet in diameter, apparently hollow, with a flame on top – every once in a while a ball of gas is released and a big fireball shoots into the sky.

So I was sitting at the Tiki Bar enjoying the show when the bartender took out an old wooden ski from under the bar – this is skiing at the Tiki Bar:

The bartender set the old wooden ski on the bar – I noticed it has four shot glasses attached to it…The bartender carefully filled the shot glasses with the liquor of choice…

It takes four coordinated people to act in unison to use this ski properly…

Skiing at the Tiki Bar!

Hmmm…I think I have an old wooden ski in the basement…

On Friday, we ran 50 miles north to the great city of Annapolis, where we remain docked in the inner harbor.  More to come!

Post #52:  BEARD OIL – Day 373, May 9, 2015.  On board:  Jack Kelly;  Tom Thurston (partial);  Jessie Koningisor (partial); Naoko Yamaguchi Schneider (partial)

Beaufort was hosting a boat building contest on Saturday, so we were able to watch part of it before we cast off the lines and headed out. During the 4 hour time limit, each team built a boat that met certain required specifications;  judges chose the best results to be awarded prizes:

Working hard and fast within the 4 hour time limit.

This boat came in for the festivities:

This wooden boat is steam propelled – the boiler that produces the steam is wood fired.

My friend Jack Kelly flew into North Carolina and joined us early Saturday afternoon. Soon after he arrived we cast off the lines on a somewhat windy day for a 25 mile run to Oriental, North Carolina. A small 12-block town on the edge of the wide Neuse River, Oriental has half a dozen restaurants, a few commercial establishments, and some 19th century, well-kept homes. Here are some pictures:

Dating from the 1880, more than 20 of these artesian wells/fresh water springs provided water to Oriental residents until the 1960’s. The concrete benches were added in the 1920’s, providing a place for residents to gather and socialize under this 200 year old willow oak when they came to get water.

The Joint Adventure docked at the marina in Oriental. Fresh water shrimping is a major industry in Oriental – the anchor in the foreground is on the bow of a large shrimp boat across the harbor from the Joint Adventure

We’re still in the Bible Belt….

We celebrated the 1 year anniversary of our Great Loop voyage with a toast in Oriental – left to right, Jim K, Jack Kelly, and Tom Thurston

Our next stop was Belhaven, N. C. after a 50 mile run in the wide, open waters of the Neuse and Pamlico Rivers. Notorious for steep, closely-spaced waves, we wanted a relatively calm day, and we got it after several days of fairly strong winds. Belhaven is a small, sleepy town that seems to be struggling economically. The town was first settled in 1868 and grew by producing lumber products in several mills. When a rail line was built to Norfolk, the town became an important transportation artery for the distribution of goods throughout eastern North Carolina due to its location on Pamlico Sound. Belhaven calls itself “the birthplace of the ICW” because the last remaining link – the Alligator River/Pungo River Canal – was completed and opened in 1928. The celebration in Belhaven for the opening was attended by 20,000 people and included two Navy seaplanes, several Coast Guard cutters, and an Army blimp. Today, local businesses primarily serve local farming communities and local residents. There are some very attractive buildings in the small, downtown area, but there are a number of vacant storefronts,and within blocks of Main Street, vacant, derelict buildings are frequent. Here are two of the prominent historic buildings in town:

Belhaven City Hall, a beautiful, 19th century brick building

The River Street Manor overlooks the wide Pongo River. Built in 1904, it was home to a local lumber baron. A renovation is planned to convert the historic building to a venue for special events, such as weddings.

This is a tidbit of information that I picked up in Belhaven that you probably didn’t know….

The next day’s run started with a 22 mile run through the Alligator River-Pungo River Canal, followed by a 21 mile run on the open waters of the Alligator River.  Fortunately, we had another day of light winds, so it was a pleasant run. We stayed at the Alligator River Marina due to its location rather than its amenities – it basically consists of a Shell gas station along a highway with docks behind it – perhaps the least attractive stop of our trip (we’ve stayed at other rural, sometimes somewhat derelict marinas, but each seemed to have some redeeming feature that provided character…). The Alligator River was our rendezvous point where, unfortunately, Tom Thurston left the trip to go back to real life; fortunately, however, my daughter Jessie and her friend Naoko from Japan joined us. Here are some pictures:

While sufficiently wide, the Alligator River-Pungo River Canal had many stumps protruding near the banks, so we paid close attention…

We cooked a great fish dinner on board while at the Alligator River Marina – I had two large filets of mahi-mahi and hogfish that I had bought right off a boat in the Bahamas and immediately put it in the freezer, which we combined with fresh salad and rice – and a healthy dose of wine. From left to right, Jessie, Naoko, and Jack.

We left the next morning for Elizabeth City, crossing the notorious Albemarle Sound – it’s shallow water, frequent winds, and geographic orientation has made it legendary for unpleasant passages. We left fairly early to try to get across before the wind picked up, which turned out to be wise – we were entering the more protected Pasquotank River as the winds began to build. A few pictures from the run:

Jessie at the helm on a still-calm Albemarle Sound….

Naoko expertly guiding us up the Pasquotank River towards Elizabeth City, despite a maze of crab pot floats to avoid  –

Approaching Elizabeth City, this enormous building looms on the horizon – it is the TCOM Blimp Hanger where – yes, they store blimps…

Elizabeth City grew in colonial days due to its location on the Pasquotank River, its abundance of lumber, and the opening of the Dismal Swamp Canal in 1805. Today, the city has many historical buildings and a wonderful waterfront, which it leverages by providing free overnight dockage, restrooms, and showers available to transient boaters. It also boasts a surprisingly large and comprehensive museum in a beautiful, new building, and the historic district is significant. The City does seem to be struggling a bit economically, however, as evidenced by a number of vacant storefronts in the downtown area.

Here are a few pictures:

Historic buildings in the downtown area –

This home was built by a wealthy merchant as a wedding present to his daughter in 1914. It remains a private residence in the same family.

So two of Jessie’s Law School friends whom I count among my friends as well, Lou and Brandon, have apparently been experimenting with various concoctions, one of which is beard oil. Having seen my beard on the blog, they thought this would be a good opportunity to do some market research so they sent a bottle with Jessie for me to try. Now I didn’t even know there was such a thing as “beard oil”, so I didn’t really have much to compare to. I do know that my beard frequently (always?) looks frazzled and perhaps rather silly, so I was certainly willing to try it out. However, I didn’t know what to do with it, so I asked Jessie to inquire about some instructions. The reply came back:  “(1) Rise early  (2) Rub on beard  (3) Seek adventure”.  Not quite as detailed as I had hoped. I then inquired whether it was flammable or not. The reply came back:  “Oh, we didn’t test for that – we’re not engineers…”.   Not one to be deterred, with Jessie’s help, I tried it out:

Don’t pull!!

Rub it in….

Does it look any different?

I think it’s a lost cause….

Leaving Elizabeth City, there is an 18 mile run up the narrowing Pasquotank River to a lock which marks the beginning of the Dismal Swamp Canal. The lock only opens at specific times several hours apart, so we cast off the lines at 6:30 AM to make the 8:30 lock opening. This part of the river is one of the most scenic rivers on the Great Loop. Here are some images:

The river is perhaps two football fields wide at Elizabeth City, but rapidly narrows as it heads north. It was early in the morning so the water was like glass as we headed up the river.

Cypress trees growing out of the water along the banks of the river

Notice the near-perfect reflection of the trees on the perfectly still water of the river

An eagle presiding over its kingdom as we quietly passed through

The name “Great Dismal Swamp” is a misnomer – it is not dismal at all. The name is a carryover from the maps of early explorers, who often labeled swamps as “dismals” because they had no economic value at that time and were an impediment to exploration and transportation. For some reason, the label “dismal” stuck to this particular swamp and became its name. In 1763, none other than George Washington proposed digging a canal to connect the waters of Albemarle Sound to Chesapeake Bay. He became president of the privately-held Dismal Swamp Land Company, and directed the surveying and digging of the first 5 miles of the canal. However, by 1796, Washington became disappointed in the management of the project, and contracted to sell his share to “Lighthorse” Harry Lee – father of Robert E. Lee.  Lee was unable to come up with the money, however, and Washington’s interest remained part of his estate when he died in 1799.

The canal took 12 1/2 years to build, and was dug by hand by slave labor. It opened in 1805, and is the oldest continually operated man-made canal in North America. During the Civil War, the Canal and the swamp took on two important roles in American history. First, the Union Army tried but failed to blow up the locks at South Mills in an attempt to cut off the Dismal Swamp as a route for the Confederate Army to supply Norfolk and the surrounding area. They later did take control of the canal.  Second, many run-away slaves hid in the swamp, even forming small, hidden settlements, where they lived throughout the war. The swamp also became part of a route to the north for slaves seeking freedom.

Today, there is no commercial traffic on the canal – it is used only be recreational vessels, and serves as one of two optional routes of the ICW. The canal is narrow and full of “deadheads” – submerged logs – so many if not most boats transiting the ICW choose the alternate “Virginia Cut” route. We chose the Dismal Canal route due to its beauty and uniqueness. Here are some pictures:

Approaching the lock at the start of the Dismal Swamp Canal. The Dismal Swamp is higher than the Pasquotank River at the southern end and Chesapeake Bay at the northern end. Hence, a lock at each end raises and lowers boats about 8 feet to enter or leave the Canal.

An excited Penny from the vessel “Penny Pincher”, whom we had met the evening before at the docks in Elizabeth City.

The classic boat “Windrush”, which entered the lock with us. The boat was built in the 1960’s and the owner, Dave, now lives on her. His home port is on the Chesapeake.

There is a wonderful Visitors Center on the Canal. Dockage is limited, and we barely squeezed in at one end of the dock – I turned around to dock in order to keep the stern and propellers away from a submerged stump about 2 feet in front of the boat. There was no place for Windrush to tie up, so we rafted her to the Joint Adventure so Dave and his crew could go to the Visitors Center. He is facing north, the direction of our travel, while the Joint Adventure is facing south.

There is a beautiful half-mile boardwalk hike into the Dismal Swamp, originating at the Visitors Center

There are 20 miles of hiking and biking trails into the swamp – they started as old logging roads and now provide a way to explore the depths of the swamp. Bikes can be rented at the Visitors Center.

During Prohibition, the Great Dismal Swamp was an ideal hideaway for distilleries making bootleg moonshine. This is a replica of one of the many distilleries hidden in the swamp during that period. When discovered, officials would destroy the distilleries. Ruins of several actual distilleries can be seen along the trails through the swamp.

We continued northward in the afternoon after spending a few hours docked at the Visitors Center

Enormous cypress trees in the swamp as seen from the Canal

Within 5 miles of exiting the Great Dismal Swamp at the northern end of the canal, the landscape changes abruptly as one enters the southern end of Norfolk Harbor. Norfolk boasts that it has the largest natural harbor in the world. Pristine landscapes abruptly change to massive industrial uses;  the massive industrial uses then abruptly change to massive military uses. There are more military personnel within 15 miles of Norfolk that at anyplace else in the world. The presence of the Navy quickly becomes obvious:

The aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman, docked in Norfolk. I’m told that 5 of the 11 full-sized U. S. aircraft carriers are based in Norfolk. While the U. S. has eleven, I’m told that only eight others exist in the world, and no other country, including Russia, has more than one.

Other Navy vessels along Norfolk harbor when entering from the south

The Navy presence is weaved into the fabric of the city throughout. With its strategic location in the middle of the Atlantic coast and its large, protected harbor, Norfolk quickly became a Navy shipbuilding center after the colonies declared their independence from Great Britain. As the growing nation lurched from periods of war to periods of peace, the economy of Norfolk lurched accordingly – employment soared during periods of military build-up, and waned during periods of drawdown. The relationship between the Navy and the city has not always been easy. Between 1917 and the end of World War II, the relationship faced two basic problems. The first was entertainment for the sailors stationed in Norfolk, whose racous behavior sometimes irritated the local people – one humorist dubbed the city “the Hong Kong of the Albemarle”. The other problem involved the provision of city services such as water, electricity, and transportation, which the city could not always provide.

Today, the city, along with its sister city of Portsmouth across the Elizabeth River, is active and vibrant, and its Naval history is on display throughout.  Here are some pictures from our stay in Norfolk:

This is a statue along the waterfront of a soldier returning home to his family –

The Armed Forces Memorial is perhaps the most emotional memorial we’ve seen on the entire trip – it is a series of about 20 letters printed on bronze plaques randomly placed across the plaza, as if scattered by the wind. Each was written to a loved one by a soldier who never returned home – some died within days of writing the letter.  Some letters date back to the American Revolution, while the more recent ones are from World War II, Viet Nam, and the Iraqi War. They bring tears to your eyes.

The USS Wisconsin, an Iowa-class battleship that was launched in 1943 and served through the Iraqi War, is permanently docked for public boarding as part of the Hampton Roads Naval Museum in Norfolk – well worth a visit.

A photo in the Naval Museum shows the first airplane to take off from the deck of a ship. YIKES!  Thus Naval aviation was born in Hampton Roads at Norfolk in 1910 when this pusher biplane flew off a “flight deck” constructed on the USS Birmingham. The flight to Willoughby Island took just five minutes, but it success signaled the advent of aircraft carriers.

A number of World War II era recruit signs displayed in the Naval Museum are quite dated and would be considered sexist today….

Another example….

Stemming from its naval history and ties to the sea, the mermaid has become an icon in Norfolk – there are numerous mermaid statues at various locations throughout the city –

Here are two more –

The Historic District in Norfolk includes buildings from the 1700’s and 1800’s. Notice the cobblestone street.

An spectacular church in the historic district of Norfolk

General MacArthur lived part of his life in Norfolk, so there is an extensive memorial to his life and achievements. While celebrating his remarkable record in World War II and the Korean War, the memorial also deals with the controversy surrounding his outspoken nature and his ultimate dismissal by President Truman. While the MacArthur/Truman relationship is well know, less publicized is the enigmatic relationship between MacArthur and President Roosevelt. Roosevelt once called MacArthur “the most dangerous man in America”, while MacArthur once described Roosevelt as “a man who never told the truth if a lie would suffice.”  The MacArthur Memorial is well worth a visit:

The MacArthur Memorial is a fascinating walk through history based on the brilliant yet controversial career of General Douglas MacArthur.

General MacArthur and his wife Jean, who lived to be 102, are laid to rest in the MacArthur Memorial

One last picture from our stay:

Norfolk is Mile 0 on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, so our journey now heads north into the relatively open waters Chesapeake Bay. More to come!

Post #51:  ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY;  MARSHES & MUD, BEACHES & SAND;  Day 366, May 2, 2015;  On Board:  Tom Thurston;  Jim K.

One year ago today, we cast off the lines in Boston to begin our adventure around the Great Loop. In my first blog post, I wrote:

“I just looked up ‘adventure’ in Webster’s Dictionary – it defines ‘adventure’ as ‘an unusual and exciting, typically hazardous, experience or activity’.  YIKES!  One on my goals is for this adventure NOT to be hazardous!  Another goal is that it not be TOO exciting.  But it certainly will be interesting, and it certainly will stretch the envelope and be challenging.”

So as I look back on the past year, the journey certainly has met those expectations and more – although at times there was a bit more “excitement” than I may have wished for! But here we are a year later, just five or six weeks from returning home with a wealth of new experiences.

So back to the present – before Jake & Elissa left the boat in Charleston, they gave me a “survival” kit to help me carry on:

Cheerios, Bugles, cashews, and Charleston Chews – what more could anyone need?

I hated to see them leave, but I was happy to have Tom Thurston join me for the next week. Our first day was a nearly 70 mile run to Georgetown, South Carolina. Some pictures from the ICW:

A happy house –

An isolated home set in the marsh along the ICW

This is a “floating swing bridge” – the only such bridge we’ve encountered on the entire trip. It remains tied parallel to the river as shown here when not being utilized.

This “bow thruster” (propeller) is attached to one end of the swing bridge. To put it in place so vehicles can cross, the “floating bridge” is untied, then the propeller is lowered into the water and activated, swinging the moveable end of the bridge into the river.

When the propeller is activated to swing the bridge into the river, the floating bridge pivots on the post at the other end. When it swings all the way around perpendicular to the river, the moveable end of the bridge is secured to the other shore and vehicles can then cross on the floating bridge.

Our next stop, Georgetown, is the third oldest city in South Carolina, having been founded in 1732. Indigo was the first cash crop in Georgetown, and brought great wealth to plantation owners until the Revolutionary War cut off the indigo market with England. Rice then replaced indigo, which required huge quantities of slave labor – before long, 85% of the population of Georgetown County were slaves. After the Civil War, lumber replaced rice as Georgetown’s principal product, and by 1913, Georgetown was home to the largest lumber mill on the East Coast. In 1936, International Paper built a paper mill in Georgetown, and in the late 1960’s, a steel mil was built. Both mills are still in operation, providing jobs and helping to drive the local economy.

Georgetown today is a pleasant working town with many historical buildings and a new boardwalk along the riverfront with several restaurants with outdoor seating. Here are some images:

The riverfront boardwalk in Georgetown

Historic Front Street –

Also on Front Street –

George Washington stayed in this house on his tour of the South in 1791

This is a monument in the cemetery in Georgetown, honoring Confederate soldiers.

This is the inscription on the Confederate monument shown above. I thought the message to be unusual and unlike anything else I had seen in the South.

I just commented in my last post that I had seen no Confederate flags in South Carolina – this picture is from the same cemetery as the monument shown above….

Our next stop was Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, after a 50 mile run. Much like Hilton Head, Myrtle Beach is about beaches and golf. Here are a few pictures from our stay in Myrtle Beach:

This tram carries golfers over the Intracoastal Waterway from one side of a golf course to the other – look closely and you can see the golf bags hooked to the side of each gondola.

The beach at Myrtle Beach – too cold for me to swim!

An indication that we’ve entered a different climatic zone….

The House of Blues in Myrtle Beach –

The Alabama Theater in Myrtle Beach. A live musical revue/dance/comedy show was being performed the night we were in Myrtle Beach, so I bought a ticket and went – the show was terrific and the person who performed the comedy routine was so good that I bought a CD. His name is Ricky Mokel in case you hear of a performance by him. He does shows on TV as well.

So the ICW in Florida runs inside a series of barrier islands, essentially parallel to the mainland. The shoreline is dominated by sand beaches along nearly all of the Florida coastline. Sand is everywhere.  In Georgia and South Carolina, however, known as the Low Country, it changes dramatically. The barrier islands disappear, and the coastline is dominated by marshes.  Sand disappears as well, replaced by mud built up by decaying plant material over countless eons. The ICW changes from a linear waterway following the coastline to a meandering pathway that utilizes rivers, creeks, estuaries, and man-made cuts to form a contiguous but zig-zag waterway through the marshes. Though the overall direction is northerly, the route wanders through nearly every point on the compass. However, once you approach the North Carolina border, the world changes yet again. The Low Country marshes disappear, replaced once again by sand and barrier islands. Instead of marshes, the ICW is bordered by cypress swamps and sand dunes. But that isn’t all that is different – the climate has changed as well. Long pants and sweatshirts have re-appeared, and shorts are confined to a few hours in the afternoon, if at all. The “high season” was ending in Florida, while it is just ready to begin here in North Carolina. We are indeed moving north.

Here are some images of the ICW as we head into this new and changing environment:

Cypress trees along the ICW as we enter North Carolina

Sandy beaches predominate along the barrier islands on the ocean side of the ICW

Looking east toward from the ICW, beach houses line the ocean beaches

Tom Thurston piloting the Joint Adventure up the ICW

There are numerous drawbridges along the ICW, especially in Florida. Our “air draft” (height above the water level) is about 18′ with our antenna down – we can reduce our height to just under 16′ by lowering the radar tower, which we did several times in the northern canals & rivers, and we can further reduce our height to 11 1/2′ by taking the bimini down. We can get under most drawbridges without an opening since we left Florida, but this one was just too close. It opens only once every hour, so we tied to the dock at a nearby marina while we waited about 20 minutes for an opening at the top of the hour.

Another milestone!  We crossed into our next state – North Carolina – and stopped at Carolina Beach after about a 60 mile run. Carolina Beach is an older beach community with a new, extensive wood boardwalk – the beach area reminds me somewhat of Hull in Massachusetts. Here are a few pictures:

The beach as seen from the new boardwalk –

This guy was looking for a handout at the beach, I think –

Every stop can’t be a resort – our stop at Sneads Ferry, North Carolina was anything but – a bit rustic, as they say, sort of in the middle of nowhere. But it was in a location that broke up an otherwise long stretch, so we pulled in, as planned. However, there is a restaurant three miles away that was willing to pick us up at the marina, then drive us back after dinner.  So off we went. The person who picked us up, a warm, twenty-something man named Andrew, is the grandson of the man who opened the restaurant in 1947 – the third generation in a family-owned business. One thing I’ve learned on this trip – the best restaurants are usually not the chic, urban establishments, but the small, out-of-the-way, rural, family owned restaurants where mostly locals who know good food and good value go for meals. Places like Mudcat Charlie’s, as described in a previous blog update. And the Riverview Café in Sneads Ferry might be the best of them all. On the way to the restaurant, I asked Andrew what his best, freshest fish was. He said his favorite was fried sea mullet (sea mullet?) – they just brought some in today, fresh caught. I told him I can’t eat much fried food, could they grill it?  Sure, they can grill it, he said. When my meal arrived, there were three big fillets, plus the “backbone” (the part of the fish that’s left after they fillet it). Perhaps the best fish I’ve ever had. I learned when Andrew drove us back to the marina that, despite the fact that Andrew isn’t the cook, he went into the kitchen and grilled it himself, the way he likes it cooked. The entire dinner, including two sides, was $9.95. He told us on our ride back to the boat that he buys the sea mullet for $1.50/pound, because it’s an “undiscovered” local fish. Great meal – but no great meal is complete without desert. All homemade pies, made fresh every day. I couldn’t decide between peanut butter pie and coconut pie, so I had slice of peanut butter pie for desert and got a coconut pie to go.

So – my theory of restaurants – look for the out-of-the-way, rural places where only the locals go – that’s where the real gems are.

Here are a couple of pictures from Sneads Ferry:

Swan Point Marina – this is all there is –

Sneads Ferry turns out to be home to a Coat Guard Training Center – the guns on the front of these boats are real machine guns with real bullets….I asked permission before I took this picture….

Riverview Restaurant in Sneads Ferry, North Carolina

Andrew, manager of the Riverview Restaurant – he buys all the seafood for the restaurant, and he knows his business!

On Thursday, we cast off the lines in a light drizzle, expecting to avoid predicted heavy rain in the area. We succeeded until we were about an hour from Beaufort, N.C., when the skies opened up. The pouring rain ended just before we reached Beaufort, however, so we stayed dry while we docked.

Beaufort is a small, historic town with many homes and commercial buildings built in the 1800’s along the waterfront and throughout the historic district. The town has many restaurants, pubs, boutiques, and shops. It also sits adjacent to Cape Lookout, at the southern end of the extensive barrier island system off the coast of North Carolina that includes Cape Hatteras and Kitty Hawk. Across the channel from Beaufort itself is Shackleford Banks, one of the few places in the Eastern United States that is home to herds of wild horses. The horses have Spanish ancestry, and their origins are believed to date back to colonial times. You can take tours to view the wild horses on the island.

Here are a few pictures from our stay in Beaufort:

The General Store along the Beaufort waterfront

This “capsule” is on display in the interesting Maritime Museum in Beaufort. It was used to rescue stranded passengers and crewmembers from shipwrecks along the Cape Lookout/Cape Hatteras shoals. A cannon would shoot a line from the beach to a wrecked ship, then the capsule would be pulled out to the ship. Up to 11 people would climb into the capsule, in a lying position. The capsule would then be sealed, the occupants essentially immobile and in complete darkness. The capsule would then be pulled through the breaking waves and wild surf, being violently tossed and rolled on its way to shore – what a harrowing experience that must have been, sealed in that container!

An ancient cemetery in Beaufort containing the remains of soldiers from both the Revolutionary and Civil Wars.

Along the way, I sometimes see signs or placards or T-shirts with clever or humorous messages that make me chuckle.  Here are a few that I’ve seen here or there over the past couple of months might make you chuckle as well:

So today (Saturday), my good friend Jack Kelly joins us for our run to Norfolk. More to come!

Post #50; A LIFETIME OF RESEARCH PAYS OFF;  Day 357;  April 25, 2015:  On board:  Jake Mycofsky; Elissa Mycofsky; Jim K.

For the first time this entire trip, we cast off the lines in the pouring rain. As much as we enjoyed Kilkenney Plantation, we didn’t want to spend two more days there, and nasty weather expected to last another day or two was predicted to arrive in the afternoon. So dressed in rain gear, off we went. Within an hour the rain had stopped, and by early afternoon we turned off the ICW to head 6 miles up the Savannah River against a current that runs up to 5 knots.  Securing the boat in the falling tide at the Savannah riverfront in 5 knots of current was a challenge, and we doubled all the lines out of respect for the current and in deference to the upcoming storm – a tornado watch had been issued for most of Georgia and South Carolina. And what a storm it was!  No tornadoes, but lightning everywhere, gale force winds, and torrential, horizontal rain.

Despite such a tumultuous welcome to Savannah, the city exemplified the “southern hospitality” for which the region is famous. We spent 2 days in Savannah tied to the docks directly in front of the Hyatt Hotel in the middle of downtown Savannah, and could have stayed much longer.

Here are a couple of pictures from our run to Savannah:

The views of the endless estuaries and salt water marshes in the Low Country are spectacular

As we approached the city, we encountered a major dredging operation across most of the channel. The river is being dredged to a depth of 50 feet to conform to the deepening of the Panama Canal which is also underway so that Savannah can accommodate supertankers and other behemouths that will soon be able to go through the Canal. Failing to do so, officials fear, will cost Savannah dearly as the larger ships bypass Savannah and go elsewhere.

The Joint Adventure docked immediately adjacent to the Hyatt Hotel in the center of the downtown Historic District. The 185 foot high iconic cable-stayed bridge in the background was built in the 1990’s to replace a 139 foot high bridge in order to allow larger ships to enter the port.

Surprisingly, the port of Savannah is the second busiest port on the Atlantic coast, second only to the combined New York/New Jersey port. Enormous ships, most of them carrying up to 2,000 containers, passed by the Joint Adventure on their way up the Savannah River to loading docks just upriver from us.

Sunset over the Savannah River

Savannah was founded by James Oglethorpe in 1733 when he selected the first high bluff that he came to as he sailed up the Savannah River. He started the settlement with 144 “sober, moral, and industrious” colonists  (I guess the standards were higher then…).  Due to its deep, protected harbor, it soon became the leading port in the south, and an important strategic stronghold during wartime. The British occupied Savannah during the American Revolution, so a coalition of American and French soldiers staged a massive assault to try to take back the city in 1779. The battle lasted only 55 minutes, but over 1,000 American & French soldiers were killed by the time the assault failed, making it second only to Bunker Hill as the bloodiest battle of the war. During the Civil War, the Confederates held onto Savannah. However, the port was successfully blockaded by the Union, as were virtually all of the southern ports, choking the south from receiving vitally-needed supplies. Today, Savannah is a thriving port city and a bustling tourist center, capitalizing on its many historic sites, its diverse architecture, and its natural beauty. Here are some images from our visit:

This is the Cotton Exchange Building – cotton was king in Savannah. From the plantations throughout South Carolina & Georgia , it was shipped to Savannah where it was sorted, priced, and shipped to Europe or the northern states. By 1887, Savannah ranked first on the Atlantic and second in the world as a cotton seaport. World prices for cotton were set in Savannah and London.

This building served as General Sherman’s headquarters in Savannah as he completed his famous “march to the sea” near the end of the war. Sherman did not burn Savannah – knowing the futility of resistance at that point in the war, city officials negotiated a surrender of the city with Sherman, thus preventing it from being destroyed. Sherman then sent his famous telegram to Lincoln at Christmas in 1864, presenting him Savannah as a “Christmas gift”.

Interestingly, this placard near the Sherman headquarters provides a softer spin on Sherman’s march to the sea than is generally taught.

This statue of a slave family is displayed prominently on the Savannah waterfront. It’s message was so graphic and strong that I decided to recite it in full: “We were stolen, sold, and bought together from the African continent. We got on the slave ships together. We lay back to belly in the holds of the slave ship in each others excrement and urine together. Sometimes we died together and our lifeless bodies thrown overboard together. Today we are standing up together, with faith and even some joy.”   Incidentally, slavery was illegal in Georgia under its first charter. The law was frequently ignored, however, and was repealed in 1750 because plantation owners claimed they could not compete with cotton grown in neighboring states using free slave labor.

The “Waving Girl” statue memorializes the story of the woman who fell in love with a seaman who soon shipped out, promising to return to marry her. To insure she wasn’t missed, she met every arriving ship by waving a towel – for the rest of her life.

This sculpture on the waterfront celebrates a series of important ships named after the city of Savannah. One was the steamship SS Savannah which, in 1819, was the first steamship to cross the Atlantic – it was 98 feet long and produced just 90 HP – think of pushing a 100 foot ship with a 90 HP outboard. The crossing took 27 days, and used sails as well. By contrast, in 1959, the Navy launched a light cruiser of the same name – Savannah – powered by a nuclear reactor. During its entire 13 years of service, it used 163 pounds of uranium, which is the equivalent of 29 million gallons of diesel fuel. In WW II, 87 Liberty ships were built in Savannah – each could carry the contents of 300 railroad cars, 2,840 jeeps, or 440 Sherman tanks!

Some of the streets and some of the retaining walls in Savannah, especially along the waterfront, are made of cobblestones from all over the world – they were brought in sailing ships as ballast to add weight and stability to the ships coming to Savannah to take on cargo. The stones were offloaded to make room for the cargo, and were used for paving streets and building walls.

A historic mercantile building along River Street on the waterfront, the first floor of which now houses retail stores. The Historic District in Savannah is the largest of any city in the US.

Historic Savannah City Hall

The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, in the Historic District

The interior is every bit as spectacular as the exterior –

A typical street in the Historic District

The Historic District terminates in an enormous public park which is as beautiful a park as I’ve seen. Among other species, it is adorned with huge live oaks covered with Spanish Moss hanging from the branches. Incidentally, Spanish Moss is neither Spanish nor moss. It is an air plant, and is not parasitic to the tree. It acquired the name because it reminded early explorers of the long beards worn by Spanish seamen.

This is the birthplace of Juliette “Daisy” Gordon Low, born in 1860, who founded the Girl Scouts in 1912.

A very smart dog!

Movie buffs or Forrest Gump fans will recognize this diner as the place where Jenny worked in the film –

After two days exploring Savannah, our next stop was Hilton Head – a totally different ambiance and culture. Here, golf and beaches are king. Here are some images:

Heading back down the Savannah River to re-join the ICW, we encountered several large, ocean-going container ships heading upriver to offload in Savannah – we hadn’t encountered ships like this in close quarters since the St. Lawrence Seaway last May

A “Captain Phillips” lifeboat on the stern of the ocean-going vessels. How would you like to be in that thing when it was released to drop 20 feet or more into the ocean? If you haven’t seen the movie “Captain Phillips”, it is a must-see movie.

Harbour Town, the main harbor on Hilton Head, is identified by the iconic lighthouse at the harbor entrance. If you watch PGA golf events, you’ll recognize the lighthouse from TV coverage of the RBC Heritage on the Harbour Town Gulf Links, South Carolina’s only PGA Tour event. The resort surrounding the harbor is quite large, and includes four restaurants, numerous shops, jet ski rentals, condominiums, etc.

This is a view of the 18th hole of the PGA Tour course from the top of the lighthouse. The 18th hole tee is directly in front of the buildings in the background and the green is behind the grandstand (the white roof) in the foreground of the picture. I’m told that golfers take aim at the lighthouse on their first drive from the tee. TV crews set up their cameras on the lighthouse where I stood to take this picture to film the golfers playing the 18th hole in the PGA Tournament.

There are miles and miles of wonderful walking/bike paths throughout Hilton Head Island, many of which wind through pine forests while connecting the various destinations throughout the 41 square mile island.

The walking/bike paths often pass by or though the many golf courses on the island. This is a green on the PGA course, each of which has a grandstand for spectators. You can play this course for a mere $150/round and have your friends watch you from the stands….

A small harbor elsewhere on the island. There are tides up to 9 feet at the island – this picture is taken at low tide.

Hilton Head is, of course, also known for its beaches, which are extraordinarily wide at low tide, They are truly beautiful, but the sand is brown and a bit silty – not quite the caliber of the beaches of South Florida (what a snob…).

Jake & Elissa taking in the sights and enjoying the perfect weather the day of our visit.

I couldn’t resist a swim, although this may be my last of the trip – the water is getting colder as we continue our journey north!

No explanation needed –

The ICW from Hilton Head to Beaufort, South Carolina, our next stop, was straightforward but included a long exposure to the open Atlantic. The wind was calm, however, so our passage was pleasant. A couple of images:

A shrimper on its way into port –

A cabin on the water in the Low Country –

A different type of cabin….

The water is often shallow a long way from shore in the bayous and estuaries of the Low Country, so docks are sometimes quite long to reach water deep enough for a boat.

Upon reaching Beaufort, I had made arrangements to change the four fuel filters on the boat. While I’m religious about changing the oil and oil filters, I completely neglected the fuel filters then suddenly realized they hadn’t been changed in nearly 6,000 miles!

Beaufort, South Carolina is a beautiful southern city, right out of the movies. An artsy community with several galleries in the small but classic downtown area, it has a wonderful waterfront park area with several restaurants with patios overlooking the park and the water. The homes throughout the downtown area are classic pre-Civil War buildings; Here are some pictures:

Buildings along Main Street in downtown Beaufort –

Another image from Main Street

A classic Beaufort home in the downtown area

The armory in downtown Beaufort, built in 1798

Trees are king in Beaufort, and trump motor vehicles. The branch from this live oak provides just 10 foot clearance over the roadway – rather than cut the branch off, vehicles that can’t fit must go around.

We next ran nearly 70 miles northward to Charleston, South Carolina. Here are a few pictures from our run:

We are still in the Low Country, winding our way through tidal estuaries, bays, creeks, and occasional man-made cuts through the marshes to connect one waterway to the next.

A sight all boaters hate to see – one mistake of some sort and this cruiser went aground, The red boat to the left of the cruiser is a TowBoat/US boat attempting to pull the cruiser off.

Charleston is a vibrant, beautiful city. But no review of Charleston would be complete without a discussion of its history, which is tightly intertwined with the fabric of the city. Rice then cotton brought huge riches to an elite group of plantation owners – by the 1770’s, nine of the ten richest men in America lived in South Carolina. However, those riches were the product of huge amounts of slave labor, as both crops were labor intensive. By 1708, there were more slaves in South Carolina than white people. Fearing rebellion, the state legislature passed the South Carolina Slave Code of 1740;   the harshest state law in the country to control slaves, the law declared that slavery was “hereditary and perpetual”;  that it was illegal to teach a slave to read or write;  that a slave could not testify in court;  and that a slave could be executed for plotting to run away.

The dispute regarding slavery was emotional and divisive as early as the writing of the Constitution, threatening to dissolve the union before it got stated. Little consensus could be reached, so the final Constitution essentially avoided the subject altogether – nowhere do the words “slave” or “slavery” appear in the Constitution. However, in order to preserve the union, many compromises were reached (a process that seems missing from today’s political environment). For example, in an ironic twist of positions, southern states wanted slaves counted as people for the purposes of representation, while non-slave states argued that “property” couldn’t be counted for representation – both sides compromised, agreeing to count each slave as 3/5 of a person. Importation of slaves was allowed to continue until 1808, after which it became illegal. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 diffused another crisis by limiting slavery to areas south of the Missouri border. Another crisis erupted when a northern-dominated Congress passed federal tariff laws in 1828 and 1832 that taxed imported manufactured goods – tariffs which cost the South but benefitted the North. South Carolina voted to nullify the tariffs in South Carolina and refused to collect them. President Jackson sent federal troops to enforce the tariffs;  as a result, John C. Calhoun, who was Vice President of the U.S. at the time and an avid defender of slavery and the South, resigned the Vice Presidency in protest, and the first stirrings of secession were uttered. Again the crisis was resolved by compromise when Congress passed a revised tariff law that was accepted by both sides. As the nation continued to expand and the abolitionist movement grew in the North, conflict intensified. The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 was another compromise – Utah and New Mexico were admitted to the union as slave states, and California as a Free state, but the South got an enormous benefit from the law making it illegal anywhere in the country to aid fugitive slaves. In 1854, violence erupted as a result of the Kansas/Nebraska Act, which allowed new territories to vote whether to be slave or free as each side tried to intimidate voters – the violence peaked in Kansas where Northern Whigs, Free Soilers, and some Democrats who had fought against passage of the Act joined forces and formed the Republican Party. The abolitionist movement suffered a huge setback in 1857 when the Supreme Court issued the Dred Scott decision – Dred Scott was a slave who sued in federal court for his freedom on the grounds that he had previously lived in free territories so could not be enslaved. The Court not only ruled against Scott, but went on to say that he could not sue because blacks had no rights of federal citizenship and had no rights that white men were bound to respect. Finally, compromise failed – enraged over the election of Abraham Lincoln to the presidency, South Carolina seceded from the union, followed soon by six other southern states. The war officially began at 4:30 AM on April 14, 1861 when the South Carolina militia started shelling Fort Sumter at the mouth of Charleston Harbor;  the bombardment lasted for 34 hours until the union defenders surrendered.

Many Civil War and other historical sites have been preserved;  here are some pictures from our visit to Charleston:

The Ryan Slave Mart in downtown Charleston, now an important museum, was the first of the slave markets to move indoors in 1856 when abolitionists increasingly disrupted outdoor auctions. While over 40 such indoor markets opened up. Ryans was the largest and most infamous, buying and selling tens of thousands of slaves from throughout the South, often splitting families to sell individuals to the highest bidder.

Fort Sumter as seen in the distance from the mainland waterfront in downtown Charleston. In one of history’s strange ironies, Lincoln planned but did not attend a celebration at Fort Sumter on April 14, 1865 to commemorate the re-unification of the nation exactly 4 years to the day after the American flag was lowered by General Anderson when he surrendered the Fort to the Confederacy in 1861.  Anderson kept the flag in a bank vault during the war. At the celebration, Anderson re-raised the American flag, then toasted President Lincoln, declaring ” I give you the good, the great, the honest man, Abraham Lincoln”. That very night Lincoln was assassinated in Washington.

This surprising quote by Lincoln during one of the Lincoln-Douglas debates in 1858 shows how Lincoln’s objectives and even his thinking evolved over the years of his presidency and the war.

The story of the PLANTER is just one example of the courage and heroism of many blacks before and during the Civil War (the rest of the story is in the picture below). The movie GLORY which depicts the heroism of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, which was the first formal unit to be made up entirely of blacks, takes place when the 54th attempts to capture Fort Wagner on Morris Island in Charleston Harbor.

A memorial to the Confederate soldiers who were killed or wounded during the war. Interestingly, I haven’t seen a single Confederate flag in South Carolina. I did see an occasional one in Mississippi and Alabama.

Incidentally, if you want to read a terrific book about the struggle that blacks faced after the Civil War – actually after Reconstruction when the Jim Crow laws in the South really took affect – and the social implications for them and for the country, I highly recommend “The Warmth of Other Suns” by Isabel Wilkerson. The Pulitzer Prize winning book chronicles one of the great untold stories in American history – the decades long migration of black citizens who fled the South to northern and western cities in search of a better life, and the growing pains which that migration caused in the cities to which they fled.

Downtown Charleston is a kaleidoscope of wonderful, historic buildings, markets, shops, restaurants, and spectacular old homes. I’ll attempt to convey a sense of it with the pictures below – there are so many wonderful buildings and scenes that I couldn’t stop taking pictures, so these are but a handful to attempt to convey a cross-section:

We took an hour-long narrated carriage ride to get an overview of the city – this is Dan, our one horsepower engine. Our guide was a history professor from Charlestom College who loves horses and history, so she was the perfect guide.

The center of activity in the historic district is the series of market buildings where arts, crafts, food, and interesting sundries are sold.

Hand woven baskets made from local plants can be found throughout the markets. Some take hundreds of hours to make and can cost up to a thousand dollars for the more intricate ones.

A typical street in downtown Charleston, as are the next few pictures.

Note the round black plates in the façade of the building on the left. A devastating earthquake hit Charlestown in 1886, destroying many buildings. Some, like this one, were able to be stabilized and saved by inserting crisscrossed steel rods attached to the outside facades of the building.

Of the many churches in the city – after all, this is the South – the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist is the most spectacular.

The inside is as spectacular as the outside.

Above and following are some of the spectacular homes and other buildings that are throughout downtown Charleston

The U. S Customs House, built in 1853

The Old City Jail, which was operational from 1802 to 1939 and is now home of the American College of Building Arts. Known for the brutality which occurred here, the jail housed captured pirates in 1822 awaiting hanging, and also housed union prisoners during the Civil War.

The historic Dock Street Theater, America’s first theater, was the first building in America built exclusively to be used for theatrical performances. The new musical “Catch Me If You Can” – the story of Frank Abagnale depicted in the movie of the same name staring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks – was playing Friday night, so Jake, Elissa & I bought tickets and went to the show – a great performance!

This house is not historic, but has been dubbed the “Barbi house” by the tour guides

This gave me a chuckle –

So – what’s this about a lifetime of research paying off?  As anyone who has been on this trip with me knows, one of my many vices is ice cream – I’ve therefore taken it upon myself to find the best ice cream in the world.  We found some REALLY good ice cream in Canada last summer (Kawartha – salty caramel). So when I was told there was a world-renowned ice cream parlor in Savannah, we had to check it out. Founded in 1919, we were told that Leopolds ice cream has been named the 5th best ice cream in the world and #2 in the U.S. It was heavenly! So after a lifetime of research, I have declared it the best ice cream I’ve ever had:

It’s worth making a trip to Savannah by itself!

Now I have to continue my research and find #1 in the U.S and # 1, 2, 3, & 4 in the world.

Tomorrow we continue to head north!

Post #49:  MUDCAT CHARLIE’S;  Day  352;  April 18, 2015;  On Board:  April 5-April 11:  ALONE!!   April 11 – April 18:  Dave Luciano, Jerry Solomon (“Sol”)

The march northward started on Saturday, March 28, the day after we crossed the Gulf Stream from the Bahamas. I still had the wonderful company of Jim Small and Chrissie Bell for the run to Stuart, but they flew back to real life the next day. By design, I was alone for the next week – I wanted to experience traveling and handling the boat single-handed, so the next crew was scheduled to arrive the following Saturday in Daytona. I was fortunate to have good weather, and the boat and I got along well. My solo week included stops in Fort Pierce, Melbourne, Titusville, and Daytona Beach. Here are some images:

The downtown Stuart waterfront includes a couple of restaurants, the marina, a boardwalk, and a stage for live performances, where this band was playing on Saturday afternoon. The historic downtown is adjacent to the waterfront, with many shops and boutiques. The Sunset Marina has live entertainment on the waterfront every night, and on Saturday night had a Beatles sound-alike band – it was packed and they were remarkably good!

The channel into Fort Pierce was well-marked, which I appreciated, being alone on board. The municipal marina has a fun restaurant/tiki bar on the waterfront and a pleasant downtown a short walk away.

You may recall from an earlier post that a magazine had run an article about the 10 best “dive bars” along the Florida coast. After missing number 9 (Alabama Jacks in Key Largo), I had to have a beer at the 10th – Archie’s Seabreeze in Fort Pierce after a half hour bike ride to get there..

In Fort Pierce, I finally met Mark & Allyn Callahan on Second Wind.  Mark is a member of the Charles River Yacht Club where we keep the Joint Adventure – we had never met, but Mark & Allyn have been following the blog since the start of our trip – they did the Great Loop a few years ago and are in the process of bringing Second Wind from Florida to the Chesapeake for the summer. We’ve since seen each other at several ports and continue to stay in touch as we both work our way north.

Melbourne has a great beach, and I had a wonderful ocean swim in large, Atlantic Ocean waves. This sign caught my eye, though I passed it up in favor of some seafood.

Titusville was an unexpected treat in two ways. This picture illustrates the first – upon my arrival I was met by Ken from the vessel Carris, whom we had met several times at various stops along the way. He and others organized this “docktails” gathering for Happy Hour, with the crew of 5 boats doing the Great Loop, sharing stories and lots of laughs.

The second treat in Titusville was its ties to the space program, and the statues, plaques, and space museum in Titusville. This is a sculpture honoring the space shuttle program, and there are others honoring the Gemini program. Cape Canaveral is across the Indian River from Titusville, so the town is closely linked with NASA.

The Vehicle Assembly Building on Cape Canaveral, where rockets and space vehicles are built, as seen from the ICW at Titusville.

There are numerous beautiful sandbars and uninhabited islands along this section of the ICW, and many wonderful anchorages to spend the night.

Channel markers are a favorite nesting place for Osprey. Notice the mother Osprey in the nest. We often see chicks in the nest as we pass by.

Many beautiful homes along the ICW as well –

My last solo run was to Daytona Beach, where two of my roommates from college, which were my fraternity brothers and are still two of my best friends – Dave Luciano and Jerry Solomon (“Sol”) – joined me for the next week. I arrived Friday, and since they didn’t arrive until Saturday, I rode my bike to the beach Friday afternoon.  No one will ever believe that this was a coincidence and that I didn’t plan it this way, but when I arrived at the beach I discovered that the NCAA National Collegiate Cheerleading Championship was underway. Of course, I couldn’t resist watching the competition and taking a few pictures…..

Who knew…..?

No explanation needed…

The acrobatics of these kids is truly amazing – they literally throw these girls 15 feet in the air then collectively catch them (hopefully)….

Afterwards, many of the teams went onto the beach to celebrate and do what they do…

Dave & Sol arrived Saturday, so we rode our bikes back to Daytona Beach:

The world-famous Daytona Beach, where cars are still allowed to drive and park on the beach.

Riding on the sand, enjoying the sights –

There is an amusement park overlooking a portion of the beach, and this is one of the “rides” – the small dot above the two towers is several people in a seat, which it flung from the ground into the air, after which it bounces up and down for awhile from the two bungee-like cords that hold it, while the seat rotates wildly, rolling over, upside down, back and fort several times. I would not survive.

A cool cloud overhanging the beach –

Our next stop was St. Augustine, the oldest continually occupied European settlement in the continental United States. Founded in 1565, St. Augustine served as the capital of Spanish Florida for over 200 years. Ponce de Leon was the first European to explore the East coast of Florida, and is thought to have ventured as far as north as present day Saint Augustine in 1513 – he named the land “La Florida”  because of all the beautiful flowers, and claimed it for Spain.  Shortly after the founding of St. Augustine, the French built a fort and tried to establish a settlement at the mouth of the St. John’s River (near current day Jacksonville), but were driven out by the Spanish. In 1566, a local Native Chief burned St. Augustine, after which the settlement was moved to its present location. In 1586, St. Augustine was again burned, this time by Sir Francis Drake, driving the settlers into the wilderness. However, the British lacked settlers to establish a foothold, so they left the area and the Spanish retained control. In 1763, Spain ceded Florida to Great Britain via the Treaty of Paris, which ended the Seven Years War (also known as the French & Indian War), in exchange for turning over Havana to Spain. Rather than live under British rule, most of the Spanish fled St. Augustine for Cuba. However, in 1783, when Britain signed the peace treaty which ended the American Revolution and granted independence, Britain also signed a separate agreements with Spain in which Britain again ceded Florida back to Spain. During this second period of Spanish control, from 1784 to 1821, no new settlements were established and Spain exercised little control over the territory. Finally, in 1821, Spain peaceably transferred ownership of Florida and St. Augustine to the United States under the Adams-Onis Treaty, negotiated by John Quincy Adams. Florida later gained statehood in 1845.

St. Augustine today prominently displays its Spanish heritage through its many historic buildings from the two Spanish periods, its many museums, its shops with a Spanish bent, and its many Spanish restaurants.

We stayed for two days in St. Augustine, which was not enough time to see and experience all that the City has to offer.  Here are some images:

Castillo de San Marcos is the Spanish fort in St. Augustine, which protected St. Augustine during the early Spanish periods.

This is the oldest surviving wooden schoolhouse in the US.

St. Georges Street is one of the main historic areas in the city, with scores of shops, boutiques, restaurants, and pubs in the many historic buildings.

A statue of Florida “discoverer” Ponce de Leon in the main square in St. Augustine.

The Ponce de Leon Hotel was the first of the luxury hotels built in St. Augustine by Henry Flagler in 1888, costing $2.5 million. He hired an inventer named Thomas Edison to bring electricity into the hotel.

Now the Lightner Museum, this was Flagler’s second hotel. In 1948, it was purchased by Otto Lightner and now houses his extensive collections and is open to the public.

Now the home of Ripley’s Believe It or Not, Castle Warden was built by William Warden as his home, then purchased by Ripley’s in 1949.

Flagler Memorial Presbyterian Church was build by Henry Flagler in 1889 as a memorial to his daughter and granddaughter, both of whom died during childbirth. He wanted it to be complete by the first anniversary of their death, so he hired 1,000 men, half of worked during the day and the other half all night. It was completed in 361 days. Flagler, his first wife, his daughter, and his granddaughter are all entombed in the west wing of the church.

The inside of Flagler’s church.

This full-sized replica of a Spanish Galion was built in Spain in 2009 and was docked near us in the St. Augustine Municipal Marina. It regularly makes the voyage to Spain and back.

This massive steel cross was erected in 1965 marking the 400th anniversary of the first Catholic mass held in the New World on this spot. It weighs 70 tons and was constructed out of 200 steel panels.

Two famous lions mark the entrance to the iconic Bridge of Lions, which crosses the ICW at St. Augustine. From the look on its face, I think it just ate a tourist and got caught….

My cousin Steve Dempsey and his girlfriend Lisa live in St. Augustine and came to the boat to share a Happy Hour drink with us. We had a great time exchanging stories, and they both imparted their local knowledge regarding sights to see.

From St. Augustine, we went to Jacksonville Beach where we again rode our bikes to the beach. We reached a major milestone with Sol at Jacksonville Beach – he grew up in the Bronx accustomed to concrete and pools, and hates the four “S’s” – sand, salt, sun, and surf. But he’s a good sport, as this picture will attest:

Sol walking on the sand, in the salt & surf, and also in the sun! Dave is walking behind him, watching for sharks (another “s” that he doesn’t like…).

On our way the next day on the ICW, we came upon a stranded boater who had run the battery down on his battery-powered engine and flagged us down to help him get back home:

We tied a bow line and a stern line from his boat to the Joint Adventure and took him along for the ride –

Our next stop was Amelia Island, our last stop in Florida. It is the only piece of land in the entire US to have had eight different flags of domination: Spanish, French, Patriots, McGregor’s, Green Cross, British, Mexican, Confederate, and United States. Amelia Island was named by Money magazine as one of the 25 best places in the world to vacation, due to its beautiful beaches, natural environment, recreation, and historic sites. the Historic District in the town of Fernandina Beach is 50 blocks in area and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

It rained in the afternoon when we arrived so we didn’t make it to the beach, but the historic town of Fernandina Beach is a real gem. Shops, historic buildings, and restored historic homes abound:

Reportedly the oldest bar in Florida is in Fernandina Beach –

A restored building in the historic downtown area

Everything changed when we entered the “low country” of Georgia. The ICW becomes a series of tidal estuaries, creeks, inlets, and “cuts” through the marshes, all stitched together to make a continuous, though ever-winding waterway through the marshlands.  It is stunningly beautiful. It also requires focus to follow the winding, ever-changing channel with plenty of shallow spots to pick through. We elected to bypass the larger towns and marinas, but opted instead to explore “rural Georgia”. We found it at the Two Way Fish Camp & Marina.  We decided to ignore some of the scarier reviews that Sol read in the guide books, such as: “a visit to the set for Deliverance”;  “loaded with mosquitos, the Georgia state bird”. We found a mixed bag:  the docks were adequate, and the other facilities marginal. However, some of the boats at the marina were downright comical – here’s an example:

Dave’s next wooden boat project….This boat is sitting in the water – and apparently has been sitting there for some time. There is a strong tidal current here, which switches direction every six hours. It brings debris with it – sticks, leaves, etc. – which builds up over time. This boat has been there so long that the debris has sprouted plants, which are now growing all around the boat, between the boat and the dock. There were actually a dozen or more others like it in the marina, but this one won the prize…The boat needs a bit of work as well –

Two Way Fish Marina – in rural Georgia – is a training center for federal law enforcement agents of various types thet are water-based. All of the inflatables and all of the center-consoles (unmarked) are federal training boats. Go figure….

MUDCAT CHARLIE’S – in rural Georgia parlance, a “mudcat” is a bottom fish that lives in the mud – I thought it was limited a catfish, but I’ve been assured that it refers to any of many types of fish that thrive in the swamps and bayous of the low country, living in the mud. Surprisingly, Two Way Fish Camp has a restaurant on site – it’s named, fittingly, “MUDCAT CHARLIE’S. Not surprisingly, the food was fresh and excellent. So I titled this entry MUDCAT CHARLIE’s because it epitomizes the rural Georgia environment of this part of the Atlantic ICW

This is the remnants of my dinner at MUDCAT CHARLIE’s – three grilled catfish, served whole and cooked perfectly.

We opted the next day to continue our exploration of rural Georgia, turning up the Kilkenny River to Kilkenny Plantation and Marina – talk about a diamond in the rough! The marina is old and rustic, but truly authentic. There are live shrimp bait wells right on the docks, which are replenished daily. The facilities are tired but adequate. The marina is small, with room for only 4 or 5 boats. The current is fierce. The marina sits on the edge of the Kilkenny River overlooking miles of salt water estuaries and marshes, about a mile and a half off the ICW.

The original 662 acre Kilkenny Plantation was established around 1778, prior to the Revolutionary War. Cotton was raised on the plantation, and the plantation home which still exists was built around 1845. There were several slaves quarters on the plantation – those have been demolished, but other old outbuildings remain. During the Civil War, a Union gunboat shelled the property, and shattered beams from the shelling are still visible in the house. Henry Ford purchased and restored the property, including the former slave quarters. It is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, though the main plantation house is vacant and in need of some repair, as are some of the outbuildings on the site.

In addition to the plantation and the bayou scenery, there is an excellent local restaurant adjacent to the marina that serves fresh, local fish, superbly prepared.

Here are some images:

The marina dock – tides run up to 9 feet. The superstructure holds an overhead crane used to pick fishing boats off their trailers and lower them into the water- and raise them back up upon return.

A fishing boat being lowered into the water from the crane –

A shrimp boat at the Kilkenny dock.

The Joint Adventure at the single dock at Kilkenny Marina

The marina building, with a deck overlooking the bayou. Not exactly a resort, but it has its own charm –

None 0f these small aquatic animals were around when we arrived in the afternoon, but by the following morning there were millions of these critters in the waters of the bayou. We were told that they are wood worms which appear for a day or two once a year, then disappear – apparently, we hit the lottery. By the afternoon, they were all gone.

The view of the bayous and the salt water marsh from the marina docks –

The 1845 main house on the Kilkenny Plantation

An outbuilding on the plantation – notice the enormous Live Oak in the foreground.

The plantation grounds surrounding the marina are adorned by scores of enormous Live Oaks, estimated to be 250 – 300 years old. Try as I might, pictures just cannot capture the majesty and magnificence of these enormous trees, shrouded in hanging Spanish moss.

Look at these trees –

A bald eagle reins over the bayou –

All this scenery just plain tuckered Dave out….

A unique Looper – this is our first encounter with Bob, who started in Minneapolis and is doing the Loop solo in a 26 foot houseboat on a shoestring budget – yes, a houseboat. He has a small chart plotter but no paper charts on board, and two dogs to keep him company. YIKES!

We had a crew change – sadly, Dave & Sol left after a fantastic week of laughs and reminiscences. We even made contact with Don Goddard, our close friend and fraternity brother with whom we had lost contact for 25 years. Happily, Jake & Elissa Mycofsky came aboard. From left to right: Jim K, Sol (Jerry Solomon), Dave Luciano, Jake Mycofsky, Elissa Mycofsky

Tomorrow we continue to head north, as we hear that the earth is thawing and the weather is warming. More to come.

Post #48:  THE BAHAMAS (Part 2):  Day 338;  April 4, 2015.  On board:  Barb Stabile, Louise Bombardieri, Trish K, Jim K.    Partial:  Jenny K, Chris Hart

We were fortunate enough to have Barb Stabile and Louise Bombardieri fly into Marsh Harbor to meet us on Friday (March 20). Jenny & Chris weren’t flying out until Sunday, so we took the opportunity to go to Man of War Cay after the girls landed. On the way, Chris put out a fishing line and soon we had Friday night dinner:

A fine catch!

Chris not only catches and cleans the fish, but he and Jenny cook the gourmet meal as well! From left to right, Chris, Jenny, Barb, Louise, Trish

We left Man of War Cay on Saturday and spent the day anchored in the Sea of Abaco. From the first anchorage, Jenny & Chris took the dinghy fishing while Barb, Louise, Trish & I hung out on the boat.  It was hot, so after awhile the girls wanted to swim off the boat. However, the tide was running hard and the current was strong, going out to sea. So for safety, we tied a rope to the stern of the boat and they had to hold onto the rope anytime they were in the water:

If I pulled up the anchor, maybe they could water ski….

Hang onto that rope!!

Jenny & Chris, returning to the Mother Ship…

….fishing all the way –

Although his birthday was still a of couple weeks away, but we celebrated Chris’s 30th in Marsh Harbor that evening:

Oh, to be thirty again….

While in Marsh Harbor, I had to take this picture – “Land Ho, Matey!!!

Our next stop was Turtle Cay – purported to be one on the 10 most beautiful beaches in the world. Crescent shaped and miles long, it is truly stunning – the sand is fine and white, and the water is an incredible shade of light teal:

Swimming in the clear, beautiful waters of the beach at Treasure Cay

My crew and buddies for the week – I am truly a lucky guy!

From Turtle Cay, we ran the next day back to Man of War Cay.  We had met Harvey and Mary Helen on the vessel Lollygagger six months earlier when we arrived at a marina in the dark after getting stuck for 5 hours waiting to be put through a lock on the Tennessee River – Harvey guided us into the dock with a flashlight then invited us onto Lollygagger for a badly-needed drink! They were docked for a few weeks at Man of War Cay, so we had the good fortune to spend some time with them:

Harvey & Mary Helen invited us onto Lollygagger for drinks, after which we went to dinner in the restaurant adjacent to the marina.  Harvey & Mary Helen are a most enjoyable and interesting couple, regaling us with stories of the 32 years that Harvey was in the Virginia legislature and Mary Helen worked alongside him there. From left to right: Louise, Trish, Jim K, Harvey, Mary Helen, Barb

The following morning, Harvey took us on a walking tour of Man of War Cay. Having spent extended periods of time on Man of War Cay over several years, Harvey seems to know everyone and everything about the Cay.

Harvey showed us the boat-building operation of the Albury Brothers – the business is now run by several of the eight brothers who inherited it from their father many years ago. They build durable, high quality wood boats in the 20 to 30 foot range, all by hand. In this picture are pieces of roots from Maderia trees, with strong, hard wood that grow on the islands of the Bahamas. They harvest roots that grow in various shapes that can be milled without bending into the structural ribs of their boats. Harvey explained that they soak each piece in the ocean water, as shown in the picture, for four months prior to use to kill any organisms that might live in the wood.

Our next stop was a re-visit to Hopetown, this time with Barb & Louise aboard. Here are some pictures:

Louise at the helm on our way to Hopetown –

Enjoying a Happy Hour drink at the pool/tiki bar…

Now this place understands the importance of the afternoon ice cream stop…

I’m just the reporter here….

OK, I know I’m getting close to the edge here….

In the last blog update, I posted a picture of the iconic Hopetown lighthouse. In our second visit, I learned that you could climb the lighthouse at dusk and watch the lighthouse keeper light the ancient kerosene lamp. So up I went, and indeed, with just 2 or 3 other people, I was able to participate in the half hour procedure of lighting the light. This picture is taken from inside the lens compartment of the light after the kerosene light was coaxed into staying lit. It is one of the last manual lighthouses in the world, and burns kerosene with a wick and mantle – much like your Coleman camping lantern. Although it can be seen for 17 miles out to sea, the actual light is no bigger than a Coke bottle – the Fresnel lens concentrates the beam so effectively. The lens and burner mechanism weighs 8,000 pounds but floats on a bed of liquid mercury – it can thus be rotated by the push of a finger (which I did). However, the keeper must climb the lighthouse every two hours all night, every night, to re-wind the hand-cranked mechanism that keeps the light beam rotating.

My week with the girls ended when we ran back to Marsh Harbor – they flew home while the next crew – Jim Small and Chrissie Bell – flew in. It was then time to start working our way back to the West End to look for a favorable weather window to cross the Gulf Stream back to the States. Although conditions were not ideal to navigate Whale Cay Passage, wide open to the Atlantic, we picked our way through 5 foot seas to get to Green Turtle Cay. Green Turtle has two separate harbors, one near each end of the island. White Sound is the “resort” type harbor where most cruisers go, while Black Sound is the “local” harbor. We, of course, opted for Black Sound, and rode our bikes a short distance to the town of New Plymouth.  It is a small, charming, unspoiled settlement where Bahamians make their living mostly from the sea. We ate at a small, local restaurant where the owner was the baker, cook, waitress, and everything else that was needed.

Here are some pictures from Green Turtle Cay:

New Plymouth is a lovely, seaside settlement at Black Sound on Green Turtle Cay

The Sunset Lounge – the local “hangout” in New Plymouth –

The settlement focuses its attention on the sea –

As in the more remote, outer cays, the streets are narrow concrete, and golf carts are the mode of transportation.

Chrissie Bell & Jim Small – we rode our bikes the length of the island, from Black Sound to White Sound. We stopped at the ocean-side beach along the way, where this picture was taken –

I expected the two resorts at White Sound to be very expensive and glitzy, but was pleasantly surprised. Both were built several decades ago and were very pleasant and comfortable, not overstated, and seemed to have grown in place. We stopped and had an afternoon drink at the Green Turtle Club – the pub, adorned with signed dollar bills pinned to the walls over the decades, is shown here.

We continued to retrace our steps as we moved towards the West End, cruising about 60 miles to Grand Cay. We left Grand Cay the following morning and anchored at Double Breasted/Sandy Cay, which we had visited a few weeks earlier by dinghy with Jenny & Chris. We stayed the entire day and intended to stay the night at anchor, but a 20 knot wind was predicted to kick up overnight from the one direction from which we were totally exposed. So we decided to cook dinner on board, then leave at dusk and tie to the dock at Grand Cay.  Here are some pictures:

We spent the day exploring the expansive flats, walking in water between 1 and 5 feet deep in various locations as the tide came in. We saw schools of barracuda, including a 3 foot long specimen that cruised 10 feet from me in a foot of water looking for a meal in the flats. We also snorkeled in the deeper water on the other side of the rock and coral islands in the foreground. You can see the Joint Adventure anchored in the background.

Anchoring a catamaran is a little different from anchoring a monohull. In order to ride properly at anchor, the anchor line is attached to a bridle, which is attached to the bow of each pontoon, as shown in the picture. The anchor line above the bridle is secured with slack so that the bridle takes up the force.

In the Bahamas, we always used a trip line with a float on the anchor so we could pull it up if it got snagged on a rock or coral or other obstruction on the seabed. Here Jim is pulling up the float on the trip line while the anchor is being raised.

Jim & Chrissie on Sandy Cay –

Due to the predicted winds, we pulled up the anchor after dinner at dusk and headed for the harbor in Grand Cay. On the way, we saw this amazing sunset as the sun seemingly disappeared into the sea.

We left early the next morning on a somewhat rough, 65 mile run to the West End to look for a weather window to cross the Gulf Stream. While spending a day exploring  and riding our bikes around the West End Village, we came upon my new friend with the beard that I had met a month earlier. We couldn’t resist taking a picture of the two of us together:

He told me his name several times, but I couldn’t pronounce it and I could never spell it, so I’ll just call him my West End Friend

After a month in the Bahamas, we left Grand Bahama Island early on Friday, April 3 and headed due west across the Gulf Stream for Palm Beach. We had a 10 knot wind on our port stern quarter, so the passage was a bit rolly – not quite the smooth, calm water of our trip east, but quite tolerable. Culture shock hit us upon our arrival – the inlet at Palm Beach was crowded with boats and the narrow channel at low tide near Sailfish Marina was jammed with boats of every size and description heading every which way. Much different from the laid-back outer cays of the Bahamas!

One last anecdote regarding out visit to the Bahamas. My daughter Jenny loves to bake, and has a “baking blog” entitled “Sugar Mason”. She is a talented writer (brag, brag) with a unique way of looking at the world and at her surroundings, and a unique way of expressing what she sees and feels. After she and Chris had spent ten days with us in the Bahamas, Jenny posted the following excerpt on her blog. I thought I would share it with you:

“we spent ten days on the sea.    floating along.    intermittently pulled through the mouth of a harbor by the sounds of people cracking conch.   we turned off our phones that can sometimes be too smart.    and felt a headache dissolve that we didn’t know we had.    on the first day we yelled about politics.    by day two we found ourselves wanting to talk of nothing but fish.    when the fish stopped biting, we mixed ginger beer with coconut rum.    we gaped, breathless, at the water.    and stared long and hard, hoping our eyes would absorb the translucent color, the greatest of all souvenirs.    we put fins on our feet and escaped to a world where the grass grows blue & orange & purple.    we hunted fish with spears in our hands.    humbled by the fish with spears for teeth, hungry like us.    we cannonballed into waves.    and read words from paper.    we spent an evening mesmerized by a lone beam of light, merry-go-rounding it’s way through the dark.    we imagined the lives of sailors it spared.    and dreamt about the lives it did not.    we ended each day around a table.    looking at maps for tomorrow’s journey.    already nostalgic for yesterday’s magic.    an internal mantra echoed through my head.    louder with each passing sunset.    i am grateful for the sea.    i am grateful for the fish.    i am grateful for the rum   . but mostly, i am grateful for the company.”

If you’re interested in baking and great recipes, or just interested in some unique writing and great photographs, the link to her blog is:   sugarmason.com/

We now start our journey north along the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway toward Boston and the completion of our voyage. We have about 1500 miles to go, so there are still plenty of adventures and challenges ahead. On we go…